December 5, 2011
AHA news and updates for the history profession.
- National History Center News
- AHA Today – Recent history news
- News from Washington–NCH, NHA, and COSSA
Flights & Housing
The 126th annual meeting in Chicago is fast approaching, and as the days pass so do some of the best deals on airfare and hotels. Keep an eye on the AHA's Facebook Page for news on airfare sales, and make your hotel reservations by December 16 to take advantage of the deeply discounted room rates the AHA has negotiated for the meeting.
Preregistration Deadline
Register for the annual meeting by December 19 to receive the lower preregistration rates. For example, the preregistration rate for members is $162, but after December 19 it increases to $190. December 19 is also the deadline to sign up for discounted teacher-student group rates, an excellent opportunity for teachers to attend the annual meeting with up to 3 of their high school, undergraduate, or pre-candidacy graduate students.
Job Center
Are you a member of a search committee interviewing in a privately arranged suite? Please help your candidates by letting the Job Center know your location once you arrive in Chicago. Send an e-mail to ltownsend@historians.org; text or call Liz Townsend at (571) 730-8518; or come to the Job Center Information Booth in the Chicago Marriott's Grand Ballroom, Salon 1. You may also give the information to staff members at the Information Desk near Registration in the Sheraton and they will let us know. All we need is your institution name, field of the position, interview days, and hotel and room number. Please welcome your new colleagues into the history profession by doing all you can to make the process as smooth and painless as possible.
The 2012 Job Center Handout is now available on our website here (PDF). This document includes a review of how the Job Center works, plus a list of all the job searches taking place in Chicago that have been reported to the AHA. The Handout will be updated frequently until the meeting begins.
For more information, visit the Job Center page online.
K-12 Teacher Workshop - Teaching the Past in a Digital World
Teachinghistory.org and the American Historical Association present Teaching the Past in a Digital World: New Perspectives for History Education, a free workshop for K-12 educators that will take place in the Sheraton's Ballroom IV on Saturday, January 7, 2012 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Preregister to attend. Events at the workshop include:
Welcome
9:00–9:15 a.m.Introduction to Teachinghistory.org
9:15–9:45 a.m.Teaching “The Labor Question” in US History: Exploring Rights, Obligations, and Relationships at the American Workplace
9:45–10:45 a.m.Digital Tools for Teaching and Learning American History
11:00–11:45 a.m.The Old and the New: Teaching Historical Skills at the High School Level
11:45 a.m.–12:45 p.m.Luncheon Lecture: Facing Down Fear: Innovation, Experimentation, and Adrenaline in the Teaching of History
1:00–2:00 p.m.
Visiting Chicago with Children
Chicago is a great city for kids, even on winter’s coldest days. Bundle them up from head to toe and prepare to stop for hot chocolate along the way.
Daniel Greene, vice president for research and academic programs at the Newberry Library, and Lisa Meyerowitz, art historian and freelance editor, have put together a comprehensive list of sites and activities for children in Chicago, in their article, “Visiting Chicago with Children.”
Their suggestions include the Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, and more.
Restaurants in Chicago
Not sure where to eat when you’re in Chicago for the annual meeting? Raymond Clemens and Patrice Olsen have consulted local residents and compiled a list of “Restaurants in Chicago,” including cheap eats, moderately priced dining, every time of cuisine imaginable, and famous eating establishments. Here are just a few of their selections. Find them all here online. Check back in the coming weeks as we continue to add to this list.
Fox and Obel
A gourmet market carrying fresh produce and fruit, imported meats, and incredibly good cheese to pair with equally superb breads and wine. Eat in or take out.
Cost: Inexpensive
Transit: Walking distance
Address: 401 E. Illinois St. (between New St. & Park Dr.)
Phone: 312-410-7301Twin Anchors (Ribs)
According to Frank Sinatra, the best baby back ribs in the city. We think he’s right. A neighborhood institution since 1932.
Cost: Moderate
Transit: Brown Line, Sedgwick
Address: 1655 N. Sedgwick St. (between Concord Pl.& Eugenie St.)
Phone: 312-266-1616Valois Cafeteria “See Your Food” (Soul)
Made famous by the sociologist Mitchell Duneier’s book, Slim’s Table: Race, Respectability, and Masculinity. Also an Obama haunt.
Cost: Inexpensive
Transit: Hyde Park METRA from Randolph Station
Address: 1518 E. 53rd St. (between Harper Ave. & Lake Park Ave.)
Phone: 773-667-0647
Session of the Week
On the AHA blog we’ve been highlighting a “Session of the Week” each week in advance of the 126th annual meeting, to highlight the varied scholarship you can expect at the upcoming meeting. With over 250 sessions in the Program of the 126th Annual Meeting, there’s something for everyone’s field of interest. The most recently featured sessions are:
Crowdsourcing History: Collaborative Online Transcription and Archives
This experimental session will feature five minute “lightning talks” by nine scholar-technologists who are studying and working on crowdsourcing projects.
Saturday, January 7, 2012: 11:30 a.m-1:30 p.m.
Chicago Ballroom IX (Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers)Turning Your Dissertation into a Book
This panel will help graduate students understand the process of turning their dissertations into publishable books appropriate for today’s book market.
Friday, January 6, 2:30–4:30 p.m.
Chicago Ballroom VI (Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers)
Perspectives on History – December
The online version of the December 2011 issue of Perspectives on History is now available. Sign in to member services for full access to gated articles.
From the President & Executive Director
AHA President Anthony Grafton and Executive Director Jim Grossman begin the December issue with articles that take historians outside of academia and into museums, politics, and the public in general.
Grafton stops by the Museum of the City of New York, in his article “Historians at Work, III: Public History,” to meet up with a recent PhD who chose a two-year fellowship in public history over an appointment at a university writing program. Then, turning to Capitol Hill, AHA Executive Director Jim Grossman discusses what historians can teach politicians: the importance of context, evidence, and civility.
History Profession
Get multiple perspectives of the history profession in a series of articles in this issue, including an introduction by Jim Grossman, a breakdown of data by Robert B. Townsend, Edward Balleisen’s thoughts on graduate education reform, Alexandra Lord’s experiences engaging the public in history, “A Day in the Life of a Community College Professor” by Natalie Kimbrough, and Dana Polanichka’s helpful job market etiquette tips.
More
Also in this issue:
Congratulations to the newest AHA officers and committee members elected by the November 2011 AHA ballot.
Three articles highlight teaching initiatives in the community, in the classroom, and in museums.
Numerous Letters to the Editor respond to Grafton and Grossman’s articles on graduate education reform or comment on other issues.
Read more about all of these articles and the rest of the contents of the December 2011 Perspectives on History in this blog post, or just head directly to the issue online.
Choice Essentials
In tandem with the complimentary access AHA members now receive to Choice Reviews Online, we will be highlighting a few of these reviews here in Fortnightly News each month. Log in to member services, or the “My Profile” section on the Choice website (if you’ve set it up), to read the full versions of these reviews online.
A Reforming People: Puritanism and the Transformation of Public Life in New England (Knopf, 2011)
By David D. Hall
Whenever Harvard Divinity School professor Hall, one of the premier scholars of American Puritanism, writes books and articles, those interested in early American history and culture should pay heed. This lucidly written, clearly organized … nuanced analysis of the Puritan reform impulse avoids both liberal and authoritarian stereotypes of Puritanism. As expected, a fine book.
Political Epistemics: The Secret Police, the Opposition, and the End of East German Socialism (Chicago, 2011)
By Andreas Glaeser
This brilliant study of the sudden and unexpected collapse of the German Democratic Republic belongs in every college and university library. … The book as a whole not only explains the fall of the German Democratic Republic but also suggests ways modern historians can better understand the interplay of political institutions and ideological thought in the modern world.
A History of Finland, translated. by Tom Geddes (Columbia, 2011)
By Henrik Meinander
… includes substantial information on literary, philosophical, musical, linguistic, pedagogical, and general cultural topics, providing a deeper and more nuanced overview of the Finns from prehistoric times to the present. … If a library can have only one book on modern Finnish history, this is the one.
LGBTQ Task Force Survey
Deadline December 15
The American Historical Association's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Historians Task Force is surveying AHA members and other historians who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and/or queer (LGBTQ) or whose work is on LGBTQ history. We seek to capture information about the experiences of LGBTQ historians (broadly defined) and the treatment of LGBTQ historians in the profession and discipline of history. While other professional associations have generated reports on the status of LGBTQ scholars and scholarship in their respective disciplines (eg. modern languages and sociology) no such efforts have been undertaken within the history profession. We believe that this survey will provide important insights into how LGBTQ persons and those doing LGBTQ history are faring in our discipline and how they perceive their place in it. With this information, the LGBTQ Historians Task Force will make formal and substantive recommendations to the AHA on how to address the concerns of LGBTQ historians.
Please complete the survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MZJ5XGW
Please be assured that that AHA's confidentiality policy directs that all survey data be gathered and reported in a way that assures your privacy. Responses will be aggregated and no personally identifiable information will be released. Any quotations from text responses will be edited to remove identifying information.
Each person who completes the survey will have the option to enter a random drawing to receive a $100 Amazon gift card. Information provided for the drawing will be disassociated from the survey results.
Response time will vary but it should take between 15 and 60 minutes to complete the survey. Please complete the questionnaire by December 15.
See the AHA Calendar for more upcoming meetings and seminars, research, awards and fellowships, and upcoming exhibitions. Have a call for proposals, event, or award listing you'd like to submit? Simply send it in through our online form.
Symposium: IREX/WWC Regional Policy Symposium
IREX and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWC) announce the 2012 Regional Policy Symposium, “Transnational Crime and Corruption in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.” Application deadline is December 9, 2011. The research symposium will bring American junior and senior scholars and members of the policy community together to examine and discuss transnational crime and corruption in Eastern Europe and Eurasia from multi-disciplinary perspectives. The Symposium is scheduled to take place April 18-20, 2012 in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.
Learn more.Call for Papers: Southwest Council of Latin American Studies Conference
The Southwest Council of Latin American Studies (SCOLAS) is now accepting panel and paper proposals for the March 8-10 Conference in Miami. Proposals from all disciplines are encouraged, including but not limited to: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art History, Cultural Studies, Environmental Studies, Ethnomusicology, Film Studies, Gender Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature, Political Science, and Sociology. Panels should consist of three presenters and a chair/commentator. Individual paper proposals are also welcome. The deadline for proposal applications is: December 15, 2011.
Learn more.
Jobs — Most Recent
Here are just a few of the most recently posted Job Ads from the AHA's website. Sign in to the AHA web site to learn more about these positions as well as around 300 other posted jobs.
Lecturer in Indian History - Australian National University
The South Asia Program in the School of Culture, History and Language at the Australian National University College of Asia and the Pacific will appoint a lecturer in Indian history or politics (equivalent to tenure-track assistant professor) to coordinate and contribute to the teaching of Indian history or politics at undergraduate level.Assistant/Associate Professor in European History - Qatar University
The Department of Humanities at Qatar University invites applications for the full-time position of assistant/associate professor in European history with a three-year renewable contract.Assistant Professorship in World History - New Jersey City University
The History Department/Social Studies in the William J. Maxwell College of Arts and Sciences at New Jersey City University invites applications from candidates for a assistant professorship in world history.
Washington History Seminar Spring Schedule Announced
The National History Center and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars have announced the spring schedule for their Washington History Seminar. Topics range from Tunisia and the origins of the Arab Spring to Anti-Zionism in Germany to African-American women. Kevin Kenny of Boston College opens the series on January 23 with a presentation on Abraham Lincoln and the Irish. Other highlights will include Margaret Macmillan on enduring lessons of the First World War on April 16 and John Voll on secular and religious leadership in the Middle East on February 13. The season ends May 7 with Kenton Clymer on Burma.
The seminar's fall schedule concludes today with Tom Bender of New York University on American exceptionalism in global perspective.
Keep up with the latest information on history and the profession on the AHA’s blog, AHA Today. Recent posts include:
Forever Marilyn
Annual meeting attendees who wander to nearby Pioneer Court (401 N. Michigan Avenue) will be greeted by Forever Marilyn, a 26-foot, 17-ton steel addition to Chicago's public art scene.Teachinghistory.org's Thanksgiving Website
Teachinghistory.org's Thanksgiving website is a true wealth of resources for history teachers looking to make the Thanksgiving school lesson a memorable one.J. Edgar: Finding Emotion and Humanity in History
One perspective on the new movie on J. Edgar Hoover.What We're Reading
The November 24 edition of What We're Reading went up on Thanksgiving, and included news of professors of the year, a Wikipedia initiative, and more. For the November 17 edition, news of Nixon's grand jury testimony, criticism of Bill O'Reilly's book on Lincoln, and a number of other items.Grant of the Week
Some of our most recent Grant of the Week posts include NEH Summer Programs for Teachers and Center for Jewish History NEH Fellowship for Senior Scholars.
The AHA draws on the efforts of a number of coalitions that support the Association's agenda to keep track of issues in the nation's capital that will be of concern to historians. Their most recent reports include:
National Coalition for History
Recent news from the National Coalition for History:
National Humanities Alliance
Announcements from the National Humanities Alliance:
Online Registration Opens for NHA's 2012 Annual Meeting & Humanities Advocacy Day
Events to be held March 19-20, 2012 in Washington, DCGeneral Appropriations Update
Senate Starts Moving FY12 Funding Bills
Consortium of Social Science Associations
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Read COSSA's most recent Washington Update for news on spending bills, Senate hearings, education and more.
Please feel free to forward this email on to a colleague or friend.
Last Updated: December 6, 2011
