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2020/21 — Adaptation in the Humanities

Our knowledge of the world — imagined, experienced, or learned — is constantly in flux. As humans, we change, adapt, and mould the environments around us, the knowledge systems we use and the items we create. Adaptation can be forced through the presentation of an obstacle, or it can occur symbiotically within a group.

Our 2020 conference has been delayed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021 Limina: The Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies, the Perth Medieval and Renaissance Group (PMRG), and Medieval and Early Modern Studies at The University of Western Australia are joining forces to provide a forum for the presentation of the myriad of ‘adaptations’ worlds, individuals, languages, ideas, and peoples, real or otherwise, experience.

The conference is now scheduled to run from 30th September 2021 to 2nd October 2021. Our call for papers will remain open until April 12 2021, and we will accept submissions for our conference special issue until 31 October 2020, to be released at the conference.

More Information

For more information, please visit the 2020 conference page.

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2019 — Humanifesto

The 14^th annual Limina conference explored the visceral, corporeal, and ephemeral dimensions of being human.

We live in a climate of debates about bodily autonomy, population growth, artificial intelligence, and genetic modification. Our bodies are marked by sex, race, age, and health, all of which are contentiously invested with social and political significance. At the same time, discoveries about our past and emerging technologies challenge fixed ideas of what it means to be human. In this way, the lines between our bodies and our humanity are being drawn and re-drawn. Extending beyond the physical, then, how do we understand and express what it means to be human? 

More Information

For more information, please visit the 2019 conference page.

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2018 - Home: Belonging and Displacement

The 2018 Limina conference 'Home: Belonging and Displacement' was held on 26 and 27 July, 2018. Speakers from Perth, interstate and overseas produced a wide array of presentations and discussions on the complexities of home, as both a place and a spatial imaginary.

On Thursday, the conference was opened with a welcome address by Prof Philip Hancock, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education.

The keynote address, Owning Home: Transformations in the Australian Housing System, was delivered by Professor Rachel Ong ViforJ, School of Economics and Finance, Curtin University.

An evening public panel discussion was held in collaboration with the UWA Institute of Advanced Studies. The event was facilitated by Fadzi Whande, and the panelists – Associate Professor Caroline Fleay, Sara Shengeb, and Bella Ndayikeze – drew from their perspectives as community leaders, researchers, and individuals with lived experiences as refugees.

At the closing of the conference on Friday, The Editorial Collective launched Volume 23.2, assembled from papers presented at Limina Conference 2017, Memory: Myth and Modernity.

More Information

For more information, please visit the 2018 conference page. 

The conference program and abstracts booklet is available to download below.

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2017 - Memory: Myth and Modernity

The 12th annual Limina conference was held on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th of July, at St Catherine’s College. Presenters delivered papers exploring the different facets of memory from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives.

Thursday 27 July

The conference was opened with a welcome address by Dr Brenda McGivern, FABLE Associate Dean (Community and Engagement).

Professor Susan Broomhall delivered the keynote presentation on the way emotions and memory interact to shape the narratives of powerful women in history, like Catherine de Medici (“Emotions and Memory: Catherine de Medici and the Myth of Modernity”).

Estelle Blackburn OAM gave a public lecture on her role as an investigative journalist in exonerating two men wrongfully convicted for murders committed by Eric Cooke (“Challenging justice – changing lives”). The lecture was organised in collaboration with the UWA Institute of Advanced Studies.

Friday 28 July

The Editorial Collective launched a Special Edition of Limina Journal, assembled from papers presented at the 2016 inaugural Griffith University PhD History Symposium.

Post-conference Information

Conference presenters are encouraged to submit their papers to Limina Journal to be considered for the upcoming conference-themed issue. The article submission deadline is September 29th, 2017. Further information on submissions and style guide are available here.

Selected photos of the conference can be viewed on Facebook.

For more information on the conference please visit the 2017 Conference Page.

You can download the Limina Conference Programme 2017 as a PDF.

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2016 - Beyond Boundaries: Recognition, Tolerance, change

The 11th annual Limina conference was held on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th of July, at the University of Western Australia. Presenters from a broad range of disciplines delivered papers addressing boundaries that exist within, and between, academic disciplines and research themes.

Thursday 28 July

Associate Professor Farida Fozdar facilitated a workshop on "Eliminating Borders."

Professor Jane Lydon gave a public lecture on "Out of Bounds? Photographing Australian Border Crossings."

Friday 29 July

The conference was formally opened by Professor Krishna Sen, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts. 

The conference keynote address, "Multiculturalism Versus Interculturalism", was delivered by Associate Professor Farida Fozdar. .

Post-conference Information

Conference presenters are encouraged to submit their papers to Limina Journal to be considered for the upcoming conference-themed issue. The article submission deadline is August 19th, 2016. Further information on submissions and style guide are available. 

Please click here to view some of the 2016 Limina Conference Photos. 

For more information on the conference please visit the 2016 Conference Page.

You can download the Limina Conference Programme 2016 as a PDF.

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2015 - Think Forward, Look Back

Held at the University of Western Australia, the conference attracted postgraduates and early career researchers to present their work on the theme of ‘’Think Forward Look Back’. The keynote addresses for this event were delivered by Professor Brenda Walker and Gina Pickering.

Topics included:

• Gender and/or sexuality

•  Digital and/or popular culture
• Literary Criticism
• Cultural theory
• Australian history
• National mythologies
• Social and public policy
• Digital heritage
  

You can download the Limina Conference Programme 2015 as a PDF.

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2013 - Exclusivity: Boundaries of Difference

The 8th Annual Limina Conference was held on Friday, June 14 2013.

The keynote address was delivered by Professor Jane Lydon, Future Fellow at The University of Western Australia, entitled 'A ‘ray of special resemblance’: post-humanism, photography, empathy'.

We aimed to foster a supportive environment in which current post-graduates and early career researchers could present their own research whilst investigating the complexities of exclusion. Papers were welcomed from the disciplines of historical and cultural studies that discuss ideas of exclusivity, for example, but not limited to change and continuity in:

• Gender
• Race/ethic/national identity
• Social classes/boundaries
• Disability
• Popular culture
• Religion
• Sexuality
• Cyber culture
• Genre and theoretical boundaries

You can download the Limina Conference 2013 Program as a PDF or RTF.

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2012 - Humanising Collaboration

The 7th Annual Limina conference was held on Thursday, 7 June 2012.

This conference explored the many facets of scholarly collaborations and interdisciplinary research in the twenty-first century Humanities and Social Sciences. We aimed to foster a supportive environment in which current post-graduates and early career researchers could present their own research whilst investigating the complexities of scholarly cooperation.

The keynote address was delivered by Winthrop Professor Susan Broomhall, History, UWA and entitled 'Collaboration is Not a Dirty Word'.

A masterclass on 'Socialising Research' was hosted by Professor Robyn Owens, UWA Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, on Friday 8 June.

You can download the Limina Conference 2012 Program as a PDF or RTF.

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2011

The 6th Annual Limina conference was held on Friday, 15 July 2011.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Frances Flanagan (Birkbeck, University of London), entitled 'Watching the Cosmopolitans: Exploring Humanitarian and Human Rights Culture in Contemporary Britain.'

Paper topics included:

• Confrontations in Australia’s Past and Present
• Manifestations of National Identities
• Intersections of Science and Culture
• Experiences of the Otherworldly
• Edges of Art: Fictocriticism, Film and Gender

You can download the Limina Conference 2011 Program as a PDF or RTF.

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2010

The 5th Annual Limina conference was held on Friday, 2nd July 2010.

A keynote address was delivered by Dr. Tiffany Shellam, Deakin University, Author of 'Shaking Hands on the Fringe' (UWA Publishing, 2009)

Paper topics included:

• Medieval and Early Modern Studies
• Contemporary History
• Culture, Language and Identity
• Visual Representation

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