Post-Convention Wrap-Ups — AHA

We continue our recap (or really recap of recaps) of recent conventions with the American Historical Association’s meeting which was recently held in New York City. Given historians penchant for documenting, it is not surprising that there are a lot of scholars out there blogging and writing about the meeting. We’ve probably missed a few and the indispensable History News Network (HNN) will be providing their own rundown of the meeting in the next few days. In the meantime, here are some links of interest:

* On the Chronicle of Higher Education’s News blog there is a report on Gabrielle Spiegel’s presidential address in which provided a valedictory goodbye to postmodernist theory.

* Coverage of the AHA’s decision not to boycott next year’s meeting in San Diego over Proposition 8 can be found at Inside Higher Ed and at Tenured Radical, who calls for queer historians to show up in record numbers and use it as an opportunity for activism.

* A Youtube video of Historians Against the War panel.

* Mary Dudziak, writing for Legal History Blog has a post on the panel “Doing Transnational History,” which includes a mention of our new series Columbia Studies in International and Global History.

* Chapati Mystery includes a look at the conference from the vantage point of a South Asianist.

* Historiann had a “team of reporters” providing posts about the convention including ones focused on graduate studies and the value of historiography, what was happening on the book exhibit floor and the cult of celebrity at the AHA,

* Historying includes an interesting perspective of the use of digital media in the classroom and for the historical profession along with a look at the pros and cons of academic conferences.

* Religion in American History provides a helpful dispatch from the AHA Book Exhibit.

* The depressed job market is explored at Inside Higher Ed.

* Rate Your Students (again) provides a humorous/depressing look at the interviewing process and the highs and lows of the conference. For a sample of what you might find at RYS here’s an excerpt from their random live blog section:

“The Sheraton lobby is lousy with historians: you can spot them as the badly dressed types with laptops wandering round trying to find a free wireless signal (because travel allowances don’t include $15/day for internet at hotels).”