CFP
Association for Scottish Literary Studies
Stirling, Scotland
July 3–5, 2015
Deadline: January 30, 2015

“Empires and Revolutions: R. B. Cunninghame Graham and other Scottish writers on Globalisation and Democracy, c. 1850–1950”

The European age of empires is marked by encounter, exchange, conflict and mobility on an unprecedented global scale, which launched a process of globalisation that continues to the present day. However, the expansion of authoritarian empires and capitalist systems across the world is also inextricably linked with the birth and diffusion of revolutionary discourses (in terms of race, nation or social class): the quest for emancipation; political independence; economic equality.

R. B. Cunninghame Graham (1852–1936), in both his life and his oeuvre, most effectively represents the complex interaction between imperial and revolutionary discourses in this dramatic period. Of mixed Scottish and Spanish family background, he was bilingual in English and Spanish, lived in Britain, Belgium and Argentina, and travelled in South and North America, Spain and North Africa. His travels and migrations correspond with current interest in Scottish involvements with European imperialisms. At the same time, Cunninghame Graham’s involvement in the Scottish Home Rule movement and the nationalist parties can be seen as part of an ‘anticolonial’ initiative which sets these Scottish political trends in relation to international anticolonial movements in Ireland, India and Africa.

This 2015 conference aims to promote inter-disciplinary scholarly engagement with Cunnighame Graham and his time, with particular emphasis on issues of:

• globalisation
• empire
• colonialism and postcolonialism
• democracy
• civil rights
• social justice.

Conference organizers also invite papers on other Scottish writers and intellectuals who engaged with these themes between 1850 and 1950.

The conference organizers warmly welcome contributions from scholars and PhD students in the fields of Scottish Studies, English Literary Studies, Irish Studies or Postcolonial Studies. The organizers also invite proposals from any other disciplinary backgrounds in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Abstracts (not longer than 300 words) for 20-minute papers should be submitted by Friday January 30, 2015 by email. Please submit a short biographical note (c. 100 words) along with your abstract. Submissions should be made directly to both conference convenors:

Professor Carla Sassi (University of Verona, Italy) carla.sassi@univr.it 

Dr Silke Stroh (Universities of Muenster and Mainz/Germersheim, Germany) 
silke.stroh@uni-muenster.de

For more information: http://asls.arts.gla.ac.uk/AnnConf2015CFP.html