Humanities Undergraduate Research Symposium: Call For Papers
Conference on March 3, 2023. (Snow / make-up date on March 24th, 2023.)
Proposals due February 13, 2023.
Have you written an excellent paper for a course that you wish had wider recognition? Have you had an idea that excites you but hasn’t yet been fully explored? Would you like to gain experience in dialogue and presentation or a valuable asset to your resume? Most importantly, are you interested in increasing your understanding of the major problems and questions you encounter in the world today?
Literature, philosophy, history, and other humanistic disciplines enable us to raise questions rather than absolute answers, giving nuance to our understanding of culture and society. As we face vulgar inequities and usher in social change, it is essential that we, as a UConn community, spark discourse in these disciplines. We aim to recognize the contributions of our undergraduate students to an ever-evolving dialogue of thought by giving students a platform to celebrate the new knowledge that they have created and to learn more about pursuing more advanced research as a future profession.
The Humanities Undergraduate Research Symposium (HURS) welcomes submissions from any discipline that intersects with the academic study of human culture. The symposium will feature a keynote presentation by Professor Sarah Willen, as well as informational panels on humanities research at UConn and beyond.
We invite 200–300-word essay abstracts on completed or in-progress 5–10-page research papers. Some student papers will be placed on panels, with each panelist giving a 10–15-minute reading of their research paper, while others will be placed on roundtables, with each participant informally presenting their research in response to questions and others’ dialogue.
We are looking for applicants who expect to have accomplished humanities-related research in the form of coursework or individual projects by February 5, 2023. We invite ALL interested to submit their work and attend, no matter their major(s), so long as the abstract in question concerns humanities-related themes. Both the abstract and research should be understandable by academics beyond the specific discipline of your research. Students from all UConn campuses are welcome. We encourage submissions from works in progress as well as finished papers.
We are especially interested in papers addressing the following themes, but authors are not limited to these themes:
- Antiracism and Social Justice
- Art, Attention, and Media
- Belonging and Social Binaries
- Cultural Identities and Heritage
- Human Beings, Consciousness, and Meaning
- Migration and Crossing Borders
- Sustainability, Technology, and the Future
Fields/disciplines under discussion may include, but are not limited to:
- Africana Studies
- American Sign Language Studies
- American Studies
- Anthropology
- Arabic and Islamic Civilizations
- Asian and Asian American Studies
- Art History
- Chinese
- Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
- English
- French
- German
- History
- Human Rights
- Individualized Majors
- Italian Literary and Cultural Studies
- Journalism
- Judaic Studies
- Latino and Latin American Studies
- Languages, Cultures, and Literatures
- Maritime Studies
- Philosophy
- Spanish
- Urban and Community Studies
- Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Submissions are due by February 13, 2023. Please send an application as a .pdf in an email to hurs@uconn.edu with the subject line: [FULL NAME]: TITLE OF PRESENTATION. In your application, please provide the following information:
- First and last name
- Pronouns
- UConn email
- NetID
- Major(s), minor(s), concentration(s)
- Graduation year
- Campus
- Title of your paper
- Your 200-300 word paper abstract
- Theme from our list that you feel best fits your paper
- Availability on March 3rd, 2023
- Consent to recording (yes or no)
- Consent to live-streaming (yes or no)