Call For Papers

Humanities Undergraduate Research Symposium: Call For Papers

Conference on Friday, March 29, 2024.

Proposals due Friday, March 1, 2024.

Have you written an excellent paper for a course that you wish had wider recognition? Do you have an idea that excites you but hasn’t yet been fully explored? Do you want to gain experience in public speaking? Most importantly, do you want to deepen your understanding of the major problems and questions you encounter everyday? 

The Humanities Undergraduate Research Symposium (HURS) celebrates the contributions of our undergraduate students to an ever-evolving dialogue of thought by providing a platform to share new knowledge and encourage pursuing more advanced research. 

We welcome submissions from any discipline in the arts and humanities. We invite 200–300-word essay abstracts on projects, which may include research papers, poetry, short video screenings, and artistic and musical performances. On panels, each panelist will deliver a 10-15 minute presentation, panelists will provide responses and ask questions to their fellow panelists, and audience members will engage with panelists in open dialogues. 

We are looking for applicants who expect to have accomplished humanities research in their coursework or individual projects by March 1, 2024. 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: 

  • Art, Attention, and Media
    • Examples of presentations may include:
      • Art and music, composition, dance
      • Multimedia, graphic design, and digital humanities (journalism)
      • The future of humanities
      • Filmmaking and documentary
  • Literature and Storytelling
    • Examples of presentations may include:
      • Or literary forms and genres (or literary forms and narrative)
      • Poetry and prose (researching historic poetry or prose or exploring researched themes through original poetry or prose)
  • Collective Memory and Social Movements
    • Examples of presentations may include:
      • Public history
      • History, memory, and politics
      • Activism
      • Social media and technology
  • Environment, Place, and Legacy
    • Examples of presentations may include:
      • Sustainability, innovations, technology, the future
      • Migration, environmental justice, geographic borders
      • Nature writing and environmental appreciation
  • Humanities Education
    • Examples of presentations may include:
      • The humanities in schools and/or the classroom
      • Innovative teaching practices for humanistic disciplines
      • Interdisciplinary humanities learning

 

Fields/disciplines under discussion may include, but are not limited to:

  1. Africana Studies
  2. American Sign Language Studies
  3. American Studies
  4. Anthropology
  5. Arabic and Islamic Civilizations
  6. Asian and Asian American Studies
  7. Art History
  8. Chinese
  9. Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
  10. English
  11. French
  12. German
  13. History
  14. Human Rights
  15. Individualized Majors
  16. Italian Literary and Cultural Studies
  17. Journalism
  18. Judaic Studies
  19. Latino and Latin American Studies
  20. Languages, Cultures, and Literatures
  21. Maritime Studies
  22. Philosophy
  23. Spanish
  24. Urban and Community Studies
  25. Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

 

Abstract submissions are due by March 1, 2024. Please include the following as a .pdf in an email to hurs@uconn.edu with the subject line: [FULL NAME]: TITLE OF PRESENTATION.

  • First name, last name, pronouns
  • UConn email, NetID
  • Major(s), minor(s), concentration(s), graduation
  • Campus, faculty mentor
  • Abstract
  • Theme
  • Availability on March 29, 2024
  • Yes or no: Consent to recording, consent to distributing, and consent to live-streaming