July 2024 Newsletter

This newsletter serves to highlight faculty news, publications, and items that may be of interest for the Columbia History Department Board of Visitors. For more information, or if you have any questions regarding the Board of Visitors, please contact us at historyboardofvisitors@columbia.edu.

1. “The Messiah of Cadoxton,” Susan Pedersen

Professor Susan Pedersen on Gerald Balfour’s relationship with Winifred Coombe Tennant, a politician, suffragist, and medium whose “automatic writings” predicted that she would birth a child of great historical importance.

2. The Stadium: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play, Frank Guridy

Professor Frank Guridy’s new book, The Stadium: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play, will release on August 20th. This publication explores the "deep and impactful" story of the American stadium (Howard Bryant, author of Full Dissidence)—from the first wooden ballparks to today’s glass and steel mega-arenas—revealing how it has made, and remade, American life. Pre-order a copy by clicking here.

3. “Shadows at Dawn: An Apache Massacre and the Violence of History,” Karl Jacoby

Professor Karl Jacoby joins William Dalrymple and Anita Anand of the Empire Podcast to discuss his book Shadows at Dawn and how the creation of the US is fundamentally connected to the destruction of Native Nations.

Listen to the podcast on its official website or on YouTube.

4. “Should Chinese Nationals Be Permitted to Purchase Property in the United States?,” Mae Ngai

Professor Mae Ngai in conversation with Elizabeth Plantan and Matthew Erie on the legitimacy and consequences of SB264 (23R), a law passed by Ron DeSantis prohibiting Chinese nationals from purchasing real estate in Florida, held by the National Committee on US-China Relations.

Community News

New Faculty

Professors Ruth Barraclough and Kalyani Ramnath will be joining the History Department faculty this coming fall.

Professor Barraclough is a labor historian of modern Korea with a particular interest in gender, biography and literary history. Prior to coming to Columbia, Professor Barraclough taught for seventeen years at the Australian National University. Read more about her scholarship and research by clicking here.

Professor Ramnath is a historian of modern South Asia, with research and teaching interests in legal history, histories of migration and displacement, transnational history, and questions of archival method. Before joining the History Department at Columbia University, Professor Ramnath was an assistant professor in the History Department of the University of George. Read more about her scholarship and research here.

Obituaries

Karen E. Fields, beloved sister to Professor Barbara Fields, passed away on July 18, 2024. Professor Greg Mann shared the following:

“Barbara and Karen were particularly close. Karen was, like Barbara, a truly brilliant intellectual. Her writing was incisive and her thought was powerful. Her first book on Central Africa is nearly forty years old and is an absolute classic that I regularly recommend to students. I knew the book before I knew Barbara and it was years before I realized they were sisters. Over a decade ago, the two gave a tandem talk on their co-authored Racecraft for 8910, which was an intellectual highlight of my 24 years in Morningside Heights.

Barbara Fields (left) with Karen Fields (right)

Bertram Silverman, beloved husband of Professor Alice Kessler-Harris, passed away on July 7th, 2024. His obituary in The New York Times is reproduced below.

“Bertram Silverman died peacefully on July 7, 2024 at the age of 92. Born and raised in the Bronx in a secular Jewish household, Bert was a lifelong advocate for making the world a better place. Bert was a political economist who taught at Hofstra University for nearly 30 years. He studied left wing movements in Argentina and Cuba, the welfare state, and the transition to the new Russia. He was a persuasive optimist with vibrant energy, adored by his wife, children, grandchildren, sister, nieces, nephews, and friends. He is survived by Alice Kessler-Harris, his partner of 44 years, his daughters, Julie Shannon and Devorah Hyland, his step-daughter Ilona Harris, three sons-in- law, and six beloved grand- children.”