UCSB Santa Barbara Department of History logo

War and Remembrance: Cultural Imprints of Japan’s Samurai Age

An interdisciplinary group of scholars of medieval and early modern Japanese literature, history, religion, and performing arts examine topics related to “War and Remembrance” during Japan’s years of military rule (late 12th to late 19th centuries). Exploring a range of representations and responses to war, participants examine the impacts of war on cultural memory and […]

Science, Secrecy, and the Soviet State

Secrecy was endemic in Soviet society and culture. Information that we might consider benign in the Western context was off-limits to most of the general populace throughout the existence of the Soviet Union. Controls over the circulation of information were particularly strict relating to matters of national security, which usually subsumed most scientific and engineering […]

When Worlds Collide: Fracking and Community in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico

In July 2012, the Bureau of Land Management announced atwo-week public scoping period for its decision to fulfill its mandate under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 to “explore for and develop oil and gas resources on public lands through a competitive leasing process” on 343,439 acres in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. Included in […]

The Predicament of Aftermath: Memorializing Landscapes of Violence

Prof. Linenthal is the author of: he Landscapes of 9/11: A Photographer's Journey. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013. (with Jonathan Hyman and Christiane Gruber) The Unfinished Bombing: Oklahoma City in American Memory. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past. New York: Metropolitan Books, […]

Senior Honors Seminar Presentations

Everyone is invited to this event, at which some of our best students present the fruits of two quarters of intensive research. Please attend as many presentations or panels as you would like. Refreshments will be available. The event will be run in a conference panel-type format, with the following schedule: Panel I: Contemporary Issues […]

Island of the Blue Dolphins Revisited: The Search for the True Story

Recently retired, Steve was the Navy’s senior archaeologist on San Nicolas for the past 25 years. Due to this uniqueposition, he has become one of the leading experts on the Lone Woman story, the true story behind ‘Island of the Blue Dolphins’. During his time with the Navy, Steve oversaw the excavation of dozens of […]

An Industrious Mind, The Worlds of Sir Simonds D’Ewes

In Promotion of Professor J. Sears McGee’s new book An Industrious Mind, The Worlds of Sir Simonds D’Ewes (Stanford University Press, 2015).With guest speaker Prof. Chris R. Kyle, Associate Professor of History, Syracuse University. Reception to follow with light refreshments. This is the first biography of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1602–1650), a member of England's Long […]

The Form and Content of Suffering: Humanitarian Knowledge and Genocide in the Early 20th Century Middle East

Debates about the intertwined nature of humanity, human rights and humanitarianism have brought historians into new fields bridging social, international, legal and colonial history. Keith David Watenpaugh’s book Bread from Stones: The Middle East and the Making of Modern Humanitarianism (University of California, 2015) contributes to this debate from the unique perspective of the First […]

Un(rely)able: The Technological Health Crisis of Toxic Shock Syndrome & Rely Tampons

This lecture series on the biopolitics of reproduction in the US and globally is hosted by the Black Studies Colloquium, with the co-sponsorship of the department of Feminist Studies, Chicana and Chicano Studies, the History of Science Program, and the New Health, Medicine, and Care Working Group. Speakers will explore how cultural and political commitments […]