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Latex and Blood: Science, Markets, and American Empire

The Lawrence Badash Distinguished Lecture Sponsored by the Lawrence Badash Speakers' Fund and hosted by the UCSB Center for Science in Society During the 20th century, the United States developed a unique kind of empire, one bound together less by military conquest and direct political administration than by the expansion of markets, corporate influence, and […]

“The Ugly American” (1963)

The Center for Cold War Studies and International History (CCWS) will be showing the 1963 film "The Ugly American," based on William Lederer's and Eugene Burdick's bestselling novel of the same name, which was first published in 1958. Prof. Salim Yaqub will offer commentary and lead a Q & A session after the movie. Harrison […]

Hauntings: Ghosts from a Nazi Childhood

The Department of Germanic, Slavic and Semitic Studies cordially invites you to the eighth Dr. George J. Wittenstein Lecture. Professor Mahlendorf will discuss some unexpected reader responses to her recently published memoir, "The Shame of Survival: Working through a Nazi Childhood", and the ghosts they raised up for some readers and for herself. Ursula Mahlendorf […]

“Traces of Trade: A Story from the Deep South”

In this feature documentary filmmaker Katrina Browne discovers that her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She and nine cousins retrace the Triangle Trade and gain a powerful new perspective on the black/white divide. Discussion with Professor Wade Roof and Dr. Gloria Willingham following the screening. Katrina Browne, 86 min., […]

Cultural Diffusion Across Eurasia, 500 BC-AD 200

The transmission of a vast number of art motifs, technologies, and cultural traits from West to East in prehistoricperiod was due to the speed of communications and trading networks across the Eurasian Steppes beginning in the second millennium B.C.. The formation of larger territorial states, nomadic confederations and empires (such as the Xiongnu) beginning in […]

Caring for America: Home Health Workers in the Shadow of the Welfare State

The Colloquium on Work, Labor, and Political Economy hosts JENNIFER KLEIN (Yale, History) and EILEEN BORIS (UCSB, Feminist Studies) this Friday, February 26 at 1 p.m. in 4041 Humanities and Social Science Building. They will discuss their paper, "Caring for America: Home Health Workers in the Shadow of the Welfare State." A copy can be […]

Blaming the past: Apologizing for ancestral misdeeds

Dr. David Lowenthal, Professor Emeritus, University College, London, is the author of many works, including the well-known The Past is a Foreign Country. Dr. Lowenthal also be available to meet with graduate students and faculty, hosted by our public history program, from 4-5 in HSSB 3008. As recommended reading before the talk Prof. Lowenthal suggests […]

Was it the Boston Tea Party? Why Americans Drink Coffee

In this talk, Professor Topik considers the political economy and culture of coffee consumption in the Americas. He argues that it wasn't the Boston Tea Party that turned coffee into the Liberty Drink. Rather, economic and political factors in North and South America shaped this consumer culture. Steven Topik is Professor of History at UC […]

Statewide Day of Action about Education Funding Crisis

March 4 has been declared "Day of Action" to protest the ongoing de-funding of public education and the rest of the public sector. Local actions will acquaint the public with the seriousness of the situation. Two years ago the California state education budget was $102 billion dollars. This year it is $84 billion. Two years […]