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CALL FOR PAPERS
Oildale and Beyond: Interpreting the Region Through Words, Images, and Music
Saturday, November 7, 2009
CSU Bakersfield
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The History Department and the Walter Stiern Library at California State University, Bakersfield, announce a conference on the history of Oildale, California, and the larger region (Bakersfield, Kern County, the Southern San Joaquin Valley).
The year 2009 marks the centennial of this unincorporated area of metropolitan Bakersfield, a distinct working-class community that emerged rapidly after a major oil discovery in the area in 1899 and which has left a legacy in business, literature, and song.
Papers exploring any aspect of the history of Oildale and the larger region are welcome, but the conference plans to highlight in particular the following topics:
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The oil industry
The Bakersfield Sound
The Dust Bowl
Race relations and the Klan
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Water issues
Education/libraries/literature
Ethnic groups/diverse communities
Aerospace
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Featured Musician:
Merle Haggard
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Oildale native, singer, songwriter, and inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame (solo, plus interview by Bob Price)
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Keynote speaker:
Gerald Haslam
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Oildale native, writer and teacher, and author of over two dozen books, including Workin’ Man Blues (UC Press, 1999)
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Conference events open only to those registered for the conference
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Please send abstracts by July 31, 2009, to Miriam Raub Vivian, program committee chair, at mvivian@csub.edu (or CSUB History Department, 9001 Stockdale Hwy., Bakersfield, CA 93311).
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What is history?
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History has been called the memory of human group experience, the collective repository of all that has gone on in the past and the emotions, ideals, and values that have given human experience its sense of continuity, causation, and meaning.
As an academic discipline it is perhaps the broadest of the liberal arts, certainly the least restricted by subject and scope. It requires the development of analytical skills, the use of deductive and inductive reasoning, the mastery of knowledge from different cultures and epochs, and the ability to express ideas in clear, readable prose.
The study of history has practical rewards as well. It provides students with a broad cultural background and inculcates skills of analysis and composition that are considered essential to the study of education, literature, law, government, communications, journalism, public service, and business.
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The History Department at CSUB offers courses leading to the follow degrees:
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