HistoryAlmost 50 percent of those who earn Ph.D.s in history do something else besides teach as tenure-track faculty at universities or four-year colleges. As a history Ph.D. student, I’ve been confronted with that basic fact since starting graduate school four years ago. And yet, that “something else” has often felt elusive. What else do history Ph.D.s do? How do they make that transition from graduate school to other employment? How do they take the skills and experiences of Ph.D. training and apply it elsewhere? Goldsmith's… read more about Will Goldsmith on “Lessons from the Transferable PhD Conference” »
Humphreys book Marrow of Tragedy: The Health Crisis of the American Civil War (Hopkins, 2013) has been awarded the George Rosen Prize from the American Association of the History of Medicine.http://www.histmed.org/about/awards/george-rosen-prizeThis is the book's second accolade. Last year, Marrow was a finalist for the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize! read more about Humphreys wins George Rosen Prize »
Ashley Rose Young was offered a position as the reference intern at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library for the 2015-2016 academic year. Ashley is a passionate bibliophile and has cultivated a vibrant collection of historic cookbooks that sheds light on American cultural development and community formation in the nineteenth century. In 2013, she was awarded first prize in the Andrew T. Nadell Book Collectors Competition for her historic Creole cookbook collection. She then went on to win second prize… read more about Ashley Rose Young joins the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book, Manuscript & Special Collections team »
Tricia Ross received a Duke-UNC Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Dissertation Completion Fellowship for her dissertation, "Care of Bodies, Cure of Souls: Religion and Medicine in Early Modern Germany." Combining histories of late medieval and early modern psychology, medicine, and religion, her project reveals how concepts about body and soul in each of these fields overlapped and influenced each other, such that diseases of the body were understood to be related to the health of the soul; and… read more about Tricia Ross received a Duke-UNC Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Dissertation Completion Fellowship »
Elizabeth A. Fenn's "Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People" has won the Pulitzer Prize for history. Fenn was cited Monday for her chronicle of the Mandans, which the judge's called "an engrossing, original narrative showing the Mandans, a Native American tribe in the Dakotas, as a people with a history." The finalists in the category were Sven Beckert's "Empire of Cotton: A Global History" and Nick Bunker's "An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America." read more about Elizabeth Fenn Wins Pulitzer Prize for History »
Rochelle Rojas has been awarded the Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Fellowship for Religion and Ethics, administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The Newcombe Fellowship is designed to encourage original and significant study of ethical or religious values in all fields of the humanities and social sciences, and is provided to Ph.D. candidates at American institutions who will complete their dissertations during the 2015-16 academic year. In the current Newcombe… read more about Rochelle Rojas has been awarded the Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Fellowship for Religion and Ethics »
Jonathon Free has been named the 2016 Miller/Hagley Library Dissertation Fellow in Business and Politics, co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia and the Hagley Museum and Library in support of his dissertation "Redistributing Risk: The Political Ecology of Coal in Late-Twentieth Century Appalachia." read more about Jonathon Free named the 2016 Miller/Hagley Library Dissertation Fellow in Business and Politics. »
The American Bar Foundation awarded Amanda Hughett a prestigious Law and Social Science Dissertation Fellowship. She studies social movements and the criminal justice system in the post-WWII U.S. She holds a bachelor's degree in history and women's studies from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a master's degree in history from Duke University. She is the recipient of the Julian Price Fellowship in Humanities and History from Duke University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and the Lyndon… read more about Amanda Hughett awarded a Law and Social Science Dissertation Fellowship from the American Bar Foundation »
Faculty, students and community members gathered Tuesday to discuss the history of lynching and racism, and how that history can inform future dialogues about race on campus. Speakers in the town hall meeting—which was sponsored by the history department and was standing-room only—emphasized that the noose found hanging outside the Bryan Center last week must be part of a larger conversation about race relations on campus. Members of the faculty panel spoke about the historical significance of the symbol, and tangible… read more about After noose incident, faculty illuminate history of lynching »
Why is the noose such a violent symbol? Come discuss recent racist acts on Duke’s campus and elsewhere in an open forum with fellow students and faculty experts. Speakers: Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Adriane Lentz-Smith, Wahneema Lubiano, Nancy MacLean, and many others! When: Tuesday, April 7, 2015, 7-9pm Where: Social Sciences Rm 139, W. Campus Info: facebook.com/dukehistory.dept Co-sponsored by the Department of African & African American Studies, the Franklin Humanities Institute & the Duke Human Rights Center… read more about April 7 Town Hall Meeting on the History of Racism and Lynching »
Corinna Zeltsman received a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship for her dissertation "Ink Under the Fingernails: Printers and the Material Politics of Print in Nineteenth-Century Mexico City," which examines transformations in Mexico City's printing industry across the long nineteenth century. It argues that urban printers—cosmopolitan figures caught between manual and intellectual worlds—shaped politics and broader social and cultural change not only through their printed products, but also through shifting… read more about Corinna Zeltsman wins Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship »
Edward Balleisen, whose research has led to collaborations with faculty from law, business, environment and other units, has been named vice provost for interdisciplinary studies, http://today.duke.edu/2015/03/balleisen-interdisciplinary-studies read more about Edward Balleisen Named Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies »
Congratulations to Edward Balleisen, Associate Professor of History and Public Policy and Sarah Deutsch, professor of History for winning the Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring! https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=303&v=QCF97xYxmcY read more about 2015 Mentoring Award Winners »
Emily Clark is the Clement Chambers Benenson Professor in American Colonial History at Tulane University. She specializes in early American and Atlantic world history, and is particularly interested in the ways that the Francophone Atlantic can illuminate the development of racial, ethnic, and national identities in other parts of colonial and early national America. Her most recent book, The Strange History of the American Quadroon: Free Women of Color in the Revolutionary Atlantic World, historicizes the… read more about Anne Firor Scott Lecture »
Students in history professor Nicole Barnes' Chinese Medicine Freshman Seminar traveled to the National Library of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Friday to make use of original documents in their research of the history of Chinese medicine. The students consulted the library's collections of Chinese public health posters -- one of the largest in the world -- and will use these materials to write papers showing transitions in medical beliefs and practices in 20th century China. Read More here: https://today.duke.edu… read more about Duke Today: Professor Barnes Class in the National Library of Medicine »
After nearly thirty years in the field, cultural anthropologist Rich Freeman has observed more than a hundred rites of spirit possession, especially in his field study area in southwest India. Now students can catch a glimpse of these elaborate initiations in this course, an interdisciplinary brew of religion, cultural anthropology, and history. A visiting professor of history and religious studies, Freeman first launched the seminar at the University of Michigan and brought it to Duke in 2009. He notes that the course is “… read more about Duke Magazine Featured Course: Shamanism & Spirit Possession »
Yuri Ramírez was on The State of Things today talking about Latino migration to North Carolina. http://wunc.org/post/life-culture-and-economic-impact-latino-immigrants-north-carolina read more about The State of Things »
Ed Balleisen and Sally Deutsch are recipients of the Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring. This award, which is highly competitive, is designed to allow graduate students the opportunity to identify faculty who embody both the spirit and letter of excellence in mentoring. Please join us in congratulating Ed and Sally on this important recognition of the remarkable and creative guidance they provide our students. read more about Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring »
Tyler Will '03, now a manager at Bain & Company, reflects on the skills that he developed in the major: During my senior year I researched the economic and social conditions that led to RTP, learned about the passionate individuals promoting its creation, and considered the public and private institutions that made it possible and shaped its character. The process of writing the thesis was incredibly rewarding both for learning the story of Research Triangle Park as well as experiencing the craft of historical research… read more about Tyler Will '03: "Crafting a Compelling Story is Vital for Getting Cients to Make Decisions or Take Action" »
We asked Sara Beth Meyers '03 how history had prepared her for her position as Assistant Attorney General for the State of Tennessee. Here's how she answered: My History major from Duke has given me an advantage, both professionally and personally. I continually draw upon the skills and knowledge that I gained as a History major when I practice law and address social justice issues as Founder and President of Advocates for Women’s And Kids’ Equality (AWAKE). My experience as a History major taught me how to question,… read more about Sarah Beth Myers '03: "The Skills and Knowledge Base Are Universal" »
We asked Reverend Andrew van Kirk to tell us how his history degree has affected life and work after college. This is what he said: Ten years out, my mind can no longer lay claim to many of the dates, figures, and events that made up the raw material of my history major at Duke. That's ok. The four years of study, culminating in the senior honors thesis seminar, took those raw materials and built an edifice that continues to structure the way I understand and relate to the world today. I can pick up the Economist… read more about Rev. Andrew van Kirk: "I Think Better About the World" »
We are delighted to invite you to the Duke University History Department's Spring Semester Workshop on "Framing Violence." http://sites.duke.edu/framingviolence/ The event will take place over two days: Friday, April 17, 2015, from 3 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. in Carr Building Room 229 Saturday, April 18, 2015, from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. in EDGE conference space, Bostock Library. Mary Dudziak (Emory University) will give the keynote address: "War without Violence." Presenters include: Susan Amussen, Nicole Barnes, Benjamin… read more about Framing Violence »
A book colloquium discussing Jehangir Malegam’s “Sleep of Behemoth: Disputing Peace and Violence in Medieval Europe,” will be held on Friday 1/16 12-1:30. The location of the seminar is at Hyde Hall, University Room. Professor Bjorn Weiler (Aberystwyth University, Wales) will be joining for a round-table discussion of Malegam’s book that explores conflicting concepts of peace in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages (1000-1200), which Malegam ties to well known and … read more about UNC-CH MEMS Event »
Posted: Thursday, December 11, 2014, 1:08 AM By John Jeffries Martin The Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the CIA detention and interrogation program this week quickly stirred up a white-hot debate on the use of torture to extract information from our enemies. And though there is great passion on both sides, this is not a new topic to be argued. In the late 16th century, some 200 years before the formation of our republic, the French nobleman Michel de Montaigne shifted the centuries-old debate… read more about Op-Ed by Chair Martin »
In her dissertation, Emily Margolis argues that during the early antebellum period, communities across the South increasingly employed social and legal pressure to reprimand women—white and black, rich and poor, free and enslaved, married and single—who actively managed or interacted with valuable property. She links this wave of legal and extralegal persecution of women to changes in conceptions of property ownership and concerns about slave rebellions. read more about Emily Margolis wins William Cromwell Foundation Fellowship »
Emily Margolis and Samanthis Smalls, are winners this year of the prestigious William Cromwell Foundation Fellowships for the study of legal history. This foundation recognizes especially promising scholars in legal history at the early stages of their careers with grants intended to help them in their research. Both students are working with Laura Edwards. Emily's thesis is entitled "'Punishment They So Richly Deserved’: Women, Property, and Patriarchy in the Early Antebellum South" and Sam's… read more about History graduate students win fellowships »
Dr. Margaret Humphreys recently gave an interview discussing ebola, yellow fever, and public health. The Josiah CharlesTrent Professor in the History of Medicine, Humphreys is also a medical doctor and author ofYellow Fever and the South. The parallels between the diseases, she says, "are tragically obvious." read more about Margaret Humphreys Speaks on Ebola, Yellow Fever »
History major Denzell Faison (T '14) curated the exhibit, "Queering Duke's History," on display at Perkins Library until December 14. The exhibit grew out of a project co-advised by History's Professor Ray Gavins and by Dr. Janice Long, former director of Duke's Center for Sexual and Gender diversity and is part of a semester-long commemoration of LGBTQ History at Duke. Denzell Faison is now a law student at Columbia University. read more about Denzell Faison '14 Highlights Duke's LGBTQ History »
Mary Tung '14 has won the Lowell Aptman Prize for her honors thesis, "Bankrolling Apartheid: The Coins That Forged Modernity, Fostered Nationalism, and Funded Apartheid South Africa." The prize honors undergraduates who make excellent use of library collections and resources. Tung had previously won the Aptman Prize for her capstone seminar paper on capstone seminar paper on coinage and the creation of white South Africa. read more about Mary Tung Wins Aptman Prize »
Duke History alumna Ryan Brown has published a book on the brilliant life of South African writer Nat Nakasa. The book, A Native of Nowhere: The Life of Nat Nakasa, grew out of Brown's honors thesis written under the direction of Professor Karin Shapiro. Brown's work renewed interest in Nakasa and revitalized attempts to return his body back to South Africa from the United States. In August 2014, the New York Times profiled Nakasa's life, his tragic end, and Brown's biography. read more about Ryan Brown '11 Publishes Book from Honors Thesis »
