Universities Studying Slavery Events

At This Place: History, Race, and A Way Forward - USS Spring 2023 Conference

The University of North Carolina and its Commission on History, Race, and A Way Forward will host the Spring 2023 Universities Studying Slavery Conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The University of North Carolina Commission on History, Race, and A Way Forward is charged with exploring and teaching UNC’s history with race, and to provide recommendations on how the university must reckon with its historical relationship with slavery, the dispossession of Indigenous lands, and the promulgation of white supremacy. Its work focuses on research and scholarship, curriculum development and pedagogy, public history, and ethical community engagement. The effort aspires to think critically about the ways that history can be put to work in the present to shape a more just and equitable future.

Taking inspiration from this charge, the Spring Conference theme is "At This Place: History, Race, and a Way Forward." Organizers invite participants to share ongoing work in their institutions and communities, with an eye to informing a collective conversation about race, reckoning, and repair. The Commission welcomes contributions from scholars, students, community partners and organizations, artists, librarians and archivists, museum professionals, and others who are engaged in this shared endeavor.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Decolonizing institutional archives

  • Reckoning with spaces of memory and sites of conscience

  • Centering descendant voices and community-led initiatives

  • Tracing histories of student and community activism

  • Deploying critical pedagogies in the classroom and public square

  • Translating historical awareness into institutional priorities

  • Navigating the challenges of institutional governance

Organizers are eager to celebrate successes, and to learn from disappointments. They are also deeply interested in forms of participation that expand the scope of a typical scholarly conference, including dance and performance, public readings and conversations, art installations, and film. Presentation proposals will be accepted here: Proposal Submissions Form. Submissions are due by November 14, 2022. Presenters will be notified by late December 2022 if their proposal has been selected.

Email any questions to: historyandrace.unc@gmail.com