ASEH Recent News
Approved by AHA Council, July 2020 - link to statement
All students benefit from studying history at the undergraduate level. The American Historical Association has, and will continue to, assist history departments in making the case for the imperative of historical learning and thinking in higher education.
The Association recognizes that the compounding crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic implications have resulted in a dramatic decline in higher education revenues. Given the uncertainties—financial, epidemiological, and otherwise—of the upcoming fall term, administrators confront difficult choices. As historians, we recognize that an unprecedented combination of circumstances complicates decision-making even further.
Wise decision-making by leaders in higher education, however, must be informed by historical perspective. Historians know how to take the long view. Their work, by its very nature, draws from, integrates, and synthesizes a variety of disciplines. Colleges and universities need these faculty members as participants in governance. The negative consequences of closing a history department would not take long to observe but would take years to reverse.
A glance at recent references in the media reveals that our discipline is an attractive target for the budgetary axe. Because history education prepares students for careers rather than jobs, its benefits are readily underestimated. This is especially ironic given that the historical knowledge and thinking that undergird the work of citizenship are arguably more essential now than ever. For this reason alone, history education must retain its vibrancy and institutional integrity.
The AHA recognizes that every discipline has a claim to its centrality to higher education; moreover, each institution has its own mission, its own priorities, and its own culture. What we ask, however, is that individuals making budgetary decisions in higher education respect the established principles and procedures of faculty governance and consult with faculty from all disciplines at their institution. We expect that leaders will prioritize the educational missions of their institutions in a manner consistent with the humane values that stand at the core of education itself.
The AHA stands prepared to help history departments state their case. The content and methodology of history are crucial to the education of intellectually agile graduates who are well-prepared to navigate dynamic work environments and participate fully in civic life. History students not only gain knowledge and develop insights and judgement that help them succeed in college and contribute to their communities; they also learn skills-in communication, analysis, cultural competence, and research, among others-that are consistently cited by employers as important credentials. To succeed in college, and subsequently to be effective participants in workplaces and communities, students must learn to evaluate one or more potentially competing accounts and interpretations of things that (ostensibly) happened in the recent or distant past-whether those are accounts of an election, a riot, a religious awakening, changes in workplaces, or an intellectual breakthrough. Citizens of a democratic republic need to be able to evaluate sources and evidence in a glut of digital information, and to think clearly in the midst of a cacophony of voices in the public sphere.
Several higher education institutions have recently closed or consolidated history departments, or laid off substantial numbers of historians. Others now contemplate such measures. Doing so comes at immense cost to students and to colleges and universities themselves, and to society as a whole. To eliminate or decimate a history department is a lose-lose proposition: it deprives students of essential learning and skills, even as it strips institutions of the essential perspectives and intellectual resources so necessary to confront the present and shape the future.
The following organizations have cosigned this statement:
Agricultural History Society American Catholic Historical Association American Journalism Historians Association American Society for Environmental History Association for the Study of African American Life and History Chinese Historians in United States Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender History Conference on Latin American History Coordinating Council for Women in History Forum on Early-Modern Empires and Global Interactions French Colonial Historical Society Hungarian Studies Association Immigration and Ethnic History Society Labor and Working-Class History Association National Council for Public History Organization of American Historians Sixteenth Century Society & Conference Society for Austrian and Habsburg History Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era Society for the History of Discoveries Society of Biblical Literature Society of Civil War Historians Southern Historical Association Western History Association
Approved by AHA Council, July 2020 - full statement here
COVID-19 is not just altering historians’ everyday life; it has also upended historical research. Although most university and college administrators have issued FAQs, guidelines, and resources that relate to the continuance of laboratory and human subjects research, they have not always addressed the conditions under which historians work or considered how to make accommodations for historical research during the pandemic. Moreover, in assessing productivity at this moment, it is imperative that university administrations recognize the distinctions among disciplines in types of research and to take into account the unusually burdensome tasks of teaching now affecting all instructors.
Historical research generally involves identifying and analyzing primary documents, which can include written, visual, aural, or material resources. Archives, special collections at historical societies and libraries, museums, historic sites, and other repositories typically hold these materials. In many cases, scholars must travel to a particular archive to consult materials that are not available for external loan or in digital form. University departments and divisions, government sources of funding, and private sources such as foundations frequently support such research. Presently, however, domestic and international travel is prohibited or limited by many institutions, and many of these entities are suspending or postponing distribution of research money and cancelling fellowship competitions. Such actions are delaying or inhibiting historical research for an indefinite period. In addition, students and non-tenure-track and contingent faculty are in many cases experiencing restrictions to onsite-only library privileges. For graduate students, limited access to research is extending time to graduation. For early career scholars, limited research access is already slowing the publication of articles and books on which employment and tenure decisions are largely based. Lack of access to research materials also potentially disadvantages mid-level scholars in the promotion process.
At the same time, repositories that safeguard and allow access to researchers have suffered staff layoffs, lost revenue, and in many cases the closing of their doors. The tasks of librarians, archivists, and curators have multiplied; they have taken on new public health training duties while continuing to try to answer reference questions in the absence of shelf access. Future conservation and digitization projects have been put on hold. Libraries are instead engaging in many cases in rapid-response collecting initiatives to capture peoples’ experiences during the pandemic. Serving researchers under such conditions is difficult at best.
The AHA recognizes that sustaining historical research during the COVID-19 crisis requires flexible and innovative approaches to the conduct of research itself as well as to how we gauge productivity. To that end, the AHA makes the following observations and recommendations.
Because PhD students and early career scholars are especially disadvantaged right now, we suggest the following:
Evaluators of scholarship and dissertation and thesis advisors should keep in mind current limitations on research access when evaluating scholarly work. Now is the time to acknowledge a wider range of scholarly productivity. Under the current circumstances, several ways exist to facilitate historical research:
Departments, universities, and employers of historians should consider ways to document how the crisis is affecting research, writing, and the ability to disseminate research by introducing appropriate accommodations to the rate of productivity while preserving existing standards of quality. Advisors, chairs, directors of programs, and administrators should work to ensure conditions that allow scholars to progress toward their goals and advance their careers. These include:
The following organizations have endorsed this statement:
African American Intellectual History Society Agricultural History Society American Folklore Society American Journalism Historians Association American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies American Society for Environmental History Association for Asian Studies Association for Computers and the Humanities Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Bibliographical Society of America Business History Conference Chinese Historians in United States College Art Association Committee on LGBT History Conference on Asian History Conference on Latin American History Coordinating Council for Women in History French Colonial Historical Society German Studies Association Historical Society for Twentieth-Century China Hungarian Studies Association Immigration and Ethnic History Society Labor and Working Class History Association Medieval Academy of America National Council on Public History North American Conference on British Studies Organization of American Historians Polish American Historical Association Sixteenth Century Society & Conference Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era Society for the History of Discoveries Society for Italian Historical Studies Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender Society of Architectural Historians Society of Civil War Historians Southern Historical Association Southern Labor Studies Association Western History Association World History Association
ASEH endorsed a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement concerning its decision to end visa exemptions for international students. The Modern Language Association drafted the letter and sent it this afternoon to Matthew T. Albence, the deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The letter text and signatories are here. Full text below.
In July 2020, the Modern Language Association and other members of the American Council of Learned Societies sent this letter to Matthew T. Albence, the deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
8 July 2020 Deputy Director Matthew W. Albence Immigration and Customs Enforcement By email to matthew.albence@ice.gov
Dear Deputy Director Albence,
The higher education community represented by the undersigned disciplinary societies urges Immigration and Customs Enforcement to revisit its decision to end temporary visa exemptions for international students whose upcoming coursework will be entirely online. Colleges and universities alike depend on the presence, physical and online, of international visa holders, and many undergraduate and, especially, graduate students cannot complete their work without access to the archival, library, laboratory, and technical resources of their institutions, whether classes are being held entirely online or not.
International students are an important element of our institutions’ vitality and diversity, and the exemptions that were in place for spring and summer under the Student Exchange and Visitor Program allowed many students to remain connected to their US institutions during this unsettled time. Revoking those exemptions now will end the possibility of US study for international students, affecting both their futures and the futures of the institutions that have depended on and benefited from their contributions. These new restrictions will affect the futures of international students and will as profoundly affect the futures of the colleges and universities that depend on and benefit from their contributions. The increased financial burdens on US universities will be significant.
Please reinstate the temporary visa exemptions for international students and faculty members while we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, including at least the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters. The U.S. system of higher education has long attracted students from all over the world, and for good reason. Please do not refuse access to our colleges and universities for the estimated one million international students who would be affected by this change in policy.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
African Studies Association
American Academy of Religion
American Anthropological Association
American Comparative Literature Association Executive Committee
American Folklore Society
American Historical Association
American Musicological Society
American Political Science Association
American Schools of Oriental Research
American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
American Society for Environmental History
American Sociological Association
American Studies Association
Archaeological Institute of America
Association for Asian Studies
Association for Jewish Studies Executive Committee
Association for Research on Nonprofit Associations and Voluntary Action
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Bibliographical Society of America
Latin American Studies Association
Medieval Academy of America
Middle East Studies Association
Modern Language Association
National Communication Association
National Council of Teachers of English
National Council on Public History
North American Conference on British Studies
Organization of American Historians
Phi Beta Kappa Society
Shakespeare Association of America
Sixteenth Century Society and Conference
Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study
Society for Ethnomusicology
Society for Biblical Literature
Society for Classical Studies
Society for Music Theory
Society of Architectural Historians
World History Association
Dear Members and Colleagues,
The American Society for Environmental History has decided to postpone our April 2021 conference in Boston because we are not confident that Covid-19 will allow us to hold a large, in-person meeting this coming spring. We are extremely disappointed that we will not be able to see everyone. We are going to use next year as an opportunity to connect through regional meetings and local events that bring environmental historians together and environmental history to a wider audience - Environmental History Week.
Environmental History Week is an international celebration of environmental history, organized by environmental historians of all stripes to foster scholarly collaboration, academic research, teaching and public awareness of environmental history. It will take place April 19-25, 2021, and will coincide with Earth Day.
Please join us by organizing an event in your area, and sending information to us so we can publicize it on the Environmental History Week events calendar on the ASEH.org website. You can help diversify environmental history by inviting colleagues, scholars, and community-members who do not normally attend environmental history conferences to participate. Find collaborators by posting on H-Environment, other H-Net lists, and social media channels listed on the Environmental History Week website. ASEH will help connect people and organizations, and promote and amplify the events and good works in your communities.
Environmental History Week events can take many forms. In person, face-to-face events could be all-day mini-conferences; environmental history lectures on a campus or at a public library or museum; student presentations at a student research symposium; film series with audience discussions; field trips or tours, or hands-on projects in collaboration with nonprofits in your area; or a teacher training program for local K-12, community college, or graduate students. Digital events could be virtual conferences conducted on an online, video conference platform; streamed films with online discussions; self-guided field trips; or a virtual museum exhibit. Programs for all audiences are welcome. If you have other ideas for events, please share them. ASEH will maintain a calendar of affiliated events and promote all Environmental History Week activities. Check aseh.org for regular updates and information
Environmental History Week replaces the 2021 American Society for Environmental History conference in Boston. We are very grateful to the Boston Local Arrangements Committee for all their work. ASEH's annual meeting will return in 2022 in Eugene, Oregon; in 2023 ASEH will meet in Boston. In the meantime, Environmental History Week will provide rich opportunities for intellectual exchange, and for engaging the public, K-12 teachers, and scholars in adjacent fields in an era when global pandemic makes a large, international conference risky and unwise. We also hope that Environmental History Week will generate models for low-carbon alternatives to large academic conferences.
Please join us as we celebrate environmental history and help us bring our interests and knowledge to a broader public.
Thank you for your support.
ASEH has signed the AHA Statement on the History of Racist Violence in the United States.
The AHA has issued a statement urging a reckoning with the United States' deplorable record of violence against African Americans, a record that stretches back centuries. The killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers stands within this sordid national tradition of racist violence. It is past time for Americans to confront our nation's past, using insights from history to inform our actions as we work to create a more just society.
Dear ASEH Members,
I feel torn apart by recent events. The Covid-19 epidemic and job layoffs have caused terrible suffering in communities of color. In the midst of that crisis came the horrific killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Those murders are, of course, only the most recent examples of a long history of racism and injustice toward African Americans in the United States. Protestors have flooded into our streets to call for justice, and in too many cases police have responded to peaceful protest with violence.
In the midst of a terrible time, I am writing to say to all our members—and especially African Americans and members of other oppressed groups—that ASEH stands with you and condemns racism, injustice, and brutality. I do not pretend to know what it feels like to be African American, but anyone can see that we live in a world of pain. I too feel anger and despair.
Now, as ever, we must work diligently to enact our principles of equity and inclusion in ASEH, educational institutions, and all of society. I encourage all of us to contact colleagues, even by brief texts or emails, to let them know we support them. We need to be ready to listen and respond to colleagues who voice their experiences with racism and injustice. If there is a particular way in which I can help you, please let me know.
Edmund Russell
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