Call for Contributions: IHR Transport & Mobility History Seminar Series
Transport and mobility has
played a pivotal role in history, transforming and shaping communities,
societies, economies and nations. Military and merchant navies were the
basis upon which empires were built from the fifteenth century to the
twentieth, while canals stimulated the expansion of industries and
trade, and became popular leisure activities decades later. The railways
of the nineteenth century connected previously isolated individuals to
the wider world, pushed through cities to re-configure urban living,
while the companies themselves became the largest industrial enterprises
of the age. The internal combustion engine allowed more flexible
distribution of goods and commodities, facilitated the growth of
consumerism, while car ownership changed personal mobility and people’s
perceptions of their own social status. The aeroplane allowed new forms
of military reconnaissance to be conducted, transformed the nature of
war, and revolutionised the holiday as well as notions of time and
space. All forms of
transport have also been the subject of artistic, poetic and literary works.
Covering
all of these subjects and more, the field of transport and mobility
history is one of the most exciting and expanding fields of historical
scholarship, engaging scholars from a wide range of backgrounds. The
Institute of Historical Research’s Transport and Mobility Seminar hopes
to bring together scholars in various fields working on transport and
mobility history, broadly defined, in an open and inclusive environment.
The seminar celebrates the richness and diversity of the field, but
also promotes a multidisciplinary approach to research, where the
sharing of ideas, information, methodologies and collaborative working
is the norm. As such, we welcome proposals for our 2018-19 season of
presentations.
The seminar meets once per month (October-June) at
the IHR in Senate House, London. Papers are free to attend, last 40
minutes followed by questions & answers, and are generally podcast
after the event. Please submit abstracts of no longer than 300-500 words
to IHRtransportseminar@gmail.com
by 15 June 2018. Proposals for papers on transport and mobility in
history, including presentations taking a multi- or interdisciplinary
approach or from outside the field, are accepted on the following
subjects, although any relevant papers will be considered:
• Changing cultural perceptions of transport provision
• Marketing transport then and now
• Mobility of goods, people or ideas
• Accessibility and disability
• Sensing and understanding travel
• Mobility and the military
• Ceremony and travel
• Speed, time, and travel
• Building, destroying, and rebuilding networks
• The mobility of youth
• Gendering mobility
• International transport and mobility
• Management and organisation of transport systems
• Transport policy and politics
• Describing or depicting transport and mobility
• Transport, mobility and the environment
• Mobility, transport and museums
• Employment on transport modes
• The risks of being mobile
Conveners:
Oliver Betts (National Railway Museum), Mike Esbester (University of
Portsmouth), Charlotte Mathieson (University of Surrey), Christopher
Phillips (Independent), Tamara Thornhill (Transport for London Corporate
Archives), David Turner (University of York).
Previous papers are available as podcasts from: