Connecting our past, present and future

Keynote speaker Sir Christopher Bayly. Photo courtesy of University of Cambridge
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Wednesday, 4 July 2012

Australia's premier history conference will be held at the University of Adelaide next week, featuring leading international and Australian historians.

'Connections: The 31st Australian Historical Association Conference' will be held on the University's North Terrace Campus from Monday 9 July to Friday 13 July.

The conference will be officially opened at 5pm Monday 9 July by Minister for the Arts, the Hon. John Hill, with the conference sessions starting Tuesday 10 July.

The keynote speaker is renowned British historian Sir Christopher Bayly, speaking on 'Distant Connections: Empire, Race and Nationality in India and Australia' at 5pm Tuesday 10 July in Scott Theatre.

Sir Christopher is the Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at the University of Cambridge and author of a number of books including The Birth of the Modern World: Global Connections and Comparisons 1780-1914 (2004) and, most recently, Recovering Liberties: Indian Thought in the Age of Liberalism and Empire (2011).

Other highlights include:

• Australian History in its Asian Contexts (Tuesday 10 July, 9-11am, Scott Theatre) - the ways in which research on our historical connections with Asia are transforming our understanding of Australian history;
  
• Disasters in Social and Cultural Perspective: Impact, Response, Memory (Thursday 12 July, 9-10.30am, Napier Lecture Theatre 102) - different perspectives on disasters as a historical phenomenon; the impacts they have on individuals and communities, the responses by professionals and victims, and the various coping strategies employed including the writing of memoirs, the creation of rituals, erection of memorials and collections of memorabilia;
  
• Big Questions in Australian History: Writing National Histories in Transnational Times (Friday 13 July, 11.30-1pm, Napier Lecture Theatre 102) - bringing together some of the world's leading practitioners of national history, imperial history and global history.

The conference also includes specialist streams of history: the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, the Religious History Association and the Australian Women's History Network.

The full program can be found at the conference website.

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