Seminars & Events
On Thursday, January 24th, 4:15-5:15, Information Session for Study Tour to Peru! Kent Hall 213.
On Monday, February 18, 4:45 pm, Natasha Zaretsky, Ph.D. from Rutgers University, will speak on the "Legacies of Repression: Testimony, Citizenship, and Survival in Jewish Buenos Aires." Location TBA.
See the History Department Calendar for more information!
Program Highlight
The Colonial History Concentration takes advantage of our special relationship with Historic St. Mary's City, the first capital of Maryland and a colonial archeological site, research facility, and museum.
SMP Spotlight
"My St. Mary's Project was truly the culminating experience for my undergraduate years. The process brought me full circle; I was able to take a piece of literature I had read in my very first semester and keep discussing and applying theory to it in my last. My SMP proved to me that I could sustain great ideas and discipline myself, even when I was discouraged. Working so closely with my SMP mentor, Christine Adams, was really valuable, offering a one-on-one environment that I had never had with my regular classes. I came away from my project knowing more about my topic than I thought I ever would -- and I still love it!"
Department News
Gabriel Young, a senior and history major at St. Mary's College of Maryland, will be studying Arabic this summer through the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program, which is administered by the State Department. CLS offers awards in about a dozen languages to both undergraduates and graduates. About 5,000 people apply for CLS, and ultimately about 500 awards are distributed. The majority of awards go to those studying Arabic and Chinese.
The scholarship guarantees full funding for overseas travel, housing, classes, etc. The CLS Arabic program send its participants to different locations in the Middle East, depending on their interests/prior training in Arabic. Gabriel will be spending the summer (June through August) in Egypt, Jordan, or Oman; the country has yet to be finalized. To learn more about the CLS program, you can visit http://clscholarship.org/
Justin Harty, a senior and history major at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, has been announced as the winner of the U.S. Marine Corps Commandant’s Trophy – the highest award bestowed on officer candidates. Harty will accept the honor from Maj. Gen. Joseph L. Osterman during a basketball halftime ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 1. The Commandant’s Trophy will then reside at St. Mary’s College for the next year.
Harty sat down with the Leader last week to talk about his experience as a Marine officer in training, his love of the Marine Corps, his family’s tradition of service and the great expectations he now faces. Watch his interview here: http://youtu.be/Nmx6DgnVZHc
EVENTS:
"The Dynamics of Underground Filmmaking in China"
Paul Pickowicz, professor of history at the University of California, San Diego, will be giving a talk on the current state of Chinese film making. Pickowicz is a leading scholar on the history of Chinese cinema and has published several books and articles on the subject. His latest book, China on Film: A Century of Exploration, Confrontation, and Controversy (2011), discusses the history of Chinese filmmaking from its origins in the early twentieth century through the experimental films of the post-Mao era (click here for the Amazon.com listing for his book). For his talk, Pickowicz will utilize clips from a wide variety of recent films. It is scheduled to take place Thursday, November 8, at 8 pm in Cole Cinema. This talk is sponsored by the History Club, Asian Studies Club, the Lecture and Fine Arts Committee, History Department, Asian Studies Program, Theater, Film & Media Studies, and International Languages and Cultures.
COMRADES IN THE COSMOS:SOVIET SCIENCE FICTION FILM SERIES:
The Soviet Union had a great tradition of science fiction, which has remained largely unknown in the US. These films dramatize issues of the threats and potential of technology, the limits and nature of humanity, and fear of the other, with some class conflict and socialist utopian dreaming thrown in. They also showcased stunning special effects, which now come across as pleasingly retro.
See our Calendar for more details and dates!
Other News:
On October 27, 2012, current St. Mary's student Gabe Young published his article titled "The Artifice of Unity: Underlying Turmoil in Lebanon" in the Commonweal Magazine. Gabe's article gives an analysis of the situation in Lebanon, which he was an eyewitness to in the Spring of 2012 when he studied abroad at the American University of Beruit. You can read his article here.
The Alice Fleury Zamanakos Endowed Lecture in History took place on October 3, 2012. The speaker was Karen Offen, a historian affiliated with the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University in California. In this illustrated lecture, Offen reviewed the complex history of women's quest for citizenship - and especially political rights - around the world. The year 2012 is an election year in the United States, yet many do not realize that women's suffrage in this country was not handed to women on a golden platter, but was fought for from 1848 to 1920. Campaigns in other democratizing nations were equally fascinating and hard-fought. To learn more about Karen Offen, you can visit her website at http://www.karenoffen.com/.
In July 2012, Science Fiction Studies published Dr. Thomas Barrett's article "Heart of the Serpent: The Cold War Science Fiction of Murray Leinster," in their 39th volume. His article examines the Cold War-era science fiction works of Murray Leinster, a pseudonym for Will F. Jenkins. You can read his article here.
On February 6, 2012 in St. Mary's Hall, cartoonist and comic publisher Denis Kitchen gave an illustrated presentation entitled "Underground Comix: An Inside History." Mr. Kitchen was an important cartoonist and a primary publisher of underground comix in the late 1960s through the 1970s. His Kitchen Sink Press subsequently pioneered the graphic novel genre. In his long and distinguished career, he has also authored books on comics, received multiple Eisner and Harvey Awards for his works, curated exhibits, has served as an advocate and defender and in this capacity founded the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. He will give an illustrated lecture, both funny and serious, on the underground comix revolution, which was an exhilarating period when comics were reinvented, evolved into a vital part of the American counter culture, and tested the limits of freedom of expression.
Dr. Charlie Musgrove presented his work on Nanjing at a workshop entitled "Landscape, City and Space in Modern China." The workshop was hosted by the University of Warwick, UK, but took place in Venice, Italy, on February 2-5, 2012.
At an event in Rockville, MD on February 2, 2012 that was sponsored by the St. Mary's College Office of Alumni Relations, Dr. Charles Holden gave a lecture entitled "Are Professors the Enemy? Academic Freedom as a Public Trust." Dr. Holden presented material from his recently published book The New Southern University: Academic Freedom and Liberalism at UNC and discussed the controversial history of academic freedom with the approximately thirty five alumni who attended.
In December, 2011, Dr. Charles Holden's new book The New Southern University: Academic Freedom and Liberalism at UNC was released by the University Press of Kentucky.
The History Department hosted a well-attended discussion about potential non-academic job opportunities for History majors on November 7, 2011 in the Kent Hall lobby. Past History graduates who now work at History Associates, the Maryland State Archives, and the Rensselaer County Historical Society led the discussion and provided valuable information to current students about what their different lines of work entail.
During the Fall 2011 semester, Dr. Gail Savage led her HIST 328 class (British History to 1688) on a day trip to Washington, D.C. to visit the Folger Shakespeare Museum.
During the summer of 2011, Dr. Christine Adams and Dr. Charles Holden co-led a study tour to France entitled "Over There: The American Military Experience in France, WWI and WWII."
In May 2011, Dr. Adriana Brodsky co-led (together with Dr. Cristin Cash and Billy Friebele) the "third edition" of the St. Mary's College Andean Studies Study Tour to Peru.
Students Matt Anthony, Beth Bowers, Gabe Young and Mike Youngborg presented research papers at the March 2011 Phi Alpha Theta regional conference at Bowie State University. Gabe Young and Marty McGowan also participated in a round table discussion of the book Blood on the Snow: The Carpathian Winter War of 1915 with author Graydon Tunstall.
In July 2010, the University of Illinois Press published Dr. Chris Adams' new book Poverty, Charity and Motherhood: Maternal Societies in Nineteenth-Century France.
During the 2009-2010 school year, Dr. Ken Cohen and his Colonial America Research Seminar (HIST415) students compared their readings on religious architecture in the Chesapeake to a local example when they held class discussion at nearby St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, built in 1767.
Tom Barrett was the guest lecturer at the Will F. Jenkins Day celebration in Gloucester, VA. Jenkins, from Gloucester, was a path-breaking science fiction writer. One of Tom's recent projects has been to recover Jenkins' significance to 20th C US fiction. Through Tom's initiative, the Virginia state government passed a resolution declaring June 27th Will F. Jenkins Day in the commonwealth.
Adriana Brodsky and her "History of the Jewish People in the Modern World" students met with Argentine Ambassador to the United States Hector Timerman on April 21, 2009. The Ambassador discussed with the group the experiences of his father, famous Jewish journalist Jacobo Timerman, a "disappeared" and tortured prisoner of the Argentine dictatorship of the 1970s. Hector Timerman helped gather support for his father's liberation then and has since fought for justice and the defense of human rights.
On April 18, Ken Cohen's American Revolution class visited old city Philadelphia. They toured Elfreth's Alley (an intact row of townhouses that were occupied by artisans in the eighteenth century), the National Constitution Center, and Independence Hall.
Gail Savage has been appointed a book review co-editor for the Journal of British Studies, the official publication of the North American Conference on British Studies. She also gave a paper at the 2009 British Scholar Annual Conference on February 19. The title of the paper was "Oslo or Reno? Competing Models of Modernity in Early Twentieth Century Divorce Law Reform."
Tom Barrett co-authored a House Joint Resolution that was passed by the Senate of the Virginia General Assembly and signed by the governor designating June 27, 2009 as Will F. Jenkins Day in Virginia.
