NEWS FROM OHIO STATE’S DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 2015 No. 57
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MAKING HISTORY A Message from Department Chair Peter Hahn
Serving as a departments’ chair gives one a comprehensive perspective on the myriad academic activities and accomplishments among its faculty and students. This past year my colleagues contributed remarkably to our core mission: publishing distinguished research, educating students for professional and civic work, and providing service to our profession and outreach to Ohio and beyond. In a banner year for achievement in teaching, we admitted 20 new graduate students and produced nine MAs and 17 PhDs. Recent and current graduates earned several distinctive honors, including best paper prizes at conferences and top national and international research fellowships. They secured professional positions in history departments at Towson University, Spelman College and Montana State University, to name a few. Consistent with growing expectations in Ohio and across the nation, we are innovating methods to prepare graduate students for career trajectories outside of academia. To that end, we are pleased to have negotiated a multi-year contract to place doctoral candidates into 12-month paid internships in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in Washington, D.C., with the hope of providing another viable career option in public service. We continue to develop fresh approaches to enhancing undergraduate instruction. While committed to academic rigor in traditional modes of instruction, we are pioneering online instructional models and making the world our classroom through dynamic study abroad programs. I am equally proud of our department’s collective achievements in public service and outreach — the monthly e-magazine Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective (origins.osu.edu) is featured in this issue. In partnership with alumni Steve Millett and Craig Zimpher, our periodic Clio Lectures (clio.osu.edu) allow our alumni and friends to learn about the research of our faculty.
Professors Theodora Dragostinova, Scott Levi and Mytheli Sreenivas were key collaborators on an inter-disciplinary Sawyer Seminar program, “CrossRoads: Culture, Politics, and Belief in the Balkans and South Asia,” funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Last June, hundreds of guests attended our two-day public conference marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, featuring faculty lectures and a panel discussion with combat veterans. Last July, Professors Peter Mansoor, David Steigerwald and I led 25 guests on our third Alumni and Friends Tour of World War II sites in Britain, France and Germany. This initiative is a showcase to raise support for our study abroad program. We will lead our fourth tour in July 2015. Also, we will host a second public conference on World War II in September 2015. Summer semester 2014 marked the start of my third, fouryear term as department chair, which gave me a moment to reflect on the department I have been privileged to lead since 2006. There is considerable evidence that faculty, staff and students continue to breathe intellectual vibrancy and academic achievement into our department. That made it easy for me to accept an invitation from the college to serve a third term as chair. Please let us hear from you. You, our alumni, are our greatest legacy.
Peter Hahn Professor and Chair
KEEP UP WITH US: ADDITIONAL NEWS AND EVENT LISTINGS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT history.osu.edu/making-history/2015
CONTENTS 2
Greetings from the Chair
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New Faculty
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A Global Education: Study Abroad with History
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Undergraduate Student Spotlight
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eLearning in History
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History Behind the Headlines
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Why Study History?
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Roundtable on Crime Trends
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Flourish of Fellowships: Fulbright Scholars
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Faculty Books
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Alumni Books
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In Memoriam
On the cover: Pallavi Orunganti, an anthropological sciences major, exploring the ruins of Mellifont Abbey in Ireland while enrolled in one of the department’s study abroad programs. Photo courtesy of Eliza Jaeger.
MAKING HISTORY is the annual newsletter of The Ohio State University Department of HIstory 106 Dulles Hall 230 West 17th Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43210-1208 Office: 614-292-2674 Fax: 614-292-2282
Department Chair: Peter Hahn Editor: Kristina Ward Design/Layout: Arts and Sciences Communications Services
NEW FACULTY We were fortunate to welcome two new faculty members to fill endowed chair positions that further enhance the reputation of the department and depth of its fields. We share a glimpse into what brought them to Ohio State, their current research and how they spend their free time. Bruno Cabanes
Alexander Kaye
Professor and Donald
Assistant Professor
G. and Mary A. Dunn
and Saul and Sonia
Chair in Modern
Schottenstein Chair
Military History,
in Israel Studies
PhD (Université Paris
designate,
I- Panthéon Sorbonne)
PhD (Columbia University)
PREVIOUS POSITIONS
Associate Professor
PREVIOUS POSITIONS
(Yale University)
Tikvah Postdoctoral Fellow (Princeton
Ohio State appealed
University)
to Cabanes because of its long tradition of excellence in military history and
Kaye describes Ohio State as the perfect place for
the quality of faculty and students who work on diverse
him to teach and do research because there are many
aspects of the history of war and the history of modern
outstanding faculty members in Jewish history and great
Europe.
opportunities for him to further his own specialization of modern Israel.
Cabanes is a historian of 20th Century Europe who works on the transition from war to peace after World
The breadth of the faculty across the department and
War I. Rather than seeing armistice and peace treaties
university means ample collaborators in research and
as the end of conflict, Cabanes contends that “wars end
opportunities to create student initiatives — courses,
when survivors successfully overcome the legacies of
lectures, conferences, travel — in the field of Israel
war in their everyday lives.”
studies.
His work opens up the history of war to postwar
His own research focuses on Orthodox Jewish Zionists
transitions, and enables him to “approach little studied
in the 20th Century who “had to navigate the tensions
phenomena: the demobilization of combat troops, the
implicit in their dual commitment to both traditional
traumatic impact of war on soldiers and civilians, the
Jewish law and to the modern democratic Jewish state.”
origins of humanitarianism and the environmental history of war and its aftermath.”
While Kaye has been interested in history “for as long as I can remember,” his interest was piqued around age 16
Cabanes’ interest in studying history stems from
when he began to understand that history is about “big
his reading of French historian Marc Bloch and his
ideas.”
evaluation of the craft: “The historian is like the ogre of fairy tales: where he smells human flesh, there he finds
Apart from history, Kaye is passionate about spending
his quarry.” Travelling, discovering other countries and
time outdoors, particularly hiking in the mountains.
meeting new people keep Cabanes busy outside the
He also has a new-found interest in computers and
archives and classroom.
computer programming.
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A GLOBAL EDUCATION: STUDY ABROAD WITH HISTORY 5
A GLOBAL EDUCATION: STUDY ABROAD WITH HISTORY Excavating of the Black Friary, a medieval monastery and cemetery in Trim, Ireland; walking the beaches of Normandy; documenting forgotten settlements of the Greek island of Kythera; conserving archaeological objects unearthed at Isthmia, Greece — these are just a few examples of what students enrolled in our study abroad programs take part in. Students from diverse disciplines and backgrounds are traveling the world with our faculty and making places like Ireland, England, France, Germany and Greece their classrooms.
O-H-I-O with the London Eye
In Ireland Alison Beach and her students get their hands dirty along with a team of professional archaeologists from the Irish Archaeology Field School. While providing an introduction to medieval history, with a special focus on the religious landscape and an introduction to the field of bioarcheology, this program is truly hands (or trowels)-on. Ian Dunegan, a biomedical engineering major, agreed that the approach employed at Black Friary “enhances the learning tenfold.” Beach agrees that the problem-based, hands-on approach is motivating her students as they see the monastery “emerge.” She says “it makes it real” for them. Excavation of the remains of the friary has revealed the church and cloister. Ohio State students have been looking for the friars’ meeting house and examining mortuary contexts, specifically the children’s burial ground.
At Isthmia and Kythera Under the direction of Timothy Gregory, Ohio State has been sponsoring excavations at Isthmia in a large Panhellenic sanctuary dedicated primarily to the worship of Poseidon since 1987. Now students have the opportunity to participate in the work during a May session study abroad. They learn about the use of various instruments and tools of classical archaeology and study the 6
geography and topography of Korinthia, one of the most important historical regions of Greece. Gregory cites interaction with locals and formation of lifelong friendships as the hallmarks of the work at Isthmia. The sense of community also is felt in the program on the Greek island of Kythera, where students record and study a series of settlements on the island, dating from various periods of the past, from the Early Bronze Age to the 19th Century, and the different environmental conditions under which they flourished and/or declined. “[Professor Gregory] gave us the information and guidance to feel comfortable,” one student noted, “by giving us full opportunities to explore the towns and meet locals and feel like Kythera was our home for six weeks.” “Professor Gregory’s landscape archaeology program in Kythera,” another student recalled, “gave me the opportunity to further my education in a fantastic way, to immerse myself in the fascinating culture of Greece and to form lifelong bonds of friendship that will last beyond my time at Ohio State.”
WWII in Europe David Steigerwald leads students on an “education for citizenship” experience via coursework during spring semester and a three-week tour of European World War II sites during May session. This challenging program, charged with taking an in-depth look at how the World War II helped shape contemporary issues and focused on interconnections between the United States and Europe, enters its third year in 2015. Students on last year’s tour were fortunate to meet up with Robin Rose, a 1982 alumna of Ohio State, who now lives in Europe. Rose got word of the
Preparations for a day of excavating at Isthmia
tour and began looking for ways to connect with and help students while they were in Europe. She arranged homestays in Germany and Belgium for those who wished to stay following the tour and travel through Europe inexpensively.
The whole experience deepened my appreciation for the men and women who served during the war and reaffirmed my love of travel and exploration. At one point, I viewed the trip as one of my university bucket list items and expected myself to feel complete at the end; instead, the trip revealed how little I knew about myself and history, and how much more I have to learn and discover!
A visit to the Acropolis Museum in Athens on the way to Kythera.
Emily Cunningham, history major
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UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Joseph Ross, a fourth-year history major, served as an Undergraduate Research Office Summer Research Fellow studying the Early American Republic. Ross examined works of James Harrington and John Locke and compared them to Congressional committee records and federal statute law from 1780 to 1820 to determine how 17th Century English political philosophy affected 18th and 19th Century American land policy and constitution-making. He caught the research bug while enrolled in an individual studies course. The paper he produced on anti-Mormonism in Ohio in the 1830s won the Ohio State-Newark research paper prize. He credits research with building skills to help prepare him for graduate school. Ross also enjoyed seeing different cross-sections of the country while travelling for data collection. His advice for students undertaking their own research: “Make sure you research something you are passionate about. Being invested beyond just the academics of the project will help to push you further and accomplish more.”
Thomas Worthington’s book list helped Ross reconstruct his intellectual life and apply that towards his political life.
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eLEARNING
IN HISTORY
W
e are embracing the opportunity to teach through eLearning technologies, ranging from courses taught completely online to the utilization of gaming, interactive activities and virtual learning environments in regular classroom-based courses.
regular and frequent contact between instructors and students and among the students themselves. The design provides space for content (quizzes, discussions, homework, lecture notes) organized around themes and instructional weeks. Instructors also can include videos that explain the focus and expectations for each week. Additionally, instructors are provided their own branded website for the course to house additional material and hold online office hours.
While reaching a new audience and better serving the Ohio State community, eLearning also allows us to promote critical digital literacy. An eLearning Task Force was created within the department to ensure that the overall goals, standards of excellence and accountability in online, distance-enhanced and hybrid courses are the same as those for classroom-based courses.
Faculty is involved in additional eLearning strategies in physical classroom spaces. Professor Susan Lawrence uses a personal response system known as iClicker in History of Medicine for active polling and as a tool for student interaction. She also utilizes the Arts and Sciences Testing Center and ExamSoft, which allows students the flexibility to schedule their exams and receive instant feedback and scoring, while providing assessment analytics to instructors.
We have become a leader in eLearning. With the task force’s guidance, we have increased our offerings in eLearning and offer courses ranging from an introduction to the Early Byzantine Empire to American Civilization since 1877 to History of African Christianity.
Professor David Hoffmann, in cooperation with our Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching, is developing computer simulations to enhance teaching of Russian history. When completed, these simulations will allow students to play the roles of such worker heroes/heroines as “Bolshevik Feminist” and “Soviet Factory Manager.”
Professor Timothy Gregory’s course in Ancient Greek and Roman History was one of 10 courses selected to pilot the College of Arts and Sciences Technology Services’ and Office of Distance Education and eLearning’s migration to a universal template and media design; this included adherence to the Quality Matters rubric, a set of standards used to evaluate the design of online and distanceenhanced courses.
We are continuing to explore solutions to develop and promote our distance education and technology-enhanced courses as a means of providing collaborative spaces and for meeting the challenges of 21st Century instruction.
Gregory worked with technicians for five months to rebuild the course and redesign its presence on Carmen, Ohio State’s learning management system, to directly promote
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HISTORY BEHIND THE HEADLINES
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Envisioned as a medium to help readers understand the world more fully, Origins:
SC: Our scope is global; the writing is first-rate; the accompanying graphics and information are fascinating — and you get all this for free.
Current Events in Historical Perspective has
How has Origins evolved since 2007?
published more than 200 articles, essays
NB: From a somewhat static site, we’ve grown into a much more regular, multi-faceted and exciting publication. We’ve added book reviews, Milestones — short essays commemorating historical anniversaries; Top 10 Origins, postcards, movie reviews; History Talk podcasts and other blog posts. Also, we’ve branched out into social media. We’ve developed a strong and loyal Twitter following (more than 1,300 followers to date) and this is a place where we bring more of the history around the web to our readers.
and podcasts; it has received more than 1.5 million page views — from around the world — since 2007. The monthly, online magazine featuring work by leading historians is produced by the department’s Goldberg Center and Public History Initiative and edited by Nicholas Breyfogle
SC: We are figuring out better ways to reach audiences. The growth in our readership over the past two years is evidence that we are finally figuring this out!
and Steven Conn. We spoke with Breyfogle
How do you select content?
and Conn about the evolution of Origins
SC: We have editorial conversations pretty regularly. We think about front-page issues that we could cover; we also think about big stories that aren’t necessarily front-burner stories in the press. Some of our choices are shaped by what colleagues are writing about in their own scholarship and we think: ‘that would make a great Origins piece.’
and its mission to provide historical insight on contemporary events and issues. What prompted the creation of Origins? NB: I started the print version of Origins in the early-mid 1990s in response to what I saw as the poor coverage of the collapse of the Soviet Union that I was reading in the papers. I thought often that the news media simply didn’t understand what was going on — and their misunderstandings came from a lack of deep knowledge and historical background. Without the deep background and the longer-term patterns, the journalists and other analysts were simply missing the larger forces at work at the time. Origins is a perfect way to bring the insight and understanding of historians, and a knowledge of the importance of past events and processes, to the broader reading public.
What sort of debate has been generated by recent articles? NB: We are cited, quoted and republished all over the place [The Economist, The Huffington Post, Africa Today, Politico]. SC: [The articles] make great launching points for class discussion and debate, whether it’s about Darwinism or gay families or the history of student loans. The pieces are accessible to undergraduates and easy for them to engage with. Where do you see Origins in 10 years? NB: I hope that Origins will reach even more and more readers. We want to make Origins more useful to secondaryschool and university teachers and students by developing supplemental materials designed specifically for use in the classroom. These will include lesson plans, worksheets, vocabulary lists, map exercises, sample quizzes and other free, downloadable materials.
What makes Origins unique from other news magazines? NB: Historians have a tremendous amount of knowledge and insight about the contemporary world. They understand the course of events that brought us to today and they have a tool-kit of analytical tools and methodologies for making sense of why humans act and have acted as they do/did. Yet, the news media and policy makers rarely call on historians to comment on current matters — Origins is a place where you can find the perspectives and insight of historians making sense of the world around us.
SC: I see us slowly, but steadily adding more features. To begin your own exploration of the complicated nature of current issues and events, visit origins.osu.edu.
(top left) King David the Builder, legendary founder of Georgia from “Clash in the Caucasus: Georgia, Russia, and the Fate of South Ossetia”; (top right) Recording of History Talk podcast; (bottom left) Nasser and supporters in Alexandria following the signing of the British withdrawal order in October 1954 from “Clampdown and Blowback: How State Repression Has Radicalized Islamist Groups in Egypt;” (bottom right) “Reefer Madness” was released in 1936 as an anti-drug film. From “The Illegalization of Marijuana: A Brief History.”
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WHY STUDY HISTORY? We could tell you all the reasons we think studying history is important; that it is the sum total of the human experience; that experience serves as a mirror reflecting today’s events. That history is the key to understanding crises of war, revolution, famine and social upheaval. And that studying history involves analysis and hones critical thinking skills. Instead, we decided to ask three alumni who are using their degree in unique ways to tell us why they chose to study history and how it helped them prepare for their careers.
Dylan Aughe
Judith L. French
Professional
Justice of the
Musician with
Supreme Court
aspirations to obtain
of Ohio (MA, 1988)
MA in Public History (BA, 2014)
History was my minor as an undergraduate at Ohio State. As I reached graduation, I just didn’t feel that I had done as much as I wanted to do.
I found studying history, both the events themselves, and the methodology by which historians construct events from the sources, to be fascinating and conducive to my understanding of the complex world we inhabit.
I stayed at Ohio State for law school so that I could pursue a master’s degree in history and continue studying with the military history professors I had come to respect and admire, Allan Millett and Williamson Murray. They taught me to gather information efficiently, analyze that information critically to reach conclusions, and then write those conclusions clearly. Those are skills I used as a lawyer and now use as a judge. To this day, I cannot write a passive-tense sentence without thinking of Wick Murray.
Studying history at Ohio State has given me the tools to be a critical, rational and effective reader, as well as giving me invaluable insight into the modern condition itself — the many but recurrent desires and conflicts inherent in human interactions that undeniably shape society writ large.
The study of history is the study of everything. Military history, for example, includes military strategy and logistics, but also politics, economics, demographics and much more. I feel fortunate to have been a history student and, in particular, a history student at
I would be remiss to imply that I led myself to such a rounded comprehension of change over time; all of the history professors I had at Ohio State were experts in their field, vibrant in the sharing of their intellectual passions with us undergrads, virtually all endowed with unique senses of humor and keen to elucidate the relevance of even ancient history to
Ohio State.
a holistic understanding of modernity.
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HISTORIAN JOINS ROUNDTABLE ON CRIME TRENDS Why has there been a decline in crime since the early 1990s in the affluent world? Randolph Roth, an expert on the history of crime and violence and co-founder of the Historical Violence Database, has joined scholars and public officials from around the country to serve on the National Academy of Sciences’ (NAS) roundtable on crime trends to help understand and explain the decline in the United States. Roth identifies the group’s challenging task of testing rival theories against available evidence “to see which ones might best explain violence and help us develop ways to control it.”
Christopher Ryan Commercial Consultant and Blogger (BA, 1989) Understanding history and what drives change helped me immensely after graduation when I moved into the early days of the software start-up world. Because of my volunteer work during college with international students, it opened up an opportunity for me to manage an international sales program with a young company. Eventually that work led me to Paris where I’ve lived for nearly two decades. History studies at Ohio State helped me expand my knowledge of the world around me as well as being able to adapt to new and always-changing circumstances. In the start-up world, change is always guaranteed so studying change and what drives change was a valuable learning experience. In my private life, that interest in the outside world, which was spurred on during my studies, has led me to visit six continents and more than 50 countries.
Roth notes that “time-honored explanations can’t make sense of the decline. But the timing of the decline may hold the key to explaining it.” Indeed, the roundtable is engaging in research and discussion in an attempt to understand why violent crime in the United States, according to figures provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, reached a 40-year low in 2010 and continued to fall through 2011. This occurred despite one of the worst economic downturns in our nation’s history. “The task that the NAS Roundtable is going to work on is explaining the decline in crime that has happened since the early 1990s throughout the affluent world, even in countries that didn’t put more people in prison, didn’t put more police on the streets or face crippling debt crises,” Roth said. The roundtable first met in 2013 to describe crime trends in the United States and situate them in historical and comparative context. This was followed by a meeting that explored the implications of individual-level research on criminal propensity to get a better understanding of larger crime trends. In 2014, the group tackled how, and to what extent, the criminal justice system and factors based on population and demographics may have influenced crime trends over the last few decades. Future meetings may focus on examining social trends. For example, Roth has suggested that the change in confidence in political institutions and trust in political leaders has had an impact on homicide rates. Roth recognizes that he and his colleagues have a long way to go to understand crime trends and specifically the historic low crime rates in the last two decades. In an interview for The Crime Report, criminologist and chair of the roundtable, Richard Rosenfeld, noted that “it is possible one or two factors will emerge as dominant. It’s also possible there will be a half dozen. It’s too early to identify the relevant factors.” However, the roundtable’s dissemination of research and discussions has the opportunity to affect crime policies and enhance public understanding of crime in America.
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FLOURISH OF FELLOWSHIPS: FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS The repositories uncovered a unique wealth of documentation that reflected indigenous Andeans’ singular ways to perceive, use and modify early modern legal codes and practices. These records also revealed a veritable indigenous archive allowing Dueñas to see a new aspect of colonial indigenous legal culture: the politically motivated creation, use, storage and dissemination of legal information and its bearing in the articulation of a uniquely Andean legal counter discourse. Philip Brown (center) discussing maps and book manuscripts at the International Center for Tainan Area Humanities and Social Science Researchers with Shiyung Mike Liu (left), his host from the Academia Sinica Institute of Taiwan History.
Ohio State boasted a record number of Fulbright recipients last year. History faculty and graduate students featured prominently in the list of Fulbright scholars, who travelled the world to further their research. Philip Brown (above), professor of Japanese and East Asian history, spent three months in Taiwan to conduct research for a case study of the largest water control project in Taiwan, part of Japan’s effort prior to 1945 to control flooding in its colonies. Despite the brevity of his trip, Brown returned with a far better understanding of Taiwan, its people and the issues that concern them. While visiting the dam site and conducting archival research provided valuable material for his project, the recollections of Tainan residents offered personal content that provided a unique vision of the past — “All of my experiences here in Taiwan have confirmed what I have learned from years of working in rural Japan: there is no substitute for boots-on-theground experience in learning about
another culture. The recollections and discussions with local people have revealed new ways of thinking about the project and provided an emotional dimension of understanding what otherwise would have been missing.” Alcira Dueñas (below), associate professor of Latin American history, travelled to Quito, Ecuador, to access archival repositories containing indigenous litigation proceedings from the Quito High Court, or Real Audiencia.
In addition to conducting her own research, Dueñas led a workshop for high school teachers, which “allowed the participants, most of them for the first time, to read and interpret historical records pertaining to their own city’s history.” They studied samples of records dealing with transgressions of the law in 19th and 20th Century domestic and public arenas. They came out of the workshop with new ideas for research projects their students could easily conduct in the archive to recover local historical memory. It was meaningful for Dueñas to extend the use of the archive to the public, particularly to young, local students. Austin Dean (not pictured) conducted Fulbright research in Beijing, China, for a project on the various entanglements between China and the United States from the late 19th Century through the 1930s about how to reform the Chinese currency system. Austin visited libraries and archives, attended conferences, presented his research in Chinese and enrolled in a graduate class on the history of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) at People’s University (Renmin Daxue).
Alcira Dueñas exploring near Quito, Ecuador. 14
In addition, Dean had the great fortune to meet with Ma Ying-jiu, the President of Taiwan, take part in a small panel with First Lady Michelle Obama and attend an event to celebrate the 35th anniversary of U.S.-China academic exchanges at The Great Hall of the People.
For Dean, one of the highlights of doing research in Beijing was going to the Number One Historical Archives of China located inside the Forbidden City. He was able to access the Forbidden City through the gate for employees, which is directly across from Zhongnanhai, the compound where top government leaders live and work. “Going to the archives on a regular basis presents very physical reminders of how much China had changed and is changing.” Ian Johnson (below) received a Fulbright-Hayes fellowship to study in Moscow, Russia. After getting a new visa, finding an apartment, registering at his host university and dealing with a variety of paperwork issues, Johnson received permission to begin working in the Russian Federal Archives.
sauna. Johnson concluded that “after spending time in the urban centers of Moscow and Volgograd, it was really interesting to get a sense of Russia’s rural spaces.” John M. Knight (not pictured) was affiliated with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences during his Fulbright fellowship. He spent much of his time in Shanghai’s archives and libraries gathering evidence for his dissertation, which examines Chinese views of the Soviet Union from 1917-1956. John Johnson enjoying the scenery near the Volga River. John D. Johnson (above) travelled to Russia for the fourth time in his post-graduate career to gather material for a micro-history of the Volga Hydroelectric Station and how it reveals Soviet attitudes towards the environment and technology in the context of the Cold War. While living in Volgograd, Johnson spent several days in a Cossack village, which recently received a grant from the government to construct a local history museum and to develop agrotourism in the region.
Ian Johnson poses in front of the Bolshoi Theatre (photographs of or at the Federal Archives are strictly forbidden).
However, Johnson arrived to discover that many of the files he had been told would be available had been systematically reclassified by the Russian government. Fortunately, archivists provided materials that allowed him to make headway in other areas crucial to his research examining secret German-Soviet military cooperation in the interwar period. He has discovered documents, including the program’s 1924 and 1925 budgets, and some of its executive correspondence. Johnson is eagerly waiting to see if he will be given access to files about Russia’s early chemical and biological weapons program.
As part of this project, one of the local TV stations enlisted Johnson’s help in filming a short documentary about his experiences in the village, which included talking with long-time residents, riding a horse, fishing, preparing plov “Russian Jambalaya” and relaxing in a Russian
Knight also carried out nearly two dozen interviews and conducted research in Beijing, Chongqing and China’s northeast. Among the more interesting sources he found was a series of letters written between Chinese students and workers and their Soviet counterparts during 1954-56. The letter-writing campaign was done under the auspices of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association, which was China’s largest mass organization in the early 1950s. Alongside proclamations of the political slogans of the era, the letters contain a genuine desire to learn more about conditions of life on the other side. “When we consider that these exchanges represent the first time that many of the writers contacted someone from across the cultural divide between East and West, their value becomes even more apparent.”
Austin Dean snapped this photo outside the west gate of the Forbidden City before entering the Number One Archives. 15
FACULTY BOOKS John L. Brooke Climate Change and the Course of Global History (Cambridge University Press) presents the first global study by a historian to fully integrate the earth-system approach of the new climate science with the material history of humanity. From determining that geological, environmental and climate history explain the pattern and pace of biological and human evolution to exploring earth-system agents in the Anthropocene, Climate Change relies on climactic, demographic and economic data. Bruno Cabanes The Great War and the Origins of Humanitarianism, 1918-1924 (Cambridge University Press) demonstrates how the problems of the interwar period found their solutions in transnational networks rather than in traditional diplomacy, proposes a new framework for understanding the transition from war to peace, and presents the 1920s as a key moment in the development of humanitarianism.
the flood of mobilization. It has often been said that for France, the first turning point of the Great War came in the fall of 1914, when the war of movement became a war of position. Soldiers and civilians both realized that combatants would not be home by Christmas. Août 14 restructures this chronology, showing that the real turning point occurred earlier. The book was a finalist for the Prix Femina in non-fiction. Steven Conn Americans Against the City: AntiUrbanism in the Twentieth Century (Oxford University Press) explores the full breadth of the “anti-urban impulse,” from its inception in the booming industrial cities of the Progressive era to the present day. This impulse took root in the aversion to urban density and all that it contributes to urban life, and a perception that the city was the place where “big government” first made a foothold in America. Carole K. Fink Cold War: An International History (Westview Press) offers new insights and perspectives on key events
Bruno Cabanes Août 14: la France entre en guerre (Éditions Gallimard) employs a cultural approach to tell the story of France’s entry into World War I from the perspective of ordinary men caught in 16
with an emphasis on people, power and ideas, along with cultural coverage “from the Beetle to the Beatles.” Cold War goes beyond U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations to explore the Cold War from an international perspective, including key events and developments in Africa, Asia and Latin America. James E. Genova Cinema and Development in West Africa (Indiana University Press) Focusing on film both as industry and aesthetic genre, Cinema and Development demonstrates how the film industry in Francophone West African countries played an important role in executing strategies of nation-building during the transition from French rule to the early postcolonial period. Donna J. Guy A Global History of Sexuality: The Modern Era (Wiley) This collection of essays provides a provocative, wide-ranging introduction to the history of sexuality from the late eighteenth century to the present. Exploring what sexuality has meant in the everyday lives of individuals, A Global History of Sexuality is organized around four major themes: the formation of sexual identity; the regulation of sexuality by societal norms; the regulation of sexuality by institutions; and the intersection of sexuality with globalization.
Scott C. Levi Caravans: Indian Merchants on the Silk Road (Allen Lane/Penguin) examines the sophisticated techniques Multani and Shikarpuri merchants used to convert a modest amount of merchandise into vast portfolios of trade and moneylending ventures. Levi also challenges the notion that the rising tide of European trade in the Indian Ocean usurped the overland Silk Road trade and pushed Central Asia into economic isolation. In fact, it was at precisely the same historical moment that thousands of Multanis began making their way to Central Asia, linking the early modern Indian and Central Asian economies closer together than ever before. Lucy Eldersveld Murphy Great Lakes Creoles: A French-Indian Community on the Northern Borderlands, Prairie du Chien, 1750-1860 (Cambridge University Press) builds upon recent research on gender, race, ethnicity and politics as it examines the ways that the old fur-trade families experienced and responded to the colonialism of United States expansion. Great Lakes Creoles explores the role of women as mediators shaping key social, economic and political systems, as well as the creation of civil political institutions and the ways that men of many backgrounds participated in and influenced them.
Geoffrey Parker Imprudent King: A New Life of Philip II (Yale University Press) examines the Spanish king’s long apprenticeship; his three principal interests (work, play and religion); and the major political, military and personal challenges he faced during his long reign. Parker draws on four decades of research as well as a recent, extraordinary archival discovery – a trove of 3,000 documents, many written by Philip himself— in the vaults of the Hispanic Society of America, unseen in more than four centuries. Daniel Winunwe Rivers Radical Relations: Lesbian Mothers, Gay Fathers, and Their Children in the United States since World War II (University of North Carolina Press) argues that by forging new kinds of family and childrearing relations, gay and lesbian parents have successfully challenged legal and cultural definitions of family as heterosexual. Radical Relations also addresses changes in gay and lesbian parenthood in the 1980s and 1990s brought about by increased awareness of insemination technologies and changes in custody and adoption law. Recipient of the Ohio Academy of History Book Prize and the Society for the History of Children and Youth’s Grace Abbott Prize.
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Jennifer Siegel For Peace and Money: French and British Finance in the Service to Tsars and Commissars (Oxford University Press) is a classic tale of money and power in the modern era – an age of economic interconnectivity and great power interdependency. From the late imperial period until 1922, the British and French made private and government loans to Russia, making it the foremost international debtor country in pre-World War I Europe. For Peace and Money highlights the importance of foreign capital in policymaking on the origins and conduct of World War I. David J. Staley Brain, Mind and Internet: A Deep History and Future (Palgrave) places the Internet in longterm historical context to render the dramatic change of the “architecture of the mind” — the biological brain coupled with technologies that we have developed to extend our cognition less jarring. Brain, Mind and Internet provides a framework for understanding the deep history of intimacy between humans and cognitive tools to explore the possible futures of the brain-Internet interface.
ALUMNI BOOKS Philip C. Adamo New Monks in Old Habits: The Formation of the Caulite Monastic Order, 1193-1267 (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies) Carol Anderson Bourgeois Radicals: The NAACP and the Struggle for Colonial Liberation, 1941-1960 (Cambridge University Press)
Steven Thomas Barry Battalion Commanders at War: U.S. Army Tactical Leadership in the Mediterranean Theater, 1942-1943 (University Press of Kansas). Recipient of the Army Historical Foundation’s Distinguished Writing Award for Institutional/ Functional History Rowland M. Brucken A Most Uncertain Crusade: The United States, the United Nations, and Human Rights, 1941-1953 (Northern Illinois University Press) Stewart Dippel The Fast Day Sermons before the Long Parliament (1640-1660): Their Role in Shaping Intellectual and Political Life in 17th Century England
Roger S. Evans How the Early Church Fathers Misinterpreted the Hebrew Bible to Promote Hostility Toward the Jewish People: A Study in “Blaming the Victim” (Mellen Press)
Cherisse JonesBranch Crossing the Line: Women’s Interracial Activism in South Carolina during and after World War II (University Press of Florida) Michael S. Bryant Eyewitness to Genocide: The Operation Reinhard Death Camp Trials, 1955-1966 (University of Tennessee Press)
Kathryn Magee Labelle Dispersed but Not Destroyed: A History of the SeventeenthCentury Wendat People (University of British Columbia Press). Recipient of the Best Book Prize from the Canadian Studies Network and the Western History Association’s John E. Ewer Book Award
(Mellen Press) 18
David L. Mason The American Savings and Loan Industry, 1831-1935 (Pickering & Chatto)
Joseph Andrew Orser The Lives of Chang & Eng: Siam’s Twins in Nineteenth-Century America (University of North Carolina Press)
Donald Gene Pace with Omar Bagasra. Reassessing HIV Vaccine Design and Approaches: Towards a Paradigm Shift (Nova Biomedical)
Jessica R. Pliley Policing Sexuality: The Mann Act and the Making of the FBI (Harvard University Press)
Peter Schrijvers Those Who Hold Bastogne: The True Story of the Soldiers and Civilians Who Fought in the Biggest Battle of the Bulge (Yale University Press)
IN MEMORIAM Dr. Frank Annunziata Richard W. Smith Bishop McIlvaine, Slavery, Britain & the Civil War (Xlibris)
Died suddenly on Jan. 12, 2014. After completing his PhD in 1968 under the tutelage of Robert H. Bremner, Annunziata began a 40-plus-year career at the Rochester Institute of Technology where he served as chair of the history department from 1985-2005. He was working on a biography of Daniel J. Boorstin at the time of his death.
Dr. Samuel C. Chu Raymond G. Stokes with Ralf Banken. Aus der Luft gewonnen. Die Entwicklung der globalen Gaseindustrie 1880 bis 2010 (Piper)
Died Aug. 30, 2013, in Columbus. He was educated at Dartmouth College (AB) and Columbia University (MA and PhD). In 1969–1995, Chu taught at Ohio State where he served as the first director of East Asian Studies, retiring as professor emeritus of history. The Inaugural Samuel C. Chu Memorial Lecture in East Asian Studies was delivered by Myron L. Cohen, Columbia University, Sept. 11, 2014.
John Kauffman (BA, 1960) Ben S. Trotter with John C. Rule A World of Paper: Louis XIV, Colbert de Torcy, and the Rise of the Information State (McGill Queen’s University Press) Christopher Waldrep, ed. Swift to Wrath: Lynching in Global Historical Perspective (University of Virginia Press)
Died Nov. 3, 2013, in Atlanta. Following graduation, Kauffman joined his father in business, becoming President of Kauffman Tire, Inc., in 1969. He served on the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Board and established the John H. Kaufmann Family Graduate Support Fund in American History in 2007.
GIVING If you wish to support the department by adding to development or endowment funds, you can do so by sending a check made payable to The Ohio State University and designating it for the use of the Department of History. Listed below are a few funds that benefit the Department of History. If you choose to make a donation, please mention the fund’s name and number in your letter and on your check. For a complete list of funds supporting specific department initiatives and programs, visit history.osu.edu/igive.
The mailing address is:
Gregory S. Wilson with Kevin F. Kern. Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State (Wiley-Blackwell). Recipient of the Ohio Genealogical Society’s Henry Howe Award
University Development The Ohio State University Foundation 1480 West Lane Avenue Columbus, OH 43221 To support department operations, please direct your gift to the Chairman’s Discretionary Fund (#302765). Contributions to The Friends of History World War II Scholarship Fund (#642327) and the History Student First History Student Now Fund (#313118) allows us to supplement student travel costs on study abroad programs. Support the Origins initiative through the Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective Fund (#314891). 19
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DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 106 Dulles Hall 230 West 17th Avenue Columbus, OH 43210-1208 (614) 292-2674 05570-011000-61801 forwarding service requested
New Opportunities for a Global Education in 2015! GLOBAL “HOTSPOTS” OF THE EARLY MODERN WORLD: BUENOS AIRES
Led by Margaret Newell. Hotspot cities such as Buenos Aires served as key centers of economic exchange, imperial expansion and cultural influence that shaped the emerging modern world we live in. Students will benefit from an understanding of the ways in which diverse
migrations shaped cities, how European influences met with indigenous and Asian influences to create new hybrid cultures and modes of urban living. This will build a great foundation to better understand the present day world and development economics.
SHANGHAI, 1750 TO 2050: HISTORY, CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
Led by Christopher Reed. Organized both chronologically and thematically, this program will provide students with insight and historical perspective through classes at Shanghai’s East China Normal University and visits to historical, architectural, transportation and urban planning
sites. Students will be better able to make informed judgments about the chief historical themes, current trends and future plans for Shanghai and China today.