Current News

The Department of History has launched a new monthly online news magazine, "Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective," published jointly by the department's Public History Initiative and its online historical resource site, eHistory. In light of many Americans' dissatisfaction with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the current issue features the essay "Conflict Termination: How to End—and Not to End—Insurgencies" by OSU history professor Joe Guilmartin, who flew helicopters in two tours during Vietnam, including during the evacuation of Saigon. View the current issue. Subscribe to the rss feed or podcast.

Michael Les Benedict, History, "Amar the Biographer: The Constitutional Scholar as Constitutional Historian," Syracuse Law Review 57.2 (2007): 327-40.

Alan Beyerchen, History, "Clausewitz and the Non-Linear Nature of War: Systems of Organized Complexity," in Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century, eds. Hew Strachan and Andreas Herberg-Rothe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).

Robert Davis, History, published a pocket book French translation of his 2003 book Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters (Babel, 2007).

Helen Fehervary, Germanic Languages and Literatures, "Diverting Travels with Egon and 'Papa' Haydn," in Schwarz auf Weiß: Ein transatlantisches Würdigungsbuch für Egon Schwarz (Vienna: Czernin Verlag, 2007): 116-121.

Carter Findley, History, "Wie ich von den Area Studies zur Weltgeschichte kam, oder: Das Globale is der natuerliche Zustand der Menschheit," trans. Birgit Schaebler and Tilman Luedke, in Area Studies und die Welt: Weltregionen und neue Globalgeschichte, ed. Birgit Schaebler (Vienna, Mandelbaum: Verlag, 2007): 45-58.

Harvey J. Graff, English and History, edited Literacy and Historical Development: A Reader (Southern Illinois University Press, 2007).

David Herman, English, review of Extremely Common Eloquence: Constructing Scottish Identity through Narrative by Ronald K.S. Macaulay, Language 83.4 (2007): 917-18; "Tradition and Innovation in Rhetorical Theory," review of Paul Ricoeur by Andreea Deciu Ritivoi, Sub-Stance 36.3 (2007): 139-144; and with Joshua Steskal, "Emotion Discourse as Design Heuristic: Creating Emotional Intelligence for Virtual Narrative Agents," Intelligent Narrative Technologies: Papers from the 2007 AAAI Fall Symposium. Technical Report FS-07-05, eds. Brian Magerko and Mark Riedl, (Menlo Park, CA: Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, 2007): 45-48.

Glenn Kranking, History, "Borderland Swedes: Minority Politics and Transnational Identification among Estonia's Swedish Population, part of the conference proceedings for Inter: A European Cultural Studies conference, Norrköping, Sweden, June 2007, " Linköping University Electronic Press.

Koritha Mitchell, English, review of Lynching in the West by Ken Gonzales-Day and A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American Life and Literature by Jacqueline Goldsby, American Literature 79.4 (December 2007): 838-40.

Neil Tennant, Philosophy, "Existence and Identity in Free Logic: A Problem for Inferentialism?" Mind 116.464 (November, 2007): 1055-1078.

David Staley, History, "A Heuristic for Visual Thinking in History" The International Journal of Social Education (Spring/Summer 2007).

Graduate Student Murat Metinsoy, History, has been awarded the book prize of the Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Center Osmanli Bankasi Arsivi ve Arastirma Merkezi for his book, Ikinci Dunya Savasi'nda Turkiye: Savas ve Gundelik Yasam (Turkey during the Second World War: The War and Daily Life).

Marlene Longenecker, English, was quoted in the Chicago Tribune, October 12, in an article about Doris Lessing's novel "The Golden Notebook," which Longenecker praised as being one of the first books to have an authentically female voice. Lessing recently won the Nobel Prize in literature.

Sabra Webber, Comparative Studies, was quoted in the Associated Press, October 31, in an article about the traditional Muslim marriage agreement called a mahr. The article concerned a woman's plans to challenge Ohio's first court ruling involving a mahr, in a case that could set a precedent about how such religious contracts are handled in the state.

Daniel Avorgbedor, School of Music and Dept of African American & African Studies, chaired a panel titled, "Interpreting Ewe Music and Dance: Contemporary Challenges" and presented a paper (under this panel) titled, "Situating the 'Uprooted': Dynamics and New Contexts of Learning Ewe Music and Dance–The Urban Evidence" at the 52nd annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Columbus, Ohio, October 24-28; and presented "Sacred Spaces in Secular Places: Popular Culture, Commodification and Dialectics of the Sacred and Secular in Contemporary African-American Christian Music and Dance" at the national symposium on "Black Religion & Spirituality in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities," Michigan State University, East Lansing, November 7-9.

Lisa Downing, Philosophy, presented "Rationalism, Empiricism, and Mechanism in Locke" at the inaugural meeting of the Otago/Sydney Early Modern Seminar, University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, October 2007.

Theodora Dragostinova, History, served as a discussant for a panel entitled "Axis Anxiety: New Approaches to War Experience among Germany's East European Allies" at the annual convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, New Orleans, November 15-18.

Alcira Dueñas, History, presented "From Subjects to 'Citizens' of an Imagined Nation: Colonial Andean Scholars as Agents of Social Change" at the 2007 Conference of the American Society for Ethnohistory, Tulsa, Oklahoma, November 8.

Kathy Fagan, English, moderated the panel discussion, "MFA Programs: Weighing the Pros and Cons," and gave a reading, along with David Baker, Lee Martin, and Natalie Shapero, in "Coffeehouse Readings by Ohio Authors, at The CLMP/The Kenyon Review Literary Festival, November 10, Gambier, Ohio.

Alan B. Farmer, English, "The Ephemerality of Playbooks Reconsidered" at the Midwestern Modern Language Association, Cleveland, Ohio, November 10.

Helen Fehervary, Germanic Languages and Literatures, presented "Land-, Sea- and Skyscapes of a Revolt: Erwin Piscator's and Thomas Langhoff's Film Adapatations of Anna Seghers's Aufstand der Fischer von St. Barbara" at the Feuchtwanger and Film Conference, Los Angeles, September 5-7; and an expanded German version, "Landschaften eines Aufstands -- und wie sie sich bewegen!" at the Annual Conference of the Anna Seghers Society, Meiningen/Germany, November 1-4.

Steven Fink, English, led a 5-session course on "Modern Marvels: Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel," sponsored by the American Library Association and Nextbook, October-November 2007, at the OSU Cartoon and Graphics Library; and lectured and led a discussion on Flannery O'Connor's short stories, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "Revelation" for the parish of St. Christopher's Adult Religious Education Program," Columbus, Ohio, November 18.

Ryan Judkins, English, presented "'Folili e wrou ten, to wilne after wedlok, þat wold nou t a-sente:' Consent in Marriage and Magic in William of Palerne" at the 49th Annual Midwest Modern Language Association Convention, Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, Cleveland, Ohio, November 8-11.

Ousman Kobo, History, presented "Contesting Heretical Innovations (bid'a): The Transformation of Wahabi Movements in Ghana and Burkina Faso, 1985-2000" at the African Studies Association Conference, New York City, October 18-22.

Margaret Newell, History, presented "Before the Bar: Indians and the Courts in Colonial New England" at the 13th Annual Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia, June 2007. She presented "Indian Slavery in Colonial New England," and served on a panel discussion on Native Americans in New England with Nipmuc historian Thomas Doughton at an NEH seminar on slavery sponsored by the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford, Connecticut, July 2007. She gave an invited talk, "`The Drove of Adam's Degenerate Seed': Indian Slavery in New England," at Miami University on November 12.

Martin Joseph Ponce, English, presented the "The Diasporic Poetics of Contemporary Queer Filipino Literature" for the Asian American Studies Research Workshop Series, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, November 16; and "Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake" (invited faculty speaker), Unity book club discussion, sponsored by the Honors and Scholars Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, November 27.

Stewart Shapiro, Philosophy, presented "Holistic foundationalism?", University of Toronto, October 12; and "We hold these truths to be self-evident", University at Buffalo Graduate Conference keynote; October 13; and "An 'i' for an i", Oxford Philosophy of Mathematics, November 16.

Carole Rogel, History, commented in a session entitled "From Countryman to Citizen: The Roots of Slovene Regionalism," and participated in two other Society for Slovene Studies (an AAASS affiliate) panels, chairing a session, "Serb and Slovene Yugoslavism in 1918," and organizing a young scholars panel on "New Approaches to Slovene Linguistics and Literature" at the AAASS conference in New Orleans, November 15-19.

Randy Roth, History, delivered a lecture "Research Strategies for Studying the History of Crime and Violence" at the Seminar on Crime and Criminal Justice, Northwestern University School of Law, November 15; and "The History of American Homicide," at Ohio State University at Newark, November 6. He presented two papers "Are Modern and Early Modern Homicide Rates Comparable? The Impact of Non-Emergency Medicine" and "Quantification and Social Theory in the Study of Crime and Violence," the latter for a Presidential Panel on the relationship between history and the social sciences, at the annual meeting of the Social Science History Association, Chicago, Illinois, November 15-18. He also served as chair and discussant on a book panel on Kevin Mullen, Dangerous Strangers: Minority Newcomers and Criminal Violence in the Urban West.

Jennifer Siegel, History, participated in a roundtable at the AAASS (American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies) annual meeting in New Orleans on 17 November, entitled "Academic Job Searches: Tales from the Trenches," and delivered an invited lecture "Information and Power: How Archival Access is Changing International History" at Aberystwyth University, Wales for the Seminar Ymchwil Astudiaethau Hanes Rhyngwladol a Chudd-wybodaeth/International History and Intelligence Studies Research Seminar on November 26.

David Stebenne, History, presented "Still the Party of Lincoln? Today's Republican Party in Historical Perspective," Dublin Friendship Village, November 29, as part of a series sponsored by Columbus State University's Lifelong Learning Institute.

The Worthington Arts Council will present "WINTER DREAMS," an exhibit of 12 paintings by Professor Emeritus Ernest Lockridge, November 13 through January 14, Worthington Community Center, 345 E. Wilson Bridge Road, Worthington. Contact: lockridge.1@osu.edu.

College of Humanities Undergraduate Study Abroad Scholarships applications are now available online. The deadline for student applications is January 15, 2008. All eligible Humanities majors have been invited to apply and have been directed to a College of Humanities Web site for access to study abroad scholarships information and direct access to applications.