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 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
By Dr Joshua Specht Note: this guide is for writing the 500-750 word “academic summary” review. Some of these suggestions are helpful for longer reviews or review essays, though those are much more about making an argument about the book or historiography. What do you do if you’re unsure whether you need to read that new book about rats in revolutionary Paris or the untold … Continue reading “How To”: Write An Academic Book Review
Professor Paula Rabinowitz – University of Minnesota This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Prague Spring and all over the city exhibits honored the uprising of citizens seeking greater social and political freedoms. It is also the 70th anniversary of the beginning of communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Fewer commemorations to those turbulent days in February 1948 could be found, though the astounding photographs by … Continue reading My Prague Summer
Daniel N. Gullotta is a historian of Christianity, particularly interested in the history of North American Christianity and Biblical interpretation. He is currently a Ph.D. student in Religious Studies at Stanford University, specializing in American Religious History. His scholarship, for the most part, is focused on 18th and 19th century American Christianity. You can follow him on twitter at @DanielGullotta and The Age of Jackson Podcast at @AgeofJacksonPod Tell us a little … Continue reading Q&A: The Age of Jackson Podcast
By Dr Joshua Specht I’m not sure how I got here, but my first book is basically finished. Along the way I learned a few things about revising a dissertation. Here’s the one-sentence take: keep it simple, focus on the writing, and follow deadlines. For the longer version, read on. I start with three overarching suggestions, then suggest a potential revision process, before ending with assorted … Continue reading “How To”: Dissertation to Book
