Following the success of their 1st International Conference in 2015, the UCL Americas Research Network invites graduate students and early career researchers working on any aspect of the Americas to participate in our 2nd International Conference: ‘Ideas & Transformations in the Americas’ with keynote speeches by Prof Maxine Molyneux (UCL Institute of the Americas) and Prof Diane Negra (University College Dublin). 

With important elections coming up across the region in 2015-16 it is essential to pause and consider how ideas can transform the political, economic, social and cultural landscape across the Americas. We welcome papers from international researchers working across the humanities, the social sciences and beyond in order to create a dynamic, interdisciplinary conference that will showcase the depth and quality of emerging research on the Americas.

This includes proposals that explore Central, South and North America and the organisers particularly encourage participation from researchers whose focus is upon Canada and the Caribbean. Whether this is national, regional, local, comparative, transnational, or global the organisers hope to create a hemispherically-diverse conference which will foster interdisciplinary conversations that transcend the boundaries of the nation-state.

The organisers welcome proposals that explore any topic pertaining to the broad theme of the conference, including:

• The interaction of social, cultural, economic and political ideas
• Regional transformation, cooperation, integration and conflict
• International relations and foreign policy
• History, narratives and identity
• Democracy, human rights and security
• Protest, social movements and regime legitimacy
• Urbanization, ecology, communities and agrarian movements
• Gender and feminism