Crowns and Colonies: Monarchies and Colonial Empires 
Department of History, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney
11-13 June, 2014

Keynote address: Professor Miles Taylor, Director of the Institute for Historical Research, University of London, on Queen Victoria and India

From the time of Alexander the Great and the Roman Caesars down to the empire of Queen Victoria and beyond, monarchism and imperialism have often been linked – indeed, republican colonial empires have been notable exceptions in international history. Napoleon III dreamed of constructing an ‘Arab kingdom’, Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India, King Leopold created his own realm the Congo, and Italy’s King Victor Emmanuel III was named Emperor of Ethiopia. Even today the Commonwealth of Nations is bound together by the figure of the British monarch, and the Danish queen reigns over Greenland and the Faeroe Islands.

Outside of Europe, as well, monarchs ruled over disparate peoples, their hereditary and often sacred positions bringing together under a crown the empires of China, Japan, the Ottoman state and several pre-colonial African empires. Non-Western monarchs – Zulu chieftains, Indian maharajahs, Emperor Haile Selassie, the king of Korea among others – were themselves often displaced by imperial conquest. Nationalist movements sometimes campaigned for the restoration of dynasties, at other times for abandonment of ‘feudal’ rule.

This international conference, and a proposed collection of essays commissioned from participants, explores the links between crowned rulers and their colonial possessions. Paper proposals are invited on any historical period or region.

Themes may include but are not limited to:

• different theories of kingship in relation to colonial empire;
• royal initiatives in colonial expansion and patronage of colonial expeditions, chartered companies and learned societies;
• the legal position and prerogatives of monarchs in colonial systems;
• interventions by monarchs in colonial politics and governance;
• royal visits to colonies (and visits by colonial rajas, sultans and other rulers to colonial metropoles);
• royal personages in the colonial military and administration; representations of monarchs in colonies (statues, buildings, artwork) and commemoration of royal births, anniversaries and deaths; royal honours, decorations and investitures;
• movements for the restoration of indigenous dynasties abolished by colonial authorities;
• the repercussions of metropolitan and nationalist republicanism and dissolution of monarchies in the colonial world;
• and links between former colonies and monarchies (as in the Commonwealth).

Please send proposals of papers by 15 February 2014 to: Professor Robert Aldrich and Dr Cindy McCreery: Click here to email

Please include the following:

1. Your academic or professional affiliation and full contact details (email, telephone and postal address)
2. The title of your proposed presentation
3. A 250-word abstract
4. A one-page cv or list of your major publications

Please note that there will be no registration fee for the conference. There will be a conference dinner at participants’ own expense.

Landmarks in Printing: from Origins to the Digital Age
St Bride Library, London
13-14 November 2014

In 2014, the Printing Historical Society will commemorate its fiftieth anniversary and its role in the encouragement of printing history. To celebrate this milestone, the Society will host several events, foremost of which is a two-day conference on the theme of ‘Landmarks in Printing: from origins to the digital age’.

The Society invites papers that cover all aspects of the printing arts and industry, including the cultural, practical and technical achievements of the craft. It is anticipated that papers will consider not only the history of the subject, but also its theory and practice and will be drawn from a wide body of speakers that may include printers, graphic designers, typographers, publishers, papermakers, librarians, collectors, booksellers, bookbinders and historians of all relevant fields.

Papers are welcome from scholars, practitioners or students. Applicants should submit a 300-word proposal in Word format, together with a short curriculum vitae. All applications and questions to PHS Honorary Secretary, Francis Cave: francis@franciscave.com

Closing date: 12:00-noon, 28 February, 2014.

The Association of Celtic Studies Students of Ireland and Britain
Second Annual Conference
University of Aberystwyth
Saturday 22nd March 2014

The aim of the Association is to bring together students of Celtic from across the different Celtic languages and countries, in order to promote and defend the discipline and the languages themselves. We seek to encourage the study of these languages by students, and to emphasise the interdisciplinary and multi-lingual nature of Celtic Studies as an academic field.

We invite proposals for 15-minute papers on any subject relating to the Celtic languages and their attendant literatures and cultures from students of Celtic or related disciplines, both postgraduate and undergraduate.

Papers may be presented in any of the Celtic languages or English. Simultaneous translation will be available for Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and anyone who would like to present in Breton, Manx or Cornish is asked to provide a written English translation of their paper which will be given to attendees if needed to enable them to follow it.

Abstracts should be no more than 200 words in length, and should be submitted by December the 20th. To submit, or for more information, please contact celtic.students.assoc@gmail.com