During times of great conflict and change, historians seek to understand how past generations have responded not only with acquiescence and complicity but also with resilience and resistance. The 24th annual UMaineUNB History Graduate Student Conference seeks to facilitate discourse on how resilience and resistance shape the ways that diverse groups of people have responded to individual and collective challenges.
This conference is open to all graduate students and recent graduates studying historical topics across disciplinary boundaries. We encourage proposals examining any temporal period or geographic area that contribute to discussions around resilience and resistance and challenging so-called norms. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
Historiography and education
Social and cultural history
Gender and sexuality
Imperialism and colonialism
Reconciliation and reparations
Indigenous history
War, conflict and peace
Politics and economics
Health and medicine
Disability history
Museums, art, and literature
Religion and spirituality
Science, technology, and the environment
The conference committee welcomes submissions of individual papers and panels. Individual paper proposals should include a 250-word abstract along with a 150-word biography. Panels may include a maximum of three papers and submissions should include a 250-word abstract and a 150-word biography for each participant as well as a panel title.
Please email proposals to Bradley Shoebottom at bradley.shoebottom@unb.ca by January 5th, 2026. Applicants are encouraged to participate in person but should indicate whether they plan to attend in-person or virtually.