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 Emma Shortis On Wednesday, 9 November 2016 (Australian time), I rolled in to an Election Day event hosted by the University of Melbourne and the American Chamber of Commerce. I had no real idea what I was doing there. I was supposed to be representing the university and giving my expert opinions on the election results as they came in, flashing up on the … Continue reading Suddenly you’re an expert: historians in the media
By Dr Ben Vine As we begin the first semester of 2019, a number of graduate students and early career researchers will be taking tutorials or lecturing for the first time. Teaching is something everyone early in their academic careers knows they will have to do at some point, but there usually aren’t many university resources devoted to preparing you for that moment you stand … Continue reading Five Tips for First Time Teachers
By Dr Nick Fischer For observers of American politics, the Trump presidency is providing an exceptionally rich trove of data about the state of the union. One might indeed argue that the present is too rich in data, anecdote and outrage; it is impossible to keep up with the torrent of tweets, pronouncements, policy reverses and partisan barracking, let alone analysis. An interesting exercise to … Continue reading Star Spangled Man: Assessing the Trump Presidency
ANZASA Online will be taking a brief hiatus over the summer break. Thanks to all of our fantastic contributors, and all of our readers, for your support this year. We’re looking forward to bringing you more cutting-edge research, advice, and to continue building this online community in 2019! We hope you have a wonderful holiday season, Hollie & Sam Continue reading 2018 Summer Break
By Dr Joshua Specht No part of my graduate coursework emphasized writing. It was assumed that we could all construct a sentence, a paragraph, and (hopefully?) a dissertation chapter. As someone who struggled with his writing in the early parts of graduate school, this was frustrating. Since then, I’ve realized people with PhDs don’t talk about improving academic writing very much either. But they should. … Continue reading “How To”: Academic Writing
By Kate Rivington Impeccably timed, however unplanned, to coincide with the US Midterm elections, on November 7, 2018 The University of Melbourne hosted a workshop on US Economic History. The workshop, organised by Dr. Kat Ellinghaus and Professor Trevor Burnard, featured papers by scholars from The University of Melbourne, Monash University, and La Trobe University, as well as a fascinating keynote address from Professor Peter … Continue reading Review: US Economic History Workshop
Dr Anne Rees is a David Myers Research Fellow in History at La Trobe University. They are a historian of Australia in the world, with particular interests in gender, modernity, mobility and whiteness. You can follow Anne on Twitter at @AnneLRees Q: Tell us a little about your background. History has been a passion since childhood and ‘historian’ was my career objective from … Continue reading Ask an Americanist: Dr Anne Rees
By Dr Joshua Specht Note: this is the text from a guide I made for grad students preparing to give their first conference paper. Here is a pdf of the handout this draws from. Below are my key suggestions to giving a strong presentation. General tips are on the reverse. People engage with presentations fundamentally differently from written work. This is a curse and a blessing; when listening to … Continue reading “How To”: Giving Conference Papers and Presentations
Hollie Pich interviewed Assistant Professors Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman-Petrzela, and Neil J. Young (PhD) at the New School in New York City on Thursday October 11, 2018. This interview has been condensed and edited for publication. Hollie Pich: I wanted to start off by talking about where the idea for the podcast came from. Was it collaborative project, did it come from one person—what’s your … Continue reading Q&A: Past Present Podcast
By Associate Professor Noah Riseman In June 2015, Dr R. Scott Sheffield from the University of the Fraser Valley in Canada proposed to me. Scott had come across the Pacific to attend a conference I was convening titled “Brothers and Sisters in Arms: Historicising Indigenous Military Service.” We were eating dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant in Melbourne, and unlike most proposals, Scott’s came as … Continue reading ‘More than the Sum of its Parts’: Historical Writing and the Collaborative Process
