CALL FOR PAPERS: British Crime Historians Symposium

Call for papers

British Crime Historians Symposium 3

6-7 September, 2012, The Open University, Milton Keynes

[My apologies for the late posting. The Call for Papers has, unfortunately, now passed.]

Following on from the success of the British Crime Historians Symposia at Leeds Metropolitan University in 2008 and Sheffield University in 2010, the Open University is pleased to host the next in Milton Keynes on September 6th and 7th, 2012.

We would like this to be an opportunity for all those who work on the criminal justice history of the British Isles, or on other topics illuminated through criminal justice archives, to participate. We would like therefore to invite papers on any aspect of the history of criminal justice in the British Isles.

We are also especially keen to accept papers which:

• survey the historiography of this field,
• discuss methodological questions with a broader applicability,
• analyse historiographical developments in other countries with a view to informing the research agenda in the British Isles, or
• assess the public history of criminal justice.

Given the gratifyingly large number of historians studying this topic and the need to keep the meeting as affordable as possible while not fragmenting it into an excessive number of parallel sessions, it is unlikely that we will be able to give a verbal presentation slot to everyone who has something interesting to say. Thus we are also keen to receive proposals for poster presentations: we would particularly like to give space to posters from graduate students at any stage in their research. We will make sure that there is a critical mass of posters and that they are a central feature of the conference. We are also open to being approached with proposals for panels of papers on a linked theme.

The deadline for (200-word) abstracts for (15-20 minute) papers, panels (of 3-5 speakers) and (A1) posters is January 31st 2011. Please submit to BCHS2012@open.ac.uk. For further information, contact Paul Lawrence (p.m.lawrence@open.ac.uk) or Chris Williams (chris.williams@open.ac.uk). We will distribute a preliminary version of the programme by February 29th 2012.