Dr. Debjani Bhattacharyya‘s (PhD, ’14) Empire and Ecology in the Bengal Delta: The Making of Calcutta (Cambridge UP, 2018) has recently been made available open access by Cambridge University Press. The monograph, which was Bhattacharyya’s first, won the 2019 honorable mention for the best book in Urban History from the Urban History Association. Bhattacharyya is Associate Professor of History at Drexel University.
Chira Organizes CLAH Roundtable “Freedom Before the Age of Revolution”
Dr. Adriana Chira, Assistant Professor of History, organized a roundtable for the recent virtual conference organized by the Conference on Latin American History. Titled “Freedom Before the Age of Revolution,” the conversation brought Chira into conversation with Fernanda Bretones (University of Florida), Mariana L. Dantas (Ohio University), Mary E. Hicks (Amherst College), and Alexandre Pelegrino (Vanderbilt University).
Strocchia Named to Editorial Board of ‘The Journal of Modern History’
Dr. Sharon T. Strocchia, Professor of History, has been named to the editorial board of the Journal of Modern History. The JMH is one of the world’s leading journals for the study of all varieties of European history. Strocchia’s specializations include: the social and cultural history of Renaissance Italy; gender and sexuality in early modern Europe; and health and medicine in the premodern world. Her most recent (and prize-winning) book is Forgotten Healers: Women and the Pursuit of Health in Late Renaissance Italy (Harvard UP, 2019).
Lesser Interviewed by Radio France International on Storming of U.S. Capitol
Radio France International recently interviewed Dr. Jeffrey Lesser about the insurrection and attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The interview (in Portuguese) is headlined, “‘It was an attack on democracy and an example of racism,’ says historian about the invasion of the American Congress.” Lesser is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of History and Director of the Halle Institute for Global Learning.
Yannakakis Contributes to Collaborative Article in the American Society for Legal History’s ‘The Docket’
Dr. Yanna Yannakakis, 2018-2021 Winship Distinguished Research Professorship in History and Associate Professor, recently contributed to a collaborative article in the American Society for Legal History’s The Docket. Yannakakis’s piece, “Legal Performances in the Boundary Lands: Violence, Objects, and Indigenous Claims in Colonial Mexico,” is one of five contributions to a broader article titled “The Everyday Materials of Colonial Legal Spaces.” That article includes a piece by Yannakakis’s frequent collaborator, Dr. Bianca Premo (Florida International University). Read more via the links below as well as at The Docket.
Smith’s ‘Talking Therapy’ Wins American Journal of Nursing Book Award
Dr. Kylie M. Smith has won the 2020 American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award in History and Public Policy for her work Talking Therapy: Knowledge and Power in American Psychiatric Nursing (Rutgers UP, 2020). Smith is Associate Professor in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and Associated Faculty in the History Department. Talking Therapy previously won the 2020 Lavinia L. Dock Award from the American Association for the History of Nursing. Read more about the work below and at the Rutgers UP website.
Strocchia to Present at Virtual Conference “In Sickness and in Health”
Dr. Sharon T. Strocchia, Professor of History, will present at the upcoming virtual conference “In Sickness and in Health: Pestilence, Disease, and Healing in Medieval and Early Modern Art.” Strocchia’s talk, “Picturing the Pox in Italian Popular Prints, 1550-1650,” centers on syphilis Renaissance Art. Read more below and register for the conference here.
Lesser Featured in ‘TV Justiça’ Documentary about Immigration and Brazil
Dr. Jeffrey Lesser, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor and Director of the Halle Institute for Global Learning, was recently interviewed for a documentary program titled “Immigrants Part I: Brazil’s formation.” The program is the first in a series about immigration produced by TV Justiça. Lesser is an expert on ethnicity, immigration, and race, especially in Brazil. Watch the first episode in the documentary series below along with the second one here: “Immigrants, Part 2: In search of a nation.”
Price Discusses Covid Vaccine’s Implications for Children and K-12 Education
Dr. Polly J. Price, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law, Professor of Global Health, and associated faculty in the History Department, was recently quoted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article “As COVID vaccines roll out, where do kids fit in?” The piece discusses the implications of the coronavirus vaccine for children and adolescents, including the prospect of requiring vaccinations to return to school. Read an excerpt below along with the full article.
“It is unlikely anyone will be forcing their compliance anytime soon. Mandating immunization for students appears to be a political non-starter.
“Policy experts say it is too early to contemplate that anyway, given unanswered questions about the safety and efficacy — and availability — of child vaccines. Current mandates, for measles, for instance, cover vaccines that have a long history of both safety and long-term protection for the vaccinated. COVID-19 vaccination, meanwhile, is authorized only for emergency use, noted Polly J. Price, a professor of public health law at Emory University.
“‘I can’t see schools, even high schools, moving right away to any kind of mandate,’ Price said.”
Lipstadt Co-Authors Op-Ed in ‘The Washington Post’
Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies and associated faculty in the History Department, recently published an opinion piece in The Washington Post with co-author Norman Eisen (Brookings). Titled “Denying the Holocaust threatens democracy. So does denying the election results,” the article compares Holocaust denial to the anti-democratic rejection of the results of the 2020 U.S. election, most prominently by Donald J. Trump. Read an excerpt from the piece below along with the full article.
“And there are lessons that can be learned from the active campaign to combat Holocaust denial.
“The first is that we must attack Trump’s big lie before it takes further hold. For years, some — ourselves included — viewed Holocaust denial as a fringe phenomenon and chose not to refute it. Then we found it creeping more and more into mainstream discourse, where we were forced to tackle it after it had spread. It’s too late by that point, though.
“We cannot make that mistake here. We must refute the falsehoods that the president is purveying, which tens of millions of Americans believe, according to opinion polls. And we need to do it now, before it takes further hold, instead of just dismissing the problem. These lies won’t change the outcome of the election. But they don’t just undermine the legitimacy of the new administration — they serve as an illiberal rallying cry in future election cycles and erode the faith that undergirds our democracy.“