Conference Convener: Christine Heyrman, University of Delaware

The Filson Institute for the Advanced Study of the Ohio Valley and the Upper South proposes a two-day academic conference examining the ways the region has been constructed and reconstructed over time, from the seventeenth century to the present, and calling for new historical approaches that will re-frame our understanding of the region's past. The conference will be in Louisville, Kentucky, at The Filson Historical Society.

The Institute defines the Ohio Valley region through the exploration of key themes and historical problems rather than geographical definitions. At the center of the problem of regional identity is the valley's historical role as a borderland between indigenous peoples and trans-Atlantic migrants, as well as between the East and West, and the North and South. Scholars have typically argued that, rather than being clearly defined by geography and secure in its identity, the Ohio Valley was a contested and conflicted region of shifting loyalties and identities.

The program committee welcomes proposals from graduate students, junior, and senior scholars examining the conference theme, including, but not limited to the following topics:

• Native American Civilizations in the Ohio Valley
• The Migration of Euro-Americans and African Americans
• Ecological and Environmental Change
• Economic Development and Labor Systems
• Racial and Ethnic Diversity
• Social Structures and the Configuring of Communities
• Urbanization
• Gender Roles, Sexuality, and Family Relationships
• Religions, Supernaturalisms, and Spiritual Lives
• Power and Politics
• The Arts, Architecture, and Patterns of Consumption
• Regional Representations in Literature and Theatre, Folklore and Oral Traditions
• Historians and the Ohio Valley Before the 21st Century