UC Santa Cruz History graduate students represented our department well at the 2024 American Historical Association meeting in San Francisco. The conference ran from January 4th to 7th.
Several students shared their research with conference attendees. Two students presented posters. Audrey Zhao’s was titled “Ginseng Comes Full Circle: From Peking to New York,” while Piper Milton shared "Scents in Colonial Sonora: A Sensory Approach to Early Modern Natural Knowledge.” Others presented papers as members of panels. Joshua Tan offered "From Third China to Free Asia: Working Through Missionary Archives in the Transpacific Cold War," as part of panel titled Framing Borders in Material and Visual Archives: Tracing Voices, Resilience, and Transnational Mobilities, and Jonathan VanHarmlen shared "Bishop James Walsh and Father Hugh Lavery: Two Case Studies of Support for Japanese Americans,” as a member of Into the Fold: Japanese Americans and the Catholic Church. Claira Bergamini shared her thoughts as a member of the panel “Resettlement: Chicago Story—A Cinematic Digital History Project,” which offered information about this digital history project that explores how people of Japanese ancestry remade their lives after their incarceration during WWII. Also participating on this panel was UCSC Dean of Humanities Jasmine Alinder.
Other students participated by attending sessions, networking, browsing the book exhibit, and enjoying the sights and cuisine of San Francisco. All reports suggest the conference was an excellent experience for presenters and attendees alike. They appreciated the range of panels, the opportunities for conversation and making professional connections, and being able to connect with other UCSC graduate students and faculty at a conference. They recommend attending future AHA meetings to their peers.
