History Talk Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated existing trends that put at risk the viability of many colleges and universities, as well as that of the towns and cities in which they are located. With the post-COVID-19 shift to more remote work, and millions of people moving to more affordable and livable cities, a place that wants to attract talent will require a thriving academic environment. This represents a new opportunity for “town and gown” to create dynamic, thriving communities. Associate Professor David Staley outlines a talent magnet strategy that offers colleges and towns a plan of action for regeneration, affording institutions of higher learning the opportunity to reinvent themselves and become talent magnets.



Panelists:

David Staley is an historiographer, writer, designer, futurist, and journalist. He is an Associate Professor in the Departments of History, Design and Educational Studies at The Ohio State University.

Nicholas Breyfogle (Moderator), Associate Professor of History and Director, Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching, The Ohio State University.

Facing the harrowing task of rebuilding a life in the wake of the Holocaust, many Jewish survivors, community and religious leaders, and Allied soldiers viewed marriage between Jewish women and military personnel as a way to move forward after unspeakable loss. Proponents believed that these unions were more than just a ticket out of war-torn Europe: they would help the Jewish people repopulate after the attempted annihilation of European Jewry.



Historian Robin Judd, whose grandmother survived the Holocaust and married an American soldier after liberation, introduces us to the Jewish women who lived through genocide and went on to wed American, Canadian, and British military personnel after the war. She offers an intimate portrait of how these unions emerged and developed—from meeting and courtship to marriage and immigration to life in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom—and shows how they helped shape the postwar world by touching thousands of lives, including those of the chaplains who officiated their weddings, the Allied authorities whose policy decisions structured the couples' fates, and the bureaucrats involved in immigration and acculturation. The stories Judd tells are at once heartbreaking and restorative, and she vividly captures how the exhilaration of the brides' early romances coexisted with survivor's guilt, grief, and apprehension at the challenges of starting a new life of starting a new life in a new land.


Robin E. Judd is an Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University, Director of the Hoffman Leaders and Leadership in History Program, and President of the Association for Jewish Studies.

Nicholas Breyfogle (Moderator) is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching at The Ohio State University.

Conflict has defined Arab-Israeli relationships for many decades, with the interstate warfare of the 1940s-1980s giving way in the 1990s and after to a roiling confrontation between the State of Israel and the Palestinian people of the Israeli-occupied territories.

Since the 1940s, the United States has striven to contain, manage, or resolve the conflict, with some notable successes and numerous pronounced failures. While not without precedent, the crisis that erupted in early October 2023 marks an especially difficult, deadly and portentous phase of conflict, and thus poses acute policy dilemmas for U.S. officials who seek to achieve stability and peace in the region.

In this webinar, Professor Peter L. Hahn analyzes the complicated situation in Gaza in its historical and contemporary contexts, focusing on the American role and aiming to bring clarity and balanced perspective about this difficult and dangerous moment in the Middle East.


This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

The rural roads that led to our planet-changing global economy ran through the American South. Acclaimed scholar Bart Elmore explores that region's impact on the interconnected histories of business and ecological change. He uses the histories of five southern firms—Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Walmart, FedEx and Bank of America—to investigate the environmental impact of our have-it-now, fly-by-night, buy-on-credit global economy.



Drawing on exclusive interviews with company executives, corporate archives and other records, Elmore explores the historical, economic, and ecological conditions that gave rise to these five trailblazing corporations. He then considers what each has become: an essential presence in the daily workings of the global economy and an unmistakable contributor to the reshaping of the world's ecosystems. Even as businesses invest in sustainability initiatives and respond to new calls for corporate responsibility, Elmore shows the limits of their efforts to “green” their operations and offers insights on how governments and activists can push corporations to do better.

Bart Elmore is Professor of Environmental History and Core Faculty, Sustainability Institute, The Ohio State University.

Nicholas Breyfogle (Moderator), is Associate Professor of History and Director, Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching, The Ohio State University.


If you'd like to learn more about Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet or to purchase the book, please visit https://uncpress.org/book/9781469673332/country-capitalism/

Join world-renowned historian Geoffrey Parker for a definitive history of the Spanish Armada. In July 1588 the Spanish Armada sailed from Corunna to conquer England. Three weeks later an English fireship attack in the Channel—and then a fierce naval battle—foiled the planned invasion. Many myths still surround these events. The genius of Sir Francis Drake is exalted, while Spain’s efforts are belittled. But what really happened during that fateful encounter? In his recent book, Armada, (co-authored with Colin Martin), Parker draws on archives from around the world and deploys vital new evidence from Armada shipwrecks off the coasts of Ireland and Scotland. In a gripping account, he will provide a fresh understanding of how the rival fleets came into being; how they looked, sounded, and smelled; and what happened when they finally clashed. Looking beyond the events of 1588 to the complex politics which made war between England and Spain inevitable, and at the political and dynastic aftermath, Armada deconstructs the many legends to reveal why, ultimately, the bold Spanish mission failed.

Geoffrey Parker is a Distinguished University Professor and Andreas Dorpalen Professor of European History at the Ohio State University. His book, Armada, can be found at https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300259865/armada/.

Nicholas Breyfogle, Moderator, is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching at Ohio State University.

On August 4, 1983, Captain Thomas Sankara led a coalition of radical military officers, communist activists, labor leaders, and militant students to overtake the government of the Republic of Upper Volta. Almost immediately following the coup’s success, the small West African country—renamed Burkina Faso, or Land of the Dignified People—gained international attention as it charted a new path toward social, economic, cultural, and political development based on its people’s needs rather than external pressures and Cold War politics. Join James E. Genova as he recounts in detail the revolutionary government’s rise and fall, demonstrating how it embodied the critical transition period in modern African history between the era of decolonization and the dawning of neoliberal capitalism. He will uncover one of the revolution’s most enduring and significant aspects: its promotion of film as a vehicle for raising the people’s consciousness, inspiring their efforts at social transformation, and articulating a new self-generated image of Africa and Africans. The talk is based on Genova’s new book Making New People: Politics, Cinema, and Liberation in Burkina Faso, 1983–1987 and spotlights the revolution’s lasting influence throughout Africa and the world.



Speaker: James E. Genova, Professor of History, The Ohio State University

Moderator: Nicholas Breyfogle, Associate Professor of History and Director, Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching



This is a production of the College of Arts & Sciences and Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit http://origins.osu.edu.



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