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History Seminar Fall 2016 Schedule
November 30, 2016
Presented by Ben Gonzalez O'Brien
Mexican immigrants have been the target of nativist and racist rhetoric that has painted them alternately as economic threats because of the cheap labor they provide, cultural threats because of a belief that
Latino communities in the United States do not assimilate in the same fashion or with the same speed as other immigrant groups, and a suspicion that undocumented immigrants are predisposed to criminality because
of how they came to the United States. This latter claim, that Mexican immigrants are likely to be criminals, has been used to justify some of the most restrictive immigration policies and has been a central theme
of the Donald Trump's rhetoric on immigration. He has characterized Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists and proposed a border wall to keep them out, despite the wealth of data that contradicts this
narrative. In this talk, Dr. Benjamin Gonzalez O'Brien examines the historical roots of the criminalization of undocumented immigration, explores the modern rhetoric of criminality, and assesses the claims made
by individuals like Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and President-elect Donald Trump that the undocumented are inclined to criminality.
November 16, 2016
Presented by Jennifer Jones
Sex.
Drugs.
Magic.
Ritual combat.
Human sacrifice.
Powerful elites.
Awesome outfits.
About 1,550 years before Game of Thrones . . .
November 9, 2016
Presented by Tanya Powers
Come to History Seminar for a brief overview of the history of the unique relationship between the United States and Native Americans. We will look at culture, land, and where Natives live now.
November 2, 2016
Presented by John Jensen, Former Radio Station Broadcaster and Historian
Learn how the entertainment industry was used by the War Department to build morale with our troops overseas as well as on the home front during World War II. Through rare audio and video clips you'll see and hear
how industry moguls, movie stars, radio comedians, and recording artists donated their services to the war effort. We'll also hear an excerpt of a radio broadcast the War Department used to demoralize enemy troops
overseas.
October 26, 2016
Presented by James Peyton, Economics Instructor
Much of what we see in environmental activism today has its roots in the 1970s. Several high-profile environmental disasters set the stage for President Richard Nixon's signing of the National Environmental Policy
Act on January 1, 1970. But business interests fought back even as more legislation followed. The modern era of environmental impact statements and court battles came to be. In the succeeding years,
environmental issues have remained a battlefield of U.S. politics. The recent examples of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines show how the patterns of the 1970s get repeated.
October 19, 2016
Presented by Teri Balkenende
Insults and personal slights are par for the course in politics, and sooner or later just about *every* politician gets compared to Hitler for one reason or another. “Another day, another Hitler comparison on the
internet,” or so the story goes. But has there ever been an election when the Nazi analogies were quite so prevalent? Is there anything to it?
Who exactly were the Nazis and—other than the anti-Semitism that led them to annihilate 6 million Jews—did they actually stand for anything at all? Were they really socialists? Why did the Germans support them?
Could anything so evil ever really happen here? And does Germany’s experience with Nazism have any lessons for American Democracy?
October 12, 2016
Presented by Ivanova Smith
Ask the average person about the “eugenics movement,” and you are likely to get a blank stare. A popular social movement and a dark time in United States history, the eugenics movement took root in the United
States in the early 1900s. The term was first coined by Francis Galton, a half-cousin of Charles Darwin.
Ivanova Smith, an Autistic historian, advocate, and educator, will talk about the ways in which people with intellectual/developmental disabilities were criminalized and institutionalized during the American
eugenics movement and how eugenics is still being practiced today in many ways.
October 5, 2016
Presented by Arline Garcia
In April 2016, 11.5 million documents were leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca providing information on tax evasion and money laundering by rich and powerful people all over the world, including
but not limited to heads of state like Russian’s president, Vladimir Putin. These documents became known as the Panama Papers. Once again, Panama is reduced in the U.S. media to a banana republic, where corruption
and scandal are endemic. This presentation will examine some aspects of the complex historical connection between the U.S. and Panama, including the ways that racist discourse in the U.S. has contributed to how
countries like Panama are represented in the media. Finally, it will paint a fuller picture of Panama by giving a brief overview of its people, geography, and biodiversity.
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