The 2026-2027 organizing committee for the Harvard Graduate Student Conference on International History (Con-IH) invites graduate students to submit proposals for its annual conference. This year’s theme is Transimperial Histories.
Building on contributions since the 1990s from new imperial history and postcolonial studies, scholars of global and international histories have increasingly looked beyond normative imperial boundaries to incorporate multiple empires within their research. This expansion in scope has allowed for insights into imperial mechanisms otherwise overlooked when empires are studied as singular, contained units or in comparison to other empires. Articulated and popularized most prominently by Daniel Hedinger and Nadin Hée, “Transimperial History” centers on the “3Cs”— connectivity, cooperation, and competition—between and across empires to understand a world in which a multiplicity of imperial powers were, and still are, inextricably linked. A transhistorical approach therefore provides new insights into the production of imperial knowledge, the mobility of anticolonial struggles, and the circulation of people, goods, and ideas across imperial borders. Recent decades have revealed transimperial history to be a timely methodology for contemplating the “crisis of the global” and the resurgence of imperial thinking in our fragmented, multipolar world.
On this theme, Con-IH 2027 seeks to promote cross-disciplinary as well as cross-regional historical approaches. We welcome submissions from individuals at any point in their graduate program, particularly those in the early stages of research, that address one or more of the themes below. It should be considered that this list is only suggestive.
Law
Religion
Textuality
Globalization
Economic and business history
Capitalism
Oceanic and maritime history
Environmental history
Borders and boundaries
Decolonization
Gender
Labor
Race
Migration and diaspora
Culture and identity
Media studies
Accepted papers will be grouped for presentation in roundtables with an expected conference date in March 2027. Each group will receive individual attention from a faculty commentator. Participation in Con-IH presents an unparalleled opportunity to engage in lively and lengthy discussions with an emerging cohort of researchers-in-training from around the world, as well as with faculty from Harvard and elsewhere.
Graduate students interested in participating in the conference should submit a 300-word proposal and one-page Curriculum Vitae in a single PDF document to conih@fas.harvard.edu. Please title your submission “Lastname_ShortTitle.” Proposals must be received by November 13, 2026 in order to be considered. Please note that funding for travel and accommodations cannot be guaranteed at this time. As the date approaches, additional information will be posted on this page.