Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast

Dr. Brenna Greer, "African Americans and the Photographic Seat of Honour"

‘Why do people look at Black people the way they do?’ This is the central provocation of our guest scholar's work. Dr Brenna Greer is an African Americanist and Associate Professor of History at Wellesley College. Her work traverses the histories of culture, race, gender, and, more recently, citizenship in the United States. We discuss her paper, “African Americans and the Photographic Seat of Honour,” which emerges from her ongoing project examining self-portraits created by African Americans, particularly in the nineteenth century.Questions of historical process and causality drive her research: How did these portraits shape ideals and images of Blackness? And how might they help teach students and wider publics about the Black past—Black freedom, activism, and protest?Co-hosts: Megan Renoir (PhD Candidate) researches Indigenous sovereignty and land conflict. Megan’s recent publication looked at“Recognition as Resilience: How an Unrecognized Indigenous Nation is Using Visibility as a Pathway Toward Restorative Justice". Sam Lanevi (PhD Candidate) researches World War II fraternization and war bride policy with a particular focus on German and Japanese war brides.Editing, production and cover art by Daisy Semmler (Cantab MPhil Graduate).Thanks for listening.This episode was recorded on 26/5/2025.

Dr. Kaeten Mistry, "Exposure: How State Secret Disclosures Helped Construct and Undermine the Cold War Consensus"

Dr Kaeten Mistry discusses his current research on the history of secrecy and the tensions it raises between civil liberties and national security. This draws from Chapter 2 of his current book project, The Secrecy Regime (working title), which traces U.S. state secrecy from its early twentieth-century origins to the present.Dr Mistry is a scholar of the United States and the world, specialising in foreign relations, the international and transnational history of the Cold War, and more recently, cultures of secrecy and intelligence. He has also worked on aspects of modern European history, in particular: Italy.This was recorded on 19/5/2025. Co-hosts: Megan Renoir (PhD Candidate) researches Indigenous sovereignty and land conflict. Megan’s recent publication looked at“Recognition as Resilience: How an Unrecognized Indigenous Nation is Using Visibility as a Pathway Toward Restorative Justice,”. Mary Foster (Megan's sister) is a third-year undergraduate student at McGill University, majoring in History with a minor in medieval studies.Editing, production and cover art by Daisy Semmler (Cantab MPhil graduate).Thanks for listening.

Dr. Kaisha Esty, ““Live as Becomes a Free Christian Woman”: Freedwomen and State-Sanctioned Reform in the Era of Emancipation.”

Please note that this episode contains discussion of sexual violence.This week, PhD candidates Sam Lanevi and Megan Renoir sit down with Dr. Kaisha Esty to discuss her current research project.Dr. Esty is Assistant Professor of History, African American Studies, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She’s on sabbatical this year as an AAUW postdoctoral fellow and resident fellow at the Rothermere American Institute.Her work explores the lives of African American women in the nineteenth century, during the transition from slavery to emancipation. She focuses on the strategies and values that shaped their intimate lives and sense of self, situating these within the broader context of U.S. nation building and westward expansion.The article Kaisha refers to is linked here: Kaisha Esty, ““I Told Him to Let Me Alone, That He Hurt Me”: Black Women and Girls and the Battle over Labor and Sexual Consent in Union-Occupied Territory,” Labor (2022) 19 (1): 32–51. https://doi.org/10.1215/15476715-9475702Co-hosts: Megan Renoir (PhD Candidate) researches the history of US land institutions, 19th and 20th century federal Indian policy, and violence against the NCRNT, with the aim of informing and expanding our understanding of the relationships between federalism, Western property institutions and intractable land conflicts.Sam Lanevi (PhD Candidate) researches World War II fraternization and war bride policy with a particular focus on German and Japanese war brides.Editing, production and cover art by Daisy Semmler (Cambridge MPhil Graduand). 

Dr. Lydia Walker, “We Don’t Call Them Wars Anymore: International Intervention and the United Nations.”

“We Don’t Call Them Wars Anymore,” explores the history of international intervention after the Second World War, and how the role of the United Nations has shifted over time.We speak with Dr. Lydia Walker, Assistant Professor and Myers Chair in Global Military History at Ohio State University, and author of the multiple award-winning book ‘States-in-Waiting: A Counter Narrative of Global Decolonisation’ (Cambridge University Press, 2024). In our conversation, you’ll hear how and why she pays attention to so-called “border walkers”, the historical actors involved in a UN Observer Mission in Kashmir, a region of conflict related to the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. The UN Kashmir mission was deemed successful precisely because no one outside the region knew it existed.“So,” Dr. Walker asks, “What does it mean to have an observer mission that performs best when it’s unobserved?”The scholarship suggested for consultation at (04:30) is: Mridu Rai, “Kashmir: From Princely State to Insurgency,” Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Asian History, 2018.Hosts: PhD Candidate Caleb Woodall - Caleb’s research concerns the material and intellectual lives of America’s WW2 conscientious objectors. I am particularly interested in the ways in which gender shaped their experiencesPhD Candidate Megan Renoir - researches Indigenous sovereignty and land conflict. Megan’s recent publication looked at“Recognition as Resilience: How an Unrecognized Indigenous Nation is Using Visibility as a Pathway Toward Restorative Justice." Editing, production and cover art by Daisy Semmler.

Dr. Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey, 'Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: The Making of a Pan-African North America'

Dr. Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey (Nii Laryea Osabu I, Atrékor Wé Oblahii kè Oblayéé Mantsè) — Associate Professor of History and William Dawson Scholar at McGill University — discusses his book: 'Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: The Making of a Pan-African North America '(The University of North Carolina Press, 2023). His book examines how African-descended peoples engaged in liberation movements based on their shared Black and African identities. Temporally, it spans the long 20th century, from late Reconstruction to the year 2000.Adjetey employs nuanced notions of the concept ‘Pan-Africanism’ in his book. The ‘big’ Pan-Africanism encompasses the self-determination and emancipation of the African continent and its peoples; while other, ‘lowercase Pan-Africanisms’ emphasise Black pride and cultural identity, without always being tied to nation-building.Co-hosts: Darold Cuba, PhD Candidate. Darold researches how Black landowners forged autonomous “freedom colonies” after emancipation, linking their resistance to Jim Crow racism to a global tradition of post-emancipation marronage.Megan Renoir, PhD Candidate. Megan’s area of focus is Indigenous sovereignty and land conflict. Editing, production and cover art by Daisy Semmler. Thanks for listening. Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction(02:39) The Genesis of ‘Cross-Border Cosmopolitans’(05:19) Primary Intervention in the Broader Historiography(09:03) Unpacking ‘Pan-Africanisms’(12:35) The Stories Being Told(21:15) Canada, Borderlands, and Cross-Border Dynamics(25:54) The Significance of Mobility(30:15) Dr Adjetey’s Research Process(40:19) Lessons and Takeaways