2019 Call for Papers

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North American Society for Oceanic History
National Maritime Historical Society
New Bedford Whaling Museum
New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center
2019 Annual Conference
New Bedford, Massachusetts

Connecting the Global and Local: The Sea and Maritime Cities, the 45th Conference of the North American Society for Oceanic History held jointly with the National Maritime Historical Society and co-hosted by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center will be held in New Bedford, Massachusetts, May 15-18, 2019.

The city of New Bedford, Massachusetts is a vibrant nexus in oceanic, maritime, and coastal history that has few parallels in North America.  Though possessing immense cultural weight through its association with American whaling industry and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, New Bedford’s maritime history did not begin or end with whaling.  In the second decade of the 21st Century, the city remains the nation’s most valuable fishing port and more than 5,000 people are employed in port-related jobs.  Employment opportunities and the openness of the maritime sectors to immigrant laborers from the whaling era to the present have led to a racially and culturally diverse city and population with enduring ties to Portugal, the Azores, Cape Verde, Norway, and the Atlantic Maritimes. More recently immigrants from Vietnam, Mexico and Central America have found work in the fishing industry.  This is readily apparent in aspects of everyday life such as food ways, ethnic clubs and small businesses.  Centuries of dependence on the unforgiving sea fostered the creation of maritime charities, medical and other social service institutions such as the famous Seamen’s Bethel & Mariners Home and the still active Shaw Fund for Mariner’s Children.  Multicultural in its composition, global in its historical connections with the sea, New Bedford captures maritime North American in all its dimensions.

We are looking forward to meeting in New Bedford, whose past and present are intertwined with the sea. Under the conference theme Connecting the Global and Local: The Sea and Maritime Cities, the program committee invites submissions of individual papers and full sessions (preferring panels with three papers) that identify and explore the dynamic social, cultural, environmental, economic and physical spaces that connects city sea.  Submissions on other topics in maritime history, archaeology and culture are also welcome.  Session and individual paper proposals should include: A) title, not to exceed 10 words; B) abstract, not to exceed 250 words; C) a 200-word bio for the presenter; D) contact information including phone number, address, affiliation, and email. Please submit this information as a single Word document, single-spaced, 12-point Times Roman font, and not as a PDF.  Accommodations for PowerPoint presentations will be provided; any other requirements, including audio-visual equipment, special outlets, or accommodations for disabilities should be included in the proposal. Please note that all participants must register for the conference.

Students may apply for a Chad Smith Travel Grant to assist in travel to present a paper at the conference. Additionally, each year NASOH bestows the Clark G. Reynolds Student Paper Award to the author of the best graduate student paper delivered at the conference. Please see the awards section of the NASOH website for details.

The deadline for proposal submission is March 1, 2019. Please submit proposal packets electronically to the Program Committee at NASOH2019CFP@gmail.com.

NASOH members and anyone interested in serving as panel chairs should send an email to the Program Committee at the same address.

Program Committee Members:

John Jensen, University of West Florida, Co-chair

Kurt Knoerl, Georgia Southern University, Armstrong Campus

Victor Mastone, Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources, Co-chair

Calvin Mires, Bridgewater State University

Laura Orleans, New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center

2020: Pensacola, FL