Department of American Studies – Page 5 – College of Arts & Sciences

Alumnus Brings LGBTQ Exhibition to UA Gallery

March 9, 2017

From the March 2017 Desktop News | A historical exhibition of Charlotte, North Carolina’s queer history will be on display at The University of Alabama Gallery until Friday, April 14. The exhibition is located in the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center in downtown Tuscaloosa and is free and open to the public. The exhibition, “Publicly Identified: Coming Out Activist in the Queen City,” was created by UA alumnus Josh Burford while at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, where he is the […]

Digitizing Social Justice

November 14, 2016

“‘To See Justice Done’: Letters from the Scottsboro Trials,” is a new online database, showcasing primary resources from the Scottsboro Trials.

From the November 2016 Desktop News | Margaret Sasser, a 2014 alumna, spent one summer during her Master’s program digging through archives at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama. She had been hired by Dr. Ellen Spears, an associate professor in New College and the Department of American Studies, to sort through roughly 17 boxes of letters, postcards, telegrams, petitions, and resolutions sent to Alabama Governor Benjamin Meeks Miller regarding the 1930s Scottsboro Trials—and last month her work […]

American Studies Professor Wins Award for Best Book on Popular Music

August 9, 2016

From the August 2016 Desktop News | Dr. Eric Weisbard, an associate professor in the Department of American Studies, has been awarded the 2015 Woody Guthrie Award for the most outstanding book on popular music for his book Top 40 Democracy: The Rival Mainstreams of American Music. The prize is given annually to the best English language monograph on popular music, said Dr. Elizabeth Lindau, chair of the 2015 Woody Guthrie Award committee for the U.S. branch of the International Association for […]

A&S In the News – July 8-July 14

July 18, 2016

To Live and Die on Facebook The Atlantic – July 11 The present remains quite grim. “It’s an extremely tragic moment in American life,” according to Utz McKnight, a professor of political science at the University of Alabama. For the Philando Castiles of the world, if there’s any solace to be found in these moments of live-streamed shootings and video bleed-outs, McKnight says it is merely, “At least you’re not dying alone.” University of Alabama associate professor’s book earns award […]

Ellen Spears Wins Buford Peace Award

June 15, 2016

From the June 2016 Desktop News | Dr. Ellen Griffith Spears, an associate professor in New College and the Department of American Studies, is the 2016 winner of the Buford Peace Award. Tony D. Walker, a UA School of Social Work alumnus, established the award in 2002 to honor Lahoma Adams Buford, and each year it is given to a faculty member who has been highly involved in mediating human disputes, helping overcome prejudice, promoting justice, and establishing peace. “The Buford […]

Two Roads Converged

November 4, 2015

Dr. Eric Weisbard knows first-hand that the 1990s were a great decade to be writing about popular music. After all, he worked as a rock critic for New York City’s Spin magazine and The Village Voice in the years following the rock band Nirvana’s surge in popularity, which paved the way for hundreds of alternative bands nationwide to receive unprecedented, widespread recognition for their music. At the time, people lived and died over questions of musical authenticity across all genres, […]

Documenting the Civil Rights Movement

October 12, 2015

From the October 2015 Desktop News | Dr. Doris A. Derby, a documentary photographer and civil rights activist, donated a historic photograph from the civil rights era to The University of Alabama during the opening reception of an exhibit featuring her photographs. The exhibit, “Fertile Ground: The Civil Rights Movement and Its Legacy in the Mississippi Delta,” will be displayed through Oct. 30 at The University of Alabama Gallery in the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center in downtown Tuscaloosa. Derby’s […]

Cool Books for Hot Days

June 1, 2015

Our annual summer reading list includes 10 books by College faculty and the latest by distinguished scientist and UA alumnus Dr. Edward O. Wilson. Martin Luther King Jr., Heroism, and African American Literature, by Trudier Harris The heroes in African American life and literature don’t necessarily have to be moral or immoral, good or bad, so long as they work toward the good of the community. English professor Dr. Trudier Harris asserts that Martin Luther King Jr. fits within this heroic tradition, […]

College Establishes New Academic Minors

April 13, 2015

From the April 2015 Desktop News | Two interdisciplinary minors focused on burgeoning academic fields have been created and can be pursued by students beginning in fall 2015. The first, cybercrime, will combine classes on the technical aspects of thwarting cyber attacks and processing digital forensic evidence with classes on understanding criminal motivations. The second, Latin American, Caribbean and Latino studies, will allow students to explore the social, cultural, linguistic, political, economic and biological diversity of nations that make up […]

The “Top 40 Democracy” of Popular Music

January 14, 2015

From the January 2015 Desktop News | A former music critic, Dr. Eric Weisbard has always been interested in connecting the dots of popular culture. When critics began talking about “rockism,” the idea of rock as a biased way of valuing some music and not others, and “poptimism,” the idea that commercial music of all kinds should be celebrated for its diversity, he thought both ideas were too simplistic, so he wrote a book about it, using a historical approach […]