Call for Proposals

Public history practice in the southern United States faces multidirectional threats. Climate change–with attendant warming temperatures, rising waters, and extreme weather events–threatens historic sites, archives, and cultural resources. State laws that attempt to limit historical knowledge may restrict the opportunity to safely and ethically practice history. Local government and public pressure threaten public support for institutions that engage with histories of race, gender, and sexuality. As public historians in the South, our work is as vital and challenging as ever. At this NCPH Mini-Con, we seek new and to continue existing conversations about how to meet and continue our work despite these conditions.

We invite papers, panels, and roundtables that address current realities of our work and that offer strategies for resilience and resistance. We hope this short time together builds our network and collates resources to serve public historians and memory workers who call this region home. Topics may include (but are not limited to) the ways in which our work intersects with and is impacted by:

• Climate change (in stewarding cultural resources, broadly conceived)
• Contingent politics
• Labor, gender, and racial inequities
• Safety of our partner communities
• Strategies for sustainability (of resources, of self, of communities)
• Advocacy work

Please send a 150-word abstract that describes the focus of your proposed paper, panel, or workshop by July 15, 2024, to Julia Brock at [email protected].