This conference will address the British Empire within the context of its relations with rival empires—including those of other European imperial powers, the “traditional” landbased empires of Asia and Africa, and emergent transnational or multinational institutions or domains.

It will seek to explore both formal and informal manifestations of empire, and from all angles, spanning the cultural and intellectual, political, social, military, and economic. We are especially interested in papers that examine comparative themes, encounters along the borders of empires, the conflict between imperial powers, or migrations across empires.

Keynote Speakers are Lauren Benton, Robert Bickers, John Darwin.

All papers should focus on the British Empire and at least one other “empire”—e.g., the Ottoman, Mughal, Safavid, American, Qing, Japanese, Russian (tsarist and Soviet), French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, or Belgian.

We invite proposals for individual papers of about 20 minutes, or for panels including three such papers. Please send your abstracts (200 words maximum) and one-page curriculum vitae, by 1 December 2014, to britishconference@ln.edu.hk.