History, Classics, and Religion Graduate Students' Association 

HCRGSA 2026 Graduate Conference Call for Papers​

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“Memory and Narrative: Navigating Connection & Contention”

The History, Classics, and Religion Graduate Students’ Association Annual Conference

University of Alberta

March 5—8, 2026

 

The History, Classics, and Religion Graduate Students’ Association (HCRGSA) of the University of Alberta cordially invites graduate student submissions for the Association’s 2026 conference. This year’s topic is “Memory and Narrative: Navigating Connection & Contention,” and will take place from March 5 to 8, 2026. This conference will be held primarily in-person. We are excited to offer two $100 awards for best abstract submission based on the proposed topic’s relevance, quality of writing, and originality – one award for the best MA submission, and one award for the best PhD submission. 

Our theme this year reflects the relationship between memory and narrative, a topic that scholars across various disciplines have explored. The temporal dimension of narrative, by its nature, involves memory: one must remember a story or convert a memory into words in order to communicate it. Narratives by their nature reveal and occlude certain aspects of the past depending on the narrator. Memory is a throughline for both individual people and social groups: it can bind people together, as in a community or a family, and create a sense of belonging and connectedness. When special stories are told and retold, they create memories which can be powerful, moving, and deeply impactful. But memory can also be dangerous when it is narrativized to create barriers and divisions between people. Narratives can encode prejudices, biases, and – at their most extreme – hatreds. What we remember, and the stories we tell, are just as important as what we forget or the stories we choose to hide. Our conference will explore the ways in which narrative and memory are linked. In an interdisciplinary fashion, our conference seeks to facilitate conversation across temporal, geographic, and socio-cultural contexts of academic study.

At our annual conference, we celebrate the interdisciplinary character of our department. We strongly encourage all related fields to apply, including, but not limited to: History, Classics, Religious Studies, Indigenous Studies, Gender Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, English, Political Science, Philosophy, Economics, Disability Studies, and Cultural Studies.  

 

Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words and a short biography (one hundred words maximum) through this link by December 12, 2025. If you have any questions or difficulties with the form, please contact hcrgsaconference@gmail.com. Responses will be sent out early in the New Year. Presentations should be no longer than 20 minutes to allow for a question period afterwards.

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This will be a primarily in-person event with the capacity for some online presentations. Please state in your abstract submission if you will need to present online, as there is space for a limited number of virtual presentations. A limited number of travel awards up to $250 CAD per presenter are also available and will be awarded based on the distance of travel and budgetary restrictions.

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We look forward to your submissions and to hosting an engaging and collegial event!

 

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