Professor Mathew Sutton recently published an article, “The Capitol Riot Revealed the Darkest Nightmares of White Evangelical America: How 150 years of apocalyptic agitation culminated in an insurrection,” in The New Republic. You can read his article about the January 6th events at the Capitol by clicking here.
Associate Professor Lawrence Hatter’s article, “The similarities to the last invasion of the Capitol matter — so do the differences,” was published in the Washington Post on January 11th. You can read his thoughts on the events at the U.S. capitol by clicking here.
Dr. Jesse Spohnholz was recently interviewed on the New Books Network podcast about his book, The Convent of Wesel: The Event that Never was and the Invention of Tradition (Cambridge University Press 2017; paperback 2020). Click here to listen to his recent interview!
Dr. Andra Chastain recently published a new article in the Journal of Transport History: “A shameful and uncivilized spectacle”: Taxibuses, students, and the conflicted road to deregulation in Pinochet’s Chile, 1975–1978.” You can access the article by clicking here!
Dr. Tracey Hanshew’s article “‘Here she comes wearin’ them britches!’ Saddles, Riding Skirts, and Social Reform in the Turn-of-the-Century Rural West” is now published in Montana The Magazine of Western History (Winter 2020). Learn more by clicking here!
Dr. LoSavio recently published “Burma in the Southeast Asia Peninsula Games, 1950-1970: Buddhism, Bodhisattvas, Decolonization, and Nation Making through Sport” in the International Journal of the History of Sport. Below is the abstract for the article but you can read the full article by clicking here.
Abstract
Histories of transnational sports in Southeast Asia remain largely unexamined for multiple reasons. To date, the history of transnational sporting events in the Burmese context has not been explored, making this essay a small but valuable contribution to this growing subfield. Transnational competitive sports, like the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games, performed critical roles in Burma’s nation-building and decolonization agendas. The state used these platforms to dismantle racist cultural conceptions, remnants of persistent hierarchies of colonial culture and politics. Moreover, athletic participation in such events communicated Burma’s sovereign status to the world at large. For internal Burmese audiences the state and its presses developed a transformative narrative of modernization around transnational sports and celebrated athletes as the ideal modern citizen. Foreign notions of modernity were refracted through indigenous Buddhist epistemologies. Athletes were cast into the role of bodhisattvas, authorized to disseminate modern knowledge. Through the National Fitness Movement and the Sports Month Programme, the Burmese state capitalized on transnational sports and athletes’ celebrity, and marketed their vision of ideal, embodied, modern citizenship to the Burmese public. Transnational sports became a vehicle, not only to introduce foreign notions of modernity to Burma, but also to make modernity compatible with being Burmese.
PhD student Samantha Edgerton recently published a book review in the Western Historical Quarterly! The review covers Land Uprising: Native Story Power and the Insurgent Horizons of Latinx Indigeneity, by Simón Ventura Trujillo. Click here to read Samantha’s review!
We would like to congratulate University of Idaho Professor Emeritus Katherine Aiken (WSU Department of History alumnus) on being named as the recipient of the prestigious 2020 Idaho State Historical Society’s Esto Perpetua Award.
Professor Aiken’s research has long focused on social and cultural history, as well as on topics in women’s history and labor history. She recently spoke to current WSU Professor Raymond Sun, and offered the following fun answers to our alumni questionnaire:
One Word that Describes Me: I think many people would use the word “dedicated” to describe me. Once I commit to something, I am determined to see it through.
Coolest/Most Memorable Thing I Did as a Student at WSU: I was in the department where my father had been a major in the 1940s and my two sisters, Mary and Sally, and my brother Jerry were all students at WSU during my tenure there.
Favorite WSU History Course: I enjoyed every history course I took at WSU and was privileged to have such talented professors as David Coon, Richard Hume, Howard Payne, Edward Bennett, and Susan Armitage. My advisor, mentor, and friend LeRoy Ashby taught courses that informed my entire career, especially his Recent America courses. I taught History for almost four decades and the foundation that Washington State University faculty provided stood my in good stead. I thought of my professors often when I prepared lectures and assignments.
Most Notable Accomplishment: Being married for over forty-six years with two children and two grandchildren is certainly my most noteworthy personal accomplishment. I was the first tenured woman in the University of Idaho Department of History and the first woman dean in the liberal arts college.
Advice I would Give to a Prospective WSU Student: Enroll at Washington State University. WSU prepared me well for all my endeavors—I could not have received a higher quality education anywhere. Even more importantly, I received personal attention from faculty and staff.
After Graduation I… Worked for five years at Lewis Clark State College in Lewiston before returning to my undergraduate institution—the University of Idaho. I was a history professor, college dean, and interim provost and executive vice-president. I am an American historian; I focus on women, labor, social and cultural, environmental, and Idaho history.
Favorite Historical Movie? During this centennial year for women’s suffrage I often think of Iron Jawed Angels. However, Hidden Figures hits every target. It does a good job of setting out historical context; it illustrates systemic racism; it emphasizes women’s accomplishments and their determination; and it is a terrific example of how historians can make visible parts of our past that were invisible.
If you enjoy reading about the accomplishments of our fantastic alumni please click here to take an opportunity to look at our other Alumni Spotlight articles, as well as the alumni updates offered in our annual newsletter by clicking here!
Prof. Kawamura’s essay, “Naval Powers in the Pacific at the Crossroads,” has just come out. It is in Tosh Minohara and Evan Dawley, eds., Beyond Versailles: The 1919 Moment and a New Order in East Asia. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2020.
Prof. Sue Peabody’s essay, “Slaves as Witnesses, Slaves as Evidence: French and British Prosecution of the Slave Trade in the Indian Ocean,” has been published in Voices in the Legal Archives in the French Colonial World: “The King is Listening,” edited by Nancy Christie, Michael Gauvreau (Routledge, 2021), 281-303.