CALL FOR PAPERS: Spain and the American Revolution. Ninth Annual Conference on the American Revolution (Johns Hopkins University, Jun 2018) (DEADLINE 1 JUN 2017)

The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) invite proposals for papers to be presented at the Ninth SAR Annual Conference on the American Revolution. This conference shall examine and reconsider Spain’s role in the American Revolution. Though the participation of France in the American Revolution is well-established in the historiography, the role of Spain—France’s ally as a result of the so-called “Family Compact” that united the two Bourbon monarchies—is relatively understudied and underappreciated. This neglect is surprising, given Spain’s significant material and martial contributions to the American effort from 1779. The renewal of interest in global and international history makes such continued neglect untenable: Spain and Britain clashed repeatedly during the global war of which the American Revolution was but one theater, whether in the Caribbean, the Gulf Coast and Florida, Minorca, and Gibraltar. Following the establishment of American independence, Spain remained one of the nascent republic’s most significant allies and the Spanish empire became one of its most significant neighbors and, often illicitly, trading partners.

Proposals should explore an aspect of the involvement of Spain in the American Revolution and may consider, secondarily, Spain’s (and Spanish America’s) interactions with the United States in the early republican period. All approaches and historiographical orientations will be considered, whether diplomatic, cultural, military, economic, social, imperial or intellectual.

Proposals should include a 300-word abstract and a short (maximum 2-page) CV. Proposals should be submitted by June 1, 2017 to gabriel.paquette@jhu.edu, with the subject line “2018 SAR Annual Conference Proposal”. Notification of acceptance will be given by the end of June 2017.
Publication of accepted papers, following revisions, in an edited volume with a major university press is anticipated soon after the conference itself. It is therefore required that participants submit their full-length (c. 6,000 words), relatively polished papers for pre-circulation two months prior to the conference itself (i.e. by April 8, 2018).

The SAR will cover presenters’ travel and lodging expenses and, in addition, offer a $500 honorarium.

The 2018 SAR Annual Conference on the American Revolution will honor the notable contributions to the study of the international history of the American Revolution made by Professor David Armitage (Harvard University) and Professor Sylvia Hilton (La Universidad Complutense de Madrid).

(Source: HNet)