BIAHS 2024 in-person conference: University of Exeter, 4-5 July
Holocaust comparisons: controversies, difficulties, and potentials
The act of comparing the Holocaust to other phenomena – whether historical or contemporary – has long been a source of debate. For some, the Holocaust’s unique features make comparisons inherently problematic. Others hold comparisons to be an inevitable part of making the Holocaust meaningful in relation to the rest of history, and an unavoidable element of drawing any lessons. The boundaries of what is permissible, and how such boundaries are to be controlled, have been fraught for many decades, though events during the 2020s have at times made this issue especially prominent.
We invite proposals for papers and panels at the 2024 in-person BIAHS conference. While Holocaust comparisons is the theme of the conference, we also welcome proposals related to any other area of Holocaust studies. With regard to the conference theme, we invite a wide range of approaches, which may include, but are not limited to, explorations of the following topics:
- The history of debates on the Holocaust’s uniqueness in academic or public contexts;
- Suggestions that comparisons can amount to a form of Holocaust distortion, or even denial;
- Variations in the expression of Holocaust comparisons, from explicit statements to those implicit in commemorative or educational practices;
- The politics of comparison, including consideration of how the policing of comparisons is enacted, or how the reception of comparisons can vary among different audiences;
- Comparisons expressed in literary, filmic, or other media contexts;
- Links between the Holocaust and other genocides;
- Links between the Holocaust and violence in colonial contexts, including slavery;
- Comparisons within the Holocaust (i.e. between different times or geographical contexts) or within the 1933-1945 period more broadly;
- Debates on comparisons related to destruction in the natural world, including controversies over links to the threat of mass violence produced by climate change;
- Comparisons expressed in relation to events during the 2020s, such as conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, the ongoing refugee crisis, and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The conference as a whole is not concerned with systematically condemning or endorsing particular areas of comparison, but rather critically exploring this important – but often fraught – issue within Holocaust memory.
As noted above, not all proposals need to engage directly with the conference theme. We are also happy to receive proposals connected to other contemporary research in Holocaust studies.
We welcome proposals from all researchers, but would like to encourage proposals from postgraduates, postdoctoral researchers, those in precarious employment, and people working for Holocaust-related organisations. A limited number of bursaries for postgraduates and early career scholars will be available – details will be shared in due course with those who have had proposals accepted.
Proposals for individual papers and group panels should be sent to britishholocauststudies@gmail.com by Friday 23 February 2024. These should include a title, a 200-word abstract, a 100-word biography of each speaker, and a contact email address.