The early-bird conference registration fee is $45 for current members, which includes lunch on Saturday. Registration will increase to $55 starting October 3.

In order to be included on the program, all presenters must become members of the MWWHA and register for the conference by September 20.

Click here to join or renew membership in the MWWHA.

Click here to register for the conference.

Dr. Robert Haug, University of Cincinnati

"Rebellion and Refuge in Termez: What the Revolt of Musa ibn Abdallah ibn Khazim (ca. 692-704) Teaches Us About Migration, Borders, and Diaspora in Early Islamic Central Asia"

Robert Haug is Associate Professor of Islamic World History at the University of Cincinnati. He received his BA in Geography and History from DePaul University in 1999, his MA in Modern Middle Eastern and North African Studies from the University of Michigan in 2002, and his PhD in Near Eastern Studies also from the University of Michigan in 2010. Prof. Haug came to the University of Cincinnati’s History Department in 2010 where he has taught a wide variety of courses on the history of the Middle East, the Islamic World, and the World including the Crusades, the Golden Age of Islam, the history of Afghanistan and Central Asia, the Global Middle Ages, and even the history of punk as well as the World and Middle Eastern History surveys. His research interests focus on the history of the early Islamic World (7th-13th centuries) with a special interest on the Iranian World and Central Asia. He is the author of The Eastern Frontier: Limits of Empire in Late Antique and Early Medieval Central Asia, published by I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury in 2019. His current research project is a microhistory of the Arab conquests of Iran and the First and Second Fitnas told through the life of the general, governor, and rebel Abdallah ibn Khazim al-Sulami. He is currently the Secretary of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, past Secretary of Middle East Medievalists, and will soon be co-editor of al-`Usur al-Wusta: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists beginning in January 2027.

The conference will be held in the Liberal Arts Building at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) in Edmond, which is about 30 minutes north of Oklahoma City.

Airport

The nearest airport is Will Rogers World Airport (OKC). Airport Express has shuttles waiting immediately outside the airport; follow the signs for Ground Transportation. The flat rate to Edmond is approximately $63. Airport Express also provides scheduled pickups 24/7 from anywhere in metro OKC back to the airport for the same price. Raid hailing and car rentals are also available at the airport.

Hotels and Transportation while you're here...

Hotels

Edmond has several modestly priced hotels within three miles of UCO. Here’s a list of recommendations (from least to most expensive):

• SureStay Plus by Best Western Edmond
  
• Fairfield Inn by Marriott Edmond
  
• LaQuinta Inn Edmond
  
• Holiday Inn Express Edmond
  
• Hampton Inn Oklahoma City/Edmond
  
• Home2 Suites by Hilton Edmond
  

Note: Executive Inn is not recommended despite its proximity to the university.

Edmond operates a free public bus called Citylink. Route 6 runs between these hotels and the university with pickups at 2^nd Street & Coltrane (near the Best Western) and at 2^nd Street outside the Holiday Inn Express (for all other hotels). Route 6 is a loop so you will initially be heading toward Interstate-35 before looping around back toward the university. Request the stop at the UCO Main Entrance when you see the statue of Chief Touch the Clouds. Route 6 runs every 30 minutes from 7am-7pm on weekdays and hourly from 9am-5pm on Saturdays. You can find the schedule here.

Parking

On Friday, visitors can park in Lot 10 (see the map) near the Liberal Arts Building at no cost with a code. The code will be distributed before the meeting. Parking is not enforced on Saturdays.

The Middle Ground Journal will give extra consideration to papers presented at the MWWHA conference for publication in the journal. Please see the journal's Submission Guidelines before submitting your paper for consideration.

The deadline for submissions to the journal for a special issue is typically in December of the same year.

Thanks to those who submitted proposals.

You will receive an email on July 7, 2026 about your proposal.

Please, feel free to download the CFPs as a pdf here:

 MWWHA 2026 CFPs extended deadline.pdf.

The Midwest World History Association and The Middle Ground Journal are proud to announce the call for proposals for our sixteenth annual conference:

Migration, Borders, and Diaspora in World History

October 23-24, 2026
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Proposal Deadline: May 31 June 14, 2026

Why do people migrate? How are borders demarcated physically and metaphorically? What are the perils of crossing them? How do we teach about diasporic communities? Where do histories of immigration feature in state standards for social studies?

We invite graduate students, K-12 teachers, professors, and researchers to share their ideas related to this year’s theme or other aspects of world history, including best practices in pedagogy. Please submit a 250-word proposal with a brief CV or resume to http://www.mwwha.org by the deadline. The conference will be held exclusively in person at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) in Edmond, Oklahoma. Individual presentations are limited to 20 minutes. Proposals for a prearranged panel of papers, a workshop, or a roundtable discussion should include the names and affiliations of each participant and a 250-word abstract describing the topic.

The MWWHA will offer up to three stipends of $300 to Educators (K-12 teachers) or Graduate Students from the Midwest to partially offset the cost of travel and accommodation. Simply include a brief request for consideration in the proposal.

The Western Pacific Institute at UCO will offer an Award for Best Student Paper on Asian History (broadly conceived). For consideration, polished papers must be submitted to the conference chair, Andrew Magnusson (chair@mwwha.org), by October 2, 2026.

Questions about the conference may be directed to the conference chair at chair@mwwha.org. Further information about the MWWHA and The Middle Ground Journal can be found at http://www.mwwha.org.

The program will be posted here.