Victorian Making / Making Victorians
May 5th and 6th, 2023; Winnipeg, Manitoba
The Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada looks forward to welcoming members to its 2023 conference in May. Victorian Making / Making Victorians will be our first in-person conference since 2019. To learn more about this event, please visit the conference website. You can reach the conference co-hosts, Dr. Carla Manfredi (University of Winnipeg) and Dr. Vanessa Warne (University of Manitoba) at vsawc2023@gmail.com. See you in Winnipeg!
See below for the conference’s Call for Papers.
Call for Papers
The Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada invites proposals for papers and panels for our 2023 Conference: Victorian Making / Making Victorians. The conference will be held in Winnipeg’s historic Exchange District on May 5 and May 6, 2023. It will welcome Dr. Tina Choi (York University) and Dr. Lorraine Janzen Kooistra (Toronto Metropolitan University) as plenary speakers. We hope you will join us not only to explore Victorian Making / Making Victorians but also to celebrate the 50-year anniversaries of both VSAWC and Victorian Review.
Topics for Exploration
We invite proposals for papers, panels, and workshops. Topics for exploration include (but are not limited to): the history of craft; book history; food history; legislation and law; homemaking; the history of machines; literary and artistic depictions of the activity of making, broadly construed (as in the making of not only objects but connections, reputations, discoveries, and claims); collaboration and/or competition; and sites of production.
We also welcome papers that explore the development and/or re-imagining of the field of “Victorian” studies. In the same spirit of self-reflection, we invite proposals for papers that reflect on hands-on making as it relates to either research or teaching as well as papers that explore things we make as “Victorianists”, such as digital exhibitions, syllabi, anthologies, podcasts, and edited collections. Proposals for experiential or object-based workshops are also welcome.
Proposals
Please submit a proposal (maximum of 300 words) and a biographical statement (maximum of 75 words) via this link no later than October 31, 2022. For panels, applicants are asked to share the title of the proposed panel in addition to the individual paper title. Please send questions or comments to conference co-hosts, Dr. Carla Manfredi (University of Winnipeg) and Dr. Vanessa Warne (University of Manitoba), at VSAWC2023@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Conference Location
VSAWC 2023 will be held in downtown Winnipeg, on the southern edge of Winnipeg’s historic Exchange District, a National Historic Site noteworthy for its for its vibrant contemporary arts scene and terracotta-clad skyscrapers.
Conference Hotel
All events will be held at the Alt Hotel, Winnipeg, a stylish and welcoming space featuring work by local artists. A room block has been reserved for VSAWC delegates (room rates of either $139 or $149 per night).
Image Credits and Descriptions: The first image shows a simple flower with eight petals, carved in dark wood, a detail of a newel post at Dalnavert Museum and Visitors’ Centre. The second image is the cover of Scientific American from April 13, 1895. Titled “The Manufacture of Incandescent Electric Lamps,” it features sketches of four women and one man making light bulbs. The third image is a detail of a handmade lace tablecloth, from the collection of Dalnavert Museum and Visitors’ Centre. The fourth image shows a street scene in Winnipeg’s historic Exchange District. Colourful buildings face a city street lined with trees (photo credit: heritagewinnipeg.com). The fifth image shows the lobby of the Alt Hotel, featuring bright red chairs (photo credit: tourismwinnipeg.com). The final image shows a night time view of an intersection through which groups of pedestrians walk in Winnipeg’s Exchange District; the buildings that surround them are brightly illuminated (photo credit: tourismwinnipeg.com).
