Conference Date: 31 AUGUST – 1 SEPTEMBER 2007
Conference Venue: The Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, London

The Historians of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland (H-WRBI) invite both individual and panel proposals on the history of women religious of Britain and Ireland. Papers are invited for the conference themes:

o Creativity in the convent: creativity across all visual, musical, material or literary forms; convent patronage.

o Religious sisters and the provision of healthcare: a broad definition of healthcare will be applied – apothecaries, home visiting and care of the elderly as well as hospitals or infirmaries – at home or in a missionary context.

o Finance and business: what financial models and practices did women religious apply? How was their work and property financed?

o Canonical issues, constitutions and the approval of congregations: the impact of Canon Law; episcopal, curial and papal interventions. Contributions might be at macro or micro level. Studies of the 20thC are particularly welcomed.

o Exile and identity: the dynamics of migration and inter-cultural and trans-cultural experiences in the lives and identities of women religious.

Abstracts of not more than 300 words: panellists should send separate abstracts for each paper. Proposals from postgraduate students are particularly welcomed. H-WRBI encourages papers on consecrated women from all historical periods and from different religious traditions within the history of Britain and Ireland.