Tag: Centre for Imperial and Global History

Writing Population History in a Time of Planetary Crisis – Call for Papers

Published on by CIGH Exeter

2nd-3rd June 2025, University of Exeter

The present moment is suffused with demographic anxieties. Reaching the milestone of 8 billion people in the global population in 2022 has reinvigorated debate about the impact of a growing global population—particularly, though not exclusively, on planetary ecology; this in turn has renewed calls in some quarters for population control measures. At the same time, policymakers have expressed concern about aging populations and declining national birth rates or, in other locations, about the impact of so-called ‘youth bulges’ on security and labour. Meanwhile, actors on the far right have leant upon racialised narratives of migration and demographic change to mobilize support.

History has a particular place in current demographic debates. Natalia Kanem, the Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, has cautioned against ‘population alarmism,’ warning that historic population control measures have been ‘ineffective and even dangerous.’ This 2-day, hybrid workshop will explore the challenges and possibilities of writing population history at this current historical moment. How might population history-writing engage with contemporary demographic anxieties, and how might the concerns of our present moment shape the development of the scholarly field?

We are thrilled to welcome Professor Alison Bashford, Scientia Professor in History and Director of the Laureate Centre for History & Population at the University of New South Wales, as our keynote speaker.

We welcome papers that present traditional historical studies as well as more informal think-pieces on the relationship between the past and present of population, demographic anxiety, and ecological and political crises, including work related to activism in these sectors. We welcome participation from non-historians and non-academics. Student and early-career speakers who are SSHM members may be eligible for SSHM travel bursaries. Further details can be found at https://sshm.org/bursaries/.

Paper topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Population control
  • Fertility and population decline
  • Ageing, youth and demographic profiles
  • Reproductive justice
  • Migration
  • Eugenics

Please submit an abstract of c.250 words to R.Williams2@Exeter.ac.uk by 25th March 2025. Decisions on submitted abstracts will be made by 2nd April.

CFP: Entangled Transitions: Between Eastern and Southern Europe 1960s-2014

Published on by CIGH Exeter4 Comments

James Mark

In under two decades, authoritarian political systems collapsed across Europe – in the south of the continent in the 1970s, and then in the east between 1989 and 1991. Although much work has been done on these processes in each region, and comparative work carried out on post-authoritarian transitions and memories, there has yet to be any sustained scholarship that examines the ‘entangledness’ of these processes in the context of broader European and global processes of the late Cold War and its aftermath. Taking a longue durée approach, this conference will explore these inter-relationships between the 1960s and the present day. 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of state socialism and the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the transition from dictatorship on the Iberian Peninsula and in Greece: an ideal time to consider the relationship between these processes that have been central to modern European history. Continue reading “CFP: Entangled Transitions: Between Eastern and Southern Europe 1960s-2014” →

Can Imperial History Ride to Heritage’s Rescue?

Published on by CIGH Exeter

Andrew Thompson_1000785_0Andrew Thompson
Director, Centre for Imperial and Global History

For the last century Britain has led the world in caring for its heritage. Yet with cuts in public spending and pressures to relax restrictions on development the future of our historic environment is looking ever more uncertain and insecure. Centre Director Professor Andrew Thompson asks whether imperial history can ride to Heritage’s rescue. It is something that struggling heritage groups across the globe might do well to consider.

Imagine a Britain without Stonehenge or Hadrian’s Wall. Imagine our historic landscape no longer embellished by great castles, cathedrals or country houses. This could have easily been a reality today had it not been for a very significant piece of legislation in the nation’s legal history — the 1913 Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act.

This long forgotten, yet landmark piece of legislation, paved the way for the creation of the historic environment that we know and enjoy today. Its premise was that there were monuments and buildings that belonged to our nation’s history: and that government had a duty to ensure their survival.

For the last century Britain has led the world in caring for its heritage. Yet with cuts in public spending and pressures to relax restrictions on development, the future of our historic environment is looking ever more uncertain and insecure. Continue reading “Can Imperial History Ride to Heritage’s Rescue?” →

Registration Open for ‘Postwar Decolonisation and Its Impact in Europe’, Exeter, December 2-3 2013

Published on by CIGH Exeter

The Centre for Imperial and Global History is delighted to announce that registration is open for the fast-approaching ‘Postwar decolonizationregistryDecolonisation and its Impact in Europe’ Conference, to be held at the University of Exeter, December 2-3, 2013.

The unravelling of European empires was foundational to the making of the modern world. An old imperial order was swept away, and a new age of nation states rapidly replaced it. Whilst decolonisation played a fundamental role in the shaping of post-war world, its repercussions for Europe itself, and its legacies in a host of political, social and cultural spheres, are still relatively little examined.This conference will examine how the global dynamics of decolonisation had an impact not only on the ‘western core’ of the continent, but also in state socialist eastern Europe, and in southern Europe, which have been hitherto little considered in this light. Continue reading “Registration Open for ‘Postwar Decolonisation and Its Impact in Europe’, Exeter, December 2-3 2013” →