Sunday Radical Roundup: Spring Is Coming, The Scholars Are Blooming

If You Can Rip Yourself Away From The Political Train Wreck In Massachusetts: New Englanders, you may want to put the following event at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center (Ledyard, CT) on your calendar for Saturday, Feb. 27, 1 pm–4 pm: "Sovereignty and Indigenous Rights. Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui, associate professor of American Studies at Wesleyan University, moderates this important discussion. Panelists include John Echohawk, president and founder of Native American Rights Foundation; James Jackson, Mashantucket Pequot tribal councilor; Jackson King, general council for Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation; Betsy Conway, legal council for Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation; and Dr. Cedric Woods, director (interim) of the Institute for New England Native American Studies, UMass. Boston. For ages 16 and older. Free with Museum admission, free to Museum members. High school and college students receive $2 admission discount with student ID." Kauanui is the author of the extremely well reviewed Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity (2008), part of the Narrating Native American Histories series at Duke University Press.

Wuzzup, diplomatic historians? It is an oft-repeated complaint that graduate students specializing in the history of United States foreign relations are marginalized within doctoral programs more tuned to cultural history, gender history and the new political histories that these methods have produced. Well wise up, guys and dolls, and do what the women's historians did back in the 1970s and 1980s when they were on the margins -- find people who actually do give a damn about your work and will give you honest feedback about it in venues where what your field is privileged. In that spirit, I pass on this notice from the Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University: "Every spring, the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations hosts the Whitehead Colloquium at Seton Hall University (South Orange, NJ). The Whitehead Colloquium brings students from all across the the Northeast to present their research on topics related to international relations. Graduate students earning degrees in international relations, international affairs, diplomacy, economics, area studies, or other related topics are invited and encouraged to present their research. There are no limitations on the topics to be presented and there are no requirements on the length of the paper. The 2010 Colloquium is a day-long event scheduled for Thursday, April 15. Refreshments will be available, prizes will be awarded, and the winner of the best presentation will have the opportunity to be published in the Whitehead Journal. Students are responsible for their own transportation. Interested students are asked to send their papers to thewhiteheadcolloquiumATgmailDOTcom by March 1, 2010. Students will be notified whether they have been invited to present their research by March 15."

This week in women's history: Just in case you have wondered whether there is still a "women's history," given the important turns toward the history of gender and numerous interventions by theorists that suggest there are no "women," this week marks the 35th anniversary of New York Times reporter Robin Herman being granted access to the NHL all-star team locker rooms in Montreal. As Herman said when interviewed, at the age of 23 she became the first female-bodied person to be granted access to a North American professional sports team, making the game itself even more irrelevant than an All-Star game of any kind normally is. “I kept saying, ‘I’m not the story; the game is the story,’ ” Herman said, reflecting on the night. “But of course that wasn’t the case. The game was boring. A girl in the locker room was a story.”

Meanwhile, back in the girl's locker room: "The Boston Seminar on the History of Women and Gender invites proposals for sessions in its 2010-2011 series. Programs take place alternately at the Schlesinger Library of the Radcliffe Institute and at the Massachusetts Historical Society. The Seminar's steering committee welcomes suggestions for papers dealing with all aspects of the history of women and/or gender in the United States and will also consider projects comparing the American experience with that in other parts of the world.

"Each session focuses on the discussion of a pre-circulated paper. The essayist and an assigned commentator will each have an opportunity for remarks before the discussion is opened to the floor. Papers must be available for circulation at least a month before the seminar date.

"In developing its 2010-2011 series, the Seminar's steering committee will fill some sessions through invitations and others through this call for papers. If you would like to be considered for a slot, please send your CV and a one-page précis of your paper by March 15 to Conrad E. Wright, Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02215,or to cwrightATmasshistDOTorg. In your proposal, please indicate when your paper will be available for distribution. If there are special scheduling conditions, such as a planned trip to Boston or an extended period when you cannot make a presentation, please so indicate in your proposal."

Want a notice included in the Sunday Radical Roundup? Send it to me, why dontcha?