H-HistGeog: New posted content
CFP: Infrastructures of Empire and Empires of Infrastructure in the Age of Fossil Fuel Take Off [Announcement]
Call for Papers: Infrastructures of Empire and Empires of Infrastructure in the Age of Fossil Fuel Take Off
April 16-17, 2027 Conference
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
Convenors: Nathan Cardon, Angela Diaz, Kristin Hoganson, Justin Jackson
The recent infrastructural turn in historical scholarship is poised to transform knowledge of empire in modern world history as well as histories of fossil fuel takeoff. Yet historians of the United States have largely approached questions of infrastructure and empire on separate tracks. This renders the imperial an implicit but unquestioned problem in histories of technology and the infrastructural a subterranean feature of US power. This small workshop-style conference responds to the premise that putting histories of empire and infrastructure into the same frame can illuminate the workings and outcomes of power. Among these are inequalities that persist into the present, as well as the overlooked historical foundations of the unfolding climate crisis.
The conference brings together the disparate historiographies of empire, infrastructure, and energy history. By linking the history of fossil-fuel dependence and promoting infrastructures to contemporaneous histories of imperialist power relations, this conference aims to foster a deeper and wider understanding of the material and ideological roots of these relations and their role in launching modern fossil fuel regimes.
This conference centers on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a span marked by the U.S. ascent to superpower status and, not coincidentally, a massive global upswing in fossil fuel use. We are especially interested in the U.S. history angle to this topic because of the preponderance of U.S. power in the making of the high emissions “American century.” However, the aim of situating U.S. history more fully in global history means that we are as interested in imperial transitions as in energy transitions, and we welcome papers that decenter the United States and provide crucial international, transnational, and comparative context.
In addition to gathering historians who work across an array of geographies, we aim to gather historians across a variety of methods and fields, including diplomatic, military, and political history; social, intellectual, and cultural history; and histories of colonialism, postcolonialism, indigeneity, labor, capitalism, technology, energy, landscape architecture, and the environment. We especially invite papers that address each of the three main themes of the conference (empire, infrastructure, and energy).
Applicants are encouraged to broadly conceptualize empire, colonialism, infrastructure, and energy as categories of historical analysis and narrative. Papers that prompt reflection on periodization and themes such as the relation between structure and agency, technopolitics, resistance, and other relations of power are particularly welcome.
This conference is being supported by the Birmingham-Illinois Partnership for Discovery, Engagement, and Education, and funding for travel will be available. To be considered, please submit a brief abstract, no more than 250 words in length, and a c.v. of no more than two pages, by Aug. 15, 2026. Although this will be largely an in-person conference, remote participation is a possibility. If you would prefer to participate remotely, please state that in your application. Doctoral candidates who are ABD and early career scholars are particularly encouraged to apply. Applications should be sent to: n.ca...@bham.ac.uk, ma...@ilinois.edu, hoga...@illinois.edu, justin....@umass.edu.
Justin Jackson, Lecturer and Visiting Scholar, Dept. of History, UMass Amherst
Hagley History Hangout Podcast - New Episode - Susquehanna Steam: Three Centuries of Speculation in Northeastern Pennsylvania with Nancy Campbell [Announcement]
Hagley History Hangout Podcast - New Episode - Susquehanna Steam: Three Centuries of Speculation in Northeastern Pennsylvania with Nancy Campbell
Tune in here or wherever you find your podcasts: https://www.hagley.org/research/history-hangout-nancy-campbell
From the 1750s to the present day, Salem Township in northeastern Pennsylvania has been a site of financial speculation and the social changes it sets in motion.
In her latest book project, Dr. Nancy Campbell, professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, uncovers the many superimposed layers of speculation and extraction that have left Salem Township with a complex series of social legacies and infrastructures. From land wars and coal mines, to nuclear plants and data centers, Campbell traces three centuries of speculation in one small location.
In support of her research Dr. Campbell received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. For more information, and more Hagley History Hangouts, visit us online at hagley.org.
To make a donation underwriting this program and others like it please visit our donations page.
Dr. Gregory A. Hargreaves
Assistant Director
Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society
Hagley Museum and Library
The 