Scarminach Shares History of Seabed Mining in Edge Effects

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Shaine Scarminach, doctoral student, History Department, UConnUConn Ph.D. Candidate Shaine Scarminach recently contributed to Edge Effects, a digital magazine associated with the Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His article, titled “Diving into the History of Seabed Mining” takes a critical look at seabed mining by historicizing the practice and questioning the industry’s current claims. Scarminach aptly raises the questions: “Can seabed mining help reduce economic inequality in the world, or will it merely open another frontier of resource extraction? Can the practice be safely pursued, or will it necessarily harm marine ecosystems already impacted by global warming, overfishing, and pollution? Can hauling minerals from the sea floor help communities adapt to climate change, or will it only create further obstacles?” 

Scarminach’s dissertation research explores changes in the human use of the oceans, particularly during the Cold War and decolonization. For more information regarding Shaine’s work, please click here.

Two History Professors Featured in UConn 360 Podcast

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This week’s episode of UConn 360 features state historian and Professor Walter Woodward, as well as Professor Altina Waller. While Professor Woodward provides fascinating facts about Connecticut’s history, Professor Waller discusses the Hatfield-McCoy feud, which served as the subject of her third book. To listen to the podcast, click here. To read more about Professor Waller’s book, “Feud: Hatfields, McCoys and Social Change in Appalachia, 1860-1900,” click here.


                                                      Altina Waller, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Connecticut       Walter Woodward, Associate Professor of History at the University of Connecticut and State Historian for Connecticut

Wood Hall Welcomes Two South African Visiting Fellows

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The History Department is pleased to welcome Thoko Sipungu and Siyanda Ntlabathi who join us through the University Capacity Development Program (UCDP), a South African initiative with international partners in higher education that helps to develop the professoriate. In a parternship with UCONN Global and South Africa’s
Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), the UConn History Department welcomes the second cohort or scholars in this exciting collaboration. We wish them a productive start to their semester at UCONN!

 

 

Thoko Sipungu, Visiting PhD Scholar, Rhodes University, South Africa Sipungu S African Visiting Fellow
Sipungu is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Rhodes University. His research and teaching interests include the sociology of men and masculinities, sexuality/ies, disabilities, identity and belonging, and sociological theory. His research aims to theorize the significance of the ‘body’ and the place of disability in the construction of Xhosa masculinity/ies.

 

 

 

Siyanda Ntlabathi, Visiting PhD Scholar, University of Fort Hare, Eastern Cape, in South AfricaSiyanda S African Visiting Fellow
Siyanda works as Manager of the Teaching and Learning Centre, East London Campus at the University of Fort Hare. Her work involves Leadership, supporting Academics in Technology Enhanced Learning, Curriculum Development, Portfolio and ePortfolios development and Foundation Provisioning (Extended Curriculum) Support. This entails development and support through workshops, seminars, and one on one consultations. Siyanda has a Master’s in Education and is currently pursuing her PhD (DBA in Higher Education Management) with the University of Bath.

Nathan Braccio’s Fellowship with Omohundro Institute

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Ph.D. candidate Nathan Braccio was named an Omohundro Institute–Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation fellow, which enabled Braccio to conduct research over the summer in Williamsburg and Jamestown. While Braccio’s dissertation, “Parallel Landscapes: Algonquian and English Spatial Epistemologies 1500-1700,” focuses on how New England colonists and Algonquians described and learned about their landscape before 1700, his fellowship enabled him to broaden his research to include the culture of professional surveying and mapmaking among early colonists.

Braccio shared his fellowship experience and details relating to his fascinating research on OI’s “Uncommon Sense” blog. A link to his post can be found here.

HNN Article by UConn History Graduate, Rohit Kandala ’19

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Rohit Kandala spotlightUConn History alum, Rohit Kandala ’19, published an article on the George Washington University’s History News Network in June 2019. Titled “Make History Accessible: The Case for Youtube,” the article provides a glimpse at Kandala’s senior thesis that presented Youtube as a tool for the history community to increase public interest and knowledge. Kandala was advised by Professor Frank Costigliola.

Since graduating in May, Kandala has moved to Washington, DC to work as an analyst for Flag Media Analytics. Congrats, Rohit!

Prof. Ogbar Publishes Updated Edition of Black Power

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Ogbar Black Power CoverPublished in 2019 with Johns Hopkins University Press is an updated edition of Professor Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar‘s first book, Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (2005). The updated edition includes a new preface that traces the important linkage between the Black Power movement and the recent Black Lives Matter movement, as well as insight into the book’s genesis. The new edition also includes an updated essay on sources relating to the Black Power movement.

For more information, or to purchase book, please click here.

Professor Sinha’s New Article in The New York Review of Books

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Professor Manisha Sinha, History Department, University of ConnecticutProfessor Manisha Sinha contributed a new article, titled “The New Fugitive Slave Laws,” to The New York Review of Books. Drawing eye-opening parallels between the humanitarian assistance towards today’s crises, such as migrants arriving in Italy and Dreamers in the US, Today, and the assistance provided to slaves during the antebellum era, Sinha provides a timely argument that states “in criminalizing the provision of humanitarian assistance to migrants we have resurrected the fugitive slave laws of antebellum America.”

Professor McElya Contributes to Boston Review

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Micki McElya, Associate Professor of History, University of Connecticut

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, and in relation to the Democratic contest for presidential candidacy, Professor Micki McElya provides her assessment of whether democratic candidate and South End Mayor, Pete Buttigieg, is the inheritor of Stonewall’s legacy. Published in the Boston Review and titled “Is Pete Buttigieg the Face of Stonewall?,” McElya argues that “Buttigeig’s Stonewall is not that of the fed-up liberationists in the bar and on Christopher Street, but rather of Mattachine leaders’ sanguine next-day appeal to ‘rioters’ to be peaceful and decorous.”

To read more of McElya’s comparison, click here.

UConn Today Highlights Veterans History Project

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On May 23, 2019, UConn Today highlighted the important work being done by UConn’s Veterans History Project in an article titled “Preserving Veteran Stores for Future Generations.” Serving as an extension of the Library of Congress’ national initiative, UConn students are assisting in the collection, preservation, and dissemination of U.S. veterans’ personal accounts.

As discussed in the article, the project utilizes a multitude of UConn resources. In addition to being initiated by Veterans Affairs and Military Programs director Alyssa Kelleher ’04 (CLAS), ’17 MS, the project also engages with undergraduate students and professors, such as Fiona Vernal who is an Associate Professor of History and African Studies.

Prof. Kane Recovers Meaning of Text through Early Modern Irish

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Brendan Kane, Associate Professor of History and Associate Director of the Humanities Institute at the University of Connecticut

Professor Brendan Kane, specializing in early modern Britain and Ireland, details the recent recovery of an Irish source on The National Archives’ blog. Along with UConn Greenhouse Studios’  and , Professor Kane translated the text of an early seventeenth-century land dispute from the Irish midlands. The text was shared via twitter by the The National Archives’ archivists and came to the attention of Professor Kane and the Greenhouse Studios due to their in-depth involvement with Léamh.org.

To read more about the discovery process as well as the analysis of the document, follow this link.