65^th Annual Conference Call for Papers

October 15-18, 2025

Hyatt Regency and Albuquerque Convention Center

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Roots/Routes: Relationality in Times of Disenchantment

New Mexico is affectionately nicknamed the “Land of Enchantment.” Since time immemorial, it has been home to Pueblo, Diné, and Ndee peoples. Settlers have been coming to its striking landscape–and remaining–since the sixteenth century. Many jokingly refer to it as the “Land of Entrapment”; once you go there, you don’t want to leave. Such characterizations belie deep legacies of layered colonialisms that challenge relationships between kin, communities, and the land and reinscribe alternate logics of being and belonging. These tensions have been born out at various historical moments (1680 Pueblo Revolt, 1837 Río Arriba Rebellion, 1847 Taos Revolt), and more recently at places of public memory and memorialization, even resulting in shootings at statue sites in New Mexico in 2020 and 2023.

With this in mind, and holding our meeting in Albuquerque, we call for proposals that approach the idea of relationality–to lands, kin, peoples, even institutions–in times of disenchantment. Indigenous perspectives on relationality stress reciprocity and responsibility, and we invite proposals from a variety of perspectives that consider the idea of relationality in the history of the North American West. How have people and communities in the West conceived of their relationships and responsibilities? What have successful models of relationality, and ruptures in these relationships, meant in the region’s history? Through the lens of western history, how can we renew the theory and practice of relationality? We hope for an enriching conversation, with panels that will help us rethink the historical roots of our relationships in the West, broadly conceived, and imagine useful models for future relationality.

Travel scholarships, support, and prizes for students and public historians are awarded annually by the WHA. Please visit the WHA website (www.westernhistory.org) for more information on membership, awards, sponsors, and future events. The WHA is housed in the History Department at the University of Kansas and benefits from the generous support of the KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Policy: Diversity of Program Participants Statement

1) The Program Committee will actively promote the full and equitable inclusion of racial and ethnic minorities, diverse Indigeneities, religious minorities, people with disabilities, women, LGBTQ+ people, and people with various ranks and career paths on the Annual Meeting program.

2) Although not all sessions can reflect the entire diversity of the profession, the Program Committee will encourage proposers of sessions to include diverse sets of participants, addressing gender diversity, racial and ethnic diversity, sexual diversity, religious diversity, disability-based diversity, and/or LGBTQ+ diversity.

3) The Program Committee will encourage session proposers to consider the benefits of including on their panels historians in various career paths and of various ranks (i.e., senior scholars, public historians, graduate students, independent historians, etc.) within their organizations/institutions.

2025 Program Committee Co-Chairs

Co-Chair, Maurice Crandall, Arizona State University

Co-Chair, Margaret Huettl, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

2025 WHA President

William Bauer, University of California, Riverside