Transatlantic Connections and the ‘Special Relationship[s]’: BAAS Postgraduate Symposium, 2026
V&A East Storehouse, London
9th November
In 1946, Winston Churchill declared the need for a “special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States” in order to maintain world diplomacy, citing our shared language and cultural values as connecting the two countries. Although this ‘special relationship’ has continually been called into question by scholars, there is undoubtedly a channel of cultural and political exchange between the US and the UK, as well as with other countries, which has become even more urgent for discussion in recent years.
The 2026 BAAS Postgraduate Symposium invites proposals from postgraduate researchers at all levels and across all disciplines on the topic of Transatlantic Connections and the ‘Special Relationship[s]’. By using the term ‘Special Relationship[s]’, we intend to explore the relationship between not only the US and the UK, but also between the US and other countries. We invite panels and individual papers on this theme and encourage you to interpret it as broadly as you wish, including any aspect of the US’s transnational cultural, political and literary connections, influences or contrasts. We welcome contributions from all realms of American Studies, including, but not limited to: literature and film studies, postcolonial and decolonial analysis, science and visual culture, and urban and environmental history. As this year’s symposium will be held at V&A East Storehouse, the site of the David Bowie Archive, we are particularly keen on hearing from scholars exploring the etymologically and culturally rich prefix of the term ‘Transatlantic’ itself.
This one-day symposium will involve not only academic panel discussions, but other activities such as a career development session, an introduction to the archives at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a keynote address by Professor Mark Ford. The intention is to foster a strong postgraduate community in American Studies and to learn from both our peers and from leaders in our field. The symposium will be catered, hosted primarily in-person at V&A East Storehouse, but with a digital attendance option for those only able to join online. There will be time in the day to explore V&A East Storehouse and the David Bowie Centre. V&A East Storehouse is a working museum store with a rich archive for students to use in their research. The building is designed to allow visitors to get closer to objects held in the V&A collections and to the work of the museum itself.
We welcome the submission of individual papers as well as proposals for complete panels of three researchers. Applications from groups of three or four researchers for roundtable discussions are also welcome. For panel and roundtable proposals, please also include a statement of up to 200 words on the aims of the collective submission, alongside the individual papers. Papers should be around 15-20 minutes long, and roundtables will consist of five-minute introductions by each researcher followed by 45 minutes of discussion. Interdisciplinary paper, panel and roundtable proposals are encouraged.
Suggested paper and roundtable topics include, but are not limited to:
• Case studies or broader comparisons between literary texts from the US and other nations
• Case studies or broader comparisons between films from the US and other nations
• Comparative political or historical analyses concerning the US and other nations
• Comparative economic, scientific or environmental analyses concerning the US and other nations.
Although the symposium will centre on ‘Transatlantic Connections’, we welcome proposals making any transnational comparisons rooted in American Studies. We especially encourage researchers from across Europe and beyond to submit and attend, as part of ongoing efforts to expand the EAAS community of postgraduates. We want to make this symposium as accessible as possible; we will be working to ensure a relaxed academic environment and we encourage anyone attending to email us with any access needs. Bursaries will be available from BAAS on a limited basis for students requiring financial support for attendance.
The deadline for submissions is 15th September 2026. Please send proposals including a title, an abstract of no more than 250 words and a short biography of no more than 200 words to Claire Watt at claire.watt@baas.ac.uk. If you have any questions about the symposium, big or small, please get in touch and we will be happy to help. We look forward to hearing from you!
