Virtual AHA announces the January Session, a cluster of high-profile presentations, plenary sessions, and networking events coinciding with the dates of our canceled annual meeting. Clear your schedule for a week of historical research and conversation.

January 6, 2021, 7 p.m. EST Presidential Address: Slow History

Introduction: Jacqueline Jones, AHA president-elect (Univ. of Texas at Austin). Speaker: Mary Lindemann, AHA president (Univ. of Miami). 

All historians realize how much COVID-19 has interfered with our scholarship and teaching. Everything has slowed down, from preparing for classes, to doing research, to completing the simplest tasks of everyday life. Yet in the upheaval we are currently experiencing, and as we struggle to remain productive, perhaps we should also seize the opportunity to think more deeply about the “doing” of history and to isolate what really matters in research, writing, and instruction. Scholars in other disciplines have been doing so for several years and some have even issued manifestos like the one advocating “slow science.” Should we follow their lead? “Is going slow good for historians as well?”

January 7, 2021, 7 p.m. EST Plenary: Erasing History

A series of conversations about "erasing history" in different times and places. Daniel Immerwahr on the "hiding" of the American Empire; Laura Matthew on the erasure of Maya heritage in Anglo America; Philip Nord on France and forgetting and remembering the Holocaust in the shaping of its memorials; and Shani Roper on the de-radicalization of Black radical traditions in post-Colonial Jamaica.

Chair: Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard University

Panel: Daniel Immerwahr, Northwestern University; Laura Matthew, Marquette University; Philip Nord, Princeton University; and Shani Roper, University of the West Indies Museum

January 8, 2021, 2 p.m. EST Late Breaking Plenary: The International Implications of the US Election

Panelists will explore the international implications of the US presidential election, with a special emphasis on how historical thinking can bring particular insights to the table. Topics will include the environment; health; finance and economics; global politics, migration, open borders, and refugees; and human rights.

Chair: John R. McNeill, Georgetown University

Panel: Beverly Gage, Yale University; Paul Krugman, Graduate Center of the City University of New York; and Ana Raquel Minian, Stanford University

January 8, 2021, 5 p.m. EST Cocktails and Coffee with the Committee on Minority Historians

The Committee on Minority Historians cordially invites minority scholars, graduate students, and others to an online networking event. Please join the committee in a discussion of life in the discipline.

Sponsored by Gale, a Cengage company.

January 9, 2021, 2 p.m. EST Committee on LGBTQ Status in the Profession Open Forum and Coffee

Members of the committee will lead a conversation about professional challenges facing LGBTQ historians, followed by an opportunity for informal conversation and networking. Conversation will focus on priorities for the committee, which is charged with addressing fair treatment and nondiscrimination.

Sponsored by Gale, a Cengage company.

Missing your January visit to the Exhibit Hall?

The Virtual Exhibit Hall provides an opportunity to learn about the latest historical scholarship, take advantage of publisher discounts, and network with editors and press staff. If you normally look forward to the exhibits at the annual meeting, the Virtual Exhibit Hall offers a similar experience from the comfort of your home. Best of all, no name badge is necessary: the Exhibit Hall is free and open to the public.

AHA Colloquium

Don’t miss the other webinars scheduled January 6 through 10. See the AHA Colloquium page for details and registration information:

January 5, 2021, 5 p.m. EST: Native Nations and Anglo-American Law

January 6, 2021, 2 p.m. EST: Settler Colonialism and American Religion

January 7, 2021, 10 a.m. EST: The Vietnam War: A Diplomatic Contest

January 7, 2021, 2 p.m. EST: Virtual Assignment Charrette

January 7, 2021, 2 p.m. EST: Online Learning via the Digital Humanities, the Online Classroom, and the Hybrid Classroom

January 8, 2021, 11 a.m. EST: John F. Richards Prize Discussion of Sebastian Prange’s Monsoon Islam: Trade & Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast

January 8, 2021, 1 p.m. EST: History of Information, Session 1: The Social Life of Information

January 8, 2021, 1 p.m. EST: New Directions in the History of Education

January 8, 2021, 1 p.m. EST: History of Information, Session 2: The Commodification of Information

January 8, 2021, 1 p.m. EST: The State of Alcohol and Drug History Pedagogy: Teaching Challenges and Innovations

January 8, 2021, 1 p.m. EST: Why Did Medieval Europe Expel Its Jews?

January 10, 2021, 1 p.m. EST: Visibility and Virility: Masculinity in Print and Image

In addition to these panels, the AHA-affiliated Conference on Latin American History will hold a virtual conference featuring 41 panels and sessions. A complete program of events is available on the organization’s website.

Note that the awards ceremony and business meeting will not be held virtually.