Victoria Harbour with Hong Kong Island in the background, c.1862. Unknown artist.
International Conference: Port Cities in Comparative Global History: Potentials and Issues
Date: 15-16 June 2023
Venue: Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
Sponsored by Lloyd’s Register Foundation via the University of Portsmouth and the History Department and Modern History Research Centre at the Hong Kong Baptist University
The University of Portsmouth’s ‘Port Towns and Urban Cultures’ group and Hong Kong Baptist University kindly invite papers and contributions from their collaborators and partners to their international conference: Port Cities in Comparative Global History: Potentials and Issues.
The conference aims to explore the emerging scholarship on many aspects of maritime heritage and culture in the public sphere and work towards new partnerships and collaborations, resulting in the development of ideas leading to tangible public history outcomes.
We invite 20-minute papers on the following themes:
- Exploring multi-national maritime histories – work, migration, cultures, public health, and diseases
- Linking to the past – the regeneration of deindustrialized maritime spaces
- The impact of imperial and global factors on our understanding of ‘the past’
- Conserving and protecting maritime heritage sites – threats and opportunities
- Communicating hidden, underexplored, or ‘challenging’ maritime heritages
- Linkages between industrial pasts and environmental futures
We also invite contributions to the following roundtable discussions comprising a 10-minute presentation on the following topics:
- Cross- and trans-disciplinary opportunities for maritime heritage (e.g., practice-based museum professionals, academics, practitioners in the sciences, arts and/or digital technologies)
- New approaches to colonial and imperial histories – reimagining and re-telling stories that restore balance and agency in unequal power relationships
- International collaboration and public engagement between multiple global locations: towards a shared history
Participation:
- The themes and discussions will foster the continuation of a network created in support of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation-sponsored project at the University of Portsmouth, ‘Lloyd’s Register Surveyors in China, 1860-1918’.
- The conference aims to connect practitioners and academics to work towards new opportunities for collaboration and partnership. The event will take place over 3 days, with all participants contributing to the discussions. Visits to Hong Kong heritage sites and opportunities to collaborate on funding applications will also form part of the programme.
- Presenters are to arrange their own travel and accommodation in Hong Kong.
- We especially welcome contributions from museum and heritage professionals, and postgraduate or early career academics.
How to apply:
20-minute papers – Abstracts should be 300 words maximum and can be submitted in English. Please also additionally include the author(s) name, affiliation(s), corresponding email, and a short biography of a maximum of 100 words.
10-minute roundtable presentations – Abstracts should be 100 words maximum and can be submitted in English. Please also additionally include the author(s) name, affiliation(s), corresponding email, and a short biography of a maximum of 100 words.
All submissions should be emailed to portcitiesconference@gmail.com no later than 30 April 2023, with “Port Cities Conference” in the subject line.
The organizing committee will notify applicants by 7 May 2023 if they have been accepted to present.
Download CFP Here : CfP_Port Cities in Comparative Global History_June 2023_Final
About Melanie Bassett
Dr Melanie Bassett is a Faculty Research Fellow at the University of Portsmouth. She manages the PTUC website and social media outputs alongside undertaking her own research on port towns. Her PhD research, ‘The Royal Dockyard Worker in Edwardian England: Culture, Leisure and Empire’ re-examined the concept of a monolithic imperial identity and tracked the nuances of working-class imperialism. She has worked with Professor Brad Beaven on a number of WW1 projects, including ‘Mapping the National Impact of the Jutland Battle: Civic and Community Responses during the First World War’ and ‘Lest We Forget’ in partnership with Portsmouth City Museum, which culminated in a large-scale exhibition that commemorated the ways that Portsmouth and its people experienced the War.
Mel previously worked in museums and was employed at Portsmouth City Museum and the Royal Naval Museum.
Follow Melanie @melanie_bassett
