Call for abstracts for new book about the History of Port Cities

Do you have research to share about the important and intriguing history of port cities across the world for a new book?

Submissions are invited on a wide range of topics, from the built environment and culture to imperial factors, migration and more. Postgraduate students and early career researchers are particularly encouraged to apply to write for the edited volume.

The project is led by the Centre for Port Cities and Maritime Cultures (PCMC) at the University of Portsmouth, and History Department at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU).

The book has been inspired by the conference ‘Port Cities in Comparative Global History: Potentials and Issues’ held in Hong Kong in June 2023. The edited collection aims to explore emerging scholarship in global history and new, original, research aspects of maritime society and culture within the urban maritime sphere.

We welcome submissions on (but not restricted to) the following topics:

• Modern and early-modern time periods
• Port city culture and the built environment, to include institutions, living patterns or infrastructure
• Multinational maritime histories of work, migration, cultures, public health, and/or diseases
• The impacts of imperial and global factors on port cities, including the integration or acknowledgement of previously overlooked, hidden, underexplored, or ‘challenging’ maritime histories

• The shared histories, cultural exchange, or hybridisation that happens within the port city milieu
• New approaches to colonial and imperial histories within the port city – reimagining and re-telling stories that restore balance and agency in unequal power relationships
• Cross- and trans-disciplinary opportunities for maritime heritage on land (e.g., practice-based museum professionals, academics, practitioners in the sciences, arts and/or digital technologies)

The volume will be published in English (UK). Please submit abstracts of 300 words max and 5 keywords, with the author(s) name, institutional affiliation, contact email, and a short biography of 100 words max to Melanie Bassett no later than Sunday 8th September 2024 with ‘Port Cities CfM’ in the subject line. Submissions from Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers are encouraged.

The book’s editorial team will advise authors whether they have been accepted by Friday 11th October 2024. Full manuscripts of c. 8000 words (including footnotes) will be expected to be submitted by April 2025. The editors will advise on submission guidelines and the publishing timeline. We intend to submit the full publication manuscript by August 2025. The collaboration between PCMC and HKBU has been facilitated by Lloyd’s Register Foundation who funded the ‘Lloyd’s Register Surveyors in China, 1860 - 1930’ project.