Bilkent History Graduate Symposium 2025

Dear Colleagues and Students,

The Department of History at Bilkent University and the Bilkent Historical Society invite graduate students to the 2025 Bilkent History Graduate Symposium which will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, 7th and 8th of May, 2025. Those who would like to participate in the Symposium should send a 300-word abstract and an updated CV by February 14th 2025, to historygradsymposium@gmail.com. All proposals will be reviewed by the symposium committee and the accepted abstracts will be announced by March 1st 2025.

Our theme for this year is mobility. Mobility is a fundamental aspect of human experience, encompassing the movement of people, goods, and ideas across various contexts and scales. Everything that has touched upon Planet Earth since the dawn of civilization has been either forced or influenced to change its location, permanently or temporarily. From the migrations of early humans to the revolutions in transportation and communication, the movement of people, goods, ideas, and technologies has transformed the world. We welcome diverse and creative approaches to the history of mobility with no chronological or geographical limits. We encourage an interdisciplinary approach to the topics in question, drawing on such fields as archaeology, art and architecture, anthropology, geography, genetics, sociology, literature, and other relevant social and natural sciences.

Themes to be addressed may include, but are not limited to:

-Migration studies

-Urbanization and de-urbanization

-Trade and supply

-Modes of travel

-Motivations of travel

-Transfer of ideas

-Cross-cultural encounters

-Inter-religious encounters

-Educational mobility

-Evolution of transportation

-Usage of animals in mobility

-War and crises

The Bilkent Graduate Symposium only accepts session and paper proposals submitted in English. Those who want to propose a complete panel should send their abstracts as a single file and their CVs as separate files.

If you have any further enquiries, you are most welcome to contact us at historygradsymposium@gmail.com.