Dr. Jeffrey Lesser, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of History and Director of the Halle Institute for Global Research and Learning, was interviewed by Le Monde about race and politics in Brazil. The article chronicles how Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has recently levied racist attacks against Thais Oyama, a Brazilian of Japanese descent who published a critical account of the Bolsonaro administration. Lesser, who has published two monographs and an edited collection about the Japanese diaspora in Brazil, provides historical context for Bolsonaro’s rhetoric. Read the article (paywall prohibitive) at Le Monde: “Les Nippo-Brésiliens, nouvelle cible des injures du président Jair Bolsonaro.”
History Department Event on February 5 Celebrates Publication of Suddler’s ‘Presumed Criminal’
Assistant Professor Carl Suddler published Presumed Criminal: Black Youth and the Justice System in Postwar New York with NYU Press last year. The Emory History Department will celebrate the publication of Suddler’s work this upcoming Wednesday, February 5, with an event at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. The book event from 7-8:00pm will be followed by a reception at Manuel’s Tavern. Read more about Presumed Criminal and Suddler, who joined Emory’s faculty last year, via the New Faculty Q&A with Dr. Carl Suddler.
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Allitt Provides Historical Context for ‘Megxit’ on GPB’s ‘On Second Thought’
Dr. Patrick N. Allitt, Cahoon Family Professor of American History, was recently a guest on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s On Second Thought. Allitt joined Lisa Respers France, a senior entertainment writer for CNN, to discuss the history and context behind Prince Harry and Meghan’s withdraw from public life as “senior” royals. Listen to the conversation, which is hosted by Virginia Prescott, here: “The Racial And Historical Context Behind Prince Harry, Meghan’s ‘Megxit’.“
Tom Chaffin (PhD, ’95) Captures Friendship Between Jefferson and Lafayette in ‘Revolutionary Brothers’
Congratulations to Tom Chaffin (PhD, ’95) on the publication of his new book, Revolutionary Brothers: Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the Friendship that Helped Forge Two Nations (St. Martin’s Press, 2019). Steeped in primary sources, Revolutionary Brothers casts fresh light on the remarkable, often complicated, friendship between Jefferson and Lafayette. The Wall Street Journal describes Chaffin’s book as “A gripping narrative that offers a revelatory perspective on the combined origins of two nations . . . compelling drama and instructive history.” Read more about Chaffin’s work on his website.
Rachel Shapiro (MA and MPH, ’18) Co-Authors Article for ‘Maternal and Child Health Journal’
Rachel Shapiro, who received both an MA in history and MPH degree at Emory in 2018, has published an article in Maternal and Child Health Journal that developed out of her graduate studies. Titled “Comparison of Women from Georgia and Contiguous States Who Obtained Abortions in Georgia, 1994–2016,” the piece examines aggregate, vital statistics data in order to analyze abortion and demographic trends for Georgia and contiguous state residents (Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) obtaining abortion services in Georgia between 1994-2016. Shapiro co-authored the article with Blake Erhardt-Ohren (MPH, ’18) and Roger Rochat, Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.
Jason Morgan Ward Speaks on C-SPAN Panel ‘Reinterpreting Southern History’
Dr. Jason Morgan Ward, Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies, recently contributed to a panel on C-SPAN about new approaches to understanding the history of the South. The panel, which took place at the 2019 Southern Historical Association annual meeting, included Ward along with other authors from the upcoming edited volume Reinterpreting Southern Histories: Essays in Historiography (LSU Press, 2020). Find video of the full panel at “Reinterpreting Southern History.”
Dr. Judith A. Miller and Student Natalia Thomas Describe “Fake News” Course on GPB’s ‘On Second Thought’
Dr. Judith A. Miller and first-year student Natalia Thomas were recently interviewed on the Georgia Public Broadcasting show On Second Thought about Miller’s first-year seminar “Fake News.” Speaking to host Virginia Prescott, Miller describes how, as a historian of 18th and 19th century France, she ended up teaching a course with a substantial focus on contemporary U.S. history. Thomas, a first-year student in the course, describes the impact “Fake News” has already had on students: “‘I used to just take what I read at face value,” she explained. “I’ve learned to be more cautious about what I’m consuming, and make sure to check multiple news sources and see what they’re saying about certain issues.”‘ Read the article summary of the conversation and listen to the full interview: “Emory University’s ‘Fake News’ Course Helps Students Tease Fact From Fiction.”
Emory History Faculty, Graduate Students, and Alumni at #AHA2020
Faculty, students, and alumni from the Emory History Department were well represented at this year’s American Historical Association meeting in New York City. Scroll through the images below for a glimpse at some of the Emory historians at the AHA.
Dr. Thomas Rogers (2nd from right) opened the late-breaking session “Land Use and Climate Change—Historical Perspectives from Seven Continents”
Prof. Adriana Chira (right) was honored with the Paul Vanderwood Prize of 2019, awarded by the Conference of Latin American History for the best English-language article on Latin American history published in a journal other than the Hispanic American Historical Review and the Americas. Prof. Chira is pictured here with Prof. Yanna Yannakakis.
Prof. Carl Suddler visiting his book ‘Presumed Criminal’ at the NYU Press booth.
Dr. Joe Crespino on his way to a Saturday morning panel.
Emma C. Meyer and Rebekah Ramsay were part of the panel “Forging Citizenship after Empire: Reflections from Asia and the Middle East in the 20th Century”
Andrew G. Britt (PhD 2018, now at University of North Carolina School of the Arts) and Danielle L. Wiggins (PhD 2018, now at Caltech) presented on the panel “Planning, Difference, and Dislocation in the Black Americas: Atlanta, Port-au-Prince, and Sao Paulo”
Julia Lopez Fuentes presented her paper “Conflict and Fragmentation within the Europeanist Opposition to the Franco Regime, 1962-68” as part of the panel “Tolerating Totalitarianism: Why did the Franco Dictatorship survive?”
Rogers and Collaborator Manuel Publish Opinion Piece in ‘The Hill’ on Ethanol Policy in the U.S. and Brazil
Associate Professor Thomas D. Rogers recently co-authored an opinion piece in The Hill with collaborator Jeffrey T. Manuel, Associate Professor of History at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The article examines ethanol policy in the United States and Brazil, the two largest ethanol-producing countries in the world, with a focus on the powerful multiparty blocs of legislators that steer policy in both countries. Rogers and Manuel are writing a transnational history of biofuels in the United States and Brazil. Read an excerpt from the piece below along with the full article: “Who is driving our ethanol policy? And why does it matter?”
“When a government treats energy sources and fuels individually, organized groups like the rural blocs can capture policymaking. Instead, the United States and Brazil should pursue comprehensive national energy policies that prioritize decarbonization. This would diminish agribusiness’s influence over policymaking and move us toward a distributed and diverse energy system.”
Judith A. Miller and Students Investigate “Fake News” in First Year Seminar
Student Jeffrey Gao and associate professor of history Judith Miller. From Emory Photo/Video.
Associate Professor Judith A. Miller is teaching a first-year seminar this spring titled “Fake News.” The Emory News Center’s Maureen McGavin describes the class as investigating “examples of fake news, conspiracy theories, hoaxes, biased stories and wrongful convictions, in the U.S. and in other countries, as well as discussions of how the falsehoods took hold and were eventually debunked.” Read the Emory News Center’s profile of the course, “‘Fake News’ class helps students learn to research and identify false information,” in addition to the full course description below.
“Fake news, hoaxes, “truthiness,” lies, spin rooms, bots, leaks, deniers, and propaganda: These phenomena have shaken the world in the recent years. Fake news has become important part of our daily political culture, whether in the United States or elsewhere around the globe. Elections and public policy have been influenced by them. Our course will delve into several historical cases of hoaxes, history “deniers,” and media exploitation before turning to the recent past and even daily events in the US and elsewhere. What dynamics do those examples reveal that can illuminate the contemporary world? Then we will explore the place of social media such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as darker parts of the web, in purveying both accurate and false information. For instance, how do “fake news” authors use language, music, and images to make their ideas more persuasive? How has technology increased the power of “fake news”? Why have certain kinds of societies been more or less vulnerable to propaganda? How have courts understood the principles of “free expression,” “burden of proof,” and a “free press”? How have politicians and journalists contributed to and struggled with the recent intensifying “fake news” phenomenon? We will work closely with Woodruff librarians as we evaluate evidence: How do historians weigh claims and sources? Are there even clear red flags in our media-saturated world? How can historical examples help us sort out these questions? Each student will develop a case study of an incident–understood broadly, anything from political propaganda anywhere in the world, to allegations of wrongful conviction or sexual assault, to history deniers, as just a few examples–that takes up these issues.”