Studies in the History of English Language (SHEL) has been meeting biennially for two decades; it is the preeminent gathering in North America that examines the English language and its history.
The Studies in the History of the English Language (SHEL) meeting returns to the University of Washington campus for the first time in 20 years. SHEL has been meeting biennially for two decades; it is the preeminent gathering in North America that examines the English language and its history. This year, the conference includes plenary lectures by Anne Curzan (Literature, Science, and the Arts, University of Michigan), Mark Liberman (Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania), and Haruko Momma (English, New York University).
SHEL is now accepting proposals for the conference, which takes place May 19-21, 2022. Proposals are due by November 1, 2021. Full call from the conference organizers:
We invite abstracts and proposals for all linguistic approaches and methodological perspectives on HEL, and welcome presentations on all varieties of English and chronological periods of the language. We hope to have several threads/workshops included in the conference program:
- Historical English Sociolinguistics. Organizers: North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics (NARNiHS) (NARNiHistSoc@gmail.com). For more info, see the NARNiHS site page.
- English and Empire. Organizers: David West Brown (dwb2@andrew.cmu.edu) and Taryn Hakala (taryn.hakala@csuci.edu).
- HEL and Writing Studies. Organizers: Chris C. Palmer (cpalme20@kennesaw.edu) and Amanda Sladek (sladekam@unk.edu). View the full CFP at https://bit.ly/HELWriting.
- Advocacy in HEL and HEL as Advocacy for the Humanities. Organizers: K. Aaron Smith (kasmit3@ilstu.edu) and Susan Kim (smkim2@ilstu.edu).
- Teaching the Future of English: Pedagogy in the HEL Course. Organizers: Melinda Menzer (Melinda.Menzer@furman.edu) and Felicia Jean Steele (steele@tcnj.edu).
Submission procedure: Please submit proposals to SHEL12@uw.edu. Indicate A/V needs on the cover email.
- regular submissions (20 minute papers): please submit an abstract of no more than 1 page.
- threads: If you are interested in participating in one of the proposed threads above, please indicate that in your email. Please submit an abstract of no more than 1 page. Feel free to contact the session organizer in addition to submitting to the conference email. If you are interested in convening a workshop or thread of related papers, please contact the organizers as soon as possible to discuss a proposal.
To learn more and submit your proposal, visit the Studies in the History of the English Language's website, which includes the full call for proposals.
If you have any questions, please contact the organizers at SHEL12@uw.edu.
C.R. Grimmer (she/they)
C. R. Grimmer is a poet and scholar from Southeast Michigan's Metro-Detroit area. C. R. received their Ph.D. in Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of Washington (UW) as well as their M.F.A. in Creative Writing and M.A. in English Literature at Portland State University (PSU). They are the author of The Lyme Letters, which won the Walt McDonald First Book Award from Texas Tech University Press.