Call for Papers
Special Issue of the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
The Global Gilded Age and Progressive Era
Guest Editors: Constance Chen (Loyola Marymount University) and Roberto Saba (Wesleyan)
Deadline: December 15, 2024
In 1900, Senator Albert J. Beveridge took to the floor of Congress to urge Americans to move quickly and decisively into the Philippines and the rest of the Pacific world. He asserted that this was the most viable way for the United States to become the “power that rules the world.” More importantly, Beveridge presumed that it was a “divine mission” that would enable Americans to serve as guardians and protectors for “savage peoples” who would benefit from U.S. governance and tutelage. His imperialist stance reflected a watershed moment when the United States increasingly looked outward and redefined its position within the international community through discourses of advancement and civility. A mere two years later, British journalist and editor W. T. Stead would pronounce in The Americanization of the World; or, The Trend of the Twentieth Century (1902) that “the United States of America [had] now arrived at such a pitch of power and prosperity as to have a right to claim the leading place among the English-speaking nations.” While he opined that the “Americans [were] only giving to others what they inherited from ourselves,” Great Britain—until recently the mightiest empire in the world—would have to become the lesser partner of its former colony if it were to continue wielding its influence.
This special issue of the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era aims to address the manifold impacts of transnational exchanges as global axes of power were reordered and dramatic socioeconomic, political, ideological, and cultural transformations took place within the United States and around the world between the 1860s and 1920s. We seek research essays that critically examine this time period by underscoring the international dimensions in the study of U.S. history and the United States’ growing global worldview and connections. How can the Gilded Age and Progressive Era be reconceptualized within an international context? How did other societies and peoples experience this particular time period as the United States extended its dominance through a multitude of expansionist projects? How did the mobility of peoples, ideas, and goods across geographical boundaries recalibrate local and national outlooks, structures, power relations, and cultures? What ideologies and mechanisms helped to reinforce continuity or effectuate change throughout this era?
We invite submissions that delve into a diverse array of topics such as how countries in Latin America, the Pacific, Europe, and other parts of the world perceived the U.S. presence, hybrid art forms and cultural productions which were generated by the “Americanization of the world,” transregional analyses of evolving economic networks, the institutionalization of labor movements, political realignments amidst increased urbanization and demographic shifts, and the ways in which global movements like Black internationalism and decolonization shaped intellectual milieus in the United States, among others. We especially welcome scholarship that will help to reimagine and point to new directions in the study of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century U.S. history within transnational frameworks.
In addition, we are interested in essays on pedagogy that, for instance, offer resources and aids for teaching the Gilded Age and Progressive Era from a global or transnational perspective, effective co-curricular activities or assignments, and innovative strategies for engaging with students.
Research essays should be no more than 15,000 words including notes. Essays on pedagogy should be a maximum of 5,000 words including notes. Please send inquiries and completed essays with a 2-page curriculum vitae to Constance Chen (cchen@lmu.edu) and Roberto Saba (rsaba@wesleyan.edu) by December 15, 2024.
Contact Information
Constance Chen (Loyola Marymount University) and Roberto Saba (Wesleyan)
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