The British World Conference to be hosted by the Calgary Institute for the Humanities during July 10-12, 2003 is the second of five conferences that address British identity both in homeland settings, and overseas colonies settled by British emigrants.

The working assumption of the five conferences is that historically the British empire was not only united by ties of trade and defense, but also by a shared sense of identity. A British identity had various interpretations at home, and also in the colonies where settlers of British origin were in the majority - or at least, as in the case of South Africa, formed a substantial minority. Also, those who were not of British origin embraced a British identity. It appealed to people who found the idea of belonging to the empire and holding imperial citizenship important for their own self-definition and identity. The goal of the conferences, in addition to fostering research on an important scholarly matter, and the dissemination of new knowledge - is to create a network of scholars doing comparative analysis of British societies.

Keynote Speakers:

• James Belich, Department of History, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
• Phillip Buckner, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, England.
• Sarah Carter, Department of History, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
• Jeffrey Grey, School of History, University College, Australian Defense Force Academy in Canberra, Australia
• Catherine Hall, Department of History, University College, London, England.
• Stuart Forbes Macintyre, Faculty of Arts, and Department of History, University of Melbourne, Australia

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