Back to the Future: Historical Reflections on Contemporary Issues
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A Student Conference Hosted by the University at Albany’s English Graduate Student Organization Deadline for submissions: February 1, 2025 |
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Background
17th and 18th Century German Historian, Leopold Von Ranke, otherwise known as the “father of empirical history,” is known for naming and popularizing history as an academic discipline. Ranke broadly questioned the universality of history, and ultimately argued that history develops separately among individual people, peoples, and nations, that collectively constitute a cultural process. As such, he rejects universal principles (Nyarko). Given Ranke’s contributions to the critical implications of history, it seems clear that history is complicated, nonlinear, and may indeed be nonuniversal. Moreover, it seems that Ranke’s conception of history as a multitude of fragmented histories may also point to a schism between our past and present; as histories exponentially multiply through each individual’s lived experience, it seems possible, or even likely, that we are thus prevented from thinking critically about our past(s).
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905
How can we, as global citizens, reflect on historical moments to alter or produce alternatives to or even mitigate current or future crises? The University at Albany’s 21st annual English Graduate Student Organization Conference, “Back to the Future: Historical Reflections on Contemporary Issues,” seeks out papers, projects, and creative works that explores how history informs, predicts or shapes our present and future(s).
This conference is an intentional convening of graduate and undergraduate students, who often remain separated within the institution, to present their work in a cooperative environment. Our hope is that this conference provides a platform for an engaging discourse featuring a great range of perspectives on historical reflection and its possibilities for the future. We encourage student proposals for both critical and creative projects from literary/cultural studies, creative writing, rhetorical/composition studies, and other adjacent disciplines.
This conference is an intentional convening of graduate and undergraduate students, who often remain separated within the institution, to present their work in a cooperative environment. Our hope is that this conference provides a platform for an engaging discourse featuring a great range of perspectives on historical reflection and its possibilities for the future. We encourage student proposals for both critical and creative projects from literary/cultural studies, creative writing, rhetorical/composition studies, and other adjacent disciplines.
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Archives Testimony and Narrative
Artifacts and Preservation
Afrofuturism AI
Temporality
Queer Temporality
Biopolitics and/or Bioethics, Industrialization
Technological Development
War Nuclear Power
Politics
Dystopia/Utopia
Surveillance
Algorithms
Reality
Consciousness
Human relationships with Nature
Transformations/Transition
Artifacts and Preservation
Afrofuturism AI
Temporality
Queer Temporality
Biopolitics and/or Bioethics, Industrialization
Technological Development
War Nuclear Power
Politics
Dystopia/Utopia
Surveillance
Algorithms
Reality
Consciousness
Human relationships with Nature
Transformations/Transition
Submission Information
Please submit a 350 word abstract and a brief bio by February 1st 2025 for consideration by
scanning the code below.
Please contact [email protected] with any questions
scanning the code below.
Please contact [email protected] with any questions
Form for Submissions:
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Scan the QR code for the Jotform!
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