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History | Faculty News

Dr. Malfavon Nominated

Alan Malfavon was notified by Dr. Romeo Cruz Velazquez, Director of the Historical Archive and Library of the port-city of Veracruz, that he is being nominated for this year’s Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán Medal, an award given by the IVEC (Instituto Veracruzano de la Cultura/ Veracruz’s Institute of Culture), the cultural government agency from the State of Veracruz, given to scholars who dedicate their work and research to the study of African heritage and History in Mexico and Veracruz. The medal is named after the pioneer of Afro-Mexican studies in Mexico, Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, a Physician and Anthropologist from Tlacotalpan, Veracruz who in 1946 published the first Historical and Anthropological study on Mexico’s African descendants. 

Dr. Malfavon’s Article Published

Alan Malfavon’s article “Loyalty, Subjecthood, and Violence: Veracruz’s Afro-descendants in the Early Mexican War of Independence, 1812-1813” will be published on the December 2023 Issue of The Latin Americanist, the oldest continuously published Latin American Studies journal in the United States, published by SECOLAS, The Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies.

Dr. Weller New Monograph

Charles Weller’s new monograph is out and now on display in the main office: ‘Pre-Islamic Survivals’ in Muslim Central Asia: Tsarist, Soviet and Post-Soviet Ethnography in World Historical Perspective (Islam and Global Studies Series, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023). The volume traces the conceptual lens of historical-cultural ‘survivals’ in various Christian, Islamic and offshoot secular traditions of historiography, especially E.B. Tylor & company, and their subsequent impact on Tsarist, Soviet and post-Soviet historiography of Muslim Central Asia. It draws from European, Central Asian, Middle Eastern and world history situated within a global-crosscultural frame, contributing to scholarship on ‘syncretism’ and ‘conversion’, definitions of Islam, history as identity and heritage, and more. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-19-5697-3  Dr. Weller has also now signed a contract with Brill Academic for his manuscript on Moses, Muhammad and Nature’s God in Early American Religious-Legal History: A Global Crosscultural Perspective, 1640-1830. The volume should be out next year.

Dr. Franklin and Hanford History Project Awarded Grant

Robert Franklin and the Hanford History Project are thrilled to be awarded a three-year grant from the National Park Service titled “Digital Asset Management and Community Engagement to Enhance Understanding of Park Resources” at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Hanford Unit.   Robert will lead a WSU team to write a digital asset management plan for the entire Manhattan Project National Historical Park and train staff on implementation.  In addition, for the Hanford Unit, the WSU team will host community workshops, conduct archival research and consolidate fundings into a summary report.  These findings and the digital asset management plan will be used to curate 6 digital image galleries; develop one digital walking tour of East Pasco; write 10 articles, create 20 oral history vignettes; and produce one story map.  The project includes funding for undergraduate and graduate student interns.  If anyone has or knows students who might be interested in participating, please contact Robert Franklin directly at robert.franklin@wsu.edu.

Dr. Spohnholz and Dr. Miller Teach Workshops at World History Association

Jesse Spohnholz and Brenna Miller ran a faculty workshop on teaching introductory world history courses at the World History Association’s annual meeting. Each also participated in a second panel and the two ran a booth at the conference to introduce colleagues at the conference to ideas for student-centered, inquiry-driven, active learning lessons in large General Education courses – the heart of the History for the 21st Century project that two are working on.