Department of History, UC Santa Barbara

Department Reception for Graduating Seniors
2010-06-13 00:00 (America/Denver) | CA
Dear History Majors and their Families,
As you make your plans for graduation day, I would like to extend to you a personal invitation to join the History faculty at our department’s annual reception honoring new graduates and their families. The reception is being held in the History Conference Room in the Humanities and Social Sciences Building, HSSB 4020, from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm, just prior to the Commencement Ceremony. The reception site is a four-minute walk to the Faculty Club Green where Commencement is held and immediately adjacent to the Events Center, where your graduate will don academic garb for the ceremony.
The department is delighted to honor both the graduates for their hard academic work and their families who have shouldered the financial burden over the past four years. I hope you can attend the reception so that we can greet you in person. If you cannot attend, please let me extend here our thanks for all that you have done to help your new graduate to reach this major milestone in life.
Cordially,
Prof. John Majewski
Chair of the History Department
Please note that refreshments will be served (in case you haven’t had time for breakfast before), and that this is a good opportunity for you to meet some of your student’s professors.
hm 6/3/10, 6/4

Summer Session A instruction starts
2010-06-21 00:00
See link for details.
hm 5/28/10

Summer Session A instruction ends
2010-07-30 00:00

Summer Session B instruction begins
2010-08-02 00:00

Fall Quarter instruction begins
2010-09-23 00:00

History, Modernity, and Counterfactuals: Walter Benjamin’s ‘Theses on the Philosophy of History'
2010-09-29 00:00
Historical explanation is the explanation of outcomes in terms of causal antecedents. All too often however the causal account becomes indistinguishable from a vindicatory narrative, the tale of outcomes told as a version of winners’ history, especially rampant in ideologies of modernity and modernization. Counterfactual thinking–the sphere of the might-have-been–is, in suitably rigorous and disciplined a form, a check on that kind of triumphalism. Benjamin’s Theses of the Philosophy of History offers one valuable way into that space. There are also potential spin-offs here for the discipline of literary history, especially as a counter to recent attempts to re-think literary history on the model of evolutionary biology.
Sponsored by the UCSB Series in Contemporary Literature, the Dept. of History, the Dept. of German, Slavic and Semitic Studies, the Program in Comparative Literature and the IHC.
hm 9/24/10

The Social Uses of Hot Springs in Mexico
2010-10-04 00:00
This paper presents some initial research and reflections on the social use of hot springs in Mexico and California, and suggests that cultures of water at hot springs offer possibilities of managing water demand that could be useful for dealing with the current water crisis. Walsh discusses the cultural dimensions of the water crisis, and the proposal that the solution must be one of governance. The prevailing ideas about the management of water have moved from increasing supply to include reducing demand. Water demand management usually centers on pricing and cost recovery, although efforts to cultivate sustainable cultures of water have been made, usually through educational programs. Walsh argue that programs to create a: new water culture” should consider one of the most common pleasurable contacts most people have with water: bathing.
Casey Walsh is Associate Professor of Anthropology at UCSB.
hm 9/30/10; jwil 02.x.10

Phi Alpha Theta/UCSB History Club First Meeting
2010-10-04 00:00
Do you love history?
Does thinking about Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon or the Siege of Boston give you goose bumps?
Come check us out!
The club is open to both history and non history majors.
Some of the activities we do are:trivia nights
movie nights
guest speakers
field trips
study sessions
Questions? Email Celina.
hm 9/27/10

A Study of Florida's Earliest Shipwreck
2010-10-05 00:00
Exploring Tristán de Luna’s Lost Galleon
Discovery of a well-preserved early Spanish shipwreck in Pensacola Bay, Florida, has reopened a long forgotten chapter of Latin-American history. Assembled by the Viceroy of New Spain, a fleet of eleven ships under the command of Tristán de Luna embarked from Mexico in 1559 to establish a colony on the shores of La Florida. Aboard the ships were more than 1,500 soldiers, settlers, and servants equipped with livestock, agricultural and construction tools. The colonists disembarked at Pensacola, only to suffer a hurricane that destroyed all but three of the ships anchored in the harbor, some of which had not yet been unloaded. The catastrophe doomed the Luna colony, which was eventually abandoned in 1561.
During a survey of shipwrecks in Pensacola Bay, underwater archaeologists from the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research have discovered the remains one of the larger galleons in Luna’s fleet buried beneath a shallow sandbar. Two campaigns of careful excavation have revealed a surprisingly well-preserved array of colonial artifacts, as well as faunal and botanical specimens, that present a fascinating portrait of Spain’s ill-fated attempt to secure a foothold on the frontier of its American empire. Follow the archaeologists as they explore Florida’s earliest shipwreck.
Roger C. Smith is the State Underwater Archaeologist with the Florida Division of Historical Resources in Tallahassee. He received his doctorate from Texas A&M University, and has taught at Florida State University and the University of West Florida.
Dr. Smith has directed a number of underwater surveys and excavations throughout Florida, and has worked extensively in the Caribbean, Mexico, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and Africa. He has published widely in the field of nautical archaeology, and is the author of three books and many professional journal and popular magazine articles.
Dr. Smith’s underwater archaeology team has been active in the establishment of eleven shipwreck preserves throughout Florida. Nominated by local coastal communities, these shipwreck parks are developed through partnerships between public and private organizations to interpret the natural and cultural features of each site. The preserves include a Spanish galleon in the Florida Keys, a sunken steamboat in the Suwannee River, and the battleship USS Massachusetts off Pensacola.
In the 1990s, Dr. Smith’s team located the site of another Spanish galleon during a survey of shipwrecks in Pensacola Bay. The shipwreck—which is the earliest to be discovered in Florida—was one of the larger vessels in the fleet of Tristán de Luna, which sank during a hurricane in 1559. The remains of the ship are well preserved in shallow water under a sand bar. More than 5,000 artifacts and field specimens have been collected from the site; many are on display in a special exhibit in Pensacola’s historic district that recently was visited by the King and Queen of Spain.
This lecture is sponsored by the Santa Barbara Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. A modest reception will follow Dr. Smith’s lecture.
jwil 29.vii.2010, hm 10/3

The Big Blowup: Fire's American Century
2010-10-07 00:00
STEPHEN PYNE is the world’s foremost historian of fire.
A Regents’ Professor at Arizona State University, and the author of twenty books on environmental history and the histories of science and exploration, Pyne is a brilliant and irreverent commentator on the role of fire in societies around the world.
On October 7th, from 3:30-4:45 PM, in Buchanan 1930, he will offer his insights from more than three decades of research and writing on the history, geography, ecology, politics, and culture of wildfire. His talk will begin with the Big Blowup of August 1910, a fire that almost exactly a century ago altered the course of U.S. history.
This lecture is sponsored by the UCSB Department of History’s Center for Science and Society and the UCSB Department of Geography.
jwil 29.ix.2010

Rethink UC: Defend Public Education
2010-10-07 00:00
The historic actions, protests and strikes of last fall and spring showed our state and the nation that students, teachers, staff, and our communities are determined to fight against the cuts, layoffs, fee hikes, and the shrinking access to public education and services. However, our fight is far from over. On October 7th, supporters of public education plan to unite and demand accessible, affordable and quality education for all.
hm 10/1/10

Caesar Chavez, the UFW Boycott, and Why the Union Failed to Realize its Potential
2010-10-08 00:00
Matthew Garcia is Associate Professor of American Civilization, Ethnic Studies and History at Brown University.
Part of the History 294: Colloquium in Work, Labor, and Political Economy, 2010-2011 lecture series.
hm 9/9/10; jwil 14.ix.10

UCSB History Associates 2010-2011 Kickoff Event
2010-10-09 00:00
Say “Lompoc” and most people think of Vandenberg Air Force Base and flower farms, or maybe the prison. But our neighbor to the north has a fascinating history, preserved in its many Victorian houses and murals. We will assemble at the city parking lot at Ocean Ave. and I Street at 10:15 (parking is free), then walk to the nearby Fabing-McKay-Spanne House, a restored Victorian that now houses the Lompoc Historical Society, for a private tour. Lunch follows at Lompoc’s famous Penelope’s tea house, where you will have your choice of an Elegant Afternoon Tea (featuring a starter course, finger sandwiches, a warm scone, lemon curd, jam and English Double Devon Cream, with three sweets), a Ploughman’s Lunch of fresh bread, cheeses, Branston pickle, pickled onion, fruit, tea and dessert, or fresh Quiche, soup or salad, tea and dessert. After lunch, our own Cathy Rudolph will lead us on a walking tour of nearby murals.
For more information or to reserve your spot, call (805) 617-0998.
This event is sponsored by UCSB’s History Associates.
Since 1987, UCSB History Associates has brought together community members and UCSB faculty through an annual program of history-focused lectures, lunches, and tours. The History Associates raise money to support graduate training in History at UCSB. Support from the History Associates makes an essential contribution to the success of our graduate students.
jwil 14.ix.2010

Democracy and Insurgency in Health Care Unionism
2010-10-15 00:00
John Borsos, Vice President, National Union of Health Care Workers, is our guest at the next meeting of the Colloquium on Work, Labor, and Political Economy. Just last week one of the largest union election contests in modern U.S. history culminated in a large Service Employees International Union victory at the Kaiser hospital chain. Nearly 30,000 workers voted, which makes the subject chosen by our speaker, “Democracy and Insurgency in Health Care Unionism,” of particular interest. Borsos, who holds a Ph.D. in labor history from Indiana University, has been a union activist for nearly two decades. He was director of the Hospital Division of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West and president of the Sacramento Labor Council from 2001 to 2009.
Use the link below to read a debate over the future of the labor movement between Borsos, the SEIU’s Stephen Lerner, and other labor experts and activists.
The Colloquium meets on Friday, October 15 at 1 p.m. in 4041 Humanities and Social Science Building. A light lunch will be served.
jmj 10/11/2010

Ancient Northeast Africa and the Indian Ocean Trade
2010-10-18 00:00
The establishment of direct sea contact between the Mediterranean and South Asia in the first century CE is one of the most remarkable developments in ancient history. Scholarship has focused overwhelmingly on the impact of the Indian Ocean trade on the economy of the Roman Empire and its significance for the spread of Greco-Roman influence in India. Professor Burstein considers a different and largely neglected aspect of this history: how the expansion of the Indian Ocean trade in the early centuries CE affected the ancient northeast African states of Kush and Aksum.
Stanley Burstein is Professor Emeritus of History at California State University, Los Angeles. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA. Prof. Burstein is a past president of the Association of Ancient Historians.
Sponsored by the Ancient Borderlands Research Focus Group and the Ancient Mediterranean Studies program.
jwil 06.ix.10

Islam and Politics in Turkey Today
2010-10-20 00:00
This roundtable will address the rapid growth of Islamist political parties, the expanding Turkish economy and the rise of the “Anatolian Tigers,” and new cultural trends in Turkey.
Coffee, tea, and cookies will be served
Sponsored by the Center for Middle east Studies, UCSB
hm 10/19/10

A Boy of Heart Mountain and Hello, Maggie!
2010-10-26 00:00
Please join us next Tuesday, October 26, for a talk by Shigeru “Shig” Yabu, a Japanese American who was interned at the Heart Mountain Concentration Camp from 1942-1945. He is the author of 2 books, A Boy of Heart Mountain and Hello, Maggie!, both of which describe his experience at the camp as a young boy.
Asian American Studies Conference Room
HSSB 5024
Please bring your brown bag lunch, light refreshments will be available.
hm 10/20/10

The American Friends of the Middle East: The CIA, Arabism, and Anti-Zionism in Cold War America
2010-10-28 00:00
This talk is about an American Arabist organization that received clandestine support from the CIA.
In 1967, it was revealed that the CIA had secretly funded the American Friends of the Middle East, an apparently private group of pro-Arab, anti-Zionist U.S. citizens. In this talk, Professor Wilford reveals the hitherto hidden history of the American Friends of the Middle East, relating it to the larger story of the rise and fall of Cold War American “Arabism.”
Hugh Wilford is Professor of U.S. history at California State University, Long Beach. He is the author of several books on Cold War American culture and politics, including THE MIGHTY WURLITZER: HOW THE CIA PLAYED AMERICA (Harvard, 2008). He is now writing a book on the American Friends of the Middle East.
The talk is sponsored by the Center for Cold War Studies and International History (CCWS) and cosponsored by the Center for Middle East Studies and the Department of History.
The event is free and open to the public. A brief reception will follow Prof. Wilford’s presentation. Please join us for this exciting event!
hm 10/20/10

God Made Marriage but the White Man Made the Law': Slavery and Marriage in the Nineteenth Century
2010-10-28 00:00
Critical Issues in America
“‘God Made Marriage but the White Man Made the Law’: Slavery and Marriage in the Nineteenth Century”
Tera Hunter, Professor of History and African-American Studies, Princeton University
Hull Lecture, co-sponsored by UCSB New Racial Studies, Women’s Center, and the Departments of Black Studies and History
What did it mean for a nation to hold dear the institutions of marriage and slavery at the same time that marriage granted no legal standing for the enslaved? Hunter’s talk will look at the dilemmas and entanglements produced for slave, free black, and ex-slave intimate relationships throughout the nineteenth century.
Classes welcome
hm 10/26/10

Usable Pasts: Memory and Self-craft Through History, Song and Clothwork in Zimbabwe and among the Ainu of Japan
2010-10-28 00:00
The African Studies Research Focus Group will hold its first research seminar for the 2010-2011 academic year on October 28 in HSSB 6020 (McCune Conference Room), focused on the theme of Usable Pasts: Memory and Self-Craft Through History, Song and Clothwork in Zimbabwe and among the Ainu (Japan).
Presenters will include:
Mhoze Chikowero (Assistant Professor, Department of History)
Ann-Elise Lewallen (Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures)
The presenters will circulate papers beforehand. For more information or to obtain copies of the papers, please contact Mhoze Chikowero (chikowero(at)history.ucsb.edu) or Peter Bloom (pbloom(at)mediandfilm.ucsb.edu).
jwil 26.x.2010

The Dynamics of Social Movement Unionism: Local Union Involvement in Immigrants Rights Movements in Los Angeles
2010-10-29 00:00
Please join us for a talk by Cassandra Engeman on “The Dynamics of Social Movement Unionism: Local Union Involvement in Immigrants’ Rights Movements in Los Angeles.” Engeman is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology. Her work focuses on social movements and social movement outcomes, union-community coalitions in the United States, and union strategy. She has recently presented her work at the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting and the UCLA IRLE “Strategic Decision-Making in Labor and Social Movements” conference. Engeman has long been active in UAW Local 2865, the union for Readers, Tutors, and TAs in the UC system.
The talk, and subsequent discussion, is part of the History 294: Colloquium in Work, Labor, and Political Economy, 2010-2011 lecture series.
The Colloquium meets on Friday, October 29 at 1 p.m. in 4041 Humanities and Social Science Building.
jmj 10/11/2010

Lessons of Hiroshima: Past and Present
2010-10-29 00:00
Prof. Hasegawa’s Faculty Research Lecture will be on Friday, Oct. 29 at 3:30 pm at the McCune Conference Room (6th floor HSSB). A reception will follow. The Faculty Research Lectureship is the highest honor the UCSB Academic Senate gives to one of its members.
An expert in modern Russian/Soviet history and the Cold War, Hasegawa has two main research interests: the Russian Revolution of 1917, and foreign relations between Russia, Japan, and the United States. He is the recipient of dozens of research grants and fellowships, and has authored or edited 15 books, and has published more than 250 articles, essays, and book chapters, written in English, Russian, and Japanese. He has also published numerous analyses of Soviet military and nuclear strategies; Perestroika and the role of Gorbachev in that process; and reforms in other Communist enclaves.
In 2005, Belknap Press published Hasegawa’s ground-breaking work, Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan. Researched in archives in Japan, Russia, and the United States, the award-winning book suggests that it was fear and a real threat of the Soviet Union’s military might –– not the dropping of atomic bombs –– that led to Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II. Acclaimed both here and in Japan, the book has influenced the work of Russian and other European scholars.
More recently, Hasegawa published East Asia’s Haunted Present, which explores the bitter historical memories that have resurfaced in recent years and led to contentious issues between Japan and its neighbors.
“Dr. Hasegawa’s scholarly achievements extend beyond his own discipline of history,” said Howard Giles, professor of communication and a member of the 2010 Faculty Research Lecturer Committee. “Writing in the English, Japanese, and Russian languages, he has challenged established ways of explaining important historical events. He has radically changed the way global history is now cast and has made extraordinary contributions to our understanding of civilization.”
Hasegawa earned his Ph.D. from the University of Washington and completed his postdoctoral work at Columbia University. Before joining the faculty at UCSB in 1990, he served on the faculties of the State University of New York at Oswego, and at the Slavic Research Center at Hokkaido University. The center is the only research institute in Japan that specializes in Soviet and East European affairs.
hm 10/11/10; jwil 14.x.10

What is a Feminist Classroom?
2010-10-29 00:00
What are some effective practices of feminist pedagogy?What is your teaching metaphor?
What are some difficulties or obstacles facing instructors who advocate feminisms?
Please come with examples of difficult situations that you manage in classrooms, strategies you implement to build feminist classrooms, and any other tools and techniques you use as an instructor.
Suggested reading:
Ellen C. Carillo (2007): “’Feminist’ Teaching: Teaching ‘Feminism’”
Available from ahendley@umail.uscb.edu or sarahwatkins@umail.ucsb.edu
hm 10/26/10

Aeschylus' Persians on the Eve of the Greek War of Independence
2010-11-01 00:00
Gonda Van Steen is Cassas Professor of Greek Studies at the University of Florida. She earned a BA degree in Classics in her native Belgium and a PhD degree in Classics and Hellenic Studies from Princeton University. As the Cassas Chair in Greek Studies at the University of Florida, Professor Van Steen teaches courses in ancient and modern Greek language and literature. Her research interests include classical drama, French travelers to Greece and the Ottoman Empire, nineteenth and twentieth-century receptions of the classics, and modern Greek intellectual history.
Professor Van Steen’s visit to UCSB is sponsored by the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, in cooperation with the UCSB Department of Classics, the Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program, the Ancient Borderlands Research Focus Group, and the Performance Studies Research Focus Group.
jwil 06.ix.10, 27.x.10

The Manhattan Mosque and Burning Qur'ans: Placing an American Dilemma in Perspective
2010-11-03 00:00
This discussion concerns the recent controversies surrounding the proposed building of a Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan and the threatened burning of the Qur’an in Gainesville, FL.
America’s Muslims have become a flashpoint for public debate about freedom of religion, freedom of speech, civil rights, and U.S. relations with Muslim majority countries in the Middle East and Asia. Recently there has been an outcry about the propriety of building an Islamic center (called a mosque in the media) near the site of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. There also appears to be a rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric and incidents around the country, including threats to stage burnings of the Muslim holy book, the Qur’an. Four UCSB faculty experts from the departments of Religious Studies and History will discuss and assess these developments with an aim to enhance public understanding of the issues involved and their consequences
The panel features Juan E. Campo (Religious Studies) on the meaning and functions of mosques and the Qur’an in the eyes of Muslims and non-Muslims, Richard Hecht (Religious Studies) on Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism, Kathleen Moore (Religious Studies) on the Manhattan Islamic Center and the law, and Salim Yaqub (History) on the implications anti-Muslim incidents might hold for U.S. foreign policy. Wade Clark Roof (J.F. Rowny Professor of Religion and Society, Director of the Walter H. Capps Center) will be the panel convener and respondent.
Please join us for this important event.
The event is presented by the Department of Religious Studies, the Center for Middle East Studies, the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life, the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies, and the Center for Cold War Studies and International History.
hm 11/1/10

Food Justice: A New Social Movement Takes Root
2010-11-04 00:00
Robert Gottlieb will be discussing his new book Food Justice: A New Social Movement Takes Root at 11:30 am in HSSB 1233.
Sponsored by the Food Studies Research Focus Group.
hm 11/1/10

Green Jobs/Sustainable Labor in the Age of Climate Justice
2010-11-05 00:00
Please join us for a talk by Andrew Ross of New York University.
Ross has published 17 books, including No Respect: Intellectuals and Popular Culture (1989), Fast Boat to China: Corporate Flight and the Consequences of Free Trade (2006), The University Against Itself: The NYU Strike and the Future of the Academic Workplace (2007), and Nice Work If You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times (2009).
The talk, and subsequent discussion, is part of the History 294: Colloquium in Work, Labor, and Political Economy, 2010-2011 lecture series.
The Colloquium meets on Friday, November 5, at 1 p.m. in 4041 Humanities and Social Science Building.
jmj 10/11/2010

The Reception of Ancient Greek Comedy: Aristophanes
2010-11-05 00:00
Gonda Van Steen is Cassas Professor of Greek Studies at the University of Florida. She earned a BA degree in Classics in her native Belgium and a PhD degree in Classics and Hellenic Studies from Princeton University. As the Cassas Chair in Greek Studies at the University of Florida, Professor Van Steen teaches courses in ancient and modern Greek language and literature. Her research interests include classical drama, French travelers to Greece and the Ottoman Empire, nineteenth and twentieth-century receptions of the classics, and modern Greek intellectual history.
Professor Van Steen’s visit to UCSB is sponsored by the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, in cooperation with the UCSB Department of Classics, the Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program, the Ancient Borderlands Research Focus Group, and the Performance Studies Research Focus Group.
jwil 28.x.2010

Health and Disease in the Bolivian Amazon
2010-11-08 00:00
Event in the Fall Tequila Monday talk series
hm 9/30/10, 11/3

The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space
2010-11-10 00:00
Cosponsored by Public History program and the Chicano Studies Department.
hm 11/8/10
