The Society for Nautical Research is delighted to announce the first conference it has organised under its own auspices. The conference, on the state of maritime research, will be held at the University of Greenwich on 9 September 2017.
Over the past few decades there has been significant debate as to the place and shape of maritime history. In January
2008, the Council of the American Historical Association approved unanimously to add ‘Maritime, including Naval’ to
its taxonomy of academic specialties. But since then, it has been suggested that the field has been marginalised. Or does the growth of new areas of interest – such as the study of port towns, the ‘Atlantic World,’ Coastal History, and the role of gender in maritime history – suggest a flourishing, if more diverse, environment? What is the state of health in other research-orientated maritime activities such as public history and heritage?
The Greenwich Maritime Centre and the Society for Nautical Research are excited to announce a major conference to be held at the University of Greenwich to consider these questions. The conference will bring together key contributors from within the broad field of maritime history, as well as those who write on maritime and coastal topics, but do not consider themselves maritime historians. Papers and key discussion points will be published in hard copy and/or online by the Society of Nautical Research.
Proposals are invited for papers on any of the following aspects, or on other related and relevant themes. The principal criterion for acceptance will be the extent to which a paper provides a broad overview of the current situation in a specific field, and of the prospects for the future, rather than narrow, descriptive accounts of a particular period of history or historic ship (to give two examples).
- The study of maritime history in the university and school sectors
- The state of maritime research in particular geographical regions and countries
- The state of particular sub-disciplines within maritime history and research, e.g. naval history, nautical archaeology, port towns, coastal studies
- The health of the maritime museums sector, and current and future challenges for it
- The state of the historic ships and craft sector
- ‘Sea blindness’: fact or fiction?
Proposals of 500 words, together with a short biography of no more than 150 words, should be submitted by 1 June 2017 to https://tinyurl.com/SNRConference2017
NB: There will be a nominal fee of £25 for the conference. Please book at https://maritimeresearch.eventbrite.co.uk, registration will open on 1 June 2017.