Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine (ANZSHM)

Convenor: Dr Angeline Brasier (ANZSHM Hon Treasurer) and Professor Catharine Coleborne (ANZSHM VP)

This stream invites papers addressing any aspect of medical and health history, in the context of scale. Scale may be interpreted as big or small, local or global phenomena, or as orthodox or non-orthodox in terms of philosophies of disease and health, practice or practitioners. Scale may be expressed through a lens of health policy, governance and politics, or positioned as structural and gendered. Medicine and health are broadly conceived, embracing related areas of practice such as pharmacy, dentistry, nursing and alternative fields. The 2018 AGM of the Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine will be held during the conference week.

Australian Society for Sports History (ASSH)

Convenor: Dr Bruce Coe

The year 2018 is a significant anniversary year for sports historians. For example, fifty years after the Olympic Games in Mexico City, there will be opportunities to explore the Czech athletes’ reactions to the Prague Spring, local student unrest, East Germany competing as a separate nation for the first time, and Black Power protests, or to consider the relationship between politics and sport more broadly. The year is also the centenary of the end of World War I, during which sport was radically affected in Australia and worldwide, and hence further examination of sport and war is encouraged. This stream offers ample opportunities for sports historians to further contribute to historiography, both nationally and internationally.

Religious History Association: Sensory cultures and the communication of belief

Convenors: Associate Professor Katharine Massam (Pilgrim, University of Divinity), Dr Gemma Betros (ANU) and Julie Hotchin (ANU)

Understandings of faith and religious belief can be enriched by exploring the material and sensory heritage through which religions are interpreted and expressed. In this stream, sponsored by the Religious History Association, we are especially interested in how the material aspects of religion (from music and architecture to foodways and clothing) as well as sensory responses to these material forms, express and translate religious commitment across geographical areas, eras of history or between distinct communities, including in cross-cultural and interfaith exchanges. Full call for papers.

History and the National Cultural Collections (GLAM stream)

Convenors: Anne-Marie Conde (NAA) and Louise Douglas (NMA)

Galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs) provide many opportunities to ponder the scale of history. They have always looked after big repositories, but in recent times, electronic access has enabled the exploration of large amounts of data to address new historical questions. Meanwhile the work of understanding the relationship between objects, people and communities continues. On the smallest scale, material culture research and materials analysis can illuminate the history of a single object, the culture that produced it, and the agency it still possesses within that culture. Canberra is home to many GLAMs, and in this stream we aim to bring together historians and GLAM professionals to discuss and share their work.

1968 – 50 years on

Convenors: Dr Guy Hansen (NLA) and Dr Ben Mercer (ANU)

Politics, society, and culture were in a state of turmoil in 1968. Whether it was the war in Vietnam, student demonstrations, the murder of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the Prague Spring, Apollo 8 orbiting the moon, or the blistering power of a Hendrix solo, there was a strong sense that the world was rapidly changing. In this conference stream we will explore the significance of 1968 in world and Australian history. There will also be an opportunity to visit the National Library of Australia’s 1968: Changing Times exhibition which draws on the Library’s wonderful collection of manuscripts, books, music, pictures and ephemera relating to that eventful year.

Green stream

Convenors: Professor Tom Griffiths (ANU) and Dr Julie McIntyre (Newcastle)

The Green Stream is running for the third time this AHA after successful ventures at Ballarat (2016) and Newcastle (2017). It features environmental history – the sort of history which includes nature as an agent, not just background to the historical story, and ranges widely across urban and regional histories, disasters, the inland and the sea, and political and environmental activism. The conference theme of ‘The Scale of History’ lends itself to special scrutiny by environmental historians who have to work across different dimensions of time and space. In Canberra, in addition to normal papers, we are hoping to generate a series of joint forums that will cross streams (for example, Scales of History: from the Local to the Planetary; Australian History in the Great Acceleration; Museums and the Anthropocene).

Exploring the economic past

Convenors: Miesje de Vogel (AWM) and Claire Wright (Wollongong)

Economic history has experienced a renaissance in recent years, with renewed interest from disciplinary partners, policymakers, and the public. This strand seeks to bring together scholars from economic, business, social and cultural history who are using innovative approaches to examine the economic past, and/or are using economic history to make distinctive contributions to historical scholarship and contemporary debate. This stream is supported by the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand (EHSANZ) and the ANU Centre of Economic History. The inaugural The EHSANZ Postgraduate and ECR Development Prize will be awarded at AHA2018 - full details.

The scale of war history in Australia and the world

Convenors: Dr John Connor (ADFA) and Dr Tristan Moss (AWM)

Reflecting the place of Canberra as a centre of the study of war and the military, this stream offers a forum for discussion of the history of conflict, armed forces and the relationship of society to both. This stream encourages papers from scholars studying war from a variety of viewpoints – be they historians of gender, race, violence, operational military history, war and society or memory history. It seeks to question how we define war history, given the variety of terms (such as military history, war and society, and conflict studies). Does war occupy too large a part of Australian history? What new and innovative approaches are being taken in the study of conflict and society in Australia, the region and around the world?