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Call for Papers for the Underhill Graduate Student Colloquium
Join us February 26th to 27th, 2026 at Carleton University for the 32nd Underhill Graduate Student Colloquium, presented by Carleton’s Department of History. This year’s theme is “Reimagining Community | Doing History Together.”
Community has no singular definition and has infinite formations. From place-based communities, like our local coffee shops and parks; to identity-based communities created through shared experience of age, sexuality, ethnicity, faith, and more; to interest-based communities united by sport, food, clubs, and hobbies; community provides connection. Community histories are diverse, reflecting the multitude of ways people gather, communicate, experience, remember and imagine a world around them.
Community is not only found in the subject of history but also in its practice. Community-based methodologies help uncover and recover stories, generate opportunities for shared authority, and promote accessibility in historical practice. Many histories are only made possible through the dedicated work of community members.
This year we invite participants to think both about how we tell histories of community, and the role of community in creating and sustaining historical scholarship and practice. We invite graduate students from all disciplines to apply with a topic relating to this year’s theme. Presentation themes can include, but are not limited to:
Community in historical practice:
- Community generated knowledge and projects
- Accessibility and accessible history
- “Imagined communities” and theory
Histories of community and communities:
- Histories of friendship, kinship, and/or family
- Histories of age and generational groups (e.g. children, youth, seniors)
- Histories of sport, food, art, music or other hobbies and activities
- Histories of NGOs/aid-groups, clubs, collectives, unions and workplaces,
schools, faith and spiritual groups - Histories of place (e.g. buildings, neighbourhoods, cities)
- Histories of diaspora and (im)migrant communities
- Histories of unlikely communities
We are interested in promoting an interdisciplinary environment and welcome work that may not fit the conventional “paper presentation,” such as posters, roundtable discussions and workshops. Paper presentations should be about 15 minutes, and any other format up to 60 minutes. If you are unsure if your idea if suitable, please contact us at: underhillcolloquium@cunet.carleton.ca
Applications will be accepted using this Google Form link (also available below). Please prepare a short abstract between 250 – 300 words of your presentation, along with a biographical statement (max. 300 words). Although this conference will primarily be held in-person, we will consider a limited number of hybrid or virtual presentations. Deadline is midnight December 19th, 2025.
More conference details, including keynote presenters, will be announced shortly. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with all applicants being notified of the results of their submission by January 15th, 2026, at the latest
Feature Image: Students sitting at large tables taking notes and reading books. Carleton University, Ottawa, Ont. 1961. Photographer: Lunney, Gar, 1920-2016. Credit: Library and Archives Canada.
Patricia Roussel
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