The IU Department of History released its schedule of fall events including lectures, conferences and workshops.
The first event will be a daylong workshop, “From Proletariat to Precariat: Changing Labor Relations in the 20th and 21st Centuries,” Friday in the Walnut Room in the Indiana Memorial Union.
Eric Sandweiss, chair of the department, said the events attempt to appeal to a wide audience.
“We try to be as broad and open as possible to the variety of interests and areas of expertise that lie within our department,” he said.
Sandweiss said the ideas often come directly from either a particular faculty member or a group of faculty members and that the faculty members seek support from both internal and external funding sources.
He said that the department makes an effort to promote events that they expect students to find particularly interesting but also that he hopes all fall events will be engaging.
Sandweiss indicated that a number of the events this fall are tied to current events, such as an exploration of the origin of the Sunni-Shiite split in Islam and a global look at ?military labor.
“Students might be interested in the history of it, but they also might just be looking at the news these days,” he said.
Sandweiss said that as long as the faculty member proposing the event has the means to fund it, the University will not say no and that, as a result, the number of events fluctuates.
“We really do try to make it happen,” he said.
The only things that can stop an event from occurring are a temporary lack of funds or time, he said.
“We’ve got a particularly busy time right now, and we’re sort of excited about it,” he said.
Sandweiss said the goal of events, like the seven this fall, is to engage students’ curiosity about the world around them.
“That’s what we’re about in this department, and that’s what all of our programs are about,” Sandweiss said.
The Department of History will host seven events this fall on topics ranging from labor relations to the Sunni-Shiite conflict.
“Globalization of the ?United States, 1789-1861.”
Time: 5:30 p.m. Oct. 9
Location: Lilly Library
Associate professor of history Konstantin Dierks will deliver a lecture alongside an exhibition at Lilly that he will curate that explores the globalization of the United States in its early days.
“Buying into the Regime: Grapes and Consumption in Cold War Chile and the United States.”
Time: 5 p.m. Oct. 16
Location: Persimmon Room of the Indiana Memorial Union
Heidi Tinsman, professor of history at the University of California Irvine will discuss the relationship between U.S. fruit imports and the military regime of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
“Beyond the Sunni-Shiite Conflict: The Ottomans and the Safavids in the Early Modern Era.”
Time: Oct. 24-25
Location: Woodburn 200
The two-day conference is being organized by Kaya Shain, associate professor of history and published author. The event is open to the public.
“Soldiering On: Military Labor in Global Historical Perspective.”
Time: Oct. 27
Location: IMU Maple Room
The daylong conference will include presentations from faculty at IU and other institutions, including Dartmouth College and Columbia University.
“The Bombing of the Government Center in Oslo and the massacre at Utøya island in Norwegian Memory, 2011-2014.”
Time: Oct. 29
Location: IMU Dogwood Room 6:30 p.m.
This lecture will explore how people remember tragedies. The event will feature a talk by Tor Fagerland, associate professor of history at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
“Interdisciplinary Workshop on Greek History and Political Theory.”
Time: Nov. 14
Location: Time and location TBA
The conference, organized by Eric Robinson, will feature guests from various institutions such as Brown University and the University of Western Ontario.
Anna Hyzy
