The idea for this blog came about rather inauspiciously. We were in Dallas for a conference about the American South when, walking around the dimly-lit book hall between sessions, and fuelled by the mixture of exhaustion and euphoria that a good conference engenders, we made plans. Unlike most of the grand plans concocted then—and since—this idea stuck. As we planned that day in Dallas, we … Continue reading Welcome to ANZASA Online
By Dr Lindsay Rae Privette, I spent seven years working as a summer seasonal at Vicksburg National Military Park. It was a natural fit. I was born and raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the battlefield had been a staple of my childhood, and I knew its story by heart. Dubbed the “Gibraltar of the Confederacy,” Vicksburg was the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River by … Continue reading Invaders in a Foreign Land: Nature, Climate, and the Vicksburg Campaign
By Matthew Thorne It was the month of December and London was calling for the British Association for American Studies Postgraduate Conference. The event was held on hallowed ground for academics and sight-seers alike; the British Library, hosted within the Eccles Centre for American Studies. Try as one might, it is difficult to imagine a better venue for a conference on American Studies in the … Continue reading Conference Review: BAAS Postgraduate Conference, December 2019
By Dr Georgiana Banita Ever since my first engagement with the traumatic relation between race and policing (the conference, Black America and the Police in 2016), I have sought to trace what I consider to be the guiding principle of repressive state action against communities of color: the anticipation of black violence. This period has also overlapped with technology advancements in digitally-driven predictive … Continue reading Models of Black Motion: On the Predictive Policing of Race
Dr Julian Chambliss is a Professor of History and English at Michigan State University. He is involved in a number of digital humanities projects and serves as a core faculty member in the Critical Diversity in a Digital Age Initiative. He teaches courses exploring critical making, comics, and culture in the United States and has been recognized for his community engagement work with a Rollins … Continue reading Ask an Americanist: Professor Julian Chambliss
By Associate Professor Jessica Kim Much of Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric and policy proposals focus on the closure of borders, the building of walls, and limiting the flow of goods and people across international boundaries. This inflammatory speech belies the deep historical connectedness of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, from migration and employment patterns, to the flow of trade goods and services, to the existence of … Continue reading Roads and Walls in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
By Professor Mark Rice How should we make sense of colonial photographs that bridge the divide or blur the lines between different colonial regimes who occupied the same place but at different times? That question is at the heart of my current research project, a project that involves more than 150 photographs taken by two young, white, American men in the Philippines in the … Continue reading Thinking About Colonial Photography Through the Photographs of the Menage Expedition to the Philippines
By Professor Greg Barnhisel I came to Australia to track down a spy. More accurately, I came to Australia partly to try and find out whether someone was a spy. For the past few years, I’ve been writing a biography of Norman Holmes Pearson. You probably haven’t heard of Pearson; almost nobody has. One of the things I’m trying to do is show that … Continue reading Searching for a spy
By Elizabeth Miller It’s 7am and I’m standing in the parking lot of a Cabela’s – a hunting and fishing superstore – in the town of Farmington, Utah. There’s only one car in sight. My Uber driver is a bit concerned leaving me alone with the truck. But I was feeling fairly confident in what I was going to do next. The white pickup truck … Continue reading Researching community and conflict in Preston, Idaho
By Kate Rivington Last month in rainy but beautiful Auckland, a group of American studies scholars gathered at the University of Auckland for the biennial Australia and New Zealand American Studies Association Conference. Present in Auckland were scholars at various stages of their careers, from postgraduate students to emeritus professors, and from various places around the world. As well as scholars from New Zealand and … Continue reading Conference Review: Australia and New Zealand American Studies Association Conference, The University of Auckland, 14-16 July 2019
By Dr. Zachary J. Violette Sometimes important historical evidence — evidence that can allow us to question dominant narratives — can be hidden in plain sight. It can even be part of our daily lives, so common that it easily escapes our grasp. But it is the fundamental premise of vernacular architecture studies that the built environment encodes meaning for their builders and occupants … Continue reading The Decorated Tenement: Reflections on Looking and Seeing
