Department of History

Personal Statement:

Mattie Webb is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she is a contemporary historian of the United States and Africa. Her dissertation, “Diplomacy at Work: The South African Worker, U.S. Multinationals, and Transnational Racial Solidarity (1972-1987),” presents a new social and political history of the anti-apartheid movement, placing local South African workers at the center of global narratives of empire, U.S. corporate imperialism, and Black internationalism. This project, based on an examination of extensive oral histories and multilingual archival materials from the United States and South Africa, ultimately complicates the role of U.S. multinational corporations during the late apartheid era, highlighting how workers and trade unionists leveraged reformist workplace codes of conduct, such as the Sullivan Principles. Her work is supported by the U.S. Fulbright Program, the National Security Education Program, the Ford Presidential Library, the Emory University Stuart A. Rose Library, and the Walter H. Capps Center, among others. Mattie holds a master’s degree in Global Studies from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She received her BA in History with highest honors (Summa Cum Laude) from North Carolina State University in 2014.

Mattie is also a founder of the Cold War Working Group (CWWG), a branch of the UCSB Center for Cold War Studies and International History. If students are interested in learning more about this initiative, see the website here, or contact Mattie if you’re interested in participating in any capacity. The CCWG hosts graduate student workshops as well as an undergraduate blog (“This Day in Cold War History”). If you are a former UCSB graduate student, the CCWG also welcomes “Where Are They Now” posts. Please reach out at mattie@ucsb.edu for more information.

Dissertation Title:

“Diplomacy at Work: The South African Worker, U.S. Multinationals, and Transnational Racial Solidarity (1972-1987)”

Selected Publications:

“A Postcard from Detroit,” Contingent Magazine, November 22, 2022, https://contingentmagazine.org/2022/11/22/a-postcard-from-detroit/

“Black Internationalism and a Wide View of Leon Sullivan’s Work,” Scholar Blog, Emory University Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, November 1, 2022, https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/marbl/2022/11/01/black-internationalism-and-a-wide-view-of-leon-sullivans-work/

“Research Note: Mayibuye Archives and the Cold War in Southern Africa,” Cold War History, June 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2022.2076347

“Companies have long brandished socially responsible images while busting unions,” The Washington Post, 4 March 2022.

“People before profit? Ford, General Motors & the spirit of the Sullivan Principles in Apartheid South Africa (1976-84),” Ethnic Studies Review, peer-reviewed academic journal published by the University of California Press, published December 2021, http://doi.org/10.1525/esr.2021.44.3.64

“The United States Anti-Apartheid Movement: Bonus Episode,” Scottish Centre for Global History, Episode 4, 50-minute interview.

“Beyond Desegregation: Waging a Battle Against Apartheid in the South African Workplace,” Scottish Centre for Global History Blog, December 2020.

“Corporates and investors need to engage with the US to halt its slide into autocratization,” (co-authored with Raj Thamotheram) Responsible Investor (October 2020).

“The Sullivan Principles at Work: The Conflicted Activism of Rev. Leon Howard Sullivan,” Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library Scholar Blog (August 7, 2019).

“The Turkey Agreement and the Dash to Curb the Refugee Crisis,” UNC Center for European Studies: European Horizons at Carolina (March 2016).

“A Week After the Paris Attacks: Overview and Ramifications,”  UNC Center for European Studies: European Horizons at Carolina (November 2016).

Teaching Fields:

U.S. in the World; African History; Comparative Race and Ethnicity; South African Labor History; Oral History

Courses Taught:

Instructor of Record:

History of the Present: Informing the Public in the Digital Age (Summer 2022)

Reader:

U.S. and the World, Yaqub (Spring 2018, Spring 2022)

Section Lead Teaching Assistant:

World History Since 1700, Stephens (Fall 2018)

Survey of African History, c. 1800-1945, Miescher (Winter 2019)

The American People, c. 1917-present, Yaqub (Spring 2019)

The American People, c. 1492-1830, Maar (Fall 2019)

Survey of African History to 1800, Ware (Winter 2020, Spring 2021)

World History Since 1700, Spickard (Spring 2020)

The American People, c. 1830-1920 (Winter 2021)

Awards & Professional Activities:

Select Fellowships:

Fulbright Fellowship (South Africa). 2021.

National Security Education Program David L. Boren Fellowship (Xhosa and Zulu, South Africa). 2022.

Steve & Barbara Mendell Graduate Fellowship in Cultural Literacy, Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life. 2022.

Elings-Wells Dissertation Fellowship, UCSB Graduate Division. 2022-23 (Two fellowships awarded to graduate students across the university)

Department Racial, Social & Environmental Justice Research Grant. 2022.

Bertelsen Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant. 2021.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation Grant. 2020.

Andrew Mellon Engaging Humanities Predoctoral Fellowship. 2020-2021.

National Security Education Program David L. Boren Fellowship (Zulu, University of Florida African Flagship Language Institute). 2020.

Select Awards:

Marilyn Blatt Young Dissertation Completion Fellowship (SHAFR): Honorable Mention. 2022.

Robert O. Collins Prize for Best First Publication, History Associates. 2022.

Dick Cook Memorial Fellowship for Outstanding Service, History Associates. 2022.

DeConde-Burns Prize for Excellence in Cold War Studies. 2021.

William H. Ellison Prize for Best Department Research Paper, History Associates. 2019.

Emory University Rose Library African American Short Term Research Fellowship. 2019, 2020.

 

Other Positions and Service:

Rhodes University (South Africa), Visiting Scholar and Affiliate, Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit, Department of Sociology, June 2021-present.

SHAFR Code of Conduct Task Force. 2020-2023.

SHAFR Graduate Student Committee. 2020-2023.

Research Affiliate, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. 2018.

Graduate Student Assistant, Center for Cold War Studies and International History. UCSB. 2017-2018, 2023.