Research

Teaching Radicalism

The second post in the ‘Teaching America’ series is by Dr Christopher Phelps (University of Nottingham), co-author of the new title Radicals in America: The U.S. Left since the Second World War, who reflects upon the intellectual advantages and challenges when faced with designing and teaching the history of U.S. radicalism.

Teaching U.S Women’s History in British Universities: a Personal and Political History

The first post in our new HOTCUS-led ‘Teaching America’ series is by Dr Kate Dossett (University of Leeds) who reflects on her own experiences of designing a course on U.S. women’s history, and how she has encouraged British undergraduate students to consider how their own gender identity shapes their approach to the study of history.

Review: The State of Fiction: Don DeLillo in the 21st Century

DeLillo’s late twentieth century novels are striking in their engagement with distinctly twenty-first century concerns; from the pervasive influence of commercial media, to the insidious spectre of terrorism on contemporary society.

Storify of our #bookhour twitter chat on “Herland” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

During August’s #bookhour discussion Dr. Fran Bigman, Dr. Ben Nichols, Dr. Joanna Freer and #bookhour organiser Joanne Mildenhall chatted about Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “Herland” (1915). The discussion looked at the question of Herland as utopia, considering the roles of the male protagonists and the functions of gender, sexuality, romance and love in the novella. Participants focused on the central concept of motherhood, and questioned whether Gilman’s text could be considered feminist. Catch up on the discussion here.

Over the Ice: Polar Exploration from the Air

For Americans, the spring of 1926 was an exciting time in long-distance aviation. The newspapers were full of thrilling tales of pioneering flights, including three aerial expeditions aiming for the North Pole. The excitement came to a head on 9 May 1926, when Richard E. Byrd, a young American naval aviator, returned to his expedition’s base at King’s Bay, Spitsbergen (Svalbard), after a flight of just over 15 hours, proclaiming that he and his co-pilot Floyd Bennett had become the first people to reach the North Pole by air. Byrd’s announcement triggered a patriotic outpouring in the American press, with headlines trumpeting the United States’ polar conquest. Byrd returned home a national hero, where he was met by cheering crowds and public accolades, including the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Teaching of US Politics in schools under threat

The future of US Politics teaching in schools is in grave danger, says Mark Rathbone, teacher and Head of Academic Administration at Canford School. Whilst teachers and exam boards are fighting a rearguard action to preserve the elements of choice within specifications, there is so far little indication that the minister is listening.

In Memoriam: Legendary Civil Rights Activist Julian Bond

Activist, Politician, Lawyer, Writer, Poet and Educator, Julian Bond’s social activism and his long-standing service includes as Chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the oldest civil rights organisation in America from 1998 to 2010.

Julian Bond would have been at the celebratory centre of my British Academy-sponsored conference on “Civil Rights Documentary Cinema and the 1960s: Transatlantic Conversations on History, Race and Rights”. Julian Bond embodied the conference theme, as a co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and SNCC’s Communications Director from 1961-66.

Instead, the conference will take place in his honour and in his memory.

‘The speed of every incident is unbelievable’: Writer Muriel Rukeyser and the Spanish Civil War

Having been awarded funding through the AHRC International Placement Scheme, I arrived in Washington DC in early October 2014 to begin research in the Muriel Rukeyser Papers held at the Library of Congress. Rukeyser’s diary and notes from Spain at the Library of Congress furthered my understanding of how the article was produced. The sense of speed that characterised ‘Barcelona, 1936’ was even more evident in her diary, which she wrote in short phrases, punctuated by dashes as though she was keen to capture events as they unfolded. As well as her diary, the archive contains lists, maps, sketches and even another passenger’s diary from Spain. I had a sense that Rukeyser had chosen a camera-like aesthetic but the archive revealed just how far Rukeyser had gone to document what she had seen.

Review: ANZASA Conference (Part Two)

In August 1964, the first Australia and New Zealand American Studies Association Conference was held at The University of Melbourne. When ANZASA returned to another Melbourne university – Monash – in 2015, the conference did not have a stipulated theme. One repeated area of interest, however, was race and discrimination in America. Another theme that emerged was a desire to continue the historical project of de-exceptionalising America by placing the United States in the context of the wider world.

Review: ANZASA Conference (Part One)

Across the two days of the conference, the majority of speakers repeatedly returned to issues of races and discrimination. All four keynote speakers engaged with the racial aspects of their research. Thomas Doherty (Brandeis University) discussed the portrayal of Nazism in 1930s American cinema. Coupled with the erasure of explicit mentions of Judaism from the silver screen during the decade, films such Boys Town (1938) used allegory and avoidance to critique Nazi Germany within the political censorship of the Motion Picture Production Code.