Traditional research on borders and frontiers has typically emphasized the divisive influence of “hard” boundaries imposed by geography, politics, and economics. This conference seeks to widen the narrow conceptions of space underlying traditional work on borders by focusing on borderlands and frontier zones, spaces of interaction between different cultural groups. The conference pays particular attention […]

This film, made by a former UCSB student, chronicles Judith Meisel's experience as a Holocaust survivor, which inspired her life-long cursade against racism. hm 4/26/11

Co-sponsored by Department of History, UCSB hm 4/26/11

Carolyn de la Pena is a professor of American Studies. Sponsored by the Food Studies Research Focus Group and the History Department. hm 4/26/11

The battle over plans to build a Muslim religious center near ground zero has thrown into sharp relief anti-Muslim rhetoric that contradicts American values of religious tolerance. This panel will explore the origin of these sentiments in the context of ground zero as an emotionally-charged memorial space, and the exploitation of this history for political […]

Please join us for a talk by Tom Juravich, Sociology and Labor Studies, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. "The Degradation of Work in the 21st Century." Juravich is a labor educator and musician. He is the author of Chaos on the Shop Floor: A Worker's View of Quality, Productivity and Management (1985); an ethnography of […]

Between 1904 and 1914, the United States built the Panama Canal, an ambitious engineering project undertaken in the shadow of the French failure two decades earlier. The French experience taught American administrators several lessons, none more potent than the need to mitigate the destructiveness of so-called "tropical" diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. The […]

Eva Golinger will discuss the Bolivarian project for participatory democracy in Venezuela that has occurred through the empowerment of the country's poor majority during the last decade. As an advisor to elected President Hugo Chávez, she will also address some of the problems and conflicts facing Venezuela and the leftist South American-Caribbean bloc it helped […]

This documentary explores the historical accounts of migrant Mexican farm workers brought into the U.S. from 1942 to1964 under the temporary contract worker program known as the Bracero Program to work as cheap, controlled, and disposable workers. Discussion with Gonzalez following the screening. Gilbert G Gonzalez, Vivian Price, and Adrian Salinas,. Co-sponsored by the Hull […]

Presidio Chapel at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara SHP123 East Canon Perdido Street, Santa Barbara, CA Independent scholar Vladimir Guerrero is author of the book The Anza Trail and the Settling of California. Guerrero will discuss the concepts of caste, race and class among the Anza settlers and the population of Alta California at the […]

Please join us for a talk by Reuel Schiller, University of California, Hasting College of Law. “Civil Rights Protest and Labor Union Autonomy: The 1966 Hilton Hotel Protests and the Fate of Postwar Liberalism.” Schiller's areas of academic interest are twentieth-century American legal history, administrative law, and labor and employment law. A forthcoming book compares […]

Despite its seeming newness, nanotechnology already has many different historical narratives. From seminal speeches at the start of the Space Age to futuristic imaginings in the 1980s to industrial commercialization in the 1990s, nanotechnology is always linked to California in some fashion. In this talk, McCray will explore how the West Coast version of nanotechnology […]

In the following schedule, the name of the student’s mentor appears in parenthesis and that of the commentator in brackets. 1-1:30 pm: Benjamin Lopez, “The Sullivan Campaign of 1779 and the New York Frontier: an American General Fails to Grasp Victory” (Pat Cohen) 1:30-2 pm: Christos Potamiamos, “The Function of the Roman Spectacle in Ephesos” […]

"Why Should I Join Learned Societies -- AHA, OAH, LASA, MESA, NCPH -- Even Though I Now Can Get Their Journals Free?" This brown-bag talk will be held Wednesday, May 18 at noon in HSSB 4041. Kerber is part president of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the American Studies Association, […]

In the following schedule, the name of the student’s mentor appears in parenthesis and that of the commentator in brackets. 2:30-3 pm: Andrew Seguin, “Forays into the ‘Urban Frontier’: The Beginnings of Gentrification in New York City” (Randy Bergstrom) 3-3:30 pm: Emmett Bloom, “Who’s In Charge? Political Fragmentation in Post-Taliban Afghanistan” (Steve Humphreys) 3:40-4:10 pm: […]

Presidio Chapel at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara SHP123 East Canon Perdido Street, Santa Barbara, CA Vanessa Crispin-Peralta, adjunct professor of history at Westmont College, will draw upon her doctoral dissertation “Children at the Edge of the Empire: A History of Childhood in Coastal California’s Pueblos and Missions, 1750 – 1850,” to explore the integral […]

At the height of Han expansion, the northern frontier of the Han Empire stretched from northern Korea in the east to the Tengger Desert in the west and onward into Central Asia. In Chinese historical sources, the massive complex of walls built across this region appears as an absolute dividing line between the Chinese and […]

In the following schedule, the name of the student’s mentor appears in parenthesis and that of the commentator in brackets. 1-1:30 pm: Cheyanne Gustason, “Some Like It Haute: the Role of 1930s Hollywood Cinema in the Rise of the U.S. in the International Fashion Industry” (Chuck Wolfe) 1:30-2 pm: Eric Rogers, “A Study of Early […]

For information on the individual awards and past winners, please follow the link below. hm 5/9/11

Building on contemporary research in alchemy and gender, I engage themedium of space, examining the connections between the identity of the philosopher-alchemist and the composition of a masculine domestic space. I show that the private, enclosed nature of alchemical experimentation enabled the free exploration of masculinity. The private and semi-private nature of alchemical practices in […]

Americans seem united in their elation over justice being brought to themastermind of the September 11th terrorist attacks, but no one seems to agree on what to expect now. Whether this will mark a major shift in national priorities, or is simply a symbolic and cathartic event, is yet to be determined. The situation is […]

In conjunction with a student-curated exhibit (May 15-July 15) of Medieval and Early Modern Bibles in the UCSB Davidson Library's Department of Special Collections, Prof. Sharon Farmer (UCSB History) has organized this conference. Each speaker will incorporate material from books in the exhibit into his or her talk. Friday, May 27 / 1:00-4:00 PM, McCune […]

This talk will map out an analytic approach for political theory that combines the history of political ideas and cross-cultural, comparative political thought. Special attention will be given to the methodological and interpretive challenges confronting this approach, how and why it should be applied to ancient Greek and Indian political thought, and finally, its general […]

Classes end for Spring quarter.If you are enrolled in a discussion section that meets before the main lecture meets, you should still attend section that week. See calendar link below for details. Spring 2011 final examination schedule hm 3/16/11

Please join us for a talk by Steven Attewell, UCSB Department of History “Right to Work? Rethinking the Promise of Full Employment in the 1945 Moment.” Attewell is a Ph.D candidate in the Policy History Program of the History Department. “Right to Work?” is a chapter in the forthcoming dissertation, "Public At Work: Direct Job […]