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
Or: A reflection on the sadistic humour of the goddess Clio (continued) (continued from Part 1 of Chasing Constantine Raises) By Dr Tamson Pietsch There are aspects of the account told by Raises that do fit. In early 1925 Lough was publishing notices in the newspapers trying to drum up sufficient interest to enable him to purchase the SS President Arthur and these touted the benefits of his Floating University … Continue reading Chasing Constantine Raises (Part 2)
Or: A reflection on the sadistic humour of the goddess Clio. By Dr Tamson Pietsch There is an alternative origin story for the Floating Univeristy that does not (at the moment) get told in my book. It begins like this: Some time in the cold New York winter of February 1925, six men met for dinner on a ship moored on the East River at the southeastern tip … Continue reading Chasing Constantine Raises (Part 1)
By Dr Tamson Pietsch In September 1926, 500 American university students left New York aboard the Floating University, on a journey around the world that involved stops at forty-seven ports and visits to foreign dignitaries including the King of Siam, the Sultan of Lahej, Mussolini and the Pope. Organised by New York University professor, James Edwin Lough, and promising a ‘world education’ to its students, the venture was … Continue reading Great Gatsby Gap Year
By Dr. Jennie Jeppesen Those of us who study and write history find the subject fascinating even when the text is a little dry. But as the funding landscape changes, and historians are tasked more and more with impact beyond the ‘ivory tower’, we need to re-think how our books and articles are written. For instance, Kiera Lindsey and her book, The Convicts Daughter. This … Continue reading Fictionalising History
by Dr. David Longley The last few months of my PhD were, for me, among the most enjoyable of the entire process. I had gone through that initial phase of excitement at tackling a unique topic, wading through primary sources for those wonderful nuggets of illumination, the long middle slog of writing the chapters I knew to be weaker than the others (we all have … Continue reading Finishing a Phd
By Travis Franks, Graduate Teaching Associate at Arizona State University I’m very thankful to have been asked to contribute to this new endeavor, ANZASA Online. Initially, I set out to write a blog post about the paper I delivered at the ANZASA biennial conference in 2017. There, on a rainy day in North Sydney, I presented a comparative piece looking at monuments and public memorial … Continue reading Reflections of a Fulbright Scholar
Dr Emma Hamilton is a Lecturer of History in the English Language and Foundation Studies Centre at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her first monograph, Masculinities in American Western Films: A Hyper-Linear History, was published in 2016 and she has recently released a co-edited collection, Unbridling the Western Film Auteur. Her research interests include representation and cultural studies, especially film and history, and representations of … Continue reading Ask An Americanist: Dr Emma Hamilton
By Dr. Prudence Flowers – Flinders University On 27 June 2018, Justice Anthony Kennedy made the shock announcement that he was retiring from the US Supreme Court. The departure of Kennedy, a crucial swing vote on reproductive rights, means that the future of legal abortion once again hangs in the balance. This precarious state is the product of decades of right-to-life activism, coupled with … Continue reading The Future of Roe
By Professor Timothy Minchin. ANZASA president (2015-) I moved to Australia from the UK in 2004, when I took up my position teaching North American history at La Trobe University’s main campus in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. La Trobe had a rich tradition in American history, and upon arrival I was told a lot about ANZASA by the university’s four recently-retired American historians – … Continue reading Reflections on my time in ANZASA, 2004-
