The founding members of the Colonial Camps Research Network with the support of the School of Philosophical, Historical, and International Studies at Monash University are soliciting papers for an intensive workshop entitled Colonial Concentration Camps: Imperial Origins and Global Legacies. The workshop will be held from 29 June to 1 July of 2020 at Monash University's Prato Center in Tuscany, Italy. We intend to publish an edited volume or special journal issue from papers presented at the workshop, and we will pre-circulate 4,000-5,000 word drafts one month before the workshop meeting.

The detention of migrants and refugees around the world, from southern Italy to the US-Mexico border, has led to a burgeoning interest in the history of concentration camps. This conference is therefore envisioned as a collaborative effort to work towards new, more capable understandings of this history. We intend to stimulate debate about the longer history of concentration camps, from the American Civil War, to the settler conquests of the New World, to conflict in colonial Africa and Asia and the ongoing War on Terror, to open new intellectual horizons via connection and comparison that draw attention to their imperial origins. Our sessions will be loosely organized across four questions: In what tangible ways did early colonial camps inform later practices? What are the similarities and differences between refugee camps, migrant detention, and wartime internment? What can the international community learn today about the discourses and conditions that first generated camps? And what purchase does a revised account of the concentration camp have on present-day politics?

Submit an abstract by February 18 of around 250 words, using the following website:

https://www.colonialcamps.network/

We would also be happy if you would share information about the conference with other interested colleagues.

Though we are regrettably unable to fund travel and accommodation costs, we will provide catering and refreshments for the duration of the conference. Affordable accommodation is available close to the conference venue in the historical center of Prato: https://www.residencemanassei.it/?lang=en. There will also be no registration fee for the workshop.