There was a shopping mall
Now it's all covered with flowers
you've got it, you've got it ...

This was a discount store,
Now it's turned into a cornfield
you got it, you got it

Don't leave me stranded here
I can't get used to this lifestyle
from: Nothing but Flowers
by the Talking Heads

The Social Science History Association will hold its 29th Annual Meeting, November 18-21, 2004 , at the Palmer House in Chicago . The SSHA is the leading interdisciplinary association for historical research in the US; its members share a common concern for interdisciplinary approaches to historical problems. The organization's long-standing interest in methodology also makes SSHA meetings exciting places to explore new solutions to historical problems. We encourage the participation of graduate students and recent PhDs as well as more-established scholars, from a wide range of disciplines and departments.

The U/Dystopic lyrics by David Byrne, excerpted above, express a widespread ambivalence about the seemingly irreversible historical transformations – of social relations, the environment, and the human psyche – associated with market modernity. The transformations that markets produce have been a major site of historical and social-scientific analysis.

For the 2004 SSHA meeting we are particularly soliciting papers and panels that focus on histories of the market in the broadest sense. These may include, but are not limited to,

• histories of literal markets in city squares, financial districts, or shopping malls;
  
• histories of more abstract market (and anti-market) forces whereby prices are set and fates are sealed;
  
• histories of the commodification of land, and of human labor – free and slave;
  
• histories of localized and global labor markets and of the people who migrate in response to their opening up and closing down;
  
• histories of “marketplaces of ideas,” commercial and non-commercial media, and other sites of intellectual exchange;
  
• histories of market mentalities and behaviors, consumer identities, market selves;
  
• histories of market politics and market policies ranging from early constructions of “free market” ideologies and practices to recent versions of neoliberalism and the protests and criticisms they have engendered.

Of course, we also welcome the usual broad range of papers and sessions on topics proposed by participants and networks.

The SSHA program is developed through networks of people interested in particular topics or approaches to interdisciplinary history. Paper and session proposals should be submitted to the appropriate SSHA network(s). Current networks, their representatives, and contact information are listed below. If you are not certain about which network to send your proposal to, ask the representatives of the network closest to your interests, or ask the program co-chairs

Contributors should take note of the following SSHA rules and traditions:

Session participants should represent more than one discipline and institution.
Panels that include material from more than one place or time are particularly welcome.
To maximize the number of participants, individuals may present no more than one paper and participate in no more than two sessions.
Panels co-sponsored by two or more networks are encouraged.

Also, please remember that all panel submissions must include complete information on all participants, including their institutional affiliations, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. Missing information will make it impossible to complete the online submission process.

Proposals for individual papers are due on February 2, 2004 and for complete sessions on February 16, 2004 . Prior discussion with network representatives is encouraged.

Notification of acceptance or rejection of proposals may be expected by April 30, 2004. All participants on the 2004 SSHA Program will be required to pre-register for the conference, and to join the SSHA (if not already members.)

SSHA-Rockefeller Graduate Student Travel Awards will be offered to thirty graduate students to subsidize their participation in the 2004 program. Applications are due by Saturday, March 6, 2004.Papers with non-student co-authors are not eligible.

Students should apply for the awards online at travelgrants.html and also submit conference paper or session proposals to the program committee as usual. The application for the travel award must include the following information for all authors:

Name of all authors,
Institution and Department,
Postal Address,
Email address,
Abstract of paper (250 word maximum).

Applications will be judged by a committee appointed by the President of SSHA.
For more information, contact 2004 Program Committee Co-Chairs Michael Hanagan, Anne Knowles, and Birgitte Søland at:

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