Interpreting American History Lecture Series
Interpreting American History Graduate Workshop and Lecture Series
Department of History
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
"The Scars of the Past: Violence in American History and Memory"
2017-2018 Academic Year
Chairperson:
Jerrad P. Pacatte (Graduate Student, Department of History)
Series Sponsors:
Center for Race and Ethnicity
Department of American Studies
Department of History
Graduate Student Association
School of Arts and Sciences
The legacies of American violence confront us not only in the archives in which we work, but also within the society in which we live. As we grapple with the economic violence wrought by the neoliberal turn, the legal injustices saturating the American criminal justice system, or the exclusionary practices of the American state, we are constantly reminded of the ubiquity of violence in both the past and the present.
During the 2017-18 academic year, our series will host six outside scholars whose research and writing engages with the subject of violence writ large. The scholars will lead small workshop luncheons with graduate students, a forum designed to give students representing a range of fields the chance to discuss how these scholars of American violence: chose to martial their evidence; the methodologies they mobilize; questions of theory usage; and the process of academic publishing. Evening lectures are open to the entire Rutgers community and give the distinguished visiting scholar the chance to spotlight his/her/their research projects.
Afternoon luncheons typically take place from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m., followed by evening lectures lasting from 4:30 until approximately 6 p.m. on the date of the events. All events (unless otherwise specified) will be held in 301 Van Dyck Hall, College Avenue Campus.
Graduate students interested in partaking in the afternoon luncheons must reserve seating no later than one week prior to each lecture, as seating is quite limited. To reserve your seat, kindly email Jerrad P. Pacatte (
SPRING 2018 SERIES
Thursday, January 30, 2018
“Bad Little Black Girls: African American Women, Survival Crimes, and the Mainstreaming of White Supremacy
Leigh-Anne Francis, Ph.D. (Rutgers, 2014)
Assistant Professor of African American Studies/Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)
Thursday, February 22, 2018
“An Outage: A Documentary Film About Lynching in the American South” Evening Film Screening
Hannah Brown Ayers and Lance Warren (Independent filmmakers)
Location: TBD
Thursday, March 1, 2018
“Rape and Mutiny in Civil War Louisiana”
Crystal N. Feimster, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of African American Studies, American Studies, and History
Yale University
FALL 2017 SERIES
Thursday, September 28, 2017
“The Surprising Career of the Term Working Class in U.S. Political Culture, 1932-1984”
Robyn Leigh Muncy, Ph.D.
Professor of History
University of Maryland – College Park
***Keynote Event***
Thursday, October 26, 2017 and Friday, October 27, 2017
“Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America”
Kathleen Belew, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History and the College
Founding Member, Histories of Violence Collective
The University of Chicago
Public Lecture: Thursday, October 26, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
Workshop Luncheon: Friday, October 27, 1:15 – 2:15 p.m.
Thursday, December 7, 2017
“The Uprooting: Transnational Violence and the Politics of Displacement in Modern US Immigration History”
Paul Kramer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History
Vanderbilt University
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2012-2013 | 2011-2012 | 2010-2011
