General Information (Eng)

Congress on the History of Archives, Documents and Information (CHADI)

22nd-23rd July, 2021, online & ULPGC

Opening Lecture

Michael Spence (University of Leeds): “Sistemas medievales para recuperar información y navegar en los archivos del monasterio cisterciense de Fountains Abbey (Inglaterra)”, 22nd July, 2021, online.

Closing Lecture

Rosamond McKitterick (University of Cambridge): “The early medieval manuscripts of the Liber pontificalis: production and reception”, 23rd July, 2021, online.

Dates: Tuesday the 22nd and Friday 23rd of July, 2021.
Places (online or Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain):
- Online (Microsoft Teams), only for speakers.
- ULPGC: Assembly Hall of the Faculty of Geography and History of ULPGC (Agustín Millares Carlo building, on the Obelisk Campus, Campus del Obelisco). In any case, remember that coming to Gran Canaria is not mandatory to read your paper, as you can do it online.
Languages: submissions will be accepted in French, English, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Poster: here.
Call for papers opening date: February 1st, 2021.
Call for papers deadline: May 1st, 2021, but early proposals are welcome.
Deadline to accept or reject proposals: May 21st, 2021.
Form to propose papers (summary of 300-500 words, plus other indications): see the PDF here, or the .doc here. Once completed, send to leonor.zozaya@ulpgc.es or chadi.congress@gmail.com
How to register: if your paper has been accepted, you may proceed to register, paying the fees. If you are unemployed, please remember to attach an official document to get a discount.
Fees and taxes: see here.
Presentations length: to be determinate according to the program needs.
We will try to publish the written version of the papers in a double-blind peer reviewed monograph. Hopefully, at the end of the congress we will provide guidelines, requesting texts from those who wish to try to publish it.

General conference topics

In summary, the international Congress on the History of Archives, Documents and Information (CHADI) aims to explore a number of aspects of how texts and information were generated, transmitted, disseminated and preserved in the past.

CHADI wants to study the History of the archives and their document collections from very different points of view. We also aim to analyze diverse aspects of other texts and documents–whether they were archived or not–researching from the creation of a document, its use, generation and preservation, to the transmission of memory, the dissemination of the information, as it was not found or spread through written texts alone. Information and memory did not remain exclusively in the archive, nor were they transmitted solely through the written medium, nor were they merely static materials in the form of dusty documents in a chest. It should also be remembered that outside of the archive there were numerous scattered documents (a good example would be an announcement or proclamation). Studying these as a whole, among which many data might be found to dialogue and complement each other, will illuminate another vision that will further detail the social role played by using, transmitting, preserving and disseminating the oral and written information in the past.

Starting from this basis, we invite you to submit proposals in any of the aforementioned areas, or others that refer them directly or indirectly. All approaches are welcome, ranging from the most classic and descriptive in the history of document and book conservation, to the most innovative and interdisciplinary.

* Please note that while a wide variety of archival documents will form the basis of contributors’ research, this is not a general history conference. For that type of study there are already well renowned congresses dedicated to various periods such as Medieval (e.g.: MAA), Early Modern Age, 18th Century, 19th Century, etc. Thanks for your comprehension.

The CHADI is linked to the Research Project Nº Ref. ULPGCP2018-20 (Main Research: Zozaya)

This congress was born with the project “Archives, documents and memory from the Medieval to the Contemporary Era. From text generation, transmission and preservation to the dissemination of information”, Ref. No. ULPGC2018-20 (ULPGC Research Grants Program, Call 2018), Main Research: Leonor Zozaya. However, although the project may focus on the specified times, the congress will also accommodate other epochs if interesting proposals are suggested.

Why do we ask speakers about their plans to participate virtually or onsite?

In the proposal form we ask authors about your plans to participate onsite in Gran Canaria or online, in case you already know that information, and to alert us when you have updates or if your plans change.

We need this information to better adapt the “new normal” rules after the Covid pandemic. Knowing more about your plans will help us to organize several aspects such as choosing the appropriate meeting room size for the face-to-face sessions, which will depend on the number of attendees. It will also help to bring together virtual or onsite sessions, or consider options to hold a half-day or even a full day virtually and another face-to-face.

Therefore, in the proposal form we ask if you plan to attend the congress in person or online. It is enough to provide a tentative answer that helps us get an idea, such as “I intend to go virtually” or, given the uncertainty, simply to say “I still don’t know,” provided that you plan to tell us when you know something more. Knowing that you are potentially coming in person will ensure that as a precaution we ask for a more spacious meeting room, which we must request in advance.

Please be assured, telling us your plans does not oblige you to fulfill them, as in these uncertain times various external factors can change everyone’s plans involuntarily, as has generally happened since the pandemic forced the world to be confined.

In any case, we ask that if you want to come to the Canary Islands to read your paper, but ultimately cannot travel, that you please present it virtually. It is also important that you notify us as to any unexpected changing plans, as it can alter the final program.

Regarding virtual speakers that wish to attend the rest of the onsite conference happening in the meeting room in Canarias, we will try to capture and stream presentations, although we warn that quality may be lower than that of the onsite conference presentations, allowing for any unforeseen technical or internet issues.