UTSA History Department

10/20/2021

Call for Papers

“Racial Justice and Policing in Texas”
Inaugural John L. Nau III Conference on Texas History

University of Texas at San Antonio
March 24, 2022

The University of Texas at San Antonio History Department invites paper proposals on “Racial Justice and Policing in Texas” for the inaugural John L. Nau III Conference on Texas History. The conference will take place on March 24, 2022, on the University’s campus. UTSA’s History Department seeks to facilitate the development and exchange of historical scholarship on the state by hosting an annual John L. Nau III Conference featuring leading and emerging scholars in related fields. Reflecting the Department’s strength in research and teaching in the theme of “empires, states, and borders,” the annual conference will focus on a number of related historical topics, including racial justice and the Civil War, that put the dynamic history of Texas into a larger context.
Across the United States, police take on an incredible and taxing responsibility: the duty of keeping people and their neighborhoods safe. It is a job for which communities are willing to vest much power and authority in police forces. While that power and authority have commonly been used for the good of citizens, they have also too often been wielded questionably. Thus, the relationship between police and some communities has been fraught with tension that has sometimes escalated to violence. Examples in Texas—from the notoriously problematic treatment of Mexicans and Mexican Americans along the border by the Texas Rangers since the mid-nineteenth century to the gross misuse of undercover policing against African Americans in Tulia—illustrate the historical and ongoing need for police transparency and accountability. Against a national backdrop of related discussions, we invite scholars to propose papers that engage the topics of racial justice and policing in Texas.
We invite individual proposals for 20-minute papers from faculty, independent scholars, and graduate students. Proposals should include a title, an abstract of no more than 300 words, and a brief CV. Selected proposals will be organized into conference panels. The conference will also feature a keynote address from Dr. Monica Muñoz Martinez, associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas, a co-founder of the Refusing to Forget Project, and the recent recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.

Please submit proposals to [email protected]. Proposals must be submitted by November 15th, 2021.

06/30/2020

Still considering which History courses to add to your fall schedule? Please consider the below FULLY ONLINE options:

HIS 2573.001- Introduction to African Civilization
CRN 19336
Taught by: Dr. Rhonda Gonzales

An introduction to the major historical and historiographical problems in the experience of Africa from the earliest times to the present. The course will expose students to a variety of intellectual approaches and to the diversity of African history. May be applied toward the Core Curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy and Culture.

HIS 2583.001- Introduction to South Asian Civilization
CRN 15094
Taught by: Dr. Anne Hardgrove

This course explores the history, cultures, religions, and civilization of the Indian subcontinent from earliest times to the present. It begins with prehistory and the Indus civilization, the migration and settlement of the Aryans, the ancient empires of the Maurya and Gupta, and the Islamic conquest. The rise and fall of various Muslim kingdoms of the Mughal Empire, British colonial rule, the nationalist movements and independence of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are also discussed. May be applied toward the Core Curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy and Culture.

HIS 2533.001- Introduction to Latin American Civilization
CRN 19394
Taught by: Dr. Andrew Konove

An introduction to Latin America examining the broader topics that shaped its history. These topics may include Native American societies; the encounter between Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans; the post-Independence era; the different paths toward nation-building; the nature of authoritarian regimes; the impact of revolutions; and the cultural development of Latin America and its historiography. May be applied toward the Core Curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy and Culture.

HIS 2543.001- Introduction to Islamic Civilization
CRN 18121
Taught by: Dr. Ali Atabey*

An introduction to the role of Islam in world history from the Prophet and the founding of the Umayyad Caliphate to the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. Primary focus will be on the Ottoman Empire, its institutions and culture, and its interaction with Western civilization. May be applied toward the Core Curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy and Culture.

*We are thrilled to welcome Dr.Ali Atabey to the UTSA History Department. Dr. Atabey earned his PhD from the University of Arizona specializing in seventeenth-century Ottoman and Middle Eastern history and early modern Mediterranean history. He received his MA from Sabanci University in Istanbul with a thesis that analyzed the links between legal credibility and socio-economic status in early modern Ottoman legal culture. Ali’s broad interests include cross-cultural and cross-religious interactions and socio-legal history. He received an SSRC Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship in 2015, and a Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF), which allowed him to conduct archival research in Turkey, UK, and France during the 2016-17 academic year for his dissertation project. He recently defended his dissertation which is titled “Crossing Borders in the Early Modern Mediterranean: Identity, Religion, and Space in Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Galata”. By utilizing legal court records among other sources, his dissertation provides a social history of Galata and focuses on intercommunal relations between different ethnic and religious communities that inhabited the district. He is currently working on an article focusing on the emancipation of Muslim captives in the seventeenth-century Mediterranean.

HIS 3303.001- History of Mexico
CRN 19393
Taught by: Dr. Andrew Konove

An overview of Mexican history from the pre-Columbian indigenous civilizations to the present. The course will cover the peopling of Mexico, the conquest, the formation of colonial society, independence, the Mexican American War, the liberal reforms, the Porfiriato, and the Mexican Revolution.

06/29/2020

We are thrilled to offer two more classes on our Fall 2020 schedule:

HIS 2533.001- Latin American Civilization
CRN 19394
Internet course
Taught by: Andrew Konove

HIS 3303.001- History of Mexico
CRN 19393
Internet course
Taught by: Andrew Konove

Space is limited, so please register immediately if you’re interested in either of these classes. Changes are constantly being made to the Fall schedule, so please check it often to stay up to date on any class changes you might experience.

06/15/2020

Dr. Crystal Webster has published a new article with the Washington Post!

What’s at stake in debates about police in schools.

06/12/2020

On this day in History

1931: Al Capone and 68 of his henchmen are indicted on 5,000 separate counts of violations of prohibition and tax evasion.

06/12/2020

Contributed by Dr. Catherine Nolan-Ferrell

06/11/2020

On this day in History

1144: Basilica of St. Denis is dedicated near Paris, the first fully Gothic church.

06/11/2020

Contributed by Professor Neel Baumgardner

06/10/2020

Contributed by Tara Thompson:

06/05/2020

A statement from the UTSA History Department.

06/05/2020

Contributed by Professor John Carr-Shanahan

06/04/2020

in History

1989: Thousands die in the Tiananmen Square Massacre

Chinese troops with tanks and armored cars stormed Tiananmen Square killing hundreds of protesters when firing into the crowd indiscriminately and arresting thousands of pro democracy protesters some of who are still in jail.