Conference: Rural History 2010

Until now, there has never been an international forum dedicated to the study of rural history in all its forms. The British Agricultural History Society is aware of the diversity of work being undertaken in the field, sometimes in cognate disciplines such as gender or development studies or under the banner of rural sociology or environmental history, perhaps institutionally separated from the historical mainstream by being undertaken in social science faculties, agricultural colleges or NGOs. It is also keenly aware that the current difficulties in the world's agrarian economies – with the development of new markets, the sudden appearance of high prices, the spread of innovative and controversial technologies, the impact of land reform and the threat of long-term climatic change – may well draw renewed attention to the discipline. Within Europe, the post-productivist countryside may yet turn out to be an interlude rather than the final stage in rural development. Whilst we acknowledge the pioneering work of the European networks; CORN, for the Rural History of the North sea area—the COST-funded project Progressore for the European Union; the Rural History Network embedded within the European Social Science History Conference and the Arbeitskreis für Agrargeschichte — all of which have developed European connections, the Society now wishes to develop, deepen and internationalise these contacts. We have therefore taken the initiative to convene the first international open meeting dedicated solely to rural history. This will take place in September 2010 at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. We hope to receive sufficient support from the rural history community for the conference to run over three days with three or four parallel sessions.

This meeting will be open to all rural historians as well as those primarily interested in viewing contemporary conditions and likely future developments with a knowledge of the past. The conference does not accept that rural history has any single definition, nor does it admit any bounds, and the conference has no intellectual affiliation. It is open to those approaching rural history from any perspective, ranging from those of archaeology, anthropology and ethnography through rural geography, landscape studies and rural sociology to post-modern cultural approaches to the countryside. It will be equally concerned with the countryside as a place of production of foodstuffs as with as the countryside as a place of consumption of leisure and the location of heritage and national memory. Papers will be welcomed on all periods from the prehistoric to the very modern; and there are no geographical limitations on the area of study. Comparative discussions which deal with rural society as a whole will be especially welcome, together with accounts which seek parallels between present day agrarian problems and the past.
It is intended that the conference should be the first in a series of biennial or triennial conferences and the Brighton conference will be the occasion when either a European rural history society or a continuation committee of some sort will be formed.

The timetable for the conference will be as follows:
Nominations for the scientific committee should be received from national and international societies, or individuals who wish to serve on the committee. The Society has nominated the editor of Agricultural History Review, Richard Hoyle, Professor of Rural History in the University of Reading, UK, as its chairman. It has also invited the chairmen of the three existing European networks, Professor Erik Thoen (University of Ghent), Dr Gerard Beaur (CNRS, Paris) and Dr Anton Schuurman Wageningen) to join the committee ex-officio. In enlarging the committee, the Society is especially eager to receive nominations from outside north-western Europe and from those working in emerging or non-traditional fields of rural history. All national societies and communities are asked to send their nominations to the chair of the British Agricultural History Society, Dr Paul Brassley, with short cvs of their nominees, by 1 December 2008.

A call for papers will be circulated with the names of the scientific committee about Easter 2009. We invite proposals for two or three paper sessions or even linked sessions. In this event we require the names of the chairman and speakers, a short abstract of each paper (150-200 words) and a short cv of each participant including the chairman (150-200 words each). We intend to make provision on the conference website for potential session organisers to canvass for support from others interested in contributing to their area of expertise. Proposals may also be made for individual papers where, again, an abstract of 150-200 words and a short cv should be supplied. 
The call for papers is expected to close on 1 December 2009, with a provisional programme announced in February/March 2010.

The Society has established  a conference committee, chaired by Dr Nicola Verdon of the University of Sussex,
which will make the local arrangements. Accommodation will be provided at the University of Sussex which is situated at Falmer, a few miles from Brighton. Brighton is a 30-40 minute train ride from Gatwick Airport and roughly 50 minutes from central London. Brighton is an attractive seaside town which, from the early nineteenth-century onwards, has had a rakish reputation. For those who prefer accommodation off-campus, there is plenty of choice in Brighton itself.

For a list of university approved guest hotels and hotels, see www.sussex.ac.uk/about/hotels or see visitbrighton.com for further details. Falmer is also on the edge of the South Downs, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Some delegates to the conference may therefore wish to extend their visit to a holiday and explore Brighton itself, the surrounding countryside and coast, or London.
A conference website is under construction and will be launched later in 2008. For the moment, expressions of interest or queries can be directed to Prof. Richard Hoyle, r.w.hoyle@reading.ac.uk,Dr Nicola Verdon. n.j.verdon@sussex.ac.uk, or the chairman of the Society, Dr Paul Brassley, p.brassley@plymouth.ac.uk.

(Source: http://www.bahs.org.uk/rh2010cfp.htm, revision 22 August 2008)