IAAS Postgraduate Symposium “The (Hi)stories We Create: Narratives of Exceptionalism, Ideology, and Resilience” (November 2021)

Join Dr. Afua Cooper for a presentation on the Lord Dalhousie Scholarly Panel on Slavery and Race, followed by conversation with Danni Ebanks-Ingram and Dr. Asha Rogers. Dr. Michell Chresfield will chair. The Report on Lord Dalhousie’s History on Slavery and Race, headed by historian and artist Dr. Afua Cooper, was submitted in 2019 at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. The panel looked into Lord Dalhousie’s views on race and put forward recommendations for how campus might be accountable for past and present connections to anti-Black racism. The University of Birmingham’s Centre for the Study of North America is delighted that Dr. Afua Cooper has accepted our invitation to tell us about the work of the panel she chaired, and engage in dialogue about that panel’s report and its resonance for universities and wider communities on both sides of the Atlantic. Chaired by Dr. Michell Chresfield, this event will begin with a presentation by Dr. Cooper on the Report, followed […]

A fortnightly seminar series to explore methodologies and theory relating to cultural studies across a range of disciplines. The seminar is aimed at graduate students, ECRs, and interested faculty but all are welcome.   March 4th  at 2PM we welcome writer, film programmer, and PhD candidate in Communication and Culture, Ryerson and York Universities. 'On Anti-Black Visual Economies and Brutal Aesthetics.'   Please email sage.goodwin@history.ox.ac.uk for the zoom link and/or to be added to the seminar mailing list.

Antebellum New Orleans was the nation’s ‘necropolis,’ with yellow fever routinely killing about eight percent of the population. With little epidemiological understanding of mosquito-borne viruses, a person’s only protection against the scourge was falling sick with and surviving the disease. Over time, repeated epidemics generated a hierarchy of immunocapital whereby ‘acclimated’ survivors leveraged their immunity for social, economic, and political power, while ‘unacclimated’ individuals languished in social and professional purgatory. By drawing parallels between the story of yellow fever in antebellum New Orleans and the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, Kathryn Olivarius provides keen insights into the politics of our present moment, when immunoprivilege has become firmly embedded in discussions about easing lockdowns and reopening the economy. Speaker: Kathryn Olivarius is an Assistant Professor of History at Stanford and is an affiliated member of the Stanford Center for Law and History. She is the author of the forthcoming “Necropolis: Disease, Power, and […]

An event part of the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) North American History Seminar series

Today’s fights over public health regulations are fast turning the legal history of epidemics in the U.S. into hotly contested terrain. Drawing from his new book American Contagions, John Fabian Witt tells the story of the unexpected past, unwieldy present, and unsettling future of the American law of epidemics. Speaker: John Fabian Witt is Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law at Yale Law School and author of many books, including American Contagions: Epidemics and the Law from Smallpox to COVID-19 (Yale University Press, 2020). Lecture Series: The Long History of the Coronavirus Crisis. The UCL Americas Research Network is delighted to announce a series of virtual lectures on the long history of the COVID-19 pandemic. A distinguished group of scholars will identify and discuss the historical roots of the current crisis - and the implications of this history for the next stage of the pandemic, as the vaccine […]

Andrea Hairston will be reading from Master of Poisons. The evening will include readings, Q&A, and discussion. The event is free. All are welcome to join us in Zoom or watch on Facebook Live.   Funded by a US Embassy Small Grant, Bookable-Space African-American Lit-Literary Salon is a monthly event. Each month, we'll feature a book written by an African American author.  On the first Friday of each month, the author will join us in Zoom to read us engaging stories from their wonderful book, talk about the writing/themes/influences for the book, and answer questions about writing, process, and/or their publishing path. The events are ideal for readers who enjoy and/or are interested in: fiction, contemporary fiction, American studies, American literature, African-American studies, African-American literature, English literature, and well-told stories. Bookable-Space African American Lit Literary Salon promotes and expects a non-judgmental and supportive attitude from participants. If you’re interested in joining, […]

BAAS are excited to announce details for the British Association for American Studies’s 66th Annual Convention — its first to be hosted entirely remotely. For several years BAAS has been building towards an event of this type, in order to transcend the exclusivity and waste of our traditional conference model. The organisers’ plans have been pushed forward by our familiar enemy Covid-19 but are equally motivated by their twin concerns of environmental impact and accessibility/inclusivity. As part of the ‘Green BAAS’ agenda, they are committed to reflecting upon the environmental impact of their activities, and to making positive changes to combat climate catastrophe. The decision to host a virtual conference presents the opportunity not only to minimise international travel, but also to highlight the work of members working in the environmental humanities, and to reflect critically upon the culture of academic conferences. Furthermore, the organisers hope that the reduced costs associated […]