Two Lectures by Eminent Historian Dr. Linda Gordon (New York University) on Thursday October 24

Dr. Linda Gordon of New York University, one of the nation's foremost experts on women's history and social policy, is coming to UAH this week as a Humanities Center Short-Term Eminent Scholar.

She will give two public lectures.

KEYNOTE LECTURE
THURSDAY OCT. 24
"Birth Control and Abortion: Why Still so Controversial? An Historical View"
Wilson Hall Theater (room 001)
7:30p.m.

HONORS COLLEGE LECTURE
THURSDAY OCT. 24
"Visual Democracy: How Dorothea Lange Used Photography to Promote Equality"
Shelby Center 107
11:10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.


Dr. Gordon’s keynote lecture is drawn from her 1976 book, Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: The History of Birth Control in America (revised and republished as The Moral Property of Women in 2002), which remains the definitive history of birth control politics in the United States. Her Honors lecture is based on her most recent book, Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits (2009), which won the Bancroft Prize for best book in US history and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography.

Dr. Gordon has also published three other major academic monographs, Heroes of their Own Lives: The History and Politics of Family Violence (1988), Pitied But not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare (1994), and The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction (1999), each of which won a major book award.

Please come and bring a friend!

AIA Talk: Ancient Languages 23 September 7:30 PM

Dr. Kevin McGeough has graduate degrees from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania and teaches at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. He has done fieldwork in Israel, Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt and is a specialist in ancient economies and languages.

In his evening talk, Dr. McGeough will introduce the languages of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, describe the history of the alphabet, explore how ancient scripts were deciphered, demonstrate some of the peculiar features of ancient writing, and examine some of the different approaches world cultures have taken to expressing their ideas in written words. 

The next day he will discuss how the conventions used by ancient Near Eastern artists remained stable across shifting political and social situations. Dr. McGeough will explain how to “read” the basics of ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian visual culture.

Puzzling Out Ancient Languages or How an Evil Bird becomes a Word and A Horizontal Wedge becomes a Fish

WHERE:  Wilson Hall Theatre, UAH campus

WHEN:  7:30 PM Monday 23 September

"Reading" Ancient Near Eastern Art

WHERE:  Wilson Hall 168, UAH Campus

WHEN:  12:45 PM 24 September

Campus Cemetery Stroll Sponsored by UAHuntsville's Center for Public History, Friday November 16, 5:30pm

On Friday, November 16th at 5:30 p.m. UAH’s Center for Public History will host a campus cemetery stroll with noted local historian Jacque Reeves.

Come join us and learn more about UAH’s very own historical burial ground that includes a Revolutionary War soldier who fought with George Washington at Valley Forge.

UAH Public History students will also highlight their work in the community and on campus as well as showcase UAH's newest program of study.

Visitors can park in front of the University Center and should be at Union Grove Gallery by 5:30 p.m.

Free food and drinks will be provided by the Public History Club!

Please come and bring a friend!

AIA Talk: First Floridians 15 November 2012

Thursday, November 15

Dr. James Adovasio, Mercyhurst College

“The Invisible Sex: Some Thoughts on the Role of Women in Prehistory”

12:45 PM, Wilson Hall 168

Since the discoveries of stone artifacts associated with the remains of extinct fauna in mid 19^th century France, a variety of often negative stereotypes have persisted about the roles of women in the past. A fundamental failure to recognize and evaluate evidence contradictory to these stereotypes in addition to the stressing of stone tools and the hunting of megafauna by mature males has created a faulty interpretation of life in this period. If mentioned at all, women as well as the old and the young of both sexes are characterized solely as minor players. Careful assessment of the available information from both the Old and the New World indicates that the andro-litho-centric view of the past with its “men in furs sticking sharp spears into large animals” image is fatally flawed. In this talk, evidence for a very different behavioral scenario is presented.

“The First Floridians: Early Humans on the Submerged Gulf Coast of Florida”

7:30 PM, Chan Auditorium

In his second talk Dr. Adovasio will discuss the geo-archaeological exploration of the inner-continental shelf in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico where a tremendous amount of side-scan sonar and sub bottom profile data, including nearly 2000 targets of interest, has been generated. Highlights of the 2008-2009 field seasons include the documentation of two lengthy paleo river systems. These sites are replete with Paleo-Indian sites and it is assumed that the paleo-channel is, likewise, flanked by early occupations. The results of this research will substantially enhance our understanding of the utilization of coastal environments in the late Pleistocene and, more broadly, the early colonization of the New World

October 23 Public Lecture on Manhood at the New England Witch Trials, by Dr. Richard Godbeer, University of Miami

The history department at UAHuntsville is pleased to announce the fall History Forum.

On October 23, 2012, Dr. Richard Godbeer from the University of Miami will share his latest research on New England witch trials and manhood in the 17th century.

Dr. Godbeer's public lecture is entitled “‘Your wife will be your biggest accuser’: Reinforcing Codes of Manhood at New England Witch Trials.”

The lecture will be at 7:00 p.m. in 419 Roberts Hall on the University Alabama in Huntsville campus.

Dr. Godbeer has made outstanding contributions in religious and gender studies. His 1994 work Devil’s Dominion: Magic and Religion in Early New England was published in 1994 by Cambridge University Press and won the Annual Book Prize of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association. In his 2005 Oxford University monograph entitled Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692, he broke down New England stereotypes while detailing the Stamford, Connecticut, witchcraft hysteria.

In 2004, Dr. Godbeer again overturned conventional wisdom, this time about the sexual values and customs of colonial Americans in his The Sexual Revolution in Early America, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. This work was a Selection of the History Book Club.

More recently, Dr. Godbeer compelled readers to re-think early American gender roles and sexuality, showing how sentimental, even physically expressive, relationships between eighteenth century men provided a basis for nation building in The Overflowing of Friendship: Love Between Men and the Creation of the American Republic also published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009.

At the moment, Dr. Godbeer is working on a biography of Henry and Elizabeth Drinker, a prominent eighteenth-century Philadelphia Quaker couple.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Phi Alpha Theta Fall Faculty Lecture Series

The Tau Omega chapter of the international history honorary Phi Alpha Theta announces the Fall Faculty Lecture Series.

Kicking off the series is Professor Evan Ragland, with a lecture on "Making Trials in Early Modern Medicine" on October 10, 2012, at 7pm.

Next in the line up is Dr. Kira Robison, discussing "The Creature Within: Defining the Fiend in Medieval Anatomy," on October 17, 2012, at 7pm.

The following week, Dr. Anna Alexander will explore "It Rained Fireballs: The Petroleum Disaster in Mexico City," on October 24, 2012, at 7pm.

Concluding the series is Dr. Christine Sears, discussing "All Humble Mariners: Sailors and Democratic Discourse in the Early Republic," on October 31, 2012, at 7pm.

All lectures are held in Roberts Hall room 419 and are free and open to the public.

Please come and bring a friend!

National Archaeology Day Events 20 October 2012

National Archaeology Day

Saturday, October 20

Artifact Identification and Amnesty Event: 1:00-5:00 PM

Wilson Hall Theatre Foyer

                       

“Archaeology in Huntsville's Backyard: Prehistoric Cultures of the Middle Tennessee Valley” 7:00 PM

Ben Hoksbergen, Cultural Resource Manager/Installation Archaeologist, Redstone Arsenal

Wilson Hall Theatre

Have you found an object you think might be an artifact? Do you know you have an artifact but want to know more about it? Have you picked up artifacts on public land and want to ease your conscience? Professional archaeologists will be on hand at the National Archaeology Day event to identify artifacts you bring in and tell you more about them. They can also help you record archaeological sites you've found. Archaeologists from the Army and TVA will also be accepting artifacts from the public that were collected on federal land. It's illegal to collect artifacts on federal land or from federal waterways, but for this day only, anyone who turns in artifacts from federal land will be safe from prosecution and will be secure in knowing that the artifacts they collected will be available for professional study and public exhibit. Archaeologists from TVA will also be hosting children's activities, and there will be plenty of educational displays and literature to browse. Co-sponsored by the AIA, Redstone Arsenal, TVA, the Alabama National Guard, the Alabama Archaeological Society, and Tennessee Valley Archaeological Research.

For our evening talk, Ben Hoksbergen will discuss the Middle Tennessee River Valley of north Alabama, which has some of the richest archaeological resources in North America. Evidence of dense prehistoric occupation in the area goes back at least 13,300 years. Archaeologists have been systematically investigating sites in the valley over the last century and have uncovered a wealth of information about the people who populated the landscape before the arrival of Columbus. Hoksbergen will explore this rich cultural history, summarize what we've learned so far, and outline the mysteries that have yet to be solved.