_ _ Volume 2 Autumn/Winter 2014 AMERICAN STUDIES AT NORTHUMBRIA: A SUPREME TABLE OF CONTENTS ENDORSEMENT American Studies at Northumbria: A Supreme 1 When the first issue of this Newsletter went to Endorsement press in the summer of 2013, we were eagerly News & Events 3 awaiting our first intake of American Studies un- dergraduates. The England cricket team was also US Ambassador Matthew W. Barzun’s Visit 3 on the verge of retaining the Ashes against Aus- 2014 US History Group: “1964 as a 3 tralia and there was a good deal of optimism about Watershed Year,” May 8-9 the prospects of England’s football team doing Literature, History, and Culture Speakers 4 quite well in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. I think it’s fair to say that the first cohort of American American Studies Staff News 5 Studies students has fared a good deal better than Grant Bidding Success 7 either of those sports teams over the past year! In this Newsletter it is certainly heartening to hear Leverhulme Visiting Professor, 8 Michael Davidson from Marie-Liz Hayton, one of those trailblazing students, that they have enjoyed their first year and Postgraduate News 8 are looking forward to the delights and challenges Early Career Visiting Scholar: Oliver Ayers 9 of a second year when many will spend a semester in the USA. Second year students will also be look- Summer 2014 Conferences: The Presidential 10 History Network and The Global English ing forward to an innovative “Your Graduate Fu- ture” module designed explicitly to convert the North to the Future: Forthcoming American 10 knowledge and skills they acquire in their academic Studies Events and Symposia study into practical, marketable skills and workplace Monographs to Text Books in the Humanities 10 experience. This employability agenda is an impor- The State of Religion in American History 11 tant part of the American Studies BA, where the interdisciplinary nature of the programme encour- th BAAS & the 50 Anniversary of Selma & 11 ages precisely the kind of intellectual flexibility, an- the Voting Rights Act alytical rigour, and excellent communication abilities Spotlight on American Studies Students 11 valued by a wide range of employers. Marie-Liz Hayton 11 While it is still Megan Hunt 12 early days in the American Studies Outreach Events 14 life of the Northumbria Why Study American Studies at Northumbria? 15 American Studies http://northumbria.ac.uk/americanstudies _ _ _ _ 2 initiative, we can already boast one of the UK’s about our American Studies programme is hard to largest constellations of scholar-teachers working in miss. At a symposium organized by Randall US film, history, literature and politics. In Septem- Stephens on “1964: A Watershed Year in American ber 2014 we will also be joined by Tony Badger, History,” eminent Durham University historian, currently Paul Mellon Professor of American His- Professor John Dumbrell, publically thanked tory and Master of Clare College at the University Northumbria for assuming a leadership role in the of Cambridge. Tony, an expert on the New Deal, British American Studies community. An American Franklin Delano Roo- literature colleague with sevelt, and southern pol- whom I am working as itics, is widely part of the govern- acknowledged as one of ment’s Research Excel- the most important lence Framework British historians of the exercise (an operation so US of the past 40 years. shrouded in secrecy that I cannot reveal the Tony will join a team of scholar’s name or uni- researchers that is al- versity for fear of ready producing research bloody retribution) re- recognized internation- ferred in awed terms to ally as among the very “Northumbria’s Ameri- Brian Ward and Mary Wilson of The Supremes. best in the field. can Studies miracle.” Nowhere is this prestige Even the US Ambassa- more obvious than in the prizes earned by Henry dor, Matthew Barzun, felt obliged to check out the Knight for his wonderful book, Tropic of Hopes: Cal- developments in American Studies at Northumbria ifornia, Florida, and the Selling of American Paradise, as part of his first trip away from London. In Jan- 1869-1929. The excellence of Northumbria’s Amer- uary 2013, Ambassador Barzun, whose grandfather icanists is also reflected in the keynote lectures Jacques Barzun was a pioneering American Studies given, the conferences and symposia organized or scholar, gave a fascinating talk on the contempo- attended, and the many books and articles they rary US and spent time chatting with our students, have published this year. Our stature is also con- including representatives of a flourishing new firmed by a number of successful bids of external American Studies Society. research funding, most recently a prestigious Early Career Fellowship from the Arts and Humanities While our external reputation as a leading centre Research Council to Mike Cullinane for a project for the study of the US blossoms, much of our on President Theodore Roosevelt. energy over the next few years will doubtless be devoted to undergraduate recruitment in a fiercely In this Newsletter, you will be able to read more competitive market. But we can be proud of the about some of the exceptional research that feeds tremendous work we have already done putting on directly into our undergraduate teaching and which A level workshops, visiting schools and colleges, has sparked a rapid increase in the number of top cultivating ties with local teachers, and supporting quality postgraduate students at both MA and PhD University-wide visit days. Many of those efforts, levels. Megan Hunt, who came to Northumbria like the production of this Newsletter, have been after completing a BA at Kings College, London spearheaded by Randall Stephens and Julie Taylor, and an MA at the University of Manchester, offers and we will do many more of them in 2014-15. a first-hand account of what it is like to do doc- While it will take time to get American Studies- toral level research in American Studies. Northumbria Style onto the radar of secondary level teachers and students, we can be supremely The buzz among fellow scholars and educators confident that we have an exceptional staff deliver- _ _ _ _ 3 ing an attractive programme that will produce in- formed and highly employable graduates. In a Q & A session with students and staff, Am- bassador Barzun addressed the special relationship And talking of supreme confidence...Myown between the US and the UK, spoke of business highlight of the year was talking to former mem- partnerships between the two countries, described ber of The Supremes vocal group and US Good- will Ambassador Mary Wilson about American Studies at Northumbria. “You mean you have stu- dents up there studying the civil rights movement and soul music? Together?” she asked as she signed my copy of her autobiography and gra- ciously accepted a copy of Just My Soul Responding, my own book about rhythm and blues music and the African-American freedom struggle. “That’s great,” she said, “after all, those aren’t just Ameri- can stories; those are stories that affected and changed the world. They still have relevance for the world today.” Not a bad summary of why American Studies students Josh Buckland and Jenny Molloy with American Studies matters. Ambassador Matthew Barzun, Professor Brian Ward and Chris Sayers. Enjoy the Newsletter! the influence his grandfather Jaques Barzun—a pi- oneer scholar of American Studies—had upon him, and discussed the Obama administration’s do- mestic and foreign policies. Brian Ward, Professor in American Studies Professor Brian Ward, who initiated the visit fol- lowing talks with the US Embassy in 2013, said: “Northumbria has launched the biggest initiative in NEWS & EVENTS American Studies in the UK for more than a gen- eration. A visit from the new Ambassador is a US Ambassador Matthew W. Barzun’s great start in our programme’s inaugural year. And, Visit of course, it is a marvellous opportunity for under- graduate and graduate students who have a keen In February 2014 U.S. Ambassador Matthew W. interest in the politics, history and culture of the Barzun met American Studies students and staff country.” during his first official UK visit outside of the cap- ital. Ambassador Barzun was nominated by Presi- dent Barack Obama to be the US Ambassador to 2014 US History Group: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and North- “1964 as a Watershed Year,” May 8-9 ern Ireland last year. He is an internet pioneer at CNET Networks where he launched The US History Group symposium in May 2014 download.com, which grew to become CNET’s explored America’s social, political and cultural biggest site. He has also led the project to build defining moments of 50 years ago. From The Bea- one of the first comparison shopping sites on the tles’ US invasion and the flourishing of Motown internet, Shopper.Com. The Ambassador has Records to Lyndon Johnson’s landslide presidential served on the boards of many non-profit organisa- victory and the passage of the Civil Rights Act, tions with a focus on education. 1964 was a year of turbulence, struggle and chal- Northumbria University American Studies Newsletter, Autumn/Winter, 2014 _ _ _ _ 4 lenging of the status quo. 2013 Highlights of 1964: A Watershed Year in US His- 10 October: Michael Davidson (University of Cali- tory included a keynote lecture from Joe Crespino, fornia San Diego), “Missing Bodies: Disappear- Professor of History at Emory University and Ful- ances in the Aesthetic” 14-15 October: Bob Brown Visit & Black Panther Talk 7 November: Victoria Bazin (Northumbria Univer- sity), “The Dial Magazine and the Material Spaces of Modernism” 13 November: Randall Stephens (Northumbria University), “The Religious Roots of Rock Music in the 1950s South” 21 November: Ian Scott (University of Manches- The Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show, New York City, ter), “Historical Drama or Dramatic History: Oliver 1964.