48th ABS Annual Conference

This session is for researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, and professionals working in the field of history. The history disciplinary stream will initiate the first of what will hopefully become an ongoing series of conversations about what Baha'i historians are learning by engaging in professional discourses in their fields and subfields. As we reflect on what it means to be a Baha'i historian in this historical moment, we hope to explore themes and questions such as: What are the challenges Baha'i historians face in their professional environments? How are these reflective of broader social issues and what lessons are we learning in addressing them? What perspectives and consciousness inform the approaches we might take to participating in discourses on these challenges? What perspectives and capacities can Baha'i historians offer as a result of their vision and experience in community-building processes? Who is our audience and how are our methods influenced by our participation in the historical process underway of releasing the society-building power of the Faith? How do these perspectives inform our craft of engaging with historical practices and processes? What are some of the qualities and attitudes that we should bring to the presentation of our evolving conceptual framework when considering emancipatory approaches to historical research? How can we offer interpretive insights that maintain coherence between the material, moral, and existential dimensions of historical processes? What does it take to remain true to the historical actors we are writing about?