UT AMS Grad Dr. Jeanette Vaught on Teaching With Archives

UT AMS grad and faculty member Dr. Jeanette Vaught has published an article on Cultrual Compass, the Harry Ransom Center blog, about her work with AMS grad and HRC Instructional Services Coordinator Dr. Andi Gustavson to use Ransom Center resources to help teach Intro To American Studies. We've included a excerpt of the article, which you can read in full here, below:

"When I had the opportunity to design my Introduction to American Studies: Cyborg Americans course, I knew I wanted to tackle a challenge: exposing over 100 undergraduates to archival holdings on campus. To me, one of the most important tasks that faces an instructor in the humanities is guiding students to the actual work of research, which often happens only once students are in smaller seminar settings. With the help of the Harry Ransom Center’s new Instructional Services Coordinator, Dr. Andi Gustavson, I knew it would be possible to design an assignment that could work in a large-format survey course and bring students to the Center. Wanting to make use of the rich pedagogical benefits of this on-campus cultural institution depended on Andi’s expertise and guidance as we navigated the process of designing and implementing this course from the beginning."

Announcement: AMS Honors Symposium

Please join us the FRIDAY, April 22nd, 4:00-6:00 PM in Burdine 436A  for the 5th annual AMS Honors Symposium. The evening will feature presentations by three AMS undergrads:

Liz Garlow:"Manifesting Outward: A Prosopography of the Feminist Spirituality Movement in Central Texas" explores the creation of a women's pagan community in Austin through interviews with founding members of various congregations and practices. Celebrating pluralism and inspired by the 1970s Women's Liberation Movement, a generation of Texas women rejected mainstream faiths to create a religion and a community of which they wanted to be a part.

Molly Mandell:

My research in Cuba examines DIY culture, spawned by a lack of resources, on the island. Over four trips, I sought out and photographed Cuban “makers,” from taxi drivers who have kept their 1950s American cars in working condition with a slew of substitute parts to people using USBs to create a network of media and information sharing in lieu of the Internet. DIY culture amongst the Cuban people is much larger than pastimes or Pinterest projects; it is a way of life and a testament to the Cuban people’s resilience, self-reliance, and creativity.  For my thesis, I am creating a photo book to published both digitally and physically. My hope is that by documenting DIY culture in Cuba, I am able to provide a more comprehensive understanding of modern, everyday Cuban life. As the United States and Cuba work towards restoring relations, there has been a flurry of media attention that continues to either demonize or romanticize the island 90 miles south of Florida. Ultimately, my goal is to provide an authentic glimpse into the lives of Cuban people. (Please note: Molly's work will take the form of a prepared 15-minute Powerpoint because she is in Copenhagen this semester.)

Max Mills: 

My project is an investigation of the integration process of the Waxahachie Independent School District, a process that took roughly eighteen years after Brown v. Board was decided. With the use of public records such as school board minutes and community member interviews, a compelling narrative reveals the lengths to which a small Texas town went to maintain white supremacy. The project is also an attempt at preserving this history; as of this moment, there is no comprehensive history that details the desegregation process of Waxahachie ISD.

We hope to see you there!

Announcement: Workshop On Teaching in Archives and Galleries

Today (that's today) UT AMS alums Dr. Andi Gustavson and Dr. Jeannette Vaught, as well as Harry Ransom Center Head of Education and Public Engagement Lisa Pulsifer, will be hosting a workshop called "Expanding the Classroom: Teaching in Archives and Galleries." The workshop will be held between 11-12 pm in HRC 2.212. We've included a description below, and we hope to see you there.

Graduate students are invited to attend a professional development workshop at the Harry Ransom Center (HRC) on education in spaces beyond the traditional classroom. Learn how to teach with archival materials, to integrate an exhibition into your curriculum, and to design a syllabus that makes use of cultural-heritage institutions and resources on campus and in the community. This session will also address ways to build experiences into your pedagogy that will translate to both the academic job market and training-related careers.

Faculty Research: Dr. Janet Davis on the History of Animal Welfare

Congratulations to Dr. Janet Davis, whose new book The Gospel of Kindness: Animal Welfare and the Making of America was released earlier this month by Oxford University Press. We've included the publisher's description, below:

When we consider modern American animal advocacy, we often think of veganism, no-kill shelters, Internet campaigns against trophy hunting, or celebrities declaring that they would "rather go naked" than wear fur. Contemporary critics readily dismiss animal protectionism as a modern secular movement that privileges animals over people. Yet the movement's roots are deeply tied to the nation's history of religious revivalism and social reform.In The Gospel of Kindness, Janet M. Davis explores the broad cultural and social influence of the American animal welfare movement at home and overseas from the Second Great Awakening to the Second World War. Dedicated primarily to laboring animals at its inception in an animal-powered world, the movement eventually included virtually all areas of human and animal interaction. Embracing animals as brethren through biblical concepts of stewardship, a diverse coalition of temperance groups, teachers, Protestant missionaries, religious leaders, civil rights activists, policy makers, and anti-imperialists forged an expansive transnational "gospel of kindness," which defined animal mercy as a signature American value. Their interpretation of this "gospel" extended beyond the New Testament to preach kindness as a secular and spiritual truth. As a cultural product of antebellum revivalism, reform, and the rights revolution of the Civil War era, animal kindness became a barometer of free moral agency, higher civilization, and assimilation. Yet given the cultural, economic, racial, and ethnic diversity of the United States, its empire, and other countries of contact, standards of kindness and cruelty were culturally contingent and potentially controversial. Diverse constituents defended specific animal practices, such as cockfighting, bullfighting, songbird consumption, and kosher slaughter, as inviolate cultural traditions that reinforced their right to self-determination. Ultimately, American animal advocacy became a powerful humanitarian ideal, a touchstone of inclusion and national belonging at home and abroad that endures to this day.