Month: December 2025

NCPH and NPS “WWII and the Home Front” webinar to include UConn’s Clarissa Ceglio on January 23rd

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The online webinar series presented by the National Council on Public History and National Park Service is called “World War II and the Home Front” and will start January 22nd and end January 30th. Professor Ceglio is an Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at UConn and will present a talk that will include tips for those who want to delve into their local museum or historical society’s war history. She will trace how the notion of museums as “social instruments” led to experimentation in the 1930s and how once WWII began, progressive museum practitioners found that the line between purposive education and propaganda was not as clear or as easy to walk as they had thought. Her talk will be January 23rd, 2:00 pm EST, entitled “A Cultural Arsenal for Democracy: The World War II Work of US Museums.”

grey flyer with red lettering saying World War II and the Home Front

Registration is free, and can be found along with details about the other three presentations here:

WWII and the Home Front- National Council on Public History

 

The First Right: Self-Determination and the Transformation of International Order, 1941-2000

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Bradley Simpson, Author

Oxford University Press, 2025Blue and red painting with The First Right written in blue above and Bradley Simpson written in white below.

In The First Right, Brad Simpson narrates the global history of the idea of self-determination in international politics from the 1940s through the end of the twentieth century. He argues that there was no one version of self-determination, but a century-long contest between contending visions of sovereignty and rights. He shows that self-determination’s meaning has often emerged from the claims of movements and peoples on the margins of international society.  Over the course of the 20th Century Pacific Island territories, Indigenous peoples, regional and secessionist movements, and transnational solidarity groups, among others, offered expansive visions of economic, political, and cultural sovereignty ranging far beyond the movement for decolonization with which they are often associated. As they did so, these movements and groups helped to vernacularize self-determination as a language of social justice and rights for people around the world.

Manisha Sinha interviewed on ABC news segment on coming changes to free-fee days at National Parks

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Professor Sinha appeared to discuss the departure from precedent that free-fee days being cancelled for MLK Jr.’s birthday and Juneteenth represent in light of a new day added on Flag Day, which is not a federal holiday but is current President Trump’s birthday.

Full segment here: Juneteenth and MLK Day removed as free-fee days at national parks – ABC News

Professor Alexis Dudden Article on Taiwan Tensions and “History Wars” between China and Japan Published in China Daily

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Professor Dudden’s article titled “When Japan’s history becomes a security threat” explains the history invoked by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s statement about Taiwan in November, and the intentions behind making statements that could and did flare political discussion in the region. 

Full article here: When Japan’s history becomes a security threat – Opinion – Chinadaily.com.cn

Draper Chair of American History Manisha Sinha featured in UConn Today article about launch of Chinese translation of ‘The Slave’s Cause’

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The article begins with a summary of Professor Sinha’s embarking on a book and lecture tour in China to engage new readers with the material, and goes on to a Q and A about what the book means to both American and international scholars. The book has been widely read internationally, and the discussion explains how studying the past and uncovering the full picture of the abolition movement offers a perpetually relevant opportunity for examination of how people’s lives and choices have led to political change both in the US and internationally.

 

Full article here: Manisha Sinha Brings Global Perspectives on Abolition to China – UConn Today