Security and the Sea - CfP extended deadline - 7 July
Posted: Thursday 8th June 2023
Call for Papers: Centre for Port and Maritime History Annual Conference 2023
A hybrid event with physical hosting in central Liverpool (precise venue TBC)
Date: Thursday & Friday, 7 & 8 September 2023.
Conference Theme: Security and the Sea
The 2023 Conference adopts its theme “Security & the Sea” to explore how maritime risks have been navigated in the past and how they continue to be experienced in the present (and with a view to understanding future challenges). From the hybrid design of the Spanish Manila Galleon for the European colonisation of the Americas, to rapidly developing drone technology to deter Houthi attacks on UN grain vessels, physical objects, practices, and stories are important artefacts that reflect how the sea is lived and known. By interrogating human engagement with security and risk at sea, we can identify spaces of inclusion and exclusion, safety and insecurity, in transit and in port.
Liverpool John Morre's University (LJMU) and the Centre for Port and Maritime History (CPMH) wish to explore the full range and scope of port and maritime security (not limited to a single disciplinary boundary, and both historical and contemporary). As a result, we encourage papers which may speak to the following (though not exclusive) themes:
• Material cultures, narratives, and biographical studies exploring the navigation of risk at sea
• Maritime security artefacts (e.g. vessel design, maps, practices, and tools)
• Governing port and maritime security
• Theorising the navigation of maritime risks in port and at sea
• Contemporary and historical maritime risks, including naval operations, piracy, illegal and
unregulated fishing, privateers, armed robbery, theft, migration, security infrastructure, and
weaponry
• Trade patterns and disruption to global supply chains
• The intersection of human and ecological risks at sea
• The role of private maritime security enterprises
• Creating future solutions; solving maritime (in)security
Registration is £10 for waged and free for unwaged.
The best abstract and presentation by a postgraduate student will receive the Mike Stammers Memorial Prize, entitling them to a small monetary award courtesy of Liverpool University Press. The best abstract and presentation by an Early-Career Researcher will receive a prize courtesy of LJMU’s Department of International Relations & Politics. Please indicate if you are PGR or ECR in your abstract submission.
LJMU/CPMH also extend an invitation to members of the maritime industry who wish to engage with the conference to maximise the richness of perspectives and opportunities that may emerge.
To submit an abstract for this year’s conference, or to enquire about industry participation, please email a 250-word abstract to Dr Jess Simonds, Visiting Research Fellow LJMU/CPMH (j.k.simonds@ljmu.ac.uk) by Friday 7 July 2023
