Review: ‘American Communities: Between the Popular and the Political’
Since the early 1980s, before which, according to Jean-Luc Nancy, ‘the word community was unknown to the discourse of thought’, the concept of ‘community’ has experienced a meteoric rise in politics, cultural discourse and academia. While the OED defines community as a group of people ‘shar[ing] the same interests, pursuits, or occupation’ and ‘distinguished by shared circumstances of nationality, race, religion, sexuality, etc.; esp. such a group living within a larger society from which it is distinct’, this notion of community is too simplistic and in fact ‘colored by romantic nostalgia for homogeneity, closeness, and sameness’.
Continue ReadingReview: HOTCUS Postgraduate Conference, ‘Patriot or Protester?: Changing Ideas of Americanism during the Vietnam Era’
The concepts of patriotism and Americanism continue to constitute central facets of American national identity and thus remain important notions within the American political milieu. For example, on 1 September 2016, just eight days before this panel discussed the concept of Americanism during the Vietnam era, The Guardian reported on prospective president Donald Trump’s plans for American schoolchildren to be taught greater respect for patriotic values. In light of the recent election result, this is even more prescient.
Continue ReadingReview: HOTCUS Postgraduate Conference, ‘Endangered America: Processing the Threat of Annihilation’
In the fourth of our review series for the HOTCUS Postgraduate Conference, ‘Winning Minds and Hearts: Constructing National Identity in US History’, Jennifer O’Reilly reviews a panel featuring Andrew Monteith (Indiana University) and Mark Eastwood (University of Nottingham). The notion of America under threat has circulated in popular discourse for decades and remains a prominent concern today. In a recent poll featured in USA Today, conducted by Monmouth University, 78% of respondents said that they felt the American way of life was under threat ‘a great deal’ or at least ‘some’.
Continue ReadingReview: HOTCUS Postgraduate Conference, ‘Situating Servicemen and Women: African American Soldiers during World War Two’
‘Winning Minds and Hearts: Constructing National Identity in US History’, HOTCUS Postgraduate Conference, Northumbria University, 9 September 2016. In the third of our review series for the HOTCUS Postgraduate Conference, ‘Winning Minds and Hearts: Constructing National Identity in US History’, Jennifer O’Reilly reviews a panel featuring Rosemary Pearce (University of Nottingham) and Ruth Lawlor (University of Cambridge). This follows Jon Coburn’s review of Professor Simon Hall’s keynote address, on Leonard Matlovich, and Natasha Neary’s review of the ‘Crossing Boundaries’ panel. ‘Situating Servicemen and Women: African American Soldiers during World War Two’ Panellists: Rosemary Pearce (University of Nottingham) and Ruth Lawlor (University of Cambridge) In addressing histories and experiences that are perhaps subordinated by dominant narratives of World War Two, this panel focused on the often overlooked experiences of African American soldiers, both during and after the war. The two excellent speakers, Rosemary Pearce and Ruth Lawlor, presented accounts of racial discrimination […]
Continue ReadingReview: HOTCUS Postgraduate Conference, ‘Crossing Boundaries: Challenging American Norms During the 1950s and 1960s’
In the second of our review series for the HOTCUS Postgraduate Conference, ‘Winning Minds and Hearts: Constructing National Identity in US History’, Natasha Neary reviews a panel featuring Simon Buck (Northumbria University) and Elizabeth Smith (Liverpool Hope University).
Continue ReadingReview: HOTCUS Postgraduate Conference, ‘Leonard Matlovich: Military Heroism and the Making of a Gay Icon’
Megan Hunt Introduces the HOTCUS Postgraduate Conference Review Series On September 9th 2016, Northumbria University hosted the annual Postgraduate Conference for Historians of the Twentieth-Century United States (HOTCUS), around the theme of ‘Winning Minds and Hearts: Constructing National Identity in US History.’ With traditional academic panels, developmental roundtables, and a fascinating keynote from Professor Simon Hall, it proved to be a day of significant discussion and debate, bringing together postgraduates from across the United Kingdom and beyond. The conference explored the constructions and limitations of American national identity in the twentieth century, covering topics such as race, ageism, citizenship, memorialization, patriotism and protest. As the conference organizer, I was keen to document these discussions in a more detailed manner than the usual conference review process, and so I invited delegates to review individual panels in the hope of better continuing the day’s conversations and debates. It is therefore my pleasure […]
Continue ReadingReview: ‘American Studies after the Digital Turn’
Beyond the classroom, more visualisations and apps may allow a broader audience to engage with the outcomes of American Studies research. A barrier to digital presentation is that it often does not receive the same credit as a monograph or a peer-reviewed journal article. Even when a website or an app is an obvious outlet to publish a mixture of different sources, scholars still feel compelled to publish a book.
Continue ReadingReview: Quill Project Launch and Digital History Conference, Pembroke College, Oxford
Grace Mallon reviews the Quill Project Launch and Digital History Conference – a platform that will soon become the definitive source available for studying the origins of the text of the Constitution of the United States (and, subsequently, other state constitutions) and transform access to the founding documents of American constitutional law.
Continue ReadingReview: Images of America: Reality and Stereotypes
In 1947 Harvard graduate Clemens Heller envisioned an academic community in which former enemies could discuss, analyse, and critique the culture of the United States as the new post-war superpower. Almost seventy years on and the Salzburg Global Seminar is still going, stronger than ever and attracting leading academics and professionals from major institutions across the world.
Continue ReadingReview: The US and Us: American History in Britain in the Twenty-First Century
Studying American history in the UK poses a number of challenges for scholars – not least in terms of accessing primary sources. More than this, the workshop provided a space for early career researchers to discuss and identify the problems they face at this stage in their career, as well as the opportunities they have to shape the nature of US history in UK Higher Education.
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