Social Science History Association (SSHA) 2018

The Urban Network invites proposals for panels and papers for the 2018 Social Science History Association conference, which will be held in Phoenix, Arizona, November 8-11. The members of the Social Science History Association share a common interest in interdisciplinary and systematic approaches to historical research (including, but by no means limited to, sociology, urban planning, geography, demography, economics, and political science.)

The theme of the upcoming conference is “Histories of Disadvantage: Meanings, Mechanisms, and Politics”

The program committee seek panel proposals and papers that examine how history, politics, culture, institutions, and organizational practices shape (and are shaped by) these disadvantages. We also welcome papers that generate historically-informed theory and that thickly describe disadvantaged and disadvantaging life-worlds. We construe the topic of disadvantage broadly, including its causes and consequences as well as the shared understandings held by both the disadvantaged and those facilitating such conditions.

With this in mind, the Urban Network welcomes panels and papers that address the conference theme.  In particular, we encourage submissions (from individual papers to full panels) on the Network’s following planned emphases:

  • Rural-urban migration
  • Sanctuary cities
  • Class formation and the city
  • Urban informality
  • The politics of urban displacement
  • Urbanization in the global South
  • Urban infrastructures, transport and mobility
  • Gendered spaces
  • Disasters and crises in the city
  • Urban environmental history 
  • Urban planning and inequality
  • Racial and ethnic segregation
  • The dynamics of gentrification
  • Shadow cities, urban marginality, poverty, segregation
  • The role of institutions in perpetuating or limiting inequality

While we accept individual paper submissions, proposals for whole panels are highly encouraged.  Ideally, panels should include an organizer, a discussant, and four papers.   Partially organized panels or tables are also welcome as network organizers can work to fill out panels with individual submissions where possible.  

For more information on the meeting, as well as the call for proposals, and Graduate Student Travel Grants Applications, please refer to the SSHA website: http://www.ssha.org or contact the Urban Network chairs: Robin Bartram (rbartram at u.northwestern.edu), Pranathi Diwakar (pranathi at uchicago.edu), and Zachary Levenson (Zachary.Levenson at gmail.com).

Urban Network Social Science History Association