In an era of "don't say gay" laws, Dr. Pippa Holloway, chair of the University of Richmond's Department of History, believes in the relevance and importance of teaching LGBT history to students for what they learn about courts, the Constitution, civil rights, and America as a whole.
Monday, Feb. 9th | 5:30-6:30pm | Humanities Commons
Civilizational discourse has recently emerged in international politics, notably in the US, China, India, and Turkey. Asian and African advocates view the civilizational formulation as essential to decolonize epistemologies and overcome Eurocentrism. However, critics argue that illiberal actors have hijacked decolonial theory’s attempt to decenter the West in order to advance their majoritarian nationalist and right-wing agendas. Aydin examines the modern history of the concept of civilization as a theory of decolonization and world‑making in the Global South, tracing its origins in the 19th century. By analyzing African, Muslim, and Asian thought, he demonstrates how their utopian projects were shaped by Enlightenment-inspired globalism and a teleology of history bending towards emancipation. The talk will offer new perspective on contemporary politics of civilizationism from the perspective of 20th century intellectual history.
This lecture will be given by Dr. Cemil Aydin, Professor of International/Global history at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He studied at Boğaziçi University, İstanbul University, and the University of Tokyo before receiving his Ph.D. degree at Harvard University in 2002. Dr. Aydin’s publications include Politics of Anti-Westernism in Asia (Columbia University Press, 2007) and The Idea of the Muslim World: A Global Intellectual History (Harvard University Press, Spring 2017). His writings on the political history of the world in the long 19th century were published by Harvard University Press in 2018 as part of an edited volume An Emerging Modern World: 1750–1870. He currently serves as the co-editor of Columbia University Press’s book series on International and Global History.
Monday, Feb. 17th | 5:30-6:30pm | Brown Alley Room
The war we now call the American Revolution wasn’t only fought in North America with
muskets and bayonets. On both sides of the Atlantic, artists--including women, enslaved
artists, and patriots of color--played a vital role in shaping revolutionary ideals. The Painter’s
Fire charts the intertwined lives of three such figures who dared to defy the British crown:
Robert Edge Pine, Prince Demah, and Patience Wright. This talk tells the stories of these
largely forgotten patriots, armed with paint, canvas, and wax, who risked their lives and
reputations to fight for liberty.
This lecture will be given by Dr. Zara Anishanslin, Associate Professor of History and Art History and the Director of Museum Studies and Public Engagement. Dr. Anishanslin specializes in Early American and Atlantic World History, with a focus on eighteenth-century material culture. She received her PhD from the University of Delaware’s History of American Civilization program in 2009 and won the Sypherd Prize for Best Dissertation in the Humanities. She earned a BA in Comparative Literature and a BA in History with Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead-Cain Scholar. She previously taught at CUNY and at Columbia and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at Johns Hopkins. Additional fellowships include grants from the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, The Huntington Library, the American Antiquarian Society, Center for the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center, The Library Company, Harvard Atlantic Seminar, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the New-York Historical Society, the Henry Luce Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies, and the Winterthur Museum. Her first book, Portrait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World (Yale University Press, 2016) was the Inaugural Winner of The Library Company of Philadelphia’s Biennial Book Prize in 2018 and a Finalist for the 2017 Best First Book Prize from the Berkshire Conference of Women’s Historians.
Join us for a nosh-and-learn with Richmond-based writer and translator Danny Kraft as part of the city-wide Richmond Yiddish Week. Together, we’ll explore the origins of the Yiddish language and discover how Yiddish culture became one of the 20th century’s most dynamic diasporic traditions. We’ll also delve into the richness of Yiddish art and culture, from its historical roots to its contemporary expressions, as we consider the enduring power and meaning of Yiddish in our multicultural world.
No knowledge of Yiddish is necessary, and attendees of all backgrounds are welcome!
Sponsored by the Department of History, Jewish Studies, and the Humanities Center.
James J. Broomall, professor of history and William Binford Vest Chair in History, is serving as an academic advisor of and reviewer for the exhibition and book, The Soldier's Gaze: Picturing the Civil War. The Virginia Museum of History and Culture will premiere the exhibition in 2027, and Rizzoli Press will publish the book/exhibition catalog.
James J. Broomall, professor of history and William Binford Vest Chair in History, was invited to serve on the American Civil War Museum’s Historian Advisory Council, a standing body that advises on initiatives and projects to ensure the museum remains a leading resource on the American Civil War and its legacies.
Michelle Kahn, associate professor of history, won the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prize for her book Foreign in Two Homelands: Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History.
David Brandenberger, professor of history and global studies, published Stalin’s Usable Past, which analyzes Stalin’s role in rewriting Soviet history to emphasize a thousand-year legacy before the 1917 Revolution and reshape Soviet identity.
History professor Michelle Lynn Kahn authored this piece.
History professor Michelle Lynn Kahn authored this piece.
History professor Graeme Mack authored this piece.
History professor Eric Yellin is quoted.
Mailing address:
History Department
Humanities Building
106 UR Drive
University of Richmond, VA 23173
Phone: (804) 287-6041
Fax: (804) 287-1992
Department Chair: Dr. Pippa Holloway
Academic Administrative Coordinator: Catherine Hash