Voluntary Action History Society’s 8TH International Conference: ‘New Ways of Doing Voluntary Action History?’

Call for Papers extended to 28 February 2025

The Conference will explore the historical development of voluntary action in all its variety in terms of subjects, types of activity, time periods, locations and uses.  For the first time, it will foreground our sources and methodologies and the challenges arising from ‘critical’ rethinking of subjects; ongoing debates about the efficacy of empirical and theoretical approaches; changes in the context of research such as different sources of funding, issues of autonomy, social responsibility and academic freedom; and the expectations of unfamiliar audiences. The changes in our environment suggest that we cannot remain ‘the way we were’ but should embrace – at least to a debatable extent – new ways of doing voluntary action history.

We are looking for an eclectic mix of papers which:

• approach voluntary action history from local, national, international or transnational perspectives
• explore subjects in a range of time periods, from the Middle Ages (or earlier) to the near-history of the twenty-first century
• are accessible to a broad audience of practitioners, activists, students, academics and people who are just interested in the subject

We would especially value assessments of traditional ways and explorations of new and innovative ways of doing voluntary action history. For more information please visit the VAHS website:

https://www.vahs.org.uk/events/conferences/

For any queries please contact vahsconference@gmail.com