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Editor: Seth Ford,
histnews@grinnell.edu
Web pages maintained by pricel@grinnell.edu
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Convocation
and the
British Empire
By: Seth
Ford
In February,
Roger Louis, Professor of History at the University of Texas
at Austin and current President of the American Historical Association,
related his experiences in compiling and editing the recent
edition of the Oxford History of the British Empire. Professor
Louis discussed in-depth the historical and political complications
of putting together such a massive, multi-volume work.
From time
to time, he had to deal with British politicians and critics
who questioned if an American could adequately oversee and represent
the British heritage. Professor Louis briefly discussed the
problems involved with defining the 'British Empire,' explaining
for example his decision to include sections on China and Latin
America in the volume on the nineteenth century. He also discussed
the challenges involved in recruiting a truly international
team of scholars for the project, including whenever possible
historians from the countries most affected by British rule.
He read detailed quotations from British critics of his project,
who expressed anxiety that the younger generation would forget
that moral and progressive aims sometimes guided British imperial
rule, but Professor Louis concluded by expressing the hope that
America today would learn to avoid the 'arrogance' in dealing
with foreign cultures that was so often displayed by Great Britain
during its imperial heyday.
Student
News
Josh
Blue, '01 - will be teaching in Nanjing after graduation.
Maggie
Campbell - won the "RJ McElroy Trust Award for the Best
Essay by a College Student" as a part of the University of Northern
Iowa's Celebrating Critical Writing Conference that was held
on March 30 in Cedar Falls. She won the award for a paper entitled
"Working With Gender" that she wrote for Prof. Brown's History
of Women in the U.S. class last spring. It was essentially a
biographical study of one of her aunts and her paternal grandmother
that she had written for a family history paper assignment.
Also, the award was accompanied by a very appreciated $500 check!
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