University of Oxford, England
July 3-5, 2009
Abraham Lincoln has inspired the citizens and leaders of countries around the world to embrace the ideals of freedom, democracy, equality, and opportunity for which he is known.
Surprisingly, though, there is no comprehensive study of Abraham Lincoln’s impact on the world.
The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission will partner with Oxford University in 2009 to fill that void. They will assemble scholars from around the world for a conference in England, July 3-5, 2009, to explore Lincoln’s international legacy.
The conference will be organized around the following four themes:
Lincoln’s own horizons.
How did he perceive and deal with the world beyond the United States?
The American projection of the meaning and image of Lincoln into the wider world after his death.
Some key periods, especially, will be explored: the era of late-19th century imperialism, the First World War, and the Cold War (particularly the overseas efforts of the U.S. Information Agency to promote the sesquicentennial of his birth, in 1959).
The reception of Lincoln in various places.
The majority of the conference will deal with this issue. In some cases the predominant element is Lincoln as emancipator, in others Lincoln as democrat and nationalist, and elsewhere Lincoln as the self-made man.
The list of places to examine is extensive:
- The former Confederacy
- England
- Wales
- Ireland
- Spain
- Germany
- Italy
- Japan
- China
- Cuba—and Latin America more widely
- Russia
- Ghana
- Liberia
Conference papers will explore the following topics in detail:
- Lincoln’s Horizons
- Projecting Lincoln Overseas
- The Cold War
- Lincoln in graphic representation
- The current/historical valuation of Lincoln in:
- Russia
- Latin America
- The southern United States
- South Asia
- Africa
- Italy and GermanySpain Japan, China and East Asia
- England
- Wales
- Ireland
The following scholars are currently slated to participate in the conference:
- Eugenio Biagini, Cambridge University
- David Blight, Yale University
- Carolyn Boyd, University of California, Irvine
- Richard Carwardine, University of Oxford
- Tao De-min, Kansai University
- Harold Holzer, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Kevin Kenny, Boston College
- Nicola Miller, University College London
- Kenneth O. Morgan, University of Oxford
- Peter Onuf, University of Virginia
- Norman Saul, University of Kansas
- Thomas Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
- Jay Sexton, University of Oxford
- Adam I.P. Smith, University College London
- Arne Westad, London School of Economics
- Douglas Wilson, Knox College
