Antiquity Network: Call for Sessions and Papers
The ESSHC is a biennial conference that brings together historians and other scholars from across the world who are interested in studying the past using the methods of the social sciences, broadly defined. The programme is organised around Networks, each of which organises panel sessions (including collaborative sessions with other networks): some of these are period-based, some based on geographical area, and some focused on themes or methods. You can find further information about the ESSHC on its web page, https://esshc.iisg.amsterdam.
The ESSHC has had an Antiquity network since its inception; this has become the main regular international forum for discussions of ancient economic and social history, an opportunity to meet scholars from other countries as well as to see what’s happening in other periods and other fields. The network is currently co-chaired by Bart Danon (b.danon@rug.nl), David Lewis (David.Lewis@ed.ac.uk) and Arjan Zuiderhoek (andriesjohan.zuiderhoek@ugent.be).
We now invite proposals for panel sessions and individual papers for the next meeting of the ESSHC, in Leiden in 2025. Panel sessions last two hours, and generally involve three to four papers on a specific theme, with or without a discussant, and with a chair. Ideally, panel contributors should come from a mix of countries and career stages, and certainly a mix of universities and genders. We are particularly interested in proposals for inter-disciplinary and comparative panels, as well as different formats like round tables or book discussion events, but we will be happy to discuss any ideas you wish to put forward. The earlier you contact us, the more advice we’ll be able to offer. There is no expectation that panel organisers should be established academics; indeed, the ESSHC can be an excellent opportunity for graduate students to put together a small research event on their area of interest, inviting relevant scholars to contribute (and the ESSHC offers a substantial reduction on the conference fee for current students). However, there is also scope for proposing an individual paper, of roughly 20 minutes, if you do not wish to organise a whole panel; if your proposal is accepted, we may put you in touch with the organiser of a relevant session, to see if your paper could be accommodated there, or we may seek to put together a composite panel of individual submissions. Again, the sooner you contact us to discuss your ideas or submit your proposal, the better. Please note that proposals for panels and individual papers need to be submitted via the ESSHC website using their online pre-registration/submission tool (under ‘Submission and registration 2025’) by 15th April 2024 in order to be considered, even if you have been discussing the idea with us. Panel organisers need to submit a panel proposal, including a list of individual papers, and ensure that all panel participants pre-register individually and submit their own title and abstract. Note that in the tool ‘networks’ are called ‘tracks’, so select the track ‘Antiquity.’ Once again, please do contact one or all of us if you would like to discuss your ideas for a paper, a panel, or another sort of session.
Bart(b.danon@rug.nl), David (David.Lewis@ed.ac.uk) & Arjan (andriesjohan.zuiderhoek@ugent.be)