The Leeds Beckett University hosts the Criminal Heritage: Crime, Fiction, and History conference to be held on September 5, 2017 at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. This interdisciplinary conference aims to explore, analyse, and debate the relationship between crime, narrative, and history.
As Michel Foucault acknowledged, crime and its investigation are uniquely tied to their social context: crime is a violation of the law, and ‘the law represents the will of the sovereign.’ When crime is narrated in the form of history, or as historical fiction, there is a fresh dynamic. The structures of the past and the present will inform its presentation, and surrounding ethical concerns. The past few years have seen an unprecedented rise in the production and consumption of historical crime fiction and drama. In addition, historical true crime narratives – mined for dramatic potential and social relevance – have come to the fore of Anglo-American culture.
What?
Possible topics include but are not limited to Historical crimes, Crime fiction as history, The figure of the detective, The figure of the criminal, Gender, sexuality and queerness, Crimes, histories, and narratives from around the world, Crime and history on-screen, National heritage and heritage in law, etc.
How?
Organisers welcome proposals of 200 words for 20-minute papers relating to the conference theme. Proposals for traditional presentations and those which approach the theme in an innovative way are welcome.
When?
Interested parties are welcome to submit their abstracts and a brief biographical note to Fern Pullan and Jamie Bernthal at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday, May 19, 2017.
For more information, please see the official website.
