News
In her recent New York Times opinion piece, Professor Sarah Milov discusses the tobacco industry's history of promoting the illusion that smoking is a choice in light of the FDA's recent proposal to lower the nicotine content in cigarettes.
"The F.D.A.’s nicotine proposal is, at long last, an opportunity to test one of the industry’s core propositions. Only then will we truly see if smoking is a free adult choice rather than the consequence of addiction and skillful product design."
Read the article here: https://www.nytimes.com/.../nicotine-smoking-cigarettes.html
Professor Alan Taylor recently presented as one of the keynotes for the Bavarian American Academy (BAA) Conference. His presentation was entitled, "The American Revolution & the Contemporary Culture War."
The recording can be watched here: https://youtu.be/BXOuASrOguY
Congratulations to Professor Penny M. Von Eschen on the publication of her new book, Paradoxes of Nostalgia: Cold War Trumphalism and Global Disorder Since 1989 (Duke University Press)
https://www.dukeupress.edu/paradoxes-of-nostalgia
Description:
In Paradoxes of Nostalgia Penny M. Von Eschen offers a sweeping examination of the cold war’s afterlife and the lingering shadows it casts over geopolitics, journalism, and popular culture. She shows how myriad forms of nostalgia across the globe—from those that posit a mythic national past to those critical of neoliberalism that remember a time when people believed in the possibility of a collective good—indelibly shape the post-cold war era. When Western triumphalism moved into the global South and former Eastern bloc spaces, many articulated a powerful sense of loss and a longing for stability. Innovatively bringing together diplomatic archives, museums, films, and video games, Von Eschen shows that as the United States continuously sought new enemies for its unipolar world, cold war triumphalism fueled the ascendancy of xenophobic right-wing nationalism and the embrace of authoritarian sensibilities in the United States and beyond. Ultimately, she demonstrates that triumphalist claims that capitalism and military might won the cold war distort the past and disfigure the present, undermining democratic values and institutions.
From June 26-29, UVA Lifetime Learning hosted the Summer Jefferson Symposium. This symposium focused on the study of Thomas Jefferson during his years as president with the idea that "studying Jefferson during his eight years in the highest executive office provides important insights both into Jefferson and the nature of the presidency even today." With assistance from various scholars, including members of our department, attendees earned ten educational hours.
Professor Elizabeth Varon, featured in the Washington Post's "Made By History" series, examines the historical connections between southern secessionists in 1860 and the January 6th insurrection.
Read the whole article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/06/15/secessionist-roots-jan-6-insurrection/
Professor Varon's article is also included in this week's History News Network Roundup Top Ten. Check out her piece alongside nine other interesting and timely articles. https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/183401
Graduate Student Jeremy Nelson examines the ways Civil War Americans used animal references to denounce their enemies in recent Nau Center Blog Post entitled, "The American 'Beasts of Battle.'" Read here: https://naucenter.as.virginia.edu/blog-page/1631
Ph.D. Candidate Thomas Storrs wrote a book review of Rebecca K. Marchiel's After Redlining: The Urban Reinvestment Movement in the Era of Financial Deregulation (University of Chicago Press, 2020) for EH.Net Review. EH.Net Review is owned and operated by the Economic History Association. His book review can be read here: https://eh.net/book_reviews/after-redlining-the-urban-reinvestment-movement-in-the-era-of-financial-deregulation/
The Nau Civil War Center is co-sponsoring the 2022 Universities Studying Slavery Conference, which focuses on "Legacies of Slavery, Landscapes of Segregation."
Submit proposals for panels or individual papers by July 1 here.
Professor Caroline E. Janney delivered the keynote address at Antietam National Battlefield's Memorial Day service this Monday.
Professor Janney serves as the Director of the John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History.
Professor Laurent Dubois was recently featured on the Clauses and Controversies Podast. Dubois discussed the long-term implications of the U.S. occupation of Haiti in the 20th century.
Link to listen to the episode: https://soundcloud.com/clauses-controversies/ep-74-ft-laurent-dubois
Description:
Episode 74: Gunboats, Marines and Bonds: The Ugly US Occupation of Haiti 1915-34
The historical tie between debt and gunboat diplomacy is ugly, rooted in imperialist and racist encounters with western powers. Few examples better illustrate the point than Haiti. In the first decades of the 20th century, Haiti was still repaying the enormous debt imposed by France as a condition of recognizing the new Haitian state nearly a century earlier. Then the U.S. marines arrived. Laurent Dubois (University of Virginia) is a leading historian on Haitian colonial history and joins us to talk about the U.S. incursions into Haiti, beginning in 1914 when the marines spirited away the country's gold reserves in the dead of night for “safekeeping.” In the course of occupying Haiti, and effectively putting the country into receivership, the U.S. engineered still more lending, designed both to protect U.S. commercial interests and to reduce the influence of European investors.
Professor Philip Zelikow published a commentary in Lawfare arguing that it is essential for the G-7 and allied states to deploy a far-reaching strategy of Ukrainian reconstruction funded in part by frozen Russian state and state-related assets: A Legal Approach to the Transfer of Russian Assets to Rebuild Ukraine
Nicholas C. Scott (Ph.D. candidate) published a column in Gulf News (UAE) about how Chile’s constitutional convention is incorporating a series of social rights reforms into its proposed constitution, including the right to health care and social security, the right to unionize and the right to dignified and adequate housing: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/how-chile-is-writing-a-new-chapter-in-its-history-1.87471540
As our department says goodbye to retiring professors Brian Balogh, Herbert “Tico” Braun, George Gilliam, and Olivier Zunz, enjoy this great UvaToday article highlighting their contributions to the University and their passion for history!
https://news.virginia.edu/.../what-makes-someone-become...
Cville Weekly also profiled Professor George Gilliam about his retirement from a long career in public service, politics, and academia. https://www.c-ville.com/farewell
Professor Laurent Dubois was recently feature in Envision Magazine. Entitled "The Future is History," Dubois shares insight on his roles as the John L. Nau III Bicentennial Professor of the History & Principles of Democracy and the initiative's director for academic affairs.
"Part of what we’re trying to do is train the next generation of citizen leaders to be comfortable discussing their ideas about democracy."
Read here: https://giving.virginia.edu/stories/the-future-is-history?fbclid=IwAR1nA...
PhD Candidate Amy Fedeski has been selected as the incoming Alfred and Isabel Bader Postdoctoral Fellow in Jewish History in the department of history at Queen's University!
Professor S. Deborah Kang was recently featured on the Democracy in Danger podcase episode, "Criminal Laws." In conversation with Professor WIll Hitchcock, Kang helps make the case of federal immigration laws having patently racist origins. This episode also includes converstaions with two federal defenders, Lauren Gorman and Kara Hartzler.
UVAToday recently published a feature on Professor Justene Hill Edwards entitled, "Professor's Quest is Exploring the Roots of America's Racial Wealth Gap"
Read article here: https://news.virginia.edu/content/professors-quest-exploring-roots-americas-racial-wealth-gap
Professor Neeti Nair wrote an article for The Hindu entitled, "What Might Gandhi Have Done Today.” Nair relates Gandhi’s politics in 1947 with his particular relevance for our contemporary moment.
Article: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/what-might-gandhi-have-done-today/article65375069.ece
This article also includes a video on hate speech (available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP6BRgrfmI4).
Ph.D. candidate Thomas Storrs's article on redlining and federal housing programs in the 1930s was recently cited in the White House's "Economic Report of the President."
White House report: https://whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ERP-2022.pdf
Read Thomas's article here: https://www.nber.org/papers/w29244?utm_campaign=ntwh&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ntwg27
Congratulations to Ph.D. student Elena Symmes for receiving the Boren Fellowship a prestigious award to spend next year researching and living in South Korea.