April 24, 2009
I have the sad duty to report that Richard Hellie, the Thomas E. Donnelly Professor of History, died today after a courageous battle with esophageal cancer. Richard was born in Waterloo, Iowa in May 1937, and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1958. After taking both his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at Chicago, he taught for a year at Rutgers and then returned home and taught here continuously from 1966 through the winter quarter of 2009, when he held his classes in spite of his severe illness. Over these decades Richard held many fellowships, including a Guggenheim, and won the Quantrell Award for his undergraduate teaching. His monumental Slavery in Russia, 1450-1725 won the 1984 Gordon J. Laing prize of the University of Chicago Press, for the best book it published in the previous two years. He produced many, many scholars in the field of pre-modern Russian History, and they rewarded him recently with a two-volume festschrift. There is much more to be said, but we offer our sincere condolences to his wife Shujie Hellie at shellie@tpna.com and to his two sons, Benjamin and Michael.
—Bruce Cumings, Chair
History in the News
John Hope Franklin, distinguished African American historian, 1915-2009
John Hope Franklin, the John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in History at the University of Chicago, died yesterday at the age of 94. Professor Franklin joined the University of Chicago history faculty in 1964 and served as chairman of the department from 1967 to 1970. While at Chicago he accompanied the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on his 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. After retiring from Chicago in 1985 he taught African-American history and legal history at Duke Law School, and continued raising the hundreds of orchids that were his cherished hobby.
Yesterday Thomas Holt, James Westfall Thompson Distinguished Service Professor of American History said of Dr. Franklin, "The world--quite literally the world--knew John Hope Franklin as the preeminent historian of the African American experience in the 20th century. Generations of younger scholars knew him as an extraordinarily generous mentor who opened doors and offered support that nourished and sustained us all. His love of the profession has bequeathed it a living legacy."
"He was also a warm, generous, and compassionate friend, especially to students and colleagues. It was hard not to feel uplifted by his mere presence. He brought together passionate commitment to his discipline, fearlessness in promoting the highest standards, tolerance for differing opinions, and engagement with civic and professional responsibility."
Neil Harris, Preston & Sterling Morton Professor Emeritus of American History and of Art History said, "He remained active and involved in a world whose injustices and indignities he protested and worked against, even while producing text after text of illuminating commentary. Those of us lucky enough to have shared his University of Chicago years recall his boundless energy, his fairness and probity, and his good humor as he was simultaneously leading a department, traveling the world, running agencies, serving on commissions, giving countless lectures, and offering counsel."
"A photo from the New York Times obituary on John Hope shows him marching from Selma to Montgomery alongside our long-time colleague Arthur Mann (to John's left in hat and raincoat), and to his right is John's lifelong partner, colleague and wife, Aurelia. Professor Harris believes historian John Higham is also visible just behind John Hope (with his head turned, wearing glasses). In other words the idea that historians might not be relevant to contemporary problems would never have occurred to John Hope."
His best-known of some twenty books, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans was first published in 1947 and has sold more than three million copies.
John Hope was a particularly special friend and colleague in our department, while he was here and long after he left, and of course his commanding portrait graces our seminar room. Professor Holt refers to John Hope's extraordinary personal force and dignity--something felt by everyone who ever met him. So we are fortunate always to be "uplifted by his mere presence." With his friends and colleagues we will endeavor to organize a fitting memorial service early in the spring quarter.
Alitto witnesses China’s rise first-hand.
As translator, scholar, and trusted expert, Associate Professor in History develops unique perspective.
David Nirenberg has been named the first Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Professor in Social Thought and the College.
Searches
The Department of History does not have any faculty searches at this time. Faculty positions will be advertised on this website and at http://jobopportunities.uchicago.edu.
Congratulations to our Summer 2009 graduates! They received their degrees at Summer Convocation on Friday, August 28, 2009.
Our Ph.D. Graduates are:
Thomas Adams, in the field of United State 1900-Present history, with the dissertation entitled "The Servicing of America: Political Economy and Service Work in Postwar Southern California," written for the committee of George Chauncey (chair), Mae Ngai, Amy Dru Stanley, James Sparrow;
John Deak, in the field of Modern Europe history, with the dissertation entitled "The Austrian Civil Service in an Age of Crisis: Power and the Politics of Reform, 1848-1925," written for the committee of John Boyer (chair), Michael Geyer, Jan Goldstein;
Gerard Godart, in the field of East Asian-Japanese history, with the dissertation entitled "Darwin in Japan: Evolutionary Theory and Japan's Modernity (1820-1970)," written for the committee of James Ketelaar (chair), Susan Burns, Robert Richards;
Timothy Stewart-Winter, in the field of United States 1900-Present history, with the dissertation entitled "Raids, Rights, and Rainbow Coalitions: Sexuality and Race in Chicago Politics, 1950-2000," written for the committee of George Chauncey (chair), Amy Dru Stanley, William Sewell, James Sparrow;
James Vaughn, in the field of British history, with the dissertation entitled "The Politics of Empire: Metropolitan Socio-Political Development and the Imperial Transformation of the British East India Company, 1675-1775," written for the committee of Steven Pincus (chair), Ralph Austen, Adrian Johns, Robert Brenner, P.J. Marshall;
Mikael Wolfe, in the field of Latin American history, with the dissertation entitled "The Revolutionary Emblem of a Nation: Narrative, Ecology, Technology and Politics in the making of 'La Laguna,' México, 1850-1992," written for the committee of Emilio Kourí (chair), Claudio Lomnitz, Dain Borges, Christopher Boyer;
Julia Young, in the field of Latin American history, with the dissertation entitled "Mexican Emigration During the Cristero War, 1926-1929," written for the committee of Emilio Kourí (chair), Mae Ngai, Dain Borges;
Benjamin Zajicek, in the field of Russian history, with the dissertation entitled "Scientific Psychiatry in Stalin's Soviet Union: The Politics of Modern Medicine and the Struggle to Define 'Pavlovian Psychiatry', 1939-1953," written for the committee of Sheila Fitzpatrick (chair), Richard Hellie, Ronald Suny, Jan Goldstein.
Our M.A. Graduates are:
Jose Deloera, in the field of Latin American history, with the M.A. thesis entitled "The McKellars: A Case Study of Foreign Immigration in Coahuila, Mexico," written for Emilio Kourí and Dain Borges;
Nathan Leidholm, in the field of Byzantine history, with the M.A. thesis entitled "Semper (aut Numquam) Sociati: Reimagining the Connection between Firmus, Gildo, and the Donatist Church," written for Walter Kaegi and Michael Allen;
Tessa Murphy, in the field of Carribean/Atlantic World history, with the M.A. thesis entitled "Intellectuals, Dominicanidad, and Evolving Articulations of Racial Identity in the Dominican Republic," written for Emilio Kourí and Julie Saville.
Congratulations to our Spring 2009 graduates! They received their degrees at Spring Convocation on Friday, June 12, 2009.
Our Ph.D. Graduates are:
Thomas Bahde, in the field of United States Pre 1900 history, with the dissertation entitled "Race and Justice in the Heartland: Three Nineteenth-Century Lives," written for the committee of Kathleen N. Conzen (co-chair), Julie Saville, James Grossman;
Pablo Ben, in the field of Latin American history, with the dissertation entitled "Male Sexuality, The Popular Classes and the State: Buenos Aires 1880-1955," written for the committee of Dain Borges (co-chair), George Chauncey (co-chair), José Moya, Ramón Gutiérrez;
Michael Brillman, in the field of British history, with the dissertation entitled "Bengal Tiger, Celtic Tiger: The Life of Sir Antony Patrick MacDonnell, 1944-1925," written for the committee of Emmet Larkin (chair), Ralph Austen, Susanne Rudolph, Lloyd Rudolph;
Tolga Esmer, in the field of MidEast/Islamic history, with the dissertation entitled "A Culture of Rebellion: Networks of Violence and Competing Discourses of Justice in the Ottoman Empire, 1790-1808," written for the committee of Holly Shissler (chair), Cornell Fleischer, Victor Friedman;
Sharmista Gooptu, in the field of South Asian history, with the dissertation entitled "An Alternative Imaginary: The History of Bengali Cinema, c. 1921-1961," written for the committee of Dipesh Chakrabarty (co-chair), Thomas Gunning (co-chair), William Mazzarella;
James Guilfoyle, in the field of British history, with the dissertation entitled "The Political Economy of England and Ireland in the Age of Mercantilism, 1660-1760," written for the committee of Emmet Larkin (chair), John Brewer, William Sewell;
Matthew Millikan, in the field of United States 1900-Present history, with the dissertation entitled "Personality: the Science of Selfhood in Twentieth-Century America," written for the committee of Amy Dru Stanley (chair), George Chauncey, Jan Goldstein, Andrew Abbott;
Stephen Porter, in the field of United States 1900-Present history, with the dissertation entitled "Defining Public Responsibility in a Global Age: Refugees, NGOs, and the American State," written for the committee of William Novak (chair), Mae Ngai, Michael Geyer, James Sparrow;
Avinash Sharma, in the field of Modern Europe history, with the dissertation entitled "Bodies of Concern: Alternative Medicine and the Secret History of German Modernity, 1799-1921," written for the committee of Michael Geyer, Jan Goldstein, Leora Auslander;
Andrw Sloin, in the field of Modern Jewish history, with the dissertation entitled "Pale Fire: Jews in Revolutionary Belorussia, 1917-1929," written for the committee of Leora Auslander (co-chair), Sheila Fitzpatrick (co-chair), Moishe Postone.
Our M.A. Graduates are:
Sarah Panzer, in the field of Modern Europe history, with the M.A. thesis entitled "Imagining an Imperial Modernity: The Iwajura Embassy in Berlin, 1873," written for James Ketelaar and Prasenjit Duara.
Congratulations to our Winter 2009 graduates! They received their degrees at Winter Convocation on Friday, March 20 at 3:00pm in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel.
Our Ph.D. Graduates are:
Patricia Akhtar, in the field of Middle East/Islamic history, with the dissertation entitled "Subaltern Resistance in Jabal Nablus, 1840-60," written for the committee of Rashid Khalidi (co-chair), John Woods (co-chair), Michael Geyer;
Bo-Mi Choi , in the field of Intellectual Modern Europe history, with the dissertation entitled "Melancholy Cosmopolitanism: Love, Labor, and Loss in Theodor W. Adorno and Thomas Mann," written for the committee of Michael Geyer (co-chair), Moishe Postone (co-chair), Jan Goldstein, Peter Gordon;
Allyson Hobbs , in the field of United States 1900-Present history, with the dissertation entitled "When Black Becomes White: The Problem of Racial Passing in American Life," written for the committee of Thomas Holt (chair), George Chauncey, Jacqueline Stewart;
Robert Hogg , in the field of Modern Europe history, with the dissertation entitled "Political Catholicism in Silesia from the 1860s to the 1890s," written for the committee of John Boyer(chair), Michael Geyer, John Craig;
Daniel Larison, in the field of Byzantine history, with the dissertation entitled "Return to Authority: The Monothelete Controversy and the Roles of Text, Emperor and Council in the Sixth Ecumenical Council," written for the committee of Walter Kaegi(chair), Rachel Fulton, Michael Allen
Oscar Sánchez Sibony , in the field of Russian history, with the dissertation entitled "Red Globalization. The Political Economy of Soviet Foreign Relations in the 1950s and 1960s," written for the committee of Sheila Fitzpatrick(chair), Bruce Cumings, Richard Hellie, Ronald Suny.
Our M.A. Graduates are:
Sabine Cadeau , in the field of Carribean/Atlantic World history, with the M.A. thesis entitled "Black Internationalism and the Hybrid Writings of Haitian and African-American Intellectuals, 1920-1940," written for Thomas Holt and Julie Saville;
Seongun Kim, in the field of East Asian-Japanese history, with the M.A. thesis entitled "Mother and Child Health Care and Family in Wartime Rural Japan," written for James Ketelaar and Susan Burns;
Jaclyn Sumner , in the field of Latin American history, with the M.A. thesis entitled ""Estoy en huelga y no pago la renta!": A New Perspective on the Rise and Fall of the Veracruz Revolutionary Syndicate of Tenants, 1921-1925," written for Dain Borges and Emilio Kourí.
Congratulations to Daniel Greene (Ph.D. '04), who has been named the Director of The Dr. William M. Scholl Center for American History and Culture at the Newberry Library. Danny previously worked at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, and has also taught at the University of Miami.
The History Department of the University of Chicago invites applications for a position in modern Chinese History. We expect to appoint at the tenure track assistant or tenured associate professor level. Area of specialization within the modern China field is open although applications which also have demonstrated trans-regional accomplishments are especially welcomed. Please send a letter of application with c.v. and three supporting letters by October 15, 2008, to Prof. James Ketelaar, Chair, Chinese History Search, Dept. of History, University of Chicago, 1126 E. 59th Street, Box 98, Chicago, IL 60637. The University of Chicago is an AAEOE.
Congratulations to Laurie B. Green, who has won the 2008 Philip Taft Labor History Prize, for her book Battling the Plantation Mentality: Memphis and the Black Freedom Struggle! Ms. Green received her PhD from our department in 1999 and is now an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin.
The History Department is pleased to congratulate our graduate and undergraduate students who have won major fellowships and prizes. You can find a complete list of these students on our Honor Roll page.
Congratulations to Stephen Halsey who has just won this year's Richard Saller Dissertation Prize! Mr. Halsey wrote his dissertation entitled "European Imperialism and the Evolution of Chinese Statecraft, 1850-1927" for the committee of Guy Alitto (chair), Ralph Austen, and Akira Iriye, and graduated in December 2007.
The Richard Saller Dissertation Prize is given to the graduate student in the division whose dissertation is the most distinguished piece of scholarship in a given year.
The History Department congratulates several of our alumni who have recently published new books:
- Gabriela Arredondo, PhD 1999, currently Associate Professor of History at the Univesity of California, Santa Cruz, has published Mexican Chicago: Race, identity and Nation, 1916-39 at the University of Illinois Press.
- Antoinette Burton, PhD 1990, currently Professor and Department Chair of the History Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has published The Postcolonial Careers of Santha Rama Rau at Duke University Press.
- Chad Heap, PhD 2000, currently Associate Professor of American Studies at George Washington University, will publish Slumming: Sexual and Racial Encounters in American Nightlife, 1885-1940 at the University of Chicago Press.
The History Department is pleased to welcome Cameron Hawkins, who has just accepted our offer to become an assistant professor of Roman history beginning July 1, 2008.
The History Department is pleased to announce that the 2008 Cochrane Lecture will be given by Peter Burke, Emeritus Professor of Cultural History, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. Professor Burke will speak on "The Renaissance in Global Context" at 4pm on Wednesday, May 21, in the John Hope Franklin Room (SS 224). A reception will follow the lecture.
Professor Burke has published 23 books, including 'The Italian Renaissance' (1972), 'Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe' (1978), 'The Fabrication of Louis XIV' (1992), 'The Art of Conversation' (1993), 'A Social History of Knowledge' (2000), 'Eyewitnessing' (2000), 'What is Cultural History?' (2004) and 'Languages and Communities in Early Modern Europe' (2004) and has been translated into 28 languages.
The awards will be presented Thursday, May 15 at the Chicago History Museum. Other recipients are W. James Farrell, Sue Gin, Franz Jackson and the Abbott company.
The History Department congratulates Assistant Professor Tara Zahra on the publication of her new book, Kidnapped Souls: National Indifference and the Battle for Children in the Bohemian Lands, 1900-1948.
“Tara Zahra has written a pioneering work that brings together the most complex issues of nations and nationalism with the history of the family and the history of childhood. Focusing on Bohemia from the late Habsburg monarchy through World War II, this brilliantly conceived book illuminates our historical understanding of nationhood and childhood, their relation to one another, and the crucial importance of that relation for modern European history.”
—Larry Wolff, New York University
The History Department congratulates Graduate Student Marda Dunsky on the publication of her new book, Pens and Swords: How the American Mainstream Media Report the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
“Pens and Swords doesn't just decry systematic distortion but explains why it happens again and again. Dunsky makes use of theory to illuminate rather than obscure, bringing academic rigor to a topic so politicized that many avoid it out of fear. Thanks to Dunsky for this brave and timely book.”
—Robert Jensen, University of Texas at Austin
The History Department congratulates Professor Bernard Wasserstein on the publication of his new book, Barbarism and Civilization: A History of Europe in Our Time.
“Bernard Wasserstein has written a beautifully balanced, exhaustive (yet never exhausting) history of Europe's bloodiest century. With admirable craftmanship, he as woven together the many 'Europes' of the past hundred years - Western and Eastern, urban and rural, spiritual and secular - into a single, seamless but exquisitely embroidered tapestry. His sanity and humanity illuminate every page.”
—Niall Ferguson
The History Department congratulates our faculty who have received named professorships and distinguished service professorships.
Constantin Fasolt has been named the Karl J. Weintraub Professor in History and the College.
Ramón Gutiérrez has been named the Preston & Sterling Morton Distinguished Service Professor in History and the College.
Christine Stansell has been named the Stein-Freiler Distinguished Service Professor in History and the College.
Photo by Dan Dry
The History Department is pleased to announce that effective July 1, 2007, Professor Bruce Cumings will begin a 3-year term as Department Chair.