Book Hour with David Watson’s Truth to Post-Truth in American Detective Fiction
The next U.S. Studies Online Book Hour will take place 28th April 2023, at 4pm GMT/12pm EST with Dr. David Riddle Watson and his first monograph, Truth to Post-Truth in American Detective Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan Crime Files Series, 2021). Dr. Watson teaches at Central Carolina Community College. He completed his Ph.D. in 2019 from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His work focuses on the intersection between rhetoric, literature, and real-world events. He is currently working on his second monograph Surveillance Noir, which will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2024. Truth to Post-Truth traces the networks of thought about what is real and what is not from the Vietnam War through the end of the Cold War and the rise of the “post-truth” moment of our present day. The book is a philosophical journey through post-truth America. Furthermore, the book examines questions of truth and relativism, turning to detectives, both […]
Continue ReadingBook Hour with Dr. Kevin Waite, the author of West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire
The next U.S. Studies Online Book Hour will take place 17th March 2023, at 4pm GMT with Dr. Kevin Waite, who will talk with us about his first – and award-winning – book, West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire (The University of North Carolina Press, 2021) Dr. Waite is a political historian of the 19th-century United States with a focus on slavery, imperialism and the American West. He received his PhD in 2016 from University of Pennsylvania, and currently holds a position as the Associate Professor of Modern American History in the Department of History at the University of Durham. Dr. Waite will, firstly, speak of his award-winning first book, West of Slavery, in which he explores how American Southerner slaveholders extended their political dominion across the American West in the mid-19th century, and in the process triggered series of events that, ultimately, hastened the coming of […]
Continue Reading“MATTER IS THE MINIMUM”: Reading Washington, DC’s BLM Memorial Fence
In the early evening of Monday, 1 June 2020, following a weekend of national protests against the extra-judicial killings of Black people by the police, US federal troops aggressively moved on demonstrators outside the White House in Washington, DC.[1] Using flashbangs and chemical weapons, the US military forced demonstrators from the grounds of Lafayette Square Park, clearing the way for President Donald J. Trump to walk through the park and cross the street, so that he could have his photograph taken in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church whilst holding a Bible upside-down. Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead (c) 2020 The following day, temporary non-scalable chain-link fencing was installed around the perimeter of the park—both physically and symbolically separating the populace from the President’s residence. The original fencing and concrete barricades were removed within weeks, only to be re-installed later that month, following protesters’ failed attempt to […]
Continue Reading60 Seconds with Will Carroll
The U.S. Studies Online 60 Seconds interview feature offers a short and informal introduction to a postgraduate, academic or non-academic specialist working in the American and Canadian Studies field or a related American and Canadian Studies association. Will Carroll is a second-year PhD candidate at University of Birmingham and is one of the new Co-Editors for 2020-2022. Will Carroll (Co-editor) Tell us a bit about yourself I am a second-year PhD researcher at University of Birmingham, where I also studied my BA English Literature and Creative Writing and MA Literature and Culture (if you haven’t guessed that I’m from Birmingham yet, you will if you ever hear me talk). I have broad interests across American cultural studies, from sitcoms (I even host a podcast on NBC’s Frasier) to photography and art. All of this, and yet I’ve never set foot on U.S soil… What do you research and why? My research […]
Continue Reading60 Seconds with Jun Qiang
The U.S. Studies Online 60 Seconds interview feature offers a short and informal introduction to a postgraduate, academic or non-academic specialist working in the American and Canadian Studies field or a related American and Canadian Studies association. Jun Qiang is a a second-year PhD student in English and Related Literature at the University of York and is the Global Relations Editor for 2020-2022. Jun Qiang (Global Relations Editor) Tell us a bit about yourself I am Jun Qiang, a second-year Ph.D. student in English and Related Literature at the University of York. I come from Liyang, Jiangsu Province, China, a place to wander in the bamboo sea, enjoy the lake scene, and taste delicious Jiangnan food. I have previously studied in Nanjing, Virginia, and Edinburgh. In my spare time, I relax by doing Chinese calligraphy and painting, yoga, meditation, hiking, listening to new-age music, and studying traditional medicine. What do you research […]
Continue Reading60 Seconds with Amanda Niedfeldt
The U.S. Studies Online 60 Seconds interview feature offers a short and informal introduction to a postgraduate, academic or non-academic specialist working in the American and Canadian Studies field or a related American and Canadian Studies association. Amanda Niedfeldt is a PhD candidate in English Literature at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and is one of the new Co-Editors for 2020-2022. Amanda Niedfeldt (Co-editor) Tell us a bit about yourself I am a final year PhD Candidate in the English Department at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. I moved to the UK in 2016 and the department has been supportive in enabling me to finish the degree from a distance. I have been teaching English as a foreign language and working with exchange programmes of one kind or another for over a decade, which has decidedly shaped my research. I carve out time to be in nature each week, whether through running, […]
Continue Reading60 Seconds with Siân Round
The U.S. Studies Online 60 Seconds interview feature offers a short and informal introduction to a postgraduate, academic or non-academic specialist working in the American and Canadian Studies field or a related American and Canadian Studies association. Siân Round is a first-year PhD candidate in American Literature at University of Cambridge and is the Book Reviews Editor for 2020-2022. Siân Round (Book Reviews Editor) Tell us a bit about yourself I’m Siân and I’m a first year PhD candidate in American Literature at Cambridge. Originally from the Wirral, I have previously studied in Durham and Oxford but will look for any excuse to come home to Merseyside. When not burying myself in books, I spend a lot of time watching films and visiting art galleries. I’ve also been known to dabble in competitive quizzing. What do you research and why? I research literary magazines in the US South in 1920s […]
Continue Reading60 Seconds with Emily Brady
The U.S. Studies Online 60 Seconds interview feature offers a short and informal introduction to a postgraduate, academic or non-academic specialist working in the American and Canadian Studies field or a related American and Canadian Studies association. Emily Brady is a third year PhD candidate at the University of Nottingham in American and Canadian Studies and is the Events Editor for 2020-2022. Emily Brady (Events Editor) Tell us a bit about yourself I’m Emily, and I’m a third year PhD candidate at the University of Nottingham in American and Canadian Studies! I am funded by AHRC Midlands3Cities, and applied for this post because I love attending conferences. In my spare time I enjoy making podcasts and performing improv! What do you research and why? I research African American women photographers in the long civil rights movement, and how their images shape both the memory of the movement and our understanding of […]
Continue ReadingEvent Review: Student-Led Midlands3Cities American Studies Retreat, 22nd – 29th June 2018
Between the 22nd and 29th of June, 2018, a group of research students from across the East Midlands – united by a shared passion for American Studies – gathered in Matlock, Derbyshire, with the intention of bursting their academic bubbles. This academic retreat was a student-led project generously funded by the Midlands3Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (M3C) and was attended by both M3C and non-M3C PhD candidates representing Birmingham City University, Nottingham Trent University, the University of Leicester, and the University of Nottingham.
Continue Reading60 Seconds with Christina Westwood
The U.S. Studies Online 60 Seconds interview feature offers a short and informal introduction to a postgraduate, academic or non-academic specialist working in the American and Canadian Studies field or a related American and Canadian Studies association.
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