This week at Erstwhile, Travis R May examines crises in the UK’s Labour Party and the US’s Democratic Party in light of the history of anti-Semitism. Since taking office in January, U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar has provoked a firestorm of debate in the Capitol and the press, mostly over her criticisms of the…
This week, guest writer Katie Randall (Ph.D. candidate, CU Boulder) writes about her experience in the classroom as a scholar of color. Find her on twitter @KatieRa39138928 Several semesters ago, one of my students asked me about the contemporary crisis of memorialization, sparked by the events in Charlottesville, VA, and he added—because I was black.…
Guest writer Sam Bock (M.A., CU Boulder) places Colorado’s early adoption of Prohibition in social and political context, suggesting the continuing resonances of those circumstances today. A public historian at History Colorado, Sam is developing an exhibit on the history of brewing in the Centennial State. “Beer Here! Brewing the New West” will open in Denver at the beginning…
Erstwhile Contributing Editor Travis R May examines the connections between Marvel’s Black Panther and the ongoing debate surrounding museums and artifact collections acquired during the colonial period. This post does contain spoilers for Black Panther. Writer/Director Ryan Coogler’s first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 2018’s Black Panther, is a fairly radical…
This week, Erstwhile editor Kerri Clement caught up with Dr. Brenden Rensink to discuss his new book, Native but Foreign.
Today’s piece is by Anna Kramer, a doctoral student in the History Department at CU Boulder. She studies, among other things, public lands and outdoor recreation in the American West. Before beginning graduate school she worked for the National Wildlife Federation and the American Alpine Club. Follow her on Twitter @akiltykramer.. Human waste piled up along the…
Contributing editor Graeme Pente sketches the history of immigration policy in his home country as migration may become a central issue in Canada’s fall federal election. As a settler-colonial society like the United States, Canada also tends to bill itself as a “nation of immigrants.” The line seems to run thus: the genocide of the…
Guest writer Dr. Jeff Bartos calls for reflection on bravery and history in light of Omaha elder Nathan Phillip’s actions following the 2019 Indigenous People’s March.
Guest editor Frank Whitehead, a Ph.D. candidate from the University of Arizona history department, writes about the tension inherent in both participating in rodeo and researching it for his dissertation.
In the first of two posts on the Japanese-internment facility, Camp Amache, Erstwhile editor, Beau Driver, discusses the early history of Japanese internment and how this led to the establishment of Camp Amache, near Granada, Colorado. His second post, on the memorialization of the camp will follow in Spring 2019. When I took my first…
Erstwhile’s managing editor Caroline Grego reflects on teaching at a predominantly white institution and how it has altered her pedagogical practices. When I first began applying to academic teaching jobs, I began to see this job requirement everywhere: “Experience teaching in a diverse setting is preferred.” It’s a loaded request for a search committee to…
This week, contributing editor Kerri Clement provides links to pop culture roundups created by Indigenous peoples. While not strictly history, these links provide contemporary examples of Indigenous people responding, wielding, molding, or speaking to their own history. These links cover some of my favorite podcasts, artists, comics, designers, writers, and musicians. I know I have…
