{"id":4286,"date":"2013-07-30T16:27:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-30T06:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stumblingpast.wordpress.com\/?p=4286"},"modified":"2022-08-04T00:23:43","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T00:23:43","slug":"2013-australian-historical-association-conference-the-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/2013\/07\/30\/2013-australian-historical-association-conference-the-program\/","title":{"rendered":"2013 Australian Historical Association Conference \u2013 The Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_4290\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4290\" style=\"width: 584px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stumblingpast.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/session-titles-wordcloud.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-4290   \" alt=\"A word cloud of the titles of papers delivered during the concurrent sessions at the conference.\" src=\"http:\/\/stumblingpast.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/session-titles-wordcloud.jpg?w=584\" width=\"584\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/session-titles-wordcloud.jpg 1339w, https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/session-titles-wordcloud-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/session-titles-wordcloud-1024x614.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/session-titles-wordcloud-768x461.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4290\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A word cloud of the titles of papers delivered during the concurrent sessions at the conference.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This month I have been blogging and tweeting about the recent conference of the Australian Historical Association held in Wollongong.\u00a0 However, a blog post about one or two sessions does not give the overall context of the conference and can lead to a distorted impression of it.\u00a0 In this post I will look at the entire conference program and thus help you build a picture of historians at work in Australia.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>The Conference Program<\/h2>\n<p>The conference attracted historians from around Australia and New Zealand and further afield.\u00a0 Over 250 papers were delivered in 91 sessions over four days. \u00a0I described it as a feast of history and it certainly was!<\/p>\n<p>The conference theme was \u2018mobilities and mobilisations in history\u2019.\u00a0 This was reflected in the keynote addresses and plenary panel:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2018<a title=\"The Resident Judge of Port Phillip\" href=\"http:\/\/residentjudge.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/09\/aha-conference-tuesday-9th-july\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mobilities and Mobilisations in History<\/a>\u2019 \u2013 Dr Frances Steel (University of Wollongong), Dr Penelope Edmonds (University of Tasmania) and Associate Professor Catharine Coleborne (University of Waikato).<\/li>\n<li>\u2018<a title=\"The Resident Judge of Port Phillip\" href=\"http:\/\/residentjudge.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/09\/aha-conference-tuesday-9th-july\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Unsettling the Settlers:\u00a0 Colonial mobility as a problem and a problematic<\/a>\u2019 \u2013 Professor Tony Ballantyne (University of Otago).<\/li>\n<li>\u2018<a title=\"The Resident Judge of Port Phillip\" href=\"http:\/\/residentjudge.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/10\/aha-conference-10th-july-2013\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ocean, Motion, Emotion: Mobilities and mobilizations in History<\/a>\u2019 \u2013 Professor Matt Matsuda (Rutgers University)<\/li>\n<li>\u2018Twenty Women Traveling to Korea in 1951: WIDF Peace Activism and its Consequences\u2019 \u2013 Professor Francisca de Haan (Central European University)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Indigenous history is a core theme in Australian history and there has been some impressive work produced by Australian historians over the last twenty years.\u00a0 Quite rightly indigenous history received prominent attention at this conference through the plenary panel \u2018<a title=\"The Resident Judge of Port Phillip\" href=\"http:\/\/residentjudge.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/11\/australian-historical-association-conference-11-july\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rethinking Indigenous Histories<\/a>\u2019 and a number of concurrent sessions.<\/p>\n<p>The concurrent sessions comprised the body of the conference.\u00a0 At any one time there were up to ten sessions running. Two or three papers would be delivered in each session.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the papers were grouped in themes.\u00a0 These themes were highlighted in the program and ran over several sessions throughout the conference.\u00a0 The themes were:<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"187\"><b>Theme<\/b><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"123\"><b>Number of Papers<\/b><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\"><b>Some Topics Covered<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"187\">War and Society<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"123\">41<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\"><a title=\"Fresh Observations of War and\u00a0Military\" href=\"http:\/\/stumblingpast.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/11\/military-mobilisations\/\">Chaplains, Chinese labourers and peacekeepers<\/a>; <a title=\"The Resid\" href=\"http:\/\/residentjudge.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/10\/aha-conference-10th-july-2013\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">children<\/a>; colonial wars; conscription; prisoners of war; Russians, home fronts during WWI; role of museums in remembering WWI; nationalism; women<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"187\">Australian Women\u2019s History Network<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"123\">24<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Work; media; politics of maternal and child welfare; transnational feminist politics; constructing and challenging hierarchies; narrating and debating dress<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"187\">Asian-Australian Histories<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"123\">15<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Australia and India; Australia\u2019s Asian engagements; <a title=\"The Resident Judge of Port Phillip\" href=\"http:\/\/residentjudge.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/09\/aha-conference-tuesday-9th-july\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chinese agency<\/a>; Malay world histories; White Australia and White Canada<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"187\">Environmental History<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"123\">14<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Environmental preservation and degradation; landscape, drought; pollution<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"187\">Religious History<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"123\">10<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Biographies; ideas and demography; the frontier and early colonial societies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"187\">Tom Stannage<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"123\">8<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Aboriginal history; colonial archives and readership; public attacks on historical research; academics, history and museums.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"187\">Teaching and Learning History<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"123\">3<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>It is hardly surprising that the theme, \u2018War and Society\u2019, was the biggest stream at the conference.\u00a0 In the lead-up to the centenary of WWI the government has been giving war history priority in their funding allocations.\u00a0 The President of the Australian Historical Association, Professor Marilyn Lake, and other historians have voiced their concern at how government has prioritised war history over other forms of history in Australia.\u00a0 There is a great need for us to re-examine this history but there is also a need to re-examine other aspects of our history also.<\/p>\n<p>While some papers were grouped in themes, most were not.\u00a0 Nearly fifty sessions of these papers were held.\u00a0 This is where the wonderfully diverse nature of history was demonstrated.\u00a0 There is a history about every aspect of human life.\u00a0 We just need to think of the questions to ask.\u00a0 In these sessions historians discussed the histories of adoption, medicine and Australia\u2019s relationship with the Pacific.\u00a0 Convict history and exploration are topics that you would expect to be included but there were also sessions on tourism as well as domestic food consumption and production. Other interesting topics included <a title=\"The Resident Judge of Port Phillip\" href=\"http:\/\/residentjudge.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/11\/australian-historical-association-conference-11-july\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fame and celebrity<\/a>, history and film, history on the web and <a title=\"PHA NSW blog\" href=\"http:\/\/www.phansw.org.au\/public-service-the-role-of-history-and-historians-in-government\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the role of history and historians in the government<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It was fitting that the conference ended with a plenary panel of interest to all historians, \u2018big Questions in History: \u2018Who is our audience?\u2019\u201d.\u00a0 As I wrote in my post, &#8216;<a title=\"Historians Ask: Who is our\u00a0audience?\" href=\"http:\/\/stumblingpast.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/24\/historians-ask-who-is-our-audience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Historians Ask: Who is our audience?<\/a>&#8216;, this session demonstrated how historians are reaching out to non-academic audiences in a variety of creative ways and the discussion afterwards indicates that historians are very interested in this topic.<\/p>\n<p>While the focus of this post is on what history was discussed at the conference it is also important to recognise that it is people who make a conference happen.\u00a0 This is a collegial effort.\u00a0 There were 261 speakers listed on the program and many of these people also contributed by chairing a session. Women comprised 64% of the speakers at the conference, six of the thirteen speakers in the main conference sessions (the keynotes and the plenary panels) were women.\u00a0 This adds to the picture I have gained through <a title=\"Female Historians and Book Reviews in Academic\u00a0Journals\" href=\"http:\/\/stumblingpast.wordpress.com\/2012\/05\/15\/female-historians-and-book-reviews-in-academic-journals\/\">my survey of book reviews in academic journals<\/a> and my own experience studying and researching history.\u00a0 Women and men both make significant contributions as historians in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>This is the second conference of the Australian Historical Association I have attended.\u00a0 I enjoy hearing stimulating and diverse papers which challenge my thinking.\u00a0 It is also wonderful to mix with people who get the same thrill out of working with archival material as I do and with whom I can discuss my work.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4292\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4292\" style=\"width: 584px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stumblingpast.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/dscn9782-matt-matsuda-georgine-clarsen-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-4292 \" alt=\"Professor Matt Matsuda and conference convenor, Dr Georgine Clarsen at the end of the conference.\" src=\"http:\/\/stumblingpast.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/dscn9782-matt-matsuda-georgine-clarsen-2.jpg?w=584\" width=\"584\" height=\"438\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4292\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor Matt Matsuda and Dr Georgine Clarsen at the end of the conference.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>These conferences are held due to the hard work of the conference organising committee. I am grateful for the work so many people put into this conference. Conference convenor, Dr Clarsen is impressive. She maintained her good humour throughout an exhausting week.\u00a0 I had wanted to get photos of some of the other people who worked behind the scenes to make the conference happen but they were too busy to stand around waiting for their photos to be taken!<\/p>\n<p>It seems appropriate to end this post with a message to the organising committee:<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">Thankyou!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\" align=\"center\"><em>This is part 1 in a three part series giving an overview of the 2013 Australian Historical Association Conference:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Part 1 &#8211; this post<\/li>\n<li>Part 2 &#8211; <a title=\"2013 Australian Historical Association Conference \u2013 on social\u00a0media\" href=\"http:\/\/stumblingpast.wordpress.com\/2013\/08\/01\/2013-australian-historical-association-conference-on-social-media\/\">2013 Australian Historical Association Conference &#8211; on social media<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Part 3 &#8211; <a title=\"Stumbling Through the Future\" href=\"http:\/\/stumblingfuture.wordpress.com\/2013\/08\/01\/analysis-of-ozha2013\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Analysis of #OzHA2013<\/a> &#8211; where I share the data and methodology I used for this analysis of the conference program and social media.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the first of a three part series of posts giving an overview of the recent conference of the Australian Historical Association.  With over 260 speakers and over 90 sessions, this conference delivered a wealth of history.  I have examined the entire program and identified the key themes and issues addressed.  The conference program demonstrates the diversity of history &#8211; there is something to interest everyone.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,7],"tags":[43,106,194],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Yvonne Perkins","author_link":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/author\/yvonne\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4286"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7123,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4286\/revisions\/7123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}