FUTURES OF INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
A GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE
University of California, Berkeley
October 28-29, 2016
CALL FOR PAPERS

Berkeley’s History Department invites graduate students to submit proposals for the Second Annual
Futures of Intellectual History graduate student conference to take place at Berkeley on October 28-
29, 2016.
A recent wave of scholarship has reinvigorated the field of intellectual history, expanding it beyond
its traditional geographical, methodological, and conceptual boundaries. Though taking place at all
levels of the academy, much of the recent scholarship has been the work of graduate students.
Despite the vitality and breadth of this research, few forums exist for advanced students working in
Intellectual History to engage with each other’s work. The first Futures of Intellectual History
conference, held last year at New York University’s Remarque Institute, provided such a forum, and
it is our hope that this year’s conference will only extend its predecessor’s success.
This year’s Futures of Intellectual History conference will create a forum for graduate students who
use the diverse tools of intellectual history to provoke and answer questions regarding the current
limits and future possibilities of the field. We are pleased to invite scholars working in fields
including, but not limited to, the history of science and technology, the history of social thought and
the social sciences, the history of concepts, the history of religion, legal history, and global
intellectual history. Submissions from all time periods and geographic areas are welcome. By
enabling graduate researchers with different interests, backgrounds and convictions to engage with
one another’s work, the conference aims to promote multi-level and cross-disciplinary conversations
about both the content and methodology of each presenter’s intervention in intellectual history. Last
year’s conference, for example, included panels on the agency of ideas, the relationship between
history of science and intellectual history, international development in China, Bodies and Selfhood,
and political economy.
Both conference days will consist of three panels each comprised of presentations on pre-circulated
papers. Rather than reading papers aloud, participants are expected to have read all papers prior to
the conference and to present a 15-minute introduction and synthesis (both methodological and
substantive) of their work. Panels will be followed by faculty comments and then a discussion.
Students who are interested in participating should send a one-page proposal and a CV to
futuresberkeley@gmail.com by July 13, 2016. Acceptance notices will be issued by July 18, 2016. If
accepted, presentations should be sent to the conference committee by October 2, 2016 for precirculation.
For all further inquires, places contact futuresberkeley@gmail.com
Conference Organizers
Gloria Yu and Ari Edmundson