Conference Theme

In Thinking About History, Sarah Maza reminds us that historical scholarship thrives on debate, reexamination, and innovative inquiry: “Commemoration is crucially important, so is keeping the past alive by constantly reframing and rewriting history: This means disputation and disagreement, but also research, new questions, and new ways of looking at old problems.” Similarly, historian Trevor Getz describes the nineteenth century as “an age of revolution and industry, oppression and resistance,” a period of profound transformation whose legacies continue to shape our present.

The words Revolution, Revelation, Reconciliation invite broad interpretation. Revolution can signify political upheaval, industrial or technological transformation, or the cyclical nature of historical change. Revelation may encompass ideological shifts, scientific discoveries, artistic innovations, or spiritual awakenings. Reconciliation addresses repair, restoration, and negotiation—whether between individuals, communities, or historical narratives.

Revolution, revelation, and reconciliation may be applied to historical topics and themes such as period film, adaptation studies, neo-Gothic literature, and cultural memory studies; community relationships; institutional histories and practices; scientific studies and digital humanities projects that use contemporary tools to mine and make visible historical data and experiences; scholarly and pedagogical strategies, including experimental approaches in classrooms and exhibitions; historiographical reflection; visual and material culture preservation; reenactment and performance research; and other ways in which nineteenth-century research is centered.

Possible Topics

We welcome intertemporal, interdisciplinary, and international approaches to topics including, but not limited to:

• Art history and visual culture
• Business, capitalism, and labor
• Colonialism, empire, and imperial studies
• Reckoning with historical harm, trauma, and grief
• Cultural approaches to scholarship and knowledge exchange
• Cultural theft, restitution, reparation, and repatriation
• Environmental history and ecological impact
• Historical inclusion, exclusion, reconsideration, and recovery
• Migration and displacement—voluntary and / or forced
• Indigenous rights and sovereignty
• Nation-building and identity formation
• Knowledge preservation, collection, and display
• Political movements and responses—unions, anti-/nationalism, and human rights
• Performance and entertainment—individual, collective, musical, theatrical, dance, spiritual, and cultural expressions
• Technological advancements and their societal impacts
• Conceptions of time and periodization across cultures
• Literary production, writing, and print culture
• Youth education, training, and cultural participation

Proposal Guidelines

• Individual proposals: Maximum 300 words.
• Panel proposals: Maximum 600 words, including a theme and individual abstracts.
• Digital humanities and performance proposals: Provide a 300-word description and relevant links (no file uploads).
• All proposals must include a brief biography (max. 100 words) for each participant.

Awards

INCSA 2026 is an alliance of three scholarly associations: INCSA, INCS, and NCSA. Each has its own travel award system, award amounts, and deadlines. Please visit each website to learn more.

Bursaries

INCSA is delighted to offer postgraduate student travel bursaries of £100 each to assist with the costs of attending in-person in Washington, DC from July 21-24, 2026 or for in-person attendance at any Satellite Conference from July 21-24, 2026. The deadline to apply is March 2, 2026. For more information, see this submission form. 

Submission Portal: Closed

Submission Deadline Extended: Tuesday, December 2, 2025, 11:59 PST.

Notification of Acceptance: February 2026

Inquiries: incsa2026@gmail.com

We look forward to welcoming academics, scholars, curators, librarians, archivists, graduate and undergraduate students, editors, researchers, and the historically-minded to an engaging and dynamic conversation centered on the nineteenth century.