EEASA Charter

EEASA charter December 14, 2012.

Revised December 8, 2016 and December 16, 2018.

1.History and purpose of the European Early American Studies Association 

a) History and General Purpose

EEASA was founded in 2006 when a first European conference was held in Paris (University Paris Diderot), bringing together European and North American scholars. 

EEASA focuses on research on the history and culture of the North American continent from the exploration and founding of the first colonies to 1850. From the beginning, an Atlantic perspective has been central to EEASA conferences: thus « early America » is also to be understood as including the British, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch colonies and empires in the Americas whenever the topic of the conference makes the inclusion of other European empires in the Americas possible.

c) Specific Missions & General Assembly

The EEASA brings together European and North American scholars, and tries to balance the contributions of both academic traditions. Its primary goal is to make it possible for European scholars to present their research on early America in history, literature and the arts, in Europe. Other goals include:

-offering a forum for scholarly and academic exchange between European scholars at all levels, thus promoting collegiality and sociability across the continent

-offering a forum for exchange with non-European scholars

-promoting the research of graduate students through specific sessions

-connecting European scholars through a mailing list 

To make sure these missions are accomplished effectively, the EEASA president convenes a general assembly of European participants during each conference. This general assembly is also an opportunity to discuss board changes and possible venues for future conferences. 

2. Conferences

a) Conference organization

EEASA conferences are held every other year, starting in 2006. Conference organizers must belong to an academic institution such as a university or a research center. More than one institution may be involved, in one or more countries. Conference organizers must have attended at least one EEASA conference before applying and must have defended the project of the conference before the EEASA board during the previous EEASA conference. When two different sets of organizers want to organize the next conference, the board selects the best project.

The conference cannot be held in the same institution twice in a row. We should normally rotate between European nations organizing the conference.

The conference may be postponed to the following year in case it is prevented from happening by major disruption or unforeseen circumstances beyond the control of the organizers. 

b) Budget

Conference organizers should commit to funding the coming of European board members and graduate students to the best of their abilities. Any organizer must commit himself or herself to raising a budget including this commitment when accepting the responsibility of the conference.

The provisional conference budget must be submitted to the president and the board a year ahead of the conference.

The president and board members must try and raise funds in order to help support the bi-annual conferences. 

c) Conference programme

Organizers of the bi-annual conference put forward a theme for the conference together with the board. A 4-member programme committee is then formed, including the president, one local organizer and 2 other board-members. They are in charge of selecting proposals, and forming panels (pre-formed panels are to be considered as exceptional). Chairs and commentators are to be selected from the pool of board members & regular participants for networking purposes. Panels must mix nationalities to promote trans-national scholarly exchange.

The CFP is to be circulated at least one year before, and confirmation of participants made known at least 9 months ahead of the conference. The CFP must include information on graduate student support, and make it clear that papers will be made available on the EEASA web site ahead of the conference.

d) Naomi Wulf best article prize and publication in JEAH

The European Early American Studies Association (EEASA) together with the Journal of Early American History (JEAH) announce the Naomi Wulf Prize for the best paper presented by a European participant at the biannual European Early American Studies Association conference. 

The peer-reviewed Journal of Early American History (Brill), first published in 2011, is dedicated to the advancement of scholarly understanding of the history of the colonization of the Americas and appears three times annually. It offers investigations of any aspect of American history from the late fifteenth century to 1830 to a broad audience of historians. 

The Naomi Wulf Prize is named in honor of our late French colleague, Naomi Wulf, who was one of the founders of EEASA and was actively involved in organizing the 2008 and 2010 EEASA conferences. The prize will be awarded in the wake of every bi-annual conference. The prize entails specific consideration for publication in the JEAH (after the usual review process), a cash prize of 500 Euros, plus a one-year free subscription to the Journal of Early American History. 

The prize will be awarded on the basis of the written version of the paper as submitted prior to the conference along with the oral presentation. 

As the written version of the paper is submitted, participants who wish to be candidates for the prize will indicate their candidacy to the board secretary. The selection process then involves the EEASA board and one member of the JEAH editorial board. The prize will be awarded within four months after the conference. The prize will be announced on the EEASA and JEAH websites.

3. Board members and meetings

The board is made up of 12 European members, and includes a president, a secretary and a treasurer. 

a) Composition of the board

The board tries to address various goals in its make-up :

-representation of the diversity of European nationalities

-representation of the proportional number of scholars of one specific nation attending EEASA conferences 

-gender balance

b) Selection of board members and turnover

Board members are selected or confirmed on the occasion of the bi-annual conference at the board meeting. Board members are to serve a term of 4 years, or two bi-annual conferences. They can be replaced at the end of two years of they fail to show interest in the organization. Past presidents are to be informed of the board meetings and encouraged to attend. They can re-apply as board members 4 years after they finish serving their term as president or stay on the board as “honorary members” with no voting power.

c) Board Meetings

The meetings are held on the occasion of the bi-annual conference. Two meetings are considered as necessary to talk about the development of the field, choose the next conference topic, discuss financial questions, the website, book prize etc. 

Board meetings may take place outside the conference schedule in case of major disruption or unforeseen circumstances preventing the regular holding of the conferences. 

4. Presidents

EEASA presidents are selected from regular EEASA board members. A new president is selected by board members on the occasion of each EEASA conference. The president is selected among the local organizers of the current conference.

The president’s missions are :

a) to coordinate board members and make sure EEASA meets its goals

b) to help plan the next conference

c) to try and raise funds for EEASA activities