UCLA Department of History

History of Science Colloquium: Alexander Kertzner (UCLA)
2022-02-28 16:00 - 17:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
“Polio, Adventism, and Rehabilitation Medicine in Los Angeles.”
Rancho Los Amigos was founded during the late nineteenth century as a poor farm but became a rehabilitation hospital for iron lung patients during Los Angeles’s 1950s polio epidemics. Following the polio vaccination campaigns, researchers received federal funding to test Rancho’s concept of care on other chronic patient groups and it became an internationally renowned rehabilitation center.
Various aspects of Los Angeles’s city life, including its unorthodox religious environment, tradition of popular medicine, and local industries, from Hollywood to aerospace, informed the process by which rehabilitation took shape at Rancho Los Amigos. My talk situates Seventh Day Adventism within this history. Many of the physicians who worked at Rancho Los Amigos during the years that it became a rehabilitation center were educated at the College of Medical Evangelists (now the Loma Linda University School of Medicine), an Adventist medical school in Loma Linda, California. I will discuss how life in Southern California’s Adventist community impacted not only the clinical practice of rehabilitation at Rancho Los Amigos, but the research conducted in its laboratories. In studying how Adventists, Department of Defense researchers, and local engineers designed rehabilitation technologies, we see how the region’s unique environment stimulated innovation in rehabilitation medicine, both locally and nationally.
Zoom RSVP:
https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUpd–qrjovGNxKoSVYViqjAr1dFmOnpzIT
In Person RSVP (at 5288 Bunche Hall):
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1gfZeJr4ZiB3S33dD3780Pr2Vc43Xz8rRWO2uOc4jg28

History of Science Colloquium: Devon Golaszewski (Loyola Marymount, LA)
2022-04-04 16:00 - 17:30
April 4 Devon Golaszewski (Loyola Marymount, LA)
“Medicalizing Childbirth in Post-Colonial Mali: Uterine Stimulant Drugs as Techno-Medical Tools and Social Cures”
By the 1970s, uterine stimulant and oxytocic drugs such as Pitocin and Methylergometrine were widely used to manage childbirth in Mali. Rural maternity wards stocked these drugs to stop post-partum hemorrhage and to speed labor, and health personnel moonlighting after-hours pushed their use to augment contractions. Why did these drugs become so widespread? On the one hand, biomedical obstetric workers used these drugs as a tool to respond to risky birth in a context of patchy infrastructure. The distance between rural clinics and reference hospitals, and the challenges of traveling between them, meant that health workers sought to avoid having to refer women. Uterine stimulant drugs thus served as a techno-medical tool to paper over systemic infrastructural challenges. But the use of uterine stimulant drugs as a “magic bullet” to solve a systemic health issue, a classic narrative of post-colonial African health policy, is only part of the story.Malian women also actively sought to avoid prolonged labor. For Malians, one possible explanation for a difficult birth was the woman’s sexual misbehavior, and prolonged labor opened Malian women to accusations of adultery. To avoid this risk, Malian women sought to manage childbirth in a way which would avoid any suspicions (including through the use of plant medicines with oxytocic properties). Some women thus welcomed pharmaceutical uterine stimulant drugs to speed labor and avoid the social risk of problems in childbirth. This paper explores how and why certain medical technologies are taken up, and the multiple origins of the “pharmaceuticalization” of childbirth.
Zoom RSVP: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0vcuqoqDooG9eDaFiBDW9c-nNgl58Xf5gW
In Person RSVP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Jy9mseT8oGlgKvvXyquxTMxv45_Y2yaPfaLtnkHSTD0

The ABC of Russian Imperialism, Willard Sunderland (University of Cincinnati)
2022-04-05 16:00 - 17:00 | Royce 306
A Weber Chair In Modern European History recruitment talk.
RSVP: https://forms.office.com/r/JAUpUCWi8t

Magdeburg, 1554: Flacius Illyricus Applies for a Grant
2022-04-06 17:00 - 18:00 | UCLA Royce Hall – Room 314, 10745 Dickson Ct, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
A lecture by Professor Anthony Grafton (Princeton University).
Ecclesiastical history began in the 1550s, when the Lutheran Matthias Flacius Illyricus organized
a collaborative century-by-century history of Christianity. This confessional project never
reached completion, and its thick volumes met with severe criticism from co-religionists as well
as Catholics. Nonetheless, it provided a new model for the study of the past, inspiring a
revolution in historiography. That’s the standard story. It’s not wrong: Flacius did many original
things: for example, writing and submitting grant proposals. But it’s radically incomplete. This
lecture reinterprets Flacius’s project and reexamines its impact.
Sponsored by CMRS-CEGS and the European Colloquium of the Department of History.
5:00 pm PST in Royce 314 and live on Zoom.
Register to attend either onsite or online.

Racial Capitalism across the Black/White Atlantic
2022-04-07 12:30 - 14:00
Zoom RSVP

European History Colloquium: Susan Grayzel
2022-04-11 16:00 - 18:00
Susan Grayzel’s talk on April 11th, from 4:00-6:00pm.More information will be provided in the future.

The Age of the Gas Mask: Susan Grayzel
2022-04-11 16:00 - 18:00
Susan Grayzel’s talk on April 11th, from 4:00-6:00pm at 6275 Bunche Hall. Attendance for this event is also available via Zoom. Registration is required if attending via Zoom.
“The First World War introduced the widespread use of lethal chemical arms. In its aftermath, the British government, like that of many states, had to prepare civilians to confront such weapons in a future war. Over the course of the interwar period, it developed individual anti-gas protection as a cornerstone of civil defence. The Age of the Gas Mask traces the fascinating history of one object – the civilian gas mask – through the years 1915–1945 and, in so doing, reveals the reach of modern, total war and the limits of the state trying to safeguard civilian life in an extensive empire. Drawing on records from Britain’s Colonial, Foreign, India, Home, and War Offices and other archives alongside newspapers, journals, personal accounts and cultural sources, Susan Grayzel connects the histories of the First and Second World Wars, combatants and civilians, men and women, metropole and colony, illuminating how new technologies of warfare shaped culture, politics, and society.”

Pam Ballinger (University of Michigan), “Sovereign Anomalies: Postwar Trieste and the Problem of 'Hardcore' Refugees”
2022-04-14 16:00 - 17:00 | Royce 306
A Weber Chair In Modern European History recruitment talk.
Pamela Ballinger is Professor of History and the Fred Cuny Chair in the History of Human Rights in the Department of History at the University of Michigan. She holds degrees in Anthropology (B.A. Stanford University, M. Phil Cambridge University, M.A. Johns Hopkins University) and a joint Ph.D. in History and Anthropology (Johns Hopkins). She is the author of History in Exile: Memory and Identity at the Borders of the Balkans (Princeton University Press, 2003), La Memoria dell’Esilio (Veltro Editrice, 2010), and the World Refugees Made: Decolonization and the Foundation of Postwar Italy (Cornell University Press, 2020). The World Refugees Made received the AAIS 2020 Book Prize (History, Society and Politics) and the Helen and Howard Marraro Prize (Society for Italian Historical Studies/AHA). Professor Ballinger’s areas of expertise include human rights, forced migration, refugees, fascism, colonialism/decolonization, seaspace, and modern Mediterranean and Balkan history.
The RSVP link is here: https://forms.office.com/r/WDPCngd1Xa

History of Science Colloquium: Peiting C. Li (Cedars-Sinai)
2022-04-18 16:00 - 17:30
April 18 Peiting C. Li (Cedars-Sinai)
“When Herbs Become Drugs: Late Natural History and Early Clinical Trials in China”
Zoom RSVP: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwrce2vrDwuHtTE7HtTqJTG7iCo7vS39XWO
In Person RSVP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ILInDOwf0IzCN9TMRv9cMWhPxtUCe8PIFSgGKZaoi2w
This talk discusses investigations of a Chinese herbal tuberculosis treatment as a window onto shifts in the production of scientific
medical knowledge in 1920-1930s Shanghai. Once a remedy for consumption local to the mountains of southern China and known by a variety of names in gazetteers and botanical sources, by the 1920s it was sold in Shanghai as a trademarked tuberculosis treatment, advertised in newspapers, and tested by the state’s nascent public health institutions. Doctors sought to understand the herb in modes ranging from textual studies reminiscent of late imperial natural history to systematic evaluation of the effects of treatment in patients. Tracing changes in the ways doctors analyzed this herb reveals the increasing importance of quantification and experimentation in medical writing at this time.

Stella Ghervas (Newcastle University, U.K.), "The Black Sea and the Definition of Europe: War, Peace, and Empire"
2022-04-20 16:00 - 17:00
A Weber Chair In Modern European History recruitment talk by Stella Ghervas (Newcastle University, U.K.).
Link to RSVP to the Candidate Lecture.

Mutiny on the Black Prince: Slavery, Piracy, and State Capture in the Revolutionary Atlantic World
2022-04-21 12:30 - 14:00 | 6257 Bunche Hall
James Sweet, Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Mutiny on the Black Prince: Slavery, Piracy, and State Capture in the Revolutionary Atlantic World
Location: Hybrid
Bunche Hall 6275
Zoom RSVP
Time: 12:30-2:00 pm
The slave ship Black Prince departed Bristol, England, in 1768, bound for Old Calabar in West Africa. Before reaching the African coast, the ship’s crew mutinied, murdering the captain and officers. The mutineers renamed the ship “Liberty,” elected new officers, and set sail for Brazil. This talk traces the dramatic story of the mutiny, as well as the merchant-owners’ response to the uprising. At the very moment that the American Revolution unfolded in North America, the Black Prince’s owners conducted a “shadow” revolution, mobilizing the power of the British Crown to seek justice and restitution on their behalf. This counter-revolution extended well beyond the realm of economic protectionism into corporate diplomacy, surveillance, arrest, extradition, and capital punishment. In this way, even in an era of professed liberty and freedom, the privatization of state power was already emerging, replacing monarchies with corporate oligarchies, presaging a new kind of political power in the Atlantic world.

Brian J. Griffith Hosting Book Talk on Dr. Diana Garvin's Feeding Fascism
2022-04-22 11:00 - 12:00 | Zoom
Brian J. Griffith will be hosting a book talk on Dr. Diana Garvin’s recently published book, Feeding Fascism, in conjunction with his HIST 132 course on April 22nd from 11am to 12pm via Zoom.
Zoom registration: https://www.tinyurl.com/feeding-fascism

History of Science Colloquium: Alexandra Minna Stern (University of Michigan)
2022-05-02 16:00 - 17:30
May 2 Alexandra Minna Stern (University of Michigan)
“From State Coercion to Reparative Justice? Histories and Legacies of Eugenics and Sterilization in California”
Zoom RSVP: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEvdOmqrjojEtRUCEXGyTS_3KjPNovF6r6L
In Person RSVP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VuNtVVC2wj5HhtXpY9FXKdf43Tgp4W118aSpFY95x-E
This talk explores the history and legacies of eugenics and coerced sterilization in California from three angles. First, I provide an overview of the archival and collaborative research involved in reconstructing the demographic and contextual history of compulsory sterilization during the era of eugenic legislation (1909-1979). Second, I discuss the relevance of this history to contemporary issues in society and genetics, ranging from debates over acceptable building names on university campuses to the insidious biases of some reprogenetic technologies. Finally, I conclude by reflecting on the benefits and limits of reparations for eugenics, with specific attention to the recently implemented compensation program for survivors of coerced sterilizations in state-run homes, hospitals, and prisons in California.

2022 Eugene Weber Prize Recipient Judith G. Coffin, "Sex, Love and Letters: Writing Simone de Beauvoir"
2022-05-03 16:00 - 17:00 | 6257 Bunche Hall
Judith G. Coffin, winner of the 2022 Eugen Weber Book Prize in French History, will speak about her beautifully written book, Sex, Love, and Letters: Writing Simone de Beauvoir, which explores the neglected archive of letters written to Simone de Beauvoir by ordinary women and men. This innovative cultural history examines the twentieth century as an embodied experience, showing the intimate connections between the geopolitical and the personal.

The History of Gender & Sexuality Workshop
2022-05-05 09:00 - 15:30 | 6257 Bunche Hall

Why History Matters: China, Russia, and the US: Enduring Legacies of the Cold War
2022-05-10 16:00 - 2022-09-01 17:00
~ A RECORDING OF THIS EVENT IS NOW AVAILABLE. ~
Zoom RSVP Here

6th Annual Undergraduate History Conference - "Intersectionality, Movements, and Resistance"
2022-05-13 10:00 - 14:30 | Zoom

History of Science Colloquium: Ylva Soederfeldt (Uppsala/ UCLA)
2022-05-16 16:00 - 17:30
May 16 Ylva Soederfeldt (Uppsala/ UCLA)
“Acting out Disease: Patient Organizations in Twentieth-Century Medicine”
Zoom RSVP: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMod-qhqz0oE9RdqRTVRaedLGCFEIrVhUfd
In Person RSVP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1b1K-Jc87ZdjECauHsSaH4JWGu4G-t30dAoQfsk3SHbQ

Integrating Central and Eastern Europe into Atlantic History: Some Reflections
2022-05-19 12:30 - 14:00

Data Deluges: Histories Past and Present
2022-09-15 09:30 - 2022-09-16 17:00 | Royce 306
“Data Deluges: Histories Past and Present” a conference organized by Ted Porter
September 14 and 15
Royce 306
RSVP: cbellwilson@g.ucla.edu
For more details, click here

Glenn Penny's "German History Unbound" Book Discussion
2022-10-17 16:00 | 6275 Bunche Hall
The European Colloquium will host a discussion of Glenn Penny’s new book, “German History Unbound” on Monday October 17, at 4 PM in 6275 Bunche Hall. The discussant is Professor Carina Johnson of Pitzer College.

Euclid and Descartes on the Potomac: The Geometrical Battle for the National Capital” Presenter: Amir Alexander (UCLA)
2022-10-31 16:00 | Bunche 5288 & Zoom
In person RSVP
Zoom RSVP

Women in the Early Modern City: Suzhou and Paris
2022-11-07 12:00 - 15:00 | 6275 Bunche Hall
View the event flyer and register here

Cuba and Cape Verde: Revolutionary Connections across the Pan-African Atlantic
2022-11-10 12:00 - 13:30 | Bunche 6275 & Zoom
Zoom: RSVP

History of Science Colloquium: E. Bennett Jones (The Huntington Library)
2022-11-14 16:00 - 17:30 | Bunche 5288 & Zoom
The Indians Say: Storytelling, Settler Colonialism and American Natural History, 1722 to 1846
This talk discusses the use of information attributed to Indigenous sources within eighteenth and nineteenth century Anglophone natural history. Early modern naturalists studying North American flora and fauna frequently sought out the expertise of Indigenous people, who they simultaneously regarded as authoritative knowers and objects of study. But diplomatic alliances, specific cultural protocols, and regional dynamics all encouraged (or prevented) information sharing between settler naturalists and Indigenous people and these contexts in turn shaped how Anglophone naturalists presented and cited Indigenous expertise in published natural history. The talk explores the relationship between evidence, identity, and colonialism and examines how ideas about extraction and information underpinned the epistemology of early modern natural history. It also gestures towards present-day manifestations of these issues within scientific approaches to TEK (traditional ecological knowledge).

RSVP for Zoom: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEodO6vqzMuHdyICRUzt3ost8nF5jHEO8TX
RSVP for in-person: https://forms.gle/4YpigVHmijybhVYv9

Where Memory Leads: A Conversation with Saul Friedländer (with Sanjay Subrahmanyam)
2022-11-21 16:00 | 6275 Bunche Hall
More info to come.

Atlantic History Colloquium: Melissa Morris, Assistant Professor of History, University of Wyoming
2022-12-01 12:00 - 13:30 | Bunche 6275 & Zoom
Pirates which infest that coast’: Illicit Trade and Imperial Rivalry in Seventeenth-Century Western Hispaniola
This presentation considers the illicit trade of tobacco and other goods from Western Hispaniola. French, Dutch, and English ships came from the 1560s to trade with the diverse groups living there—Indigenous, Spanish, and African. In response, in 1605-6, western and northwestern Hispaniola and other centers of tobacco cultivation were depopulated. The Spanish forcibly resettled residents, burned their towns, and issued a decree banning tobacco cultivation. These harsh measures, however, were far from the end of the island’s tobacco trade, or of interlopers’ presence. Some residents refused to move, and they were now joined by French and Dutch buccaneers. By 1630, they had several tobacco plantations in western Hispaniola. This chapter relies upon documents in several languages and from diverse archives to tell the story of the Spanish illicit trade and depopulations, the subsequent rise of interlopers who were loyal to no empire, and the eventual takeover of western Hispaniola by the French.
Zoom RSVP

Dr. Elise Mitchell, History of Medicine, "Morbid Geographies: Smallpox and Slavery in the Early Modern Atlantic"
2023-01-24 16:00 | 6275 Bunche Hall
RSVP Link: https://forms.office.com/r/vWQgY5yDQs

Dr. Lucas Mueller, History of Medicine, “Global Toxins: Cancer and Environmental Health after Empire"
2023-01-30 16:00 | 6275 Bunche Hall

Dr. Devon Golaszewski, History of Medicine, "'Traditional Birth Attendants' and the Maternity Ward in Post-Colonial Mali"
2023-02-01 16:00
RSVP Here
