Cities in print: Historiography and representation in urban history

Cities in print: Historiography and representation in urban history
A research colloquium to be held at the School of History, University of Liverpool, 19/20 September 2008.
This colloquium will bring together a small group of scholars working on urban history, representation and historiography. It will assess the portrayal of urban places and communities in print, interrogating the image and self-image of cities through
successive periods of commentary. Just as competing visions of cities have always been presented in contemporary publications, so specialist historiographies devised by generations of scholars vie for ownership of typologies, classifications and conceptualisations of space, place and society. The colloquium will explore these multi-layered and continually-evolving contests over the nature of urbanism.
Proposals offering comparative and/or thematic analysis are welcome, as are case studies in the representation of individual cities where such an approach illuminates wider themes. In order to maintain cohesion, all papers should deal with an extended period of past time, and should not focus exclusively on current urban studies.
The colloquium is hosted by the Liverpool in Print Project (Professor John Belchem, Director). That project is a collaboration between the University of Liverpool and Liverpool Record Office, and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
We aim to produce a collection of essays based on the colloquium, and the timetable has been constructed accordingly:
Deadline for proposals: 30 November 2007 (decisions announced January 2008)
Draft papers due for circulation to all contributors: 1 August 2008
Colloquium: 19/20 September 2008
Final revised papers due: 31 January 2009
Those proposing papers should be willing to meet these deadlines, thus working toward publication in 2009. Papers should not have been published elsewhere. Final editorial decisions will be taken after the colloquium, in consultation with external referees.
The organisers are seeking sponsorship, but contributors should be prepared to meet their own travel and accommodation costs in case we are unsuccessful.
Proposals, consisting of a 1 page abstract and a 1 page CV, should be emailed to G.J.Milne@liv.ac.uk by 30 November 2007.