Event

151st Foreign Policy Seminar This Week

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On November 8th, the History Department will be hosting its Foreign Policy Seminar. The event will take place in the Wood Hall Basement Lounge, and there will be a Zoom meeting option available (with registration). The reception begins at 4:30, and  the talk will start at 5 pm. There will be a dinner after the end of the talk, if you are interested in attending please contact frank.costigliola@uconn.edu.

Anne Foster, a professor of history at Indiana State since 2003, will be presenting “Creating Borders, Creating Crises: The Longer, Broader War on Drugs,”.

In her latest book “The Long War”, Foster examines the global war on drugs.

“Since the early twentieth century, the United States has led a global prohibition effort against certain drugs in which production restriction and criminalization are emphasized over prevention and treatment as means to reduce problematic usage. This “war on drugs” is widely seen to have failed, and periodically decriminalization and legalization movements arise. Debates continue over whether the problems of addiction and crime associated with illicit use of drugs stem from their illegal status or the nature of the drugs themselves. In The Long War on Drugs Anne L. Foster explores the origin of the punitive approach to drugs and its continued appeal despite its obvious flaws. She provides a comprehensive overview, focusing not only on a political history of policy developments but also on changes in medical practices and understanding of drugs. Foster also outlines the social and cultural changes prompting different attitudes about drugs; the racial, environmental, and social justice implications of particular drug policies; and the international consequences of US drug policy.” from Duke University Press.

Prof Ogbar’s “America’s Black Capital” Talk Broadcast Over C-Span

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Jeff Ogbar, professor of history, UConnJeffrey O.G. Ogbar gave a talk on his new book, America’s Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederacy at the Atlanta Center in January.

The event was then broadcast over C-Span.

America’s Black Capital chronicles how African American’s pushed back against Confederate ideology and transformed Atlanta into today’s “Black Mecca.”

 

Manisha Sinha on American Democracy April 4th

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Prof. Manisha Sinha will take part in a panel titled “The Past, Present, and Future of American Democracy,” on Thursday, April 4th at the Thompson Room, Barker Center at Harvard University from 4:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. Manisha Sinha, professor of history

The event will be moderated by Lisa McGirr (Warren Center Director). The panelists are: Carol Anderson (Emory), Daniel Ziblatt (Harvard), Gary Gerstle (Cambridge University), Manisha Sinha (Univ. of Connecticut). There is no paper or supplemental reading for this event.

This is co-sponsored by the Warren Center, American Studies, Department of History, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, and the Center For American Political Studies.

What is a Disaster?: Andy Horowitz and Jacob A. C. Remes

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On Thursday, April 4th at 6 p.m. Connecticut State Historian and UConn History Professor Andy Horowitz will be in conversation with Jacob A. C. Remes at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History titled “What is a Disaster?”

Andy Horowitz, associate professor of History and Connecticut State Historian

From the event site:

“Floods and earthquakes, wars and famines, engineering failures and economic collapses — these frightening events seem to define modern life. We name them “disasters.” But what makes a disaster different from other periods of time? In a freewheeling conversation, two leading scholars in the field of disaster studies will consider events in Connecticut history and beyond, thinking out loud together about why some kinds of bad news are considered disasters while others are not, and what difference it makes.”

Find more information here.

Frank Costigliola on George Kennan, with Kai Bird November 9th

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University of Connecticut Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History, Frank Costigliola will discuss his most recent book, Kennan: A Life between Worlds, with the Executive Director of the Leon Levy Center Kai Bird. The hybrid event will occur Thursday, November 9th, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. in-person at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Segal Theatre and online via Zoom.

Register here.

Fiona Vernal to Present for Hartford Lecture Series on Oct. 5th

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Fiona Vernal, associate professor of history, UConn Hartford Lecture Series brings local organizations and their histories to light. UCONN’s Fiona Vernal, Director,  Engaged, Public, Oral and Community Histories (EPOCH), convened the series in collaboration with CT State Community College, the Hartford Heritage project, and series founder Bill Hosley.  Vernal will deliver her lecture (in person and live stream) on Hartford’s ethnic heritage on October 5th at 5:45 p.m. at CT’s Old State House.

For streaming information, please see the attached poster.

 

 

 

 

Nuchi nu Miji – Okinawa’s Water of Life Screening at Avery Point

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The UConn Avery Point Campus will host a special screening of the film, Nuchi nu Miji – Okinawa’s Water of Life at the Avery Point Campus in the auditorium on March 21st from 3-6 pm, organized by UConn History Prof. and Maritime Studies Affiliate Faculty member, Alexis Dudden. The film portrays Okinawans’ struggle for justice in one of the worst environmental catastrophes in modern Japanese history, where since 2016 nearly one-third of the population’s drinking water has been contaminated with military PFAS “Forever Chemicals.” It features interviews, archive footage and documents obtained via the US Freedom of Information Act, to uncover the truth of what has been happening in Okinawa, and the struggle of residents who feel ignored by both Tokyo and Washington. 

Both of the filmmakers, Shimabukuro Natsuko and Jon Mitchell, will also be present to meet.

  • Shimabukuro Natsuko is a director with Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. Her documentaries about Okinawan history, politics, and environmental problems have won Japan’s top TV prizes, including the prestigious Galaxy Award. She is a member of Waseda University’s Institute for the Next Generation of Journalism and Media.
  • Jon Mitchell is a correspondent with Okinawa Times and the author of four books about Okinawa’s environment, including Poisoning the Pacific (Rowman & Littlefield), a winner in the 2021 US Society of Environmental Journalists’ book awards. He is a visiting researcher at Meiji Gakuin University’s International Peace Research Institute, Tokyo.

Prof. Dudden’s research includes work on modern Japan, modern Korea, and international history and she is currently writing a book, The Opening and Closing of Japan, 1850-2020, about Japan’s territorial disputes and the changing meaning of islands in international law.

Find more information about the event here.

Alexis Dudden, professor of history, UConn

Brendan Kane Presents Kelleher Lecture at Harvard

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This Thursday Professor Brendan Kane will be giving the 18th John V. Kelleher Lecture in Celtic Studies at Harvard University, on the topic of “Paleography and Power: Irish Political Thought in a Multi-Lingual Archive.”  There is an associated display of the Irish manuscripts held by Houghton Library which have been key to his research. Congratulations to Professor Kane on this latest achievement in his broader efforts to recast our understanding of early modern Irish and English history based on the close reading of long-undervalued Irish-language sources.