History Workshop Online is looking for contributors for our redesigned online magazine. The new online magazine will post weekly articles – rotating between smaller posts in sections such as Why My Research Matters, Radical Objects and Histories of the Present (see below for further details) and a monthly long-form feature.
We are seeking expressions of interest from people with ideas for feature articles or roundtable discussions around topics of interest to History Workshop communities. Features we have run in the past include roundtable discussions on significant works of history (such as Mark Mazower’s Governing the World); and articles on practices relating to historical conservation (like a recent feature on post-disaster archiving in Japan). Please get in touch with editors Julia Laite and Mark Pendleton via hwoeditors@historyworkshop.org.uk with ideas. We welcome contributions which fit with the mandate of History Workshop Online and are from a range of geographical areas and historical contexts. We also encourage submissions that supplement or supplant text with images, audio and video.
HWO, edited by the History Workshop Journal editorial collective, seeks to provide a space for academic historians, early career and doctoral researchers, archivists, curators, and heritage practitioners to share their thoughts on history writ large and to reflect upon the present uses of the past. It also seeks to encourage the participation of grassroots organizations, community groups, family historians, and other interested members of the public in these conversations. We encourage contributions that are radical, political, contentious and accessible. We explicitly want to connect radical history to social, political, and cultural issues and problems in the present day. HWO provides a space where historians and historically-minded people can passionately, professionally, and personally engage with the histories that shape our understanding of the past and the present.
Why My Research Matters:
“Why My Research Matters” invites doctoral candidates and early career researchers in any field of history, archaeology or related discipline to reflect in 500-800 words on that perennial question–’Why does this matter’? We encourage you to think about how your work informs wider social, cultural, and political issues and to write frankly and reflectively about your research for an informed, general readership. Potential contributors are asked to send an expression of interest to the HWO editors via hwoeditors@historyworkshop.org.uk and ideally include a sample post.
Radical Objects:
One of HWO’s most popular sections is ‘Radical Objects’, in which historians, archaeologists, curators, archivists, and members of the public explore the radical histories of pieces of material culture. In recent months we’ve featured prominent transgender activist April Ashley’s birth certificate; the reemergence of the ‘Gandhi cap’ in contemporary India; and the menu for a House of Commons dinner with a South African deputation that later took on major roles in the African National Congress. This section will continue in the new magazine as a monthly post. Do you have a object or a piece of ephemera in your collection that is connected to an important ‘history from below’, or which reflects the broader aims of the History Workshop? Have you come across such an object in the archive or written about it in your own work? We would love to hear from you.
Histories of the Present:
Through a monthly ‘Histories of the Present’ section, the new HWO invites historians and historically-minded people to reflect upon the way that history informs contemporary affairs and/or apply historical methodologies to understanding issues today. These contributions are meant to be short (about 1000 words) and engaging. They are intended to provide an informal space in which historians can reflect on and deepen understanding about current affairs related to their research. We are not looking for precise expertise or clear policy suggestions, but rather wish to encourage those with a historically critical eye to bring some radical historical perspective into present day debates. Contributions can be academic, but they can also be contentious, argumentative, and even humorous.
If you are interested in being a contributor to any of these sections, please send expressions of interest to hwoeditors@historyworkshop.org.uk.
