A growing awareness in many academic fields of the value of comparative methods of inquiry and analysis has led to the development of scholarship that investigates contrasts and commonalities in innumerable contexts. Comparative methods allow for deeper attention, analysis, and interpretation of the processes that underlay our world.
The 2009 James A. Rawley Graduate Conference in the Humanities seeks to foster new scholarship that explores structural, cultural, and intellectual elements while unveiling common patterns and explaining differences.

Dr. Sterling Evans, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in History at Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada; incoming (2009) Louise Welsh Chair in Southern Plains and Borderlands History, University of Oklahoma, will deliver the keynote address: “Nothing New about NAFTA: The Great Plains and North American Connections.”

The 2009 Rawley Conference accepts individual proposals as well as panel submissions. Individuals should send a 250 word abstract and copy of curriculum vitae. Panel submissions should include vitas and abstracts for each participant (please designate a contact person.)