Steve Miner kicks off History Graduate Conference with keynote on Russia-Ukraine conflict April 14-15

The Ohio University History Graduate Conference kicks off with a keynote speech by Professor Emeritus Steve Miner on April 14 followed by a full day of panelists and speakers from around the nation on April 15.

The History Graduate Student Association at Ohio University organizes the annual graduate student research conference each spring, attracting participants from history graduate programs around the country. The conference is free and open to the public.

Miner, professor emeritus of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a internationally known scholar on Russian history. The keynote, “Vladimir Putin and History,” is April 14, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in Bentley 233.

The conference is sponsored by the History Department. Professor and Chair Brian Schoen said that he is very pleased that the conference is able to return fully in person this year.

“The conference showcases our talented graduate students and attracts students from other programs around the country. It allows them important opportunities to network with students from other campuses and to get constructive feedback on their research projects. It is a source of pride for our internationally known M.A. and Ph.D. programs,” Schoen said.

This year attendees will get a very special treat, the opportunity to hear Miner deliver a timely talk that evidences the importance of learning about different cultures and societies, Schoen added.

“Steve Miner is a leading scholar of Russian history and someone who has dazzled undergraduate students with his clear and thoughtful lectures over his three decades at Ohio University,” Schoen said. “Few people are better positioned to situate Russia’s current dictator into a broader historical context. Those able to attend will not be disappointed.”

Conference panel schedule for Saturday, April 15

Check-in arrival and breakfast is 8 to 9 a.m. in Bentley 233.

Session 1: The Interpretation of Mediums: Reading Between the Lines of Visual Media

9 to 10:30 a.m. in Bentley 009

• Commentator: Katherine Jellison, Ohio University, professor of history
• Chair: Sukyoung Hong, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate
• Caleb Fouts, Syracuse University, Ph.D. candidate: “June 10, 1940: Consensus or Crisis?"
• Paul D. Peters, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate: “The ‘Fragile Gaze’ in 2010s Hollywood War Films”
• Ethan Tackett, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate: “Visions of the Things to Be: M*A*S*H’s Cultural Impact”

Session 2: A European Evolution: Understanding Europe’s Modern Controversaries

9 to 10:30 a.m. in Bentley 025

• Commentator: Miriam Shadis, Ohio University, associate professor of history
• Chair: Shawn Liming, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate
• Miranda Beaujon, Kent State University, M.A. candidate: “Pretty Witty Nell: Performances of Gender and Sexuality on the English Restoration Stage, 1660-1710”
• Harrison Fender, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate “Beyond the Line of Battle: British Naval Operations In Europe’s Coastal Waters, 1914-1918”
• Sophie Ospital, University of Cincinnati, M.A. candidate: “Free Germany: Anti-Fascist German Exiles and Mexican Nationalism, 1941-1946”

Coffee Break: 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. in Bentley 233

Session 3: Globalization Through International Policy: 20th Century Cases in Europe, South America, and Asia

11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Bentley 009

• Commentator: David Curp, Ohio University, associate professor of history
• Chair: Robert Green, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate.
• Peter Roy, Ohio University, M.A. candidate: “The Chanak Crisis: Canada, Britain, and the Future of Imperial Defense”
• Felipe Coimbra Moretti, University of Michigan, Ph.D. candidate: “War to Cysts of All Kind, War to the Caldeirão (1926-1936): Reading a Brazilian Police Report Against the Grain”
• Zach Tayler, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate: “Humanitarian Legacy: Patricia M. Derian’s Involvement in the Indochinese Refugee Crisis”

Session 4: Reinventing Africa’s Agricultural Landscape

11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Bentley 025

• Commentator: Assan Sarr, Ohio University, associate professor of history
• Chair: George Ofori Atta, Ohio University, Ph.D candidate
• Omar Sarr, Ohio University, M.A. candidate: “Investments in Rural Farming Communities: Rice schemes and Ox-Plows in Agricultural Production in The Gambia, c. 1960s-1970s”
• Sana Saidykhan, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate: “‘2 shillings per tail inducement’”: Agriculture, Conservation, and late British colonial Rule in the Gambia, West Africa”
• Passmore Chishaka, Kent State University, Ph.D. candidate: “Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Modern Weather: Farming, Culture, and Landscape along the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe”

Lunch Break: 12:30-1:20 p.m. in Bentley 233

Session 5: Midwest Movements: The Significance of Economic, Religious, and Societal American Policies

1:30 to 3 p.m. in Bentley 009

• Commentator: Paul Milazzo, Ohio University, associate professor of history
• Chair: Felix Strossmeister, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate
• Thurston Dyer, Kent State University, M.A. candidate: “The Unmaking of the American Working Class: The Tragic Tale of Fostoria Told From Below, 1970-2000”
• Monica Forsthoefel, Ohio University, M.A. candidate: “The American Catholic Bishops and the Abolitionist Movement”
• Arshiya Jeelani, University of Kentucky, M.A. candidate: “Policing and Prohibiting: A Study of Kentucky and the Historical Ineffectiveness of Drugs and Alcohol Policy”

Session 6: Grasping Southeast Asia’s Past Through Political Instruments

1:30 to 3 p.m. in Bentley 025

• Commentator: Chester Pach, Ohio University, professor of history
• Chair: Andrew Howard, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate
• Cody J. Billock, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate: “War Communication & Mass Mobilization in South Vietnam”
• Soumyadeep Bidyanta, University of Cincinnati, Ph.D. candidate: “A Tale of Two Countries: Why Israel got the Bomb, but Taiwan couldn’t”
• Namrata Jain, Tufts University, Ph.D. candidate: “Khadi-A Weft and Warp of Political Fashionability and an Urban Intellectualism?”

Coffee/Snack Break: 3 to 3:25 p.m. in Bentley 233

Session 7: History Graduate Student Association Officers Panel: Taking Lessons and Understandings from 20th Century Military History into the 21st Century

3:30 to 5 p.m. in Bentley 233

• Commentator: Steven Miner, Ohio University, professor emeritus of history
• Chair: Cody J. Billock, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate.
• Christian D. McCall, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate, (HGSA Treasurer): “The Hierarchy of Violence: Japan’s Treatment of War Prisoners in China and the Philippines Based on Racial Ideology”
• Meg Corner, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate., (HGSA President): “Fighting for a Free World: The US Special Forces in Vietnam’s Central Highlands”
• Shawn Liming, Ohio University, Ph.D. candidate, (HGSA, Vice President): “Ukrainian and Georgian Resistance to Russia: Historical Lessons Learned from Russian Expansionism.”