As a department, we're committed to hosting scholars from other institutions, sharing our work with one another and discussing history with the public. We hope you'll join us for one of our upcoming events.
March 8-9, 2019: 28th Annual Milton Plesur Graduate History Conference
Keynote: Katherine Ott, National Museum of American History. For the schedule of events, check out the GHA Website.
March 25, 2019: "Small Islands and Plantations that Never Were: On Re-thinking the Caribbean Beyond Sugar and Slaves": Talk by Ernesto Bassi Arevalo
2:00-3:30 pm Park 532
The still dominant definition of the Caribbean understands the region as a societal area characterized by its lowland, subtropical, insular economy, a history of European colonialism that resulted in the swift extirpation of the region’s native population, the development of export-oriented agricultural productive units, the massive introduction of foreign populations (mostly African slaves, but also Asian laborers), the persistence of colonialism, and the emergence of what Caribbeanists called a fragmented nationalism. This definition, while valid, is also greatly limiting. In this talk, I propose two vantage points from which to re-think the Caribbean beyond the dominance of plantation societies. First, I propose to see the Caribbean from the perspective of small islands and, second, I offer a vantage point from places that sought to develop into plantation societies but failed in their efforts. What emerges from these two perspectives is a multidimensional Caribbean, whose inhabitants’ lived experiences were clearly influenced but not completely dominated by the development of sugar plantations worked by enslaved human beings.
Dr. Bassi is the author of An Aqueous Territory: Sailor Geographies and New Granada’s Transimperial Greater Caribbean World (Durham: Duke University Press, 2016).
March 26, 2019: “Mass Violence and New Media: Psychological Responses in France, 1550-1880”
The Early Modern Research Workshop presents Howard G. Brown, Binghamton University (SUNY)
2:00-3:00pm, Park 545: Conversation with Graduate Students
3:30-5:00pm, Park 280: “Mass Violence and New Media: Psychological Responses in France, 1550-1880”
Abstract: New visual and textual media, ranging from pamphlets and woodblock prints in the sixteenth century to illustrated newspapers and collodion photography in the nineteenth century, depicted personal suffering caused by various episodes of mass violence in France between the French Wars of Religion and the Paris Commune. These increasingly effective means of representation helped both to provoke repeated collective traumas and to foster the psychological processes of the modern self.
Howard G. Brown, Professor of History at Binghamton University (SUNY), is the author of the prize-winning Ending the French Revolution: Violence, Justice, and Repression from the Terror to Napoleon (2006), and Mass Violence and the Self: From the French Wars of Religion to the Paris Commune (2019).
March 28, 2019: Brown Bag: The Key to Publishing
Noon in Park 545
What does it take to be published? Doctoral candidate Marissa Rhodes and Professor Sarah Handley-Cousins discuss the tips for publishing your work, both as a graduate student and after you defend.
April 2, 2019: Brown Bag: The Mark Diamond
11 am in Park 545
The Mark Diamond Research Fund provides research funding for MA Students and PhD Candidates alike. Join Doctoral Candidates Shuko Tamao and Elisabeth Davis as they discuss how to write a successful Mark Diamond Research Grant application.
April 13, 2019: Phi Alpha Theta Conference
Open to undergraduate and MA students, UB is hosting this year's PAT Western/Central New York Regional Meeting and Conference. Students may present research on any historical topic. Papers should be no more than 10-12 double-spaced pages exclusive of footnotes, to be read in a maximum of 20-25 minutes. See the Call for Papers for more information.
April 26, 2019: Brown Bag: Non-Academic Careers
Noon in Park 545
Not all historians go into (or stay in) academia. Join Professor Emeritus Mike Frisch as he discusses jobs outside of the academy. Professor Frisch’s consulting firm Randforce Associates LLC focuses on digital indexing for oral history media; he is also co-founder of Talking Pictures LLC, developer of the new mobile app PixStori.
