International conferences historical research and
reflections on UNESCO’s programmes
Proposals: 30 April 2008
The International Scientific Committee for the UNESCO History Project is planning to organize three international conferences in 2009-2010, with the common purpose of encouraging and stimulating historical research and reflections on UNESCO’s programmes, activities and orientations from 1945 to date.
These three conferences are a follow up to the international symposium on UNESCO’s history that took place in Paris on the occasion of the Organization’s 60th anniversary in November 2005. Background information on the UNESCO History Project and on the composition of its International Scientific Committee is available at: www.unesco.org/archives
The Committee has selected the following three themes:
- Towards the Transnational History of International Organizations: Methodology / Epistemology
This conference will pay special attention to UNESCO as a case-study, and take a broader view of methodological issues relating to the study of the history of international organizations. The conference will be hosted by the Centre for History and Economics at King's College, Cambridge University, United Kingdom, and take place on 6 and 7 April 2009.
- UNESCO and the Cold War
UNESCO was an important arena for the Cold War, but it was also an actor with an agenda of its own. The purpose of the conference is to explore different historical perspectives concerning the extent of the Cold War’s impact on UNESCO and vice versa. The conference will be hosted by the Heidelberg Center for American Studies at the University of Heidelberg and take place on 4 and 5 March 2010.
- UNESCO and Issues of Colonization and Decolonization
Among UNESCO’s founding Member States were both colonial powers and former colonies. This Conference invites students and scholars utilizing a range of methodological approaches and intellectual frameworks to reflect on UNESCO’s historical role, relevant orientations and actions in regard to colonialism and the era of decolonization. The conference will be hosted by the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, and take place on 1 and 2 October 2009.
The Research Call: 2007-2010
The International Scientific Committee for the UNESCO History Project invites expressions of interest from historians and other students and scholars who have an interest in the history of UNESCO in general and in one or more of the three selected themes of transnationalism, the Cold War, and colonization and decolonization.
Applicants should submit an abstract of approximately 100-500 words detailing their research interests, and a short cv, along with full contact information. Applicants do not have to be historians of UNESCO or international organizations, but they should have a commitment to pursuing research which draws on the archives and histories of international organizations.
The costs of travel and accommodation of the speakers will be covered. A selection of papers presented will be published in English and French, when the conferences have taken place. The main results of these conferences will also be presented at the 21st International Congress of Historical Sciences, which will take place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in August 2010.
Please e-mail your expression of interest to the Coordinator of the UNESCO History Project, Mr. Jens Boel (j.boel@unesco.org), to whom you may also address enquiries concerning the submission process. Please send a copy of your “expression of interest” message to the Chairman of the International Scientific Committee for the UNESCO History Project, Professor Jean-François Sirinelli, Director of the Centre d’histoire de Sciences Politiques, Paris (jean-francois.sirinelli@sciences-po.fr).
Please submit your proposal for one or more of the three conferences before 30 April 2008.
