That’s the title of a conference I’ve been helping put together, from picking the topic (it evolved from "religion," but we didn’t want to devote an entire panel to missionaries) to soliciting papers (not too bad of a response) to selecting them (always a fun meeting) to organizing the logistics (I sure hope the reimbursement process works, because the housing for our out-of-town folks is on my credit card).

It’s officially the "sixth annual" one of these, and it’s the third I’ve helped on.  This time, though, we had no arguments about pirates (it makes me wonder about innate gender characteristics) and I didn’t have to do the seating arrangements at the main dinner.

Anyway, after a lot of planning, twelve history grad students from around the country (and world, if they could get funding) come present their findings in 20 minutes.  And then important faculty gurus (who nobody else has ever heard of) comment.  Some are nicer than others, just as some papers are better than others.  What’s interesting is to see how the themes emerge — or how similar issues crop up in different times, places, and cultures.  Or how what we think of as "similar" issues are actually profoundly different.

If I’m a diligent blogger (as opposed to a diligent insert-other-role-here), I’ll compose a report after the conference.  In the meantime, if anyone is in the Cambridge area and has some spare time and is interested in what a bunch of historians have to say about "universalities," check out the website.