Events

Mapping the French AtlanticOctober 29, 2021, 3:30pm410 Jesse HallMaking his second presentation in as many days, University of Virginia John L. Nau III Bicentennial Professor of the History & Principles of Democracy and Co-Director of UVA’s Democracy Initiative Laurent Dubois will give a colloquium presentation at the Kinder Institute on his new book project, which explores the history and conceptual configuration of the French Atlantic world. The talk is free and open to the public, and will be held on October 29 at 3:30pm in Jesse Hall 410. Click here for information on Prof. Dubois’ October 28 lecture on “Theatre & Revolution in Saint-Domingue.”

Abstract

In this conversational presentation, I will discuss a new book project on the history of the French Atlantic and share some broad conceptual questions about how best to define and understand this configuration. While French governments, and cartographers, laid territorial claim to vast regions of the North American continent, settlement in the French Americas was concentrated in a few river regions—the St. Lawrence & the Mississippi in particular—and the Caribbean. What truly defined this configuration was a set of connections and exchanges that linked together Europe, North America, the Caribbean, and Africa in ways that co-transformed all of them over the course of several centuries. The question is how to understand this process, its many contemporary legacies and traces, which are often overlooked because they haven’t been incorporated into dominant understandings of national histories in all these regions.

Laurent Dubois is the John L. Nau III Bicentennial Professor of the History & Principles of Democracy at the University of Virginia, and Co-Director of the Democracy Initiative. From 2007, to 2020, he was a Professor of Romance Studies and History at Duke University, where he was Co-Director of the Haiti Laboratory from 2010-13 and founded and directed the Forum for Scholars and Publics from 2013 to 2020. He has written about the Age of Revolution in the Caribbean, with Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution (2004) and A Colony of Citizens: Revolution and Slave Emancipation in the French Caribbean, 1787-1804 (2004), which won four book prizes including the Frederick Douglass Prize. His 2012 Haiti: The Aftershocks of History was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. He has also written about the politics of soccer, with Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France (2010) and The Language of the Game: How to Understand Soccer (2018). His work on the cultural history of music, The Banjo: America’s African Instrument (2016), was supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Humanities Fellowship, and a Mellon New Directions Fellowship. His most recent book is Freedom Roots: Histories from the Caribbean (University of North Carolina Press, 2019), co-authored with Richard Turits. His writings on music, history and sport have appeared in The Atlantic, The Nation, The New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Slate, and Sports Illustrated. He is currently beginning work on a history of the French Atlantic. ... See MoreSee Less

Minette’s Worlds: Theatre & Revolution in Saint-DomingueOctober 28, 2021, 7:00pmSwallow HallCircling back to what was originally scheduled as the keynote for the March 2019 Haiti in the Atlantic World conference at Mizzou, University of Virginia John L. Nau III Bicentennial Professor of the History & Principles of Democracy and Co-Director of UVA’s Democracy Initiative Laurent Dubois will explore the transformative role that actors of African descent played in the intertwined histories of theatre and revolution in Saint-Domingue.

The lecture, which is co-sponsored by Missouri Humanities, the MU School of Languages, Literatures, & Cultures, Mizzou’s Afro-Romance Institute, and the Kinder Institute, will be held on Thursday, October 28 at 7:00pm in Swallow Hall 101.

Abstract

This lecture explores the intertwined histories of theatre and revolution in Saint-Domingue during the years leading up the Haitian Revolution. Plays, actors, and musicians all moved back and forth across the French Atlantic, but in Saint-Domingue themes surrounding sexuality, race, and empire took on particular meanings, and actors of African descent—including one known as Minette— took the stage and transformed it in the process.

Laurent Dubois is the John L. Nau III Bicentennial Professor of the History & Principles of Democracy at the University of Virginia, and Co-Director of the Democracy Initiative. From 2007, to 2020, he was a Professor of Romance Studies and History at Duke University, where he was Co-Director of the Haiti Laboratory from 2010-13 and founded and directed the Forum for Scholars and Publics from 2013 to 2020. He has written about the Age of Revolution in the Caribbean, with Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution (2004) and A Colony of Citizens: Revolution and Slave Emancipation in the French Caribbean, 1787-1804 (2004), which won four book prizes including the Frederick Douglass Prize. His 2012 Haiti: The Aftershocks of History was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. He has also written about the politics of soccer, with Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France (2010) and The Language of the Game: How to Understand Soccer (2018). His work on the cultural history of music, The Banjo: America’s African Instrument (2016), was supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Humanities Fellowship, and a Mellon New Directions Fellowship. His most recent book is Freedom Roots: Histories from the Caribbean (University of North Carolina Press, 2019), co-authored with Richard Turits. His writings on music, history and sport have appeared in The Atlantic, The Nation, The New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Slate, and Sports Illustrated. He is currently beginning work on a history of the French Atlantic. ... See MoreSee Less

POTUS 5 creates the most critical piece of international policy for not just his moment, but for generations of future Presidents! What’s in this simple policy that made it so revolutionary, and so long-lasting? The Monroe Doctrine is on this episode of American POTUS!
Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy Alan Lowe ... See MoreSee Less

Copyright before Copyright: The Politics of Authorizing Authorship in the Early RepublicOctober 22, 2021, 3:30pm410 Jesse HallIona College Gardiner Assistant Professor of History Nora Slonimsky will be at the Kinder Institute on October 22 for a talk exploring intellectual property in the early republic, focusing on how a small group of writers from the era wielded copyright as a tool to establish authorial authority while also working within existing power structures to advance a particular notion of civic belonging (see abstract below). Free and open to the public, the talk will begin at 3:30pm in Jesse 410.

Abstract

Twenty-first-century debates over the role of intellectual property in United States democracy often revolve around several key issues: questions of access and information; individual compensation and public benefit; and how best to encourage learning and civic engagement. Scholars of copyright, media, and politics have long studied the roots of these in the long eighteenth century anglophone Atlantic, highlighting both connections between the past and what is unique to our current moment. One thread that remains consistent and yet carries considerably different stakes is the premise that people need to be paid for their labor. In the early republic, the process by which writers pursued the legal and commercial status of author was often intertwined not only with the need for compensation but with other intense political stakes, from government policy and partisan affiliation, to property ownership, federal jurisdiction, citizenship, and the very foundations of self-ownership itself. This talk will look at a small group of writers in the late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century United States and consider the ways in which they used copyright as a tool in building their own forms of authorial authority while also drawing on structures of power around them, formal and informal, to advance a particular understanding of civic belonging.

Dr. Nora Slonimsky is the Gardiner Assistant Professor of History at Iona College, where she serves as Director of the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies (ITPS). At Iona, Nora teaches courses on subjects ranging from the Age of Revolution to histories of intellectual property while her work at the ITPS is focused largely on public and digital history. Nora’s in-progress book, The Engine of Free Expression: Copyrighting the State in Early America is forthcoming with the University of Pennsylvania Press and won the Society for the History of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) prize for best manuscript. This project, along with other research in the digital humanities, is supported by the Huntington Library, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the New-York Historical Society, and the America Antiquarian Society, among others. She is also co-editing an open-access volume with Cornell University Press, “American Revolutions in the Digital Age.” Nora serves as the Social Media Editor for the Journal of the Early Republic and the reviews editor for SHARP News. You can follow her on twitter @NoraSlonimsky or check out her website, . ... See MoreSee Less

“Copyright before Copyright: The Politics of Authorizing Authorship in the Early Republic,” Colloquium with Iona College’s Nora Slonimsky | 10/22/2021

“Minette’s Worlds: Theatre & Revolution in Saint-Domingue,” Lecture with UVA Prof. and Democracy Initiative Co-Director Laurent Dubois | 10/28/2021

“Mapping the French Atlantic,” Colloquium with UVA Prof. and Democracy Initiative Co-Director Laurent Dubois | 10/29/2021

“Church, State, and Property Confiscation,” November 5 MRSEAH with UVa Postdoctoral Research Associate Alyssa Penick | 11/05/2021

“The Hidden History of the American Revolution,” Public Lecture with University of South Carolina’s Woody Holton | 11/11/2021

“Reconsidering the Founders,” Panel Discussion with University of South Carolina Prof. Woody Holton | 11/12/2021

“The Secession of Western Australia and the State of the British Empire, c. 1930-35,” Colloquium with KICD Prof. of British History Rob Fletcher and Australian Catholic University Historian Benjamin Mountford | 11/19/2021