The New York Times has once again turned to UConn History Professor Micki McElya for her insights into the national politics of mourning, memorials, and memory. In a recent piece on The Tomb of the Unknowns–scheduled for public opening for the first time in 73 years this week–Prof. McElya indicates that “Arlington became a site that every single American can claim a relationship to,” in large part because of the tomb. In the article, Prof. McElya details the debates about veteran burial and remembrance, culminating in this tomb functioning as a political symbol imbued with ever-changing meanings about military service and leadership. Read more in the excellent NYT article and consider taking a look at Prof. McElya’s award-winning book, The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery.
Faculty
Prof. Fiona Vernal Participates in Hartford Heritage Series
UConn History Professor Fiona Vernal delivered a talk on Shade Tobacco Stories: Land, Labor, and Immigration in the CT Tobacco Valley. As a part of Capitol Community College’s virtual history heritage series, Prof. Vernal gives us a deeper appreciation of the local histories that go forgotten between the larger national stories that influence yet take center stage in the narratives we tell about the past. She illustrates the connections and collaborations that people of West Indian, Caribbean, and African descent fostered as they labored and organized to create political communities and social networks. The making of tobacco culture in CT is one that Prof. Vernal details with passion and dedication.
Listen to her talk on the CT Old State House page and read this Hartford Courant article that chronicles the work of historians throughout the region laboring to bring the history of Hartford and its surrounding areas to the fore. The whole series is on the CT Old State House page!
New 2021 Faculty Books
We celebrate the 2021 UConn faculty books!
- Fakhreddin Azimi, The Identity of Iran, Exploring Manifestations of Nationalism: A Civic Perspective (Tehra: Agah, 2021)
- Sergio Luzzatto, Giù in mezzo agli uomini. Vita e morte di Guido Rossa (“Down Among the Men. Life and Death of Guido Rossa”) (Turin: Einaudi, 2021)
- Peter Zarrow, Abolishing Boundaries (Albany: SUNY Press, 2021)
New 2020 Faculty Books
We celebrate the 2020 publications from UConn faculty!
- Peter Baldwin, Angel on a Freight Train (Albany: SUNY Press, 2020)
- Joseph McAlhany, The Roman Republic (New York: Cognella, 2020)
- Ricardo Salazar-Rey, Mastering the Law (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2020)
- Walt Woodward, Creating Connecticut (New York: Globe Pequot/ Rowland, 2020)
- Kaveh Yazdani and Dilip Menon, eds. Capitalisms: Towards a Global History (Oxford/ Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2020)
2019 Faculty Books
We celebrate the 2019 publications from UConn faculty!
- Cornelia Dayton, et al, Women’s America, 9th edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019)
- Ariel Lambe, No Barrier Can Contain It (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019)
- Sergio Luzzato, Un popolo come gli altri. Gli ebrei, l’eccezione, la storia (“A People Like Any Other. The Jews, The Exception, and History”) (Rome: Donzelli, 2019)
- Jeffrey Ogbar, Black Power, 2nd edition (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019)
- Nancy Shoemaker, Pursuing Respect in the Cannibal Isles (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2019)
Prof. Peter Baldwin Discusses Bathrooms with Bloomberg CityLab
A recently published CityLab article asks the question, “where did all the public bathrooms go?” The author, Elizabeth Yuko, turned to UConn History professor Peter Baldwin to delve into this inquiry. For Professor Baldwin, public bathrooms reveal the intersections of public health, class, and gender, each intimately connected to early twentieth century concerns around privacy and government intervention. The absence of public bathrooms, Professor Baldwin argues, reveals that “we do not care about anyone who doesn’t have money, which I think encapsulates where American politics has been going since 1980.” For more insights into toilets, culture, and politics, check out the CityLab article!
Prof. Fiona Vernal Receives Distinguished Faculty Award
UConn History Professor Fiona Vernal has received one of the annual Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Community Engaged Scholarship. This prestigious award is bestowed upon several faculty, staff, and students who have worked to create local, regional/state, national, and global projects that further sustainability and the public good. Professor Fiona Vernal has collaborated with various partners to amplify the stories and histories of housing, labor, and migration in the greater Hartford community. Her projects have contributed to the launch of the History Department’s Engaged, Public, Oral, and Community Histories (EPOCH) initiative. Her work bridges public history and mentorship to chart new paths in scholarship about race, community, and belonging. Professor Vernal’s community-engaged scholarship, alongside the work of many amazing staff, students, and faculty, has been profiled in UConn Today.
Congratulations! A job well done!
Prof. Alexis Dudden Featured in New York Times Article
The New York Times has turned to UConn History Professor Alexis Dudden for her insights into the overlooked stories of “comfort women, ” as apart of their series on unreported death in The Times. Having interviewed survivors of state-sponsored sexual slavery during WWII era Japan, Alexis Dudden reflects on the life on Kim Hak-soon, who was detained by Japanese soldiers while living in China in 1941. As Prof. Dudden explains in the Times article, Kim-Hak-soon “remains one of the bravest people of the 20th century,” who was around 15 when she was taken. In 1991, Kim Hak-soon first publicly shared her story and later recorded her testimony in the 1993 book, The Korean Comfort Women Who Were Coercively Dragged Away for the Military, Vol. 1. For more about the life of Kim Hak-soon, her activism, and the sexual slavery sponsored by the Japanese state, please read the Times article, “Overlooked No More: Kim Hak-soon, Who Broke the Silence for Comfort Women.”
Jeffrey Ogbar Awarded for Outstanding Service
UConn History Professor Jeffrey Ogbar is one of two recipients of the 2021 Provost’s Outstanding Service Award. Since joining the UConn community in 1997, Professor Ogbar has worked as scholar, advisor, and director across the institution. He has been a “tireless advocate and mentor for students of color and first-generation students in a variety of capacities, formal and informal,” and for faculty of color, according to UConn Today. The UConn Today profile covers just how expansive and wide-reaching Professor Ogbar’s service has been and will continue to be. Congratulations! What a tremendous honor. We are grateful for your passion in building up the UConn community.
10/28-10/29: Facing History with Manisha Sinha and Jeffrey Ogbar
On October 28 and 29, Professor Manisha Sinha and and Professor Jeffrey Ogbar will present two events with the Benton Museum of Art. They will engage in a discussion about the new “Facing History” exhibition that explores race, gender, and colonialism. Please RSVP to benton@uconn.edu.
10/28 Facing History Gallery Talk With Jeffrey Ogbar
Thursday, October 28th, 2021
03:30 PM – 05:00 PM
Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, Professor of History and Director, Center for the Study of Popular Music at UConn, presents a playlist inspired by the exhibition, Facing History.
Followed by hot cider and donuts in The Benton courtyard.
10/29 Facing History Faculty Dialogue With Manisha Sinha And Kelli Morgan
Friday, October 29th, 2021
02:00 PM – 03:00 PM
With Manisha Sinha, James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History at UConn, and Kelli Morgan, Director of Curatorial Studies at Tufts University.