Home  >  American Studies

Category: American Studies

February 10, 2022

How Searching for Chex Mix during the Pandemic Heightened my Appreciation for Food Studies

The following is a guest blog post from Jennifer Jensen Wallach, author of Every Nation Has Its Dish: Black Bodies and Black Food in Twentieth-Century America. Jennifer Jensen Wallach’s nuanced history of black foodways across the twentieth century challenges traditional narratives of “soul food” as a singular style of historical African American cuisine. Wallach investigates the experiences and diverse convictions… Continue Reading How Searching for Chex Mix during the Pandemic Heightened my Appreciation for Food Studies

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Cooking / Food/Guest Bloggers
February 8, 2022

Black History Month 2022 Reading List: Black Resistance

As you may already now, February is Black History Month. The history of black people should be celebrated at all times, but in February, we shine an extra special light on it. Black History Month began as Negro History Week in February 1926, created by historian Carter G. Woodson. In 1976, the celebration was expanded to a month. We’ll be… Continue Reading Black History Month 2022 Reading List: Black Resistance

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/African American History/African American Studies/American Studies/Education/Environmental Studies/Gender Studies/History/Literature/Music/Political Science/Reading Lists/Southern Studies/Women's Studies
February 1, 2022

The Hidden Histories of American Food Reform

The following is a guest blog post from Jennifer Jensen Wallach, author of Every Nation Has Its Dish: Black Bodies and Black Food in Twentieth-Century America. Jennifer Jensen Wallach’s nuanced history of black foodways across the twentieth century challenges traditional narratives of “soul food” as a singular style of historical African American cuisine. Wallach investigates the experiences and diverse convictions… Continue Reading The Hidden Histories of American Food Reform

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Cooking / Food/Guest Bloggers
January 28, 2022

MDAH’s History Is Lunch series featuring author Berkley Hudson, “Pruitt’s Historical Columbus Photographs”

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History recently featured Berkley Hudson, author of O. N. Pruitt’s Possum Town: Photographing Trouble and Resilience in the American South, in their History Is Lunch series. Sponsored by the John and Lucy Shackelford Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation for Mississippi, History Is Lunch is a weekly lecture series that explores different aspects of the… Continue Reading MDAH’s History Is Lunch series featuring author Berkley Hudson, “Pruitt’s Historical Columbus Photographs”

Categories American Studies/History/Photography/Video
January 18, 2022

O. N. Pruitt’s Possum Town: Listening To Pictures

The following is an excerpt from Berkley Hudson’s O. N. Pruitt’s Possum Town: Photographing Trouble and Resilience in the American South. Photographer O. N. Pruitt (1891–1967) was for some forty years the de facto documentarian of Lowndes County, Mississippi, and its county seat, Columbus–known to locals as “Possum Town.” His body of work recalls many FSA photographers, but Pruitt was… Continue Reading O. N. Pruitt’s Possum Town: Listening To Pictures

Categories American Studies/Excerpts/History/Photography
January 12, 2022

Hot Off The Press: January 2022

We’re publishing some great books this month! Read below to learn more about these exceptional titles. Don’t forget, our Holiday Sale is going on until January 31st. You can save 40% on ALL UNC Press print books and if your order totals $75 or more, the shipping is FREE! Enter code 01HOLIDAY at checkout to receive the discount. Published: PERMANENT… Continue Reading Hot Off The Press: January 2022

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Hot Off The Press/Latin American & Caribbean Studies/Military History/Photography/Political Science/Science/UNC Press News
January 11, 2022

Chronicling Stankonia: The Mountaintop Ain’t Flat

To celebrate Regina Bradley’s Chronicling Stankonia being featured on Blackfeminisms.com’s Academic Books by and About Black Women – 2021 Edition list, we’ve decided to share an excerpt from the book. This vibrant book pulses with the beats of a new American South, probing the ways music, literature, and film have remixed southern identities for a post–civil rights generation. For scholar… Continue Reading Chronicling Stankonia: The Mountaintop Ain’t Flat

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Excerpts/Literature/Music
January 10, 2022

Creating Consumers: Envisioning the Rational Consumer, 1900–1920

The following is an excerpt from Carolyn M. Goldstein’s Creating Consumers: Home Economists in Twentieth-Century America. Home economics emerged at the turn of the twentieth century as a movement to train women to be more efficient household managers. At the same moment, American families began to consume many more goods and services than they produced. To guide women in this… Continue Reading Creating Consumers: Envisioning the Rational Consumer, 1900–1920

Categories American Studies/Business/Excerpts/Women's Studies
January 6, 2022

National Technology Day: Recommended Reading List

January 6th marks National Technology Day. Technology has been a huge stepping stone in the advancement of so many cultures. From the technology we use in our everyday lives to NASA’s own technology used for space exploration, it’s always been closely connected to the overall progress of America. In celebration of National Technology Day, we’re sharing a recommended reading list… Continue Reading National Technology Day: Recommended Reading List

Categories American Studies/Business/Colonial, Revolutionary Era & Early American History/Cultural Studies/Gender Studies/Health / Medicine/Islamic Studies/Latino Studies/Literature/North Carolina/Public Policy/Reading Lists/Religion/Science/Sociology/Technology/Women's Studies
December 30, 2021

“A Nation of Descendants”, A conversation between author Francesca Morgan and Matt Rutherford for Newberry Library

Earlier this month, Newberry Library hosted a virtual “Meet the Author” event with Francesca Morgan, author of A Nation of Descendants: Politics and the Practice of Genealogy in U.S. History. Morgan spoke about her book with Newberry Curator of Genealogy Matt Rutherford. From family trees written in early American bibles to birther conspiracy theories, genealogy has always mattered in the… Continue Reading “A Nation of Descendants”, A conversation between author Francesca Morgan and Matt Rutherford for Newberry Library

Categories American Studies/Video
December 29, 2021

Steel Closets: Setting The Scene

The following is an excerpt from Anne Balay’s Steel Closets: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Steelworkers. Even as substantial legal and social victories are being celebrated within the gay rights movement, much of working-class America still exists outside the current narratives of gay liberation. In Steel Closets, Anne Balay draws on oral history interviews with forty gay, lesbian, and transgender… Continue Reading Steel Closets: Setting The Scene

Categories American Studies/Excerpts/Gender Studies/Labor Studies/LGBT Studies
December 20, 2021

Senior Editor Lucas Church’s Interview with Author of White Philanthropy Maribel Morey

The following is an interview between UNC Press’ Senior Editor Lucas Church and Maribel Morey, author of White Philanthropy: Carnegie Corporation’s An American Dilemma and the Making of a White World Order. Since its publication in 1944, many Americans have described Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma as a defining text on U.S. race relations. Here, Maribel Morey confirms with historical evidence what… Continue Reading Senior Editor Lucas Church’s Interview with Author of White Philanthropy Maribel Morey

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Political Science
December 15, 2021

Universal Human Rights Month: A Recommended Reading List

Nobody’s free until everybody’s free. Fannie Lou Hamer December marks the annual celebration of Universal Human Rights Month. The observance of this month began in 1948 when the U.N. wrote a document called The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document was created after World War II and was used to “properly define what human rights would be protected universally”.… Continue Reading Universal Human Rights Month: A Recommended Reading List

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/African American Studies/American Studies/Diplomatic History / International Affairs/Gender Studies/History/Labor Studies/Latin American & Caribbean Studies/Latino Studies/Law / Legal History/LGBT Studies/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/North Carolina/Political Science/Reading Lists/Sociology/Southern Studies/Women's Studies
December 8, 2021

New and Recently Released UNC Press Audiobooks

We are pleased to announce the availability of the following UNC Press titles in audiobook format (sample audio excerpts are available via the links below): Those Who Know Don’t Say: The Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State by Garrett Felber, published by Tantor Media Felber . . . examines how the Nation of Islam, and… Continue Reading New and Recently Released UNC Press Audiobooks

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Civil War/Cooking / Food/Creative Nonfiction/Cultural Studies/Islamic Studies/Labor Studies/Latino Studies/Military History/North Carolina/Political Science/Religion/UNC Press News
November 30, 2021

“Sovereign Entrepreneurs: Economic Identities”

The following is an excerpt from Courtney Lewis’ “Sovereign Entrepreneurs: Cherokee Small-Business Owners and the Making of Economic Sovereignty“. By 2009, reverberations of economic crisis spread from the United States around the globe. As corporations across the United States folded, however, small businesses on the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) continued to thrive. In this… Continue Reading “Sovereign Entrepreneurs: Economic Identities”

Categories American Studies/Business/Excerpts/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies
November 29, 2021

2021 Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting

Visit our virtual booth for the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting. You can browse our new and recent titles, connect with editor Elaine Maisner, and learn more about our Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks Series. New Titles in Middle East Studies Afropolitan Projects: Redefining Blackness, Sexualities, and Culture from Houston to Accra Anima Adjepong Planetary Specters: Race, Migration, and… Continue Reading 2021 Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/African American Studies/American Studies/Asian American Studies/Asian Studies/Diplomatic History / International Affairs/Environmental Studies/Islamic Studies/Labor Studies/Literature/Middle Eastern Studies/Political Science/Religion/Sociology/UNC Press News
November 29, 2021

“Crafting an Indigenous Nation: Beyond Feathered War Bonnets”

The following is an excerpt from Jenny Tone-Pah-Hote’s “Crafting an Indigenous Nation: Kiowa Expressive Culture in the Progressive Era”. In this in-depth interdisciplinary study, Jenny Tone-Pah-Hote reveals how Kiowa people drew on the tribe’s rich history of expressive culture to assert its identity at a time of profound challenge. Examining traditional forms such as beadwork, metalwork, painting, and dance, Tone-Pah-Hote… Continue Reading “Crafting an Indigenous Nation: Beyond Feathered War Bonnets”

Categories American Studies/Excerpts/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies
November 24, 2021

“Philanthropy and Power”, Author Maribel Morey in Conversation with Lucy Berholz, Khalil Anthony Johnson Jr., and Rob Reich at Stanford PACS

Last Week, UNC Press author of White Philanthropy Maribel Morey had a conversation with Wesleyan University’s Khalil Anthony Johnson, Jr. and Stanford PACS’ Rob Reich and Lucy Bernholz. In this conversation hosted by Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, they discuss the many intersections of philanthropy and power in U.S. history and the Present. Since its publication in 1944,… Continue Reading “Philanthropy and Power”, Author Maribel Morey in Conversation with Lucy Berholz, Khalil Anthony Johnson Jr., and Rob Reich at Stanford PACS

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Political Science/Video
November 16, 2021

Happy National Native American Heritage Month: A Reading List

Since 1990, November has been nationally celebrated as Native American Heritage Month. We take this month to honor the cultures, histories and contributions that Native people have made throughout the years. To help celebrate, we’ve curated a reading list of books from all Native American authors touching on different aspects of Native American life. We would also like to highlight… Continue Reading Happy National Native American Heritage Month: A Reading List

Categories American Studies/Anthropology/Business/History/Literature/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/Native American History/North Carolina/Reading Lists
November 9, 2021

Five Questions for Maribel Morey: Q&A with the Author of White Philanthropy

Happy tenth anniversary to University Press Week! This year’s Association of University Presses annual celebration, running from November 8-12, “welcomes all to ‘Keep UP’ with a decade of excellence and innovation.”  For UP Week’s annual blog tour, today’s specific theme, Surprise!, presses describe who or what has most surprised them in the past decade.We encourage you to visit these fellow UP press blogs today to… Continue Reading Five Questions for Maribel Morey: Q&A with the Author of White Philanthropy

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Political Science