When the French Were Here
Champlain Quadricentennial
Symposium
Call for Papers
As part of the quadricentennial of Samuel de Champlain’s exploration of Lake Champlain, Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont will host an international academic symposium on July 2-5, 2009. Scholars from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences are invited to participate in this event.
The theme of the celebration, “When the French Were Here,” invites the broadest possible consideration of Samuel de Champlain’s achievements, his life, and of his world as a cultural, social and ideological context.
Scholars wishing to participate should submit an abstract of no more than 200 words, along with a CV. Papers to be read will be of fifteen to twenty minutes in length, roughly two thousand words. After the conference, the papers read will be collected and published as conference proceedings.
Abstracts and CVs may be submitted electronically. Please direct all questions about papers to:
Professor Willard Sterne Randall
Randall@champlain.edu
Or to:
Professor Nancy Nahra
Nahra@champlain.edu
Participants unable to make electronic submissions may send hard copy to
Professor Randall or to Professor Nahra at:
Champlain College
163 South Willard Street
Burlington, VT 05402
The deadline for abstracts will be July 1, 2008.
Description of Possible Topics
Our conference is not divided along rigid lines. Instead, we prefer to encourage talks from many and varied perspectives that examine Samuel de Champlain and the lake named for him. Paper topics may include the following, while not limited to these few:
- Life and achievements of Samuel de Champlain
- France at the time of Samuel de Champlain
- Exploration of the New World — background
- Navigation history
- Military history
- Social history
- Maps and mapmaking
- Contact of civilizations
- Previous centennial celebrations
- “New France” and “New England”
- History, geology and culture of Lake Champlain
