News

Mar 6, 2012

Food History: Q&A with Mark Kurlansky

Mark Kurlansky is the keynote speaker at the "Food and History: From Theory to Practice" conference being held at NC State May 4 - 5. Kurlansky is the best-selling author of “Cod,” “Salt,” “The Big Oyster” and other books focused on the story (and history) of food. He is the winner of the James Beard Award for food writing and the Bon Appetit Food Writer of the Year, among other awards. We recently caught up with Kurlansky to ask him a few questions about food ... and history.

Feb 28, 2012

Cedars in the Pines: The Lebanese of North Carolina

Cedars in the Pines, a documentary film produced as part of NC State's Khayrallah Program for Lebanese-American Studies, premiered at the NC Museum of History on March 28. The film represents the first phase of a multifaceted project to research, document, preserve, and publicize the history of the Lebanese-American community in North Carolina from the 1890s through the present.

Feb 2, 2012

Historical Blogging

Think our ancestors didn’t blog? Think again. Although the term blogging and our electronic way of doing it are relatively new, the general concept of disseminating information is not. As part of NC State’s History Weekend on February 17 – 18, 2012, the History Department is sponsoring a lecture by Dr. Robert Darnton, director of…

Jan 13, 2012

NC State’s First Female African-American Graduate Dies

Norma Wright Garcia, the first African-American female to earn an undergraduate degree from NC State, died Monday in a small town in Eastern North Carolina not far from the Sampson County farm where she grew up. Garcia was a public school teacher for 25 years. She was 68 at the time of her death. As…

Jan 4, 2012

Book Examines Middle Eastern Christianity

Akram Fouad Khater, professor and director of Middle East studies, has written a new book about the history of Middle Eastern Christianity. Embracing the Divine: Passion and Politics in the Christian Middle East (Syracuse University Press, 2011) tells the story of young 18th century nun, Hindiyya al–’Ujaimi, who underwent two Inquisitions after seeking to establish…

Nov 30, 2011

Tragic Pragmatism: Liberia and the United States, 1971-1985

Casper, Clifford. “Tragic Pragmatism: Liberia and the United States, 1971-1985.” (Under the direction of Dr. Nancy Mitchell.) The thesis focuses on the US-Liberian relationship from 1971-1985, a time when the cold war entered Africa. In 1975, Cuban troops poured into Angola, and in 1977 more Cubans entered Ethiopia. These events affected US relations with Liberia,…

Nov 4, 2011

The Polish Desk: Radio Free Europe, Zbigniew Brzezinksi, and Jimmy Carter’s Polish Policy 1976-1977

Trenor, Brian. “The Polish Desk: Radio Free Europe, Zbigniew Brzezinksi, and Jimmy Carter’s Polish Policy 1976-1977.” (Under the direction of Dr. Nancy Mitchell.) This thesis focuses on Jimmy Carter’s US-Polish policy as developed in the 1976 presidential campaign and employed in 1977. The policy was two-pronged: it sought to encourage both the Polish dissidents and…

Oct 13, 2011

Historian Explores the Consequences of Silver Mining

History lecturer Nicholas Robins, an expert on the environmental history of South America, exposes modern day consequences of silver-mining practices used by 16th century Spanish conquistadors in his guest blog series on NC State’s Abstract. In “Spanish Colonialism’s Environmental Legacy,” Robins reviews the history of mining in South America and its transformation into a modern…

Oct 6, 2011

NC State, UNC, Duke launch Japanese Studies Center

Three universities have launched a Triangle Center for Japanese Studies  that will support fellowships, research, seminars, travel, guest speakers, and library development. North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Duke University will cooperate in the center, founded by a $270,000 grant from the Japan Foundation in Tokyo. NC State’s…

Sep 14, 2011

History Professor’s Award-Winning Book Explores Kentucky’s Frontiers

If you’ve been looking for some critically-acclaimed reading material on the darker side of Kentucky’s history, look no further than Professor Craig Thompson Friend’s award-winning book Kentucke’s Frontiers. Friend recently won the 2011 Kentucky Governor’s Award for Kentucke’s Frontiers. The prize is given once every four years for that state’s best book related to Kentucky…