News
Last month, Caroline Janney was a guest on C-SPAN's American History TV where she discussed her book Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee's Army after Appomatox, as well as the uncertainties in the military and politics following the end of the Civil War.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?514706-1/ends-war
Caroline also received praise in a Wall Street Journal review for her book as she detailed how Robert E. Lee's surrender became foundational to the destabilizing myth of the "Lost Cause" and for offering a "fresh and disquieting version of Lee’s surrender, adroitly balancing official, political and military decisions with the recollections of the men on the ground who endured – and sometimes defied – its consequences."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ends-of-war-review-the-myth-of-appomattox-1...
Professor Neeti Nair has been appointed to the John W. Kluge Center’s inaugural alumni advisory board to serve two-year terms as Kluge Center ambassadors, helping the Center promote its scholarly opportunities to wider audiences.
In an interview with Town & Country Magazine, Andrew Kahrl discusses the historical struggles of Black families as they looked "to escape from the clutches of predatory conditions within their new neighborhoods."
Last week, Laurent Dubois joined NPR’s 1A to discuss how Haiti is faring after presidential assassination, the aftermath of the recent earthquake, & treatment of Haitian migrants. https://the1a.org/segments/haiti-and-its-migrants-an-update-on-del-rio/
Graduate student Thomas Storrs’ co-authored paper, “New Evidence on Redlining by Federal Housing Programs in the 1930s” was published in the National Bureau of Economic Research: https://www.nber.org/papers/w29244?utm_campaign=ntwh&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ntwg12 Congratulations Thomas.
In an interview with NPR, Professor Claudrena Harold attributes crucial contributions of working people to the many facets of development in the US. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/04/1033177379/labor-day-history-triangle-shirtwaste-factory-fire-patco-strike
Laurent Dubois provided insight on Haiti’s earthquake and political future. https://the1a.org/segments/taliban-haiti-cuba/
In a recent blog for Columbia University Press, Professor Justene Hill Edwards reflects on African Americans’ complicated legacy of patriotism.
In a recent op-ed for the Washington Post, Professor Liz Varon explains how the removal of Confederate statues will give us a clearer view of the complex Southern past.
Since the news broke of the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, University of Virginia scholars who focus on Haiti have been busy answering media questions about the country.
Three professors whose scholarship focuses on the tumultuous history and politics of this nation – Marlene Daut, Laurent Dubois and Robert Fatton – have been providing background and suggesting possible next steps, but at the same time are surprised at the mystery of who carried out the attack and who’s leading the country, saying it’s a dangerous time for Haiti.
Recommended summer reading: Alan Taylor’s American Republics, Justene Hill Edwards’ Unfree Markets: The Slaves’ Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina, and Philip Zelikow’s The Road Less Traveled: The Secret Battle to End the Great War.
Gilder Lehrman Book Breaks features the most exciting history scholars in America discussing their books live with host William Roka, followed by a Q&A with home audiences. On June 13, 2021, Professor Max Edelson discussed his book The New Map of Empire: How Britain Imagined America before Independence. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/programs-and-events/book-breaks/book-breaks-archive
Here's a link to the video: https://vimeo.com/562931556
The French National Library's digital press collections has a podcast series on crime and the press. Each episode focuses on a particular crime or event that made the headlines in France, and consists of a conversation with a scholar of the crime/event and a scholar of the press in that time/place. The series just released an episode featuring Professor Jennifer Session and Arthur Asseraf ( Cambridge). On this episode, Professors Sessions and Asseraf discuss the Margueritte revolt in Algeria.
Professor Neeti Nair writes an op-ed in the Indian Express on the demolition of the National Archives of India Annexe. In this op-ed, Professor Nair writes: "The demolition of the annexe and the uncertainty over its collection may affect the kind of narratives we are able to craft. So long as scholars are able to access regional and state archives across India, they will be able to write regional histories. So long as they are able to collect oral histories, they will be able to tell stories of past struggles and successes that might have not been deemed worthy of “official” archives. So long as there are other kinds of institutional archives and private archives, they will be able to write those histories."
Congratulations to Professors Sarah Milov and Brad Reed who were recipients of UVA Student Council's 2021 Distinguished Teaching Award! The award acknowledges "their exceptional work in the classroom, their diligence in supporting their students' learning, and their profound impact on their students--both through their teaching and their unparalleled commitment to their students." Thanks Brad and Sarah for advancing the teaching mission of the department and the College.
Congratulations to Professor Liz Varon for her recent election into to the Fellows of the Society of American Historians! Members are elected based on their demonstrated commitment to literary distinction in the writing and presentation of history and biography. Literary excellence in historical work is marked by vividness, clarity, empathy, narrative power, and explanatory force.
The sessions of the Citizenship, Belonging, and the Partition of India symposium are now publicly available on the RSAA YouTube Channel. The recordings have been uploaded into two playlists. Each session can be viewed as a whole - the videos will automatically play one after another. The separate presentations and the Q&A for each session can also be searched for and watched individually. Here are links to the two playlists:
Erik Linstrum was interviewed by Libération about the future of the UK and the decline of Britishness, on the occasion of the recent local elections.