June 13-16, 2002

We invite presentation proposals for a conference to reassess Western history from the perspectives of women and gender. Presentations are encouraged from a variety of interests: scholarly, creative, activist, and community. Tremendous energy and ferment in the field of Western women's history over the past quarter century has recovered the experiences and stories of countless women. The 2005 centennial of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan encourages us to reconsider Western histories through the lives of women. Western women's history has been part of a larger movement that seeks to recover an inclusive past, one that increases understanding of the diverse peoples, of all races, cultures, ethnicities, religions, and classes, who built the West and forged its social relationships. This conference will provide an opportunity and a showcase for new research that, from diverse perspectives, can reconceive the teaching, writing, and interpretation of Western history. It is an opportunity, as well, to compare diverse regional, national, and social experiences, and consider their meanings.

A central goal of the conference is to create dialogue across borders, both social and geographic. These include the physical boundaries that separate the provinces, states and nations of the West, which we conceptualize broadly to include the Prairies, B.C., the Pacific Northwest, the Canadian North, and the western states along the 49th parallel. We hope to encourage dialogue among generations of women's historians, and among practitioners of women's and gender history. We invite conversation across disciplinary and professional boundaries, and see! ! k to bridge distances between the academy and community. We encourage discussions on political differences; differences of race, class, sexuality and social background; and generational differences that mark approaches to women's history. Proposals are encouraged from diverse academic fields, from teachers, archivists, librarians, public historians, museum professionals, activists, and unaffiliated persons. We invite proposals for individual papers, panels, and roundtable discussions. Proposals may focus on any time period and on any historical topic centred on women's history in the West. We welcome proposals from persons at all career stages; graduate student submissions are encouraged.

Please send proposals of approximately 250 words and a one-page C.V. for each presenter, as well as an address, telephone number and email address by December 1, 2001