The UMass-Boston Interdepartmental Conference invites graduate students to submit proposals on the concept of agency for its April 2nd, 2016 conference. The conference aims to examine how agency, which can refer to actions, power relationships, choices, and forces, is engaged with across different academic fields such as history, literature, political science, and public history. Example topics include how individuals affect social movements, how authors portray subjects, power relations within colonial societies, and efforts by indigenous peoples to reclaim their history. Students should submit a 200-300 word abstract and CV by the deadline to Kristof Nelson.

1. Interpreting Agency
Call for Papers: UMass-Boston Interdepartmental Conference, Spring 2016
Conference Date: April 2nd, 2016.
Location: University of Massachusetts-Boston, Campus Center
The History Graduate Student Association, in partnership with the English and American Studies
departments at the University of Massachusetts-Boston invite graduate students to submit
proposals for its fifth annual Spring Conference to be held April 2, 2015.
Historians frequently grapple with the concept of agency as they study change over time. Often
scholars use agency to explain how factors like institutions, leaders, and social movements create
such change. Agency is a term with diverse definitions across an array of academic fields, where
it can refer to actions, power relationships, choices, and forces on levels ranging from individuals
to communities and beyond. This year’s conference aims to look at the ways in which scholars in
different fields, such as literary scholarship, public history, political science, etc. engage with the
idea of agency. We welcome submissions from a broad range of perspectives and approaches,
potentially but not limited to:
 How individuals affect social movements
 The ways authors portray subjects in literature
 Power relations within colonial societies
 Efforts by indigenous peoples to reclaim their history
 The impact of a specific scholars’ work on the interpretation of a particular discipline
This is but small list of potential topics, and are not meant to serve as limitations. The committee
will consider any submission that addresses agency in its many forms.
Panel presentations and a roundtable discussion will take place throughout the day on Saturday,
and will conclude with a reception for conference participants in the evening. Interested
individuals should submit a 200-to 300-word abstract and CV via email.
Please direct proposals and all other inquiries to:
Kristof Nelson
Kristof.Nelson001@umb.edu