HistoryThis project uses the tools of digital humanities to track the itineraries of the terrestrial globe in Mughal India. Supported by grants from the Arts and Sciences Committee on Faculty Research and the Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University, Ramaswamy has undertaken this project as a cultural historian interested in documenting cartographic practices in the Indian subcontinent. Using Turning the Pages™ software, she has assembled imperial Mughal paintings from the seventeenth century in a digital album… read more about Ramaswamy publishes her FHI-funded project »
Christina C. Davidson was granted a Fulbright-Hays fellowship for her dissertation "Converting Spanish Hispaniola: The Transnational Genealogies and Racial Politics of Protestantism in the Dominican Republic." Her project explores the development of Dominican Protestantism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including the explosive recent growth of Pentecostalism. Her research will demonstrate how Dominican Protestants have navigated the country’s spiritual, cultural, and political terrain, and how… read more about Christina Davidson Awarded Fulbright-Hays Fellowship »
Amanda Hughett is currently serving as a research fellow with the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina. She is curating a museum exhibit for the organization in celebration of its upcoming 50th Anniversary. The exhibit, which opens in January, will travel to the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro, the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, and Duke University Library during 2015. read more about Amanda Hughett Curates Exhibit about the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina »
Ashley Rose Young was invited to speak at the FOOD in the Garden series hosted by the Museum of American History. Drawing upon her dissertation research on the history of New Orleans’ local food economy, Ashley spoke about the Atlantic influences embedded in New Orleans Creole cuisine. She collaborated with chef David Guas of Bayou Bakery in Washington D.C. to discuss the importance of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River Valley in the making of New Orleans’ dynamic food culture. Attendees sampled iconic Louisiana… read more about Ashley Rose Young Speaks at the Smithsonian »
Ashley and Jenny recently traveled to New Orleans to permanently install Taste Terroir Tapestries at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans. The museum is located in the historic Draydes Market, whose history was prominently featured in the tapestry along with several of New Orleans’ iconic street food vendors. At the Southern Food and Beverage Museum opening event, Ashley gave a curatorial talk, discussing the making of this interactive consumption project. You can read more about the making of… read more about Taste Terroir Tapestries at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans »
Ashley Rose Young, co-convener of the Subnature and Culinary Culture Project at Duke University, recently premiered the Taste Terroir Tapestries art installation at the Jameson Gallery on Duke Campus. Ashley and co-curator Jenny Stratton, unveiled installation at the September opening of the Subnature and Culinary Cultures Exhibition in the Jameson Gallery. Several history graduate students attended the event. read more about Ashley Rose Young Opens Food Exhibition at Jameson Gallery »
Ashley Rose Young was awarded the Cherwell Food History Studentship by the Friends of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. With this grant, Ashley conducted research in Paris where she studied the fascinating history of street food vendors and municipally regulated food markets in nineteenth-century Paris. Her research endeavors focused on artistic renderings of ethnic street food vendors who purveyed foods around the central market place in Paris, Les Halles. In July, Ashley presented her research at the… read more about Ashley Rose Young Wins the Cherwell Food History Studentship »
Michael Stauch received the Anne Firor Scott Dissertation Completion Fellowship for his dissertation exploring the intersection of race and class in urban environments in the second half of the twentieth century. The Scott fellowship supports graduate students, “with a strong interest in public service, policy and advocacy work, and use of collaborative resources for community development.” Stauch hopes with his scholarship and teaching to make more porous the at times seemingly impermeable boundary between the class room… read more about Michael Stauch Receives the Anne Firor Scott Dissertation Completion Fellowship »
This September, first year history PhD student, Bill Sharman won the 2014 Prix Arditi, an award given by the Swiss Fondation Arditi for the best master's thesis submitted to the Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement, Geneva. Bill received a master's in international history from the Institute before joining the history department at Duke this fall. read more about Bill Sharman Wins 2014 Prix Arditi Award »
: Andrew Van Horn Ruoss was awarded a Fulbright Research Fellowship as well as the International Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). Andrew's research examines the relationship between the English (EIC) and Dutch (VOC) East India Companies, the first two joint-stock companies with global reach. Focusing on the second half of the seventeenth century, a period known for the rise of mercantilism, Ruoss examines how the two companies forged a… read more about Andrew Van Horn Ruoss Awarded Fulbright and SSRC Fellowships »
Rochelle Rojas had the opportunity to serve as an historical consultant for the upcoming film The Last Witch Hunter, starring Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood, and Michael Caine. Rochelle met with the director, Breck Eisner, and two lead writers to discuss the storyline. While it is undoubtedly a fantasy film, it was striking to note the parallels between their imaginative creations of witchcraft and the realities of witch belief Rochelle found in the Spanish archives. The highlight of this experience was… read more about Rochelle Rojas Acts as Historical Consultant for The Last Witch Hunter »
Ryan Poe was a fellow at the Virginia Historical Society in May of 2014. Ryan and Andrew Wegmann, a historian of free black communities in the South, presented their research in front of an audience of archivists, Virginia Historical Society board members and donors, and a members of the general public interested in their work. While at the Virginia Historical Society, Ryan found an array of both primary and secondary sources that were invaluable to his overarching dissertation research, pushing his project in new, exciting… read more about Ryan Poe Completes Fellowship at Virginia Historical Society »
Jon Free has been awarded a F.K. Weyerhaeuser Forest History Fellowship from Forest History Society. The fellowship, which is given to graduate students working on a project dealing with "land use, forestry, or the environment in some general way," comes with a $10,000 stipend. Jon will use those generous funds to support the final stages of research and writing on his dissertation, tentatively titled "Dark as a Dungeon: Coal, Capitalism and Community in the 1970s," which explores the relationship between environmental risk… read more about Jon Free Awarded F.K. Weyerhaeuser Forest History Fellowship »
This summer Meggan Farish used the funding provided by the Gender and Race Research Award to continue research for her dissertation entitled “Mediating Violence in the Post-Revolutionary United States: Communities, Conflict, and Local Law, 1790-1840.” Local criminal court records provide important information regarding how slaves and free people of color navigated the legal system during this time. Her project addresses the violent actions of these men and women and how their actions, in turn, not only stretched the… read more about Meggan Farish Uses Gender and Race Research Award to Study Violence and Local Law »
On July 8, 2014, Ashley Elrod presented a paper titled "'Unnütze Leuth': Work, Waste, and Household Politics in the Early Modern German Courts" at the Forschungscolloquium zur Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit (research colloquium in early modern history) at the Freie Universität in Berlin. read more about Ashley Elrod Presents at Forschungscolloquium zur Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit »
Christina Davidson was awarded two grants by the General Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church. With the funds from the "Ethnic Grant" and the "World is My Parish Grant," Christina traveled to San Juan, New York, and New Jersey over the summer of 2014, where she worked at the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico, the Schomburg Center of New York, and the General Commission on Archives and History. read more about Christina Davidson Wins Two Grants to Study the History of the United Methodist Church »
New Orleans has always been a crossroads of people, ideas, and products. What was created out of this dynamic interplay of people and products at this global crossroads of New Orleans? At the heart of NOLA are the people, a very diverse population ranging from Native Americans, French, Spanish, Africans, and other subsequent waves of immigrants. Drawing from abundant natural marine resources, adding diverse foods from around the world through merchants and settlers, the NOLA population created one… read more about Ashley Young Speaks at the Smithsonian »
The workshop centers on ideologies and practices of humanitarianism as they emerged and developed in the wake of nineteenth and twentieth-century nationalism and the wars it spawned. It will address the specific nature of twentieth-century humanitarianism in relation to both the character of war in this period and the rise of internationalist politics at elite and grassroots levels. It will explore how gender both shaped and was shaped by humanitarian politics, for example in relation to the influence of (trans)national… read more about GENDER, WAR AND HUMANITARIANISM IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. »
Cynthia Greenlee-Donnell is the recipient this year of Gender and History's prize for the best graduate student paper at the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians. Cynthia's paper is entitled "'An Impulse of Outrage Due to Her Tender Age': African-Americans, Child Rape, and Legal Vernaculars in South Carolina, 1885-1920" and has grown out of her dissertation that she is completing under the direction of Laura Edwards. read more about Cynthia Greenlee-Donnell receives Gender and History Prize »
Amanda Garfinkel feels that the History program at Duke, and the History of Medicine program in particular, has given her such a valuable and unique kind of preparation for medical school. read more about Amanda Garfinkel »
On Sunday, August 3, Adriane Lentz-Smith will lead a Q&A on "Freedom Song," a movie based on true stories of 1964's Freedom Summer, when students, local people, and civil groups led protests and voter registration drives across Mississippi. The program begins at 3 pm, at the main branch of the Durham Public Library. read more about Lentz-Smith Discusses Freedom Summer at the Durham Public Library »
On July 28, the White House and the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded a National Humanities Medal to Anne Firor Scott, the W. K. Boyd Professor of History Emerita and former chair of the Duke History department. The award lauds Scott's "groundbreaking research spanning ideology, race, and class" that established "women's history as vital to our understanding of the American South." read more about Anne Firor Scott Receives National Humanities Medal »
We asked Alyssa Granacki '11 what her History degree did for her. This is what she said: "Five years ago when my mom asked me what I was going to do with my history major, I promptly responded: “Whatever I want.” I had no idea what that was, but it is, in fact, exactly what I have done. The flexibility of the history major allowed me to pursue many interests at Duke. I wrote a senior thesis and graduated with Distinction in History (American), but I also received a degree in Italian Studies and spent a semester abroad in… read more about Alumni Profile: Alyssa Granacki »
Anne Firor Scott was a recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Sunday, May 11, 2014. Anne Firor Scott, a pioneering historian of American women whose efforts helped open the doors of the history profession to female scholars, is William K. Boyd Professor Emerita of History at Duke University. In the 1960s and 1970s, Scott was a founder of the field of U.S. women’s history, and especially of southern women’s history. Her path breaking book “The Southern Lady: From Pedestal… read more about Anne Firor Scott receives honorary doctorate »
History and French major Erin Russell is using her academic interests to rediscover the traditions of her local community of St. Louis. The senior said she decided to study history in college when she was 10 years old. “I feel really connected to people in the past when I’m reading,” she said. “History is really important because you can interpret the past in so many different ways. There’s not only one way to interpret it even though a lot of people do that without thinking twice about it.” Although she originally intended… read more about Russell Pairs French & History Majors »
Baldwin Scholar and senior Tiffany Lieu has dabbled in several departments during her time at Duke, but at the end of the day always loves learning about history. The Seattle native is concentrating on United States history and is also pursuing minors in English and political science. Her favorite history classes have been Immigrant Dreams/US Realities and her capstone course, both taught by Gunther Peck, Fred W. Shaffer associate professor of history and public policy. She said Peck’s teaching style is what made the… read more about Law Aspirant Lieu Studies Amerasians »
Junior Mousa Alshanteer is a political science and history double major from Jamestown, N.C. The Doris Stroupe Slane Trinity Scholar said he loves studying the role of identity in politics throughout history. Alshanteer is focusing his major studies on political institutions, law and governance. He said he has always been interested in how different laws and policies of government institutions are a reflection and byproduct of modern societal values. “Laws and policies, such as the national origins, may be examined as a… read more about Alshanteer Studies Politics Through American Identity »
The interconnectedness of U.S. history to that of other countries has transformed an academic interest into a lifelong passion for senior Gregory LaHood. Although LaHood said he has been interested in history since high school, he did not decide to commit himself to a history major until he took American Dreams/American Realities with Gerald Wilson, senior associate dean of Trinity College. He now concentrates on U.S. and Canadian history, and is pursuing a certificate in markets and management studies. “History was always… read more about Passion for History Fuels LaHood »
2012 - Britney May was a short girl with a nose-piercing and multi-colored hair. She had a penchant for laughing and texting while I did my best to engage and challenge her and her classmates my first year teaching at a small school in South Carolina. It had been a rough first year of trial and error, sleepless nights of curriculum planning, and a relentless pursuit to get my students from this impoverished rural community to work hard and maintain high expectations for themselves. At the end of that first year, Britney… read more about Brence Pernell '08 History »
Phil Stern is the President for the Forum for European Expansion and Global Interaction. read more about Professional Service: Phil Stern »
