Society of Automotive Historians Call for Papers, Stanford University, April 10-12, 2014

Note the dates -- proposals due October 31,2013; Conference April 10-12.

AUTOMOTIVE HISTORY CONFERENCE

CALL FOR PAPERS



The Society of Automotive Historians is seeking proposals for papers to
be presented at its Tenth Biennial Automotive History Conference to be
held in Palo Alto, California, USA, from April 10 through 12, 2014.The
conference will be co-sponsored by the Revs Automotive Research Program
at Stanford University and will take place at the Vail Automotive
Innovation Facility on the Stanford campus.

The conference theme is *“The Evolution of Automotive Technology” *and
will focus on the continuing development of the motor vehicle and its
process of manufacture over a 120-year history.Although considered by
many to have reached a plateau a half-century ago, the industry and its
products seem in recent years to have entered a new phase of creative
development addressing again issues once thought resolved and responding
to new economic, social, and environmental conditions through
fundamental research.

Papers may address the search for an effective and portable source of
energy, one of the first issues confronted by automotive pioneer
designers and one that is being studied again from the point of view of
contemporary requirements. Papers may address the development of
standardized vehicle control systems, the arrangement of power
components or safety devices and the interface between the vehicle and
the driver, all of them under reconsideration in ways that have the
potential to fundamentally alter the relation between the vehicle, the
driver and the road.At the same time the industry, until recently
believed to be entering a phase of business consolidation, has expanded
to embrace many new producers, a process that could only be made
possible through innovations in production technology and international
trade agreements. Proposals for papers on automotive subjects unrelated
to the conference theme will also be considered.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Rudi Volti, Emeritus Professor of
Sociology at Pitzer College, Claremont, California.Professor Volti’s
fields of expertise cover technology and society, social bases of
economic structure and behavior, automobility, and the sociology of work
and occupations.

Following the conference, a certain number of the conference papers will
be selected for publication in /Automotive History Review/, the journal
of the Society.

The Society of Automotive Historians is a unique interdisciplinary
organization devoted to all aspects of automotive history – engineering,
design, economics, the lives of automotive pioneers and innovators, the
history of motorsport competition, the integration of motor vehicles
into modern life and the culture of cars.In its publications and
conferences, historians of technology, business historians and social
historians interact to share their knowledge and perspectives.

Proposals should include the title of the submission, names and
affiliations of presenters, chairs, participants, etc., together with
addresses, phone/fax numbers, email addresses of contact personnel,
proposed format (paper, panel, workshop, etc.) and a one-page abstract
describing the content of the presentation.Proposals must be received by
October 31, 2013; notification of preliminary acceptance is anticipated
by November 30.Proposals should be submitted by email to Arthur W.
Jones, Conference Chair, _nomecos@verizon.net._