As the current issue of the journal French Historical Studies makes clear, there is still much to be said on the subject of the French Revolution. Researches have moved on considerably from the time of the Bicentenary of 1989, when the highest-profile disputes were about replacing one ‘orthodoxy’ with another. Grand interpretive plans may have gone the same way as the grand schemes of ideology that were also clashing in a different, more concrete, register in 1989. What, then, are we left with? Has writing on the Revolution adapted to a new era, or moved into less present-minded frames? Is the Revolution still a foundation-stone of modernity, and if so, of what kind of modernity? If ‘modernity’ has become a problematic label to attach to these events, are they still a culmination to their century sufficiently extraordinary to merit close attention? What kinds of historical attention best serve to illuminate this era for the present?

To debate these issues, the University of Portsmouth is hosting an international conference on 5-6 July 2010. Proposals for papers (20-25 minute duration) are invited on any aspect of the origins, antecedents, precursors, events, processes, structures, proponents, opponents, outcomes and heritages of the French Revolution. Interdisciplinary studies and reflections are particularly welcome. A broad range of individual perspectives is sought, but presenters are also encouraged to respond to the larger issues raised above, particularly through contextualising individual research projects.

In addition to this general call, we are particularly interested in rounding out the developing programme with further papers in the area of the origins and antecedents of the Revolution, and on historiography, particularly over the longer term. Papers of any kind that deal with the social or economic history of the Revolution are also encouraged.

The programme for the conference is already taking shape, with over 20 papers accepted, and round-table contributions from eminent scholars including William Doyle, Alan Forrest and Colin Jones. Selected papers from the conference may be developed for inclusion in an edited volume in the prestigious Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century series.

Please send abstracts of proposed papers (250 words) and a brief CV (2 pages max.) to david.andress@port.ac.uk
The closing date for this call is 18 December 2009.