The University of Birmingham will host the 2025 World Congress of the Society for Global Nineteenth-Century Studies. From the 17th to the 20th of July, delegates hosted by the College of Arts & Law will be able to experience the world-class facilities and research environment of the Edgbaston Campus as a backdrop to a series of stimulating events – papers, methodology and pedagogy round tables, ‘big ideas’ workshops – around the central theme of ‘Cultural Circulations, Global Mobilities, and Knowledge Translations: Turning Points in the Nineteenth Century’. As a leading UK research institution, and a member of the Russell Group Universities, the University of Birmingham and its scholars will offer a rich breeding ground for new ideas, projects and partnerships.
Breaks will offer delegates the opportunity to engage with each other, but also with two museums on campus – the Winterbourne House and botanic gardens, representative of the nineteenth-century British Arts and Craft movement, and the Lapworth Museum of Geology. The University also hosts the unique collections of the Cadbury Research Library, with documentary treasures ranging from the Church Mission Society archive to the personal papers of the Chamberlain family, the founder of sociology Harriet Martineau or former British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, offering many research opportunities in addition to the Congress.
Birmingham itself, as the UK’s second city, displays a vibrancy and diversity inherited from the cultural circulations and global mobilities at the heart of this Congress. As the industrial powerhouse of the industrial revolution in Britain, from where the first intercity railway line ran to London in 1838, it is a perfect exemplar of the fluxes, trajectories and developments that have shaped the phenomena which SGNCS members engage with in their work. Delegates to the 2025 World Congress will have a unique opportunity to experience, document and probe the relationship between past and present when it comes to nineteenth-century global dynamics.
We look forward to receiving paper proposals submitted through this CfP.
Berny Sèbe, SGNCS 2025 Organising Committee co-chair, University of Birmingham
Kevin A. Morrison, SGNCS 2025 Organising Committee co-chair, SGNCS President
Cultural Circulations, Global Mobilities, and Knowledge Translations: Turning Points in the Nineteenth Century
The nineteenth century witnessed an unprecedented acceleration and densification of human movements that generated, perhaps for the first time, cultural circulations on a global scale. With the world more interconnected than it had ever been, the need to classify, translate and hierarchise knowledge became more pressing than ever.
For its 2025 world congress to be held at the University of Birmingham from 17 to 20 July 2025, the Society for Global Nineteenth-Century Studies places mobility centre-stage, exploring the means through which it was implemented: through travel, exploration and conquest, which in turn led to processes of translation, acculturation and superimposition that are closely associated with globalisation. Covering the period between 1750 through 1914, the congress reveals how travel and mobility structured the ‘Great Revolutions’ that marked the long nineteenth century and made it a watershed moment in human history.
Topics may include (but are not limited to):
Turning points (linguistic, cultural, social, political, technological)
Changes in modes of travel and transportation
Travelling ideas
Pilgrimage
Historical displacement of refugees
Circulations, transfers, and migrations
Nomadism
Problems in translation (e.g., political humour, the absurd, nonsense, etc.)
Explorers and expeditions
Science fiction
Intermedial translation
Steamers and trains
Colonization
Translation and life writing
Transfer of knowledge
Cultural transposition
Adaptation across cultures
Transmediality and transnationalism
Transfer and transmission
Texts and their contexts
Transposition in music
Transposition and translation
Travel maps and cartographies of navigation
Books as travelling objects
Photography, painting, and travel
Tourism and visual culture
Nomadic narratives
Translation and the discovery of new cultures
The re/discovery of ancient civilizations/Egyptomania
Translation and the discovery of European modernity
In addition to paper and panel proposals related to the conference theme, we also welcome proposals for prearranged special panels on topics in global nineteenth-century studies more broadly:
Methodology OR Pedagogy Roundtables: Sessions focused on methodological approaches to studying and practical strategies for teaching the nineteenth century in a global context.
Big Ideas: Sessions focused on a single thought-provoking topic related to the global nineteenth century. The format may vary from standard panels (three presenters and a moderator) to lightning roundtables (five to eight presenters delivering short, provocative position papers) to others that may be proposed.
Deadline for proposals: 15 March
Individual paper proposals should consist of an abstract (200-250 words), brief biography (80- 100 words), and full contact information in a single pdf document or Word file. Panel proposals should include abstracts for 3-4 papers, a brief rationale that connects the papers (100-200 words), and biographies of each participant (80-100 words) in a single pdf or Word file. All proposals should include 3 to 5 keywords. Successful panel proposals will include participants from more than one institution, and, ideally, represent a mix of disciplines/fields and career stages. Panel proposals should also indicate the category for evaluation: general conference program or special session; Methodology or Pedagogy Roundtable; or Big Ideas.
Proposals (by 15 March) and questions should be directed to the Programme Committee:
sgncscongress@gmail.com. We encourage early submission.
To be listed in the programme, presenters, panel chairs, and workshop participants must be current members of the Society for Global Nineteenth-Century Studies. For more information on membership, visit www.global19c.com
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