Grad Research: Josephine Hill on Communism and Hybrid Corn
Congratulations to UT AMS grad student Josephine Hill, who recently published an article called "Sowing the Seeds of Communism: Corn Wars in the USA" on Not Even Past, the blog of the UT History department. You can read the article here, and we've included an excerpt below.
Today we often associate hybrid or genetically modified corn with agricultural monopolies, big business, and capitalism, in the early Cold War some feared that the rise of hybrid corn would sow the seeds of Communism in the United States. Daniel Robert Fitzpatrick’s editorial cartoon, “Alien Corn,” published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on April 28, 1948, shows Henry A. Wallace grinning at a corn plant, whose leaves bear hammers and sickles and whose tassel sports a Soviet star –- the fruits of Communism. Wallace was the founder of the Hi-Bred Corn Company (today owned by the Dupont Corporation). He was also vice president to Franklin Roosevelt, Secretary of Agriculture (1933-1940), Secretary of Commerce (1945-1946), and 1948 presidential nominee of the Progressive Party. Appearing during the 1948 election season, the cartoon most directly reflects contemporary suspicions about Wallace’s possible Communist sympathies, which were fueled by his endorsement from the U.S. Communist Party, his progressive platform that included universal health care, voting rights for African-Americans, and an end to segregation, and his interest in Eastern religions. Here, the fear of the “alien” seems to have stronger political than environmental implications, yet this title presciently describes the many ways in which these two concerns would become more and more closely intertwined.
Alumni Voices: Robin O'Sullivan's American Organic
UT AMS grad Robin O'Sullivan recently published American Organic: A Cultural History of Farming, Gardening, Shopping and Eating, about the history of the organic movement in the United States. AMS grad student Kerry Knerr spoke to her last week.Can you tell us a little bit about your book American Organic, and how you came to the project?It’s a cultural history of the organic food and farming movement, which first elicited my interest after I happened to visit the homestead of Helen and Scott Nearing in Harborside, Maine (when I was living up there in Portland). As I began to research the history of homesteading, I learned more about the organic movement, which was related but also distinct. What projects or people have inspired your work?The Nearings, certainly; and the major player in the organic farming movement was J.I. Rodale, who began farming in Pennsylvania in the 1940s and subsequently developed a media empire that publicized the organic movement. How do you see your work fitting in with broader conversations in academia and beyond?It’s relevant to work in environmental and agricultural history, consumer studies, food studies, and, of course, American Studies. How is this work you're doing now, as a scholar, teacher or both, informed by the work you did as an American Studies student at UT?At UT-Austin, four talented professors served on my dissertation committee: Jeff Meikle, Janet Davis, Steve Hoelscher, and Elizabeth Engelhardt. All four have written books that served as models for mine, and all four were delightful to work with. Do you have any advice for students in our department about how to get the most out of their experience at UT?I’m sure the students already know how fortunate they are to be surrounded by such stellar faculty members! What projects are you excited to work on in the future?My next project will be an analysis of “techno-natural” phenomena, with a particular focus on its manifestations in 19th century literature.
Announcement: Fall Soiree highlights faculty and graduate research
The department is launching a few new events this fall that we hope you'll join us for! The first is a Fall Soiree: today, on the fourth floor of Burdine from 4:00 - 6:30pm, Dr. Shirley Thompson and Ph.D. candidate Elissa Underwood will be giving short talks about their research, followed by discussion and food and drinks.Shirley Thompson: #BlackLivesMatter and My Year of Economic ThinkingDuring this past year, as a widespread, coordinated resistance to anti-Black state violence crystallized in various US locales and on social media, I was able to embark on a systematic study of economic theory and methods for my project on Black Americans and the problem of property and ownership. I will discuss the implications for my work of both this formal study and a newly invigorated insistence on the value of black life.Elissa Underwood: Pop-Up Prison Kitchens: A Food-Based Challenge to the Prison Industrial ComplexI will be discussing non-traditional prison cookery and exploring its role as a counter-narrative to the personal and structural misery experienced by incarcerated individuals.Should be a great conversation!
Announcement: UT American Studies Receives $100K Endowment to Support Food Studies Research
The good news continues! Last week, UT AMS department chair Dr. Elizabeth Engelhardt announced that the department has received a $100,000 Presidential Fellowship from Les Dames D'Escoffier Dallas Chapter to support dissertation research on Texas, women, and food culture.
LDE is an organization of professional women who work in the food, fine beverage, and hospitality industries; Dr. Engelhardt says that their support, the first of its kind for the department, will "play a leading role in increasing the stability of the department into the future, inspiring other such endowments as we work with development and other donors." Additionally, it, in combination with the recent merging of Texas Foodways into UT AMS, "will help put UT Austin on the map as a leader in food studies in the humanities."Thanks to LDE's Dallas Chapter for their support!For the full press release, click here.