We invite contributions to a handbook on the Histories of Internationalism, to be published by Bloomsbury, alongside our book series, Histories of Internationalism. The handbook is edited by Jessica Reinisch (Birkbeck), Su Lin Lewis (Bristol), and David Brydan (King’s College London). Contributors are invited to submit abstracts of 150-200 words, along with a biographical sketch of 50-100 words, for essays based on the framework set out below. The deadline for abstracts is 1st March 2025. Submissions should be sent to centreforinternationalism@gmail.com.
The aim of the handbook is to showcase new approaches that have emerged from the field over recent decades, and to help shape and inspire future research agendas. It seeks to complement existing handbooks of international history and international relations currently on the market, offering a distinct way of approaching the history of international cooperation in its various guises.
The handbook has two overarching themes and approaches. First, it foregrounds the social history of internationalism, including the experiences of international actors and individuals, and asks how the history of internationalism could be told ‘from below’. Second, it is grounded in a global understanding of the history of internationalism, thinking seriously and systematically about what this history means when told from different geographical perspectives and in different global frameworks.
We invite proposals to sit within either of the following strands of the handbook:
- Actors: Essays on key groups and actors in the history of internationalism. These could include categories like soldiers, health workers, “fixers”, translators, refugees, area specialists, artists, or many others.
- Spaces: Essays exploring the key places, sites and spaces in the history of internationalism. These could include cities and municipalities, the countryside, frontiers, battlefields and other places of war, refugee camps, world heritage sites, hotels, world fairs, archives, or virtual spaces of various sorts.
Guidelines
- Essays can be between 5,000 and 10,000 words in length.
- We are very happy to accept proposals for co-written essays, especially if the co-authors are able to bring together or contrast different fields/ perspectives/ areas of scholarship.
- As this is a handbook, we are looking for essays which engage with broader themes in the field, beyond that which might be the case for a journal article or chapter in an edited volume. We encourage contributors to explore comparisons where possible, or to write alongside someone with different regional or thematic expertise.
- Individual essays do not have to be global in focus, but we want to ensure that the volume as a whole is. We particularly welcome contributions which explore the history of areas and actors which have been traditionally underrepresented in the scholarship on the history of internationalism.