SW Center – Page 2 – Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

Politics Are We Ready to Rehabilitate George W. Bush’s Reputation?

Texas Monthly Originally Published: October 2020 Andrew R. Graybill is a professor of history and the director of the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University. The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened seven years ago and anchors the southeastern corner of campus at Southern Methodist University, where I teach history. In late November 2016, I took a tour of the facility with five college friends who were visiting from the East Coast. The recent presidential election was much on our minds as we wandered through the building, contemplating various artifacts from Bush’s two terms in office. Although we were hardly fans of his presidency, one of my pals—fearful, like everyone in our group, of a Trump administration—got misty-eyed [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-09-17T10:32:56-07:00 September 18th, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, History, SW Center|Comments Off

Predicting the outcome of the election is a fool’s errand — because of contingency

Washington Post Originally posted: July 6, 2020 We are living through the contingent moment to end all contingent moments. In early March, after a stunning turn of fortune, the presidential race seemed to crystallize. Either President Trump, whose approval ratings have always been low, would triumph due to the advantage of incumbency, a strong economy and an energized and devoted base of followers, or former vice president Joe Biden, who dominated Super Tuesday, would win as a kind of safe option for weary voters. Three months later, the election seems likely to be about the coronavirus pandemic and anti-racist uprisings — two huge events that were not on the political radar at the beginning of the year. But this isn’t as unusual as it seems. [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-07-13T08:23:15-07:00 July 6th, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News, SW Center|Comments Off

‘Cult of Glory’ Review: Falling Heroes

Wall Street Journal Originally Posted: June 5, 2020 By Andrew R. Graybill, Director of the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies. In 1935, Walter Prescott Webb—one of the 20th century’s leading historians of Texas and the wider American West—published “The Texas Rangers: A Century of Frontier Defense.” Clocking in at more than 550 pages, the book chronicled the exploits of the most famous law-enforcement outfit in the world. Crucial to Webb’s study were the interviews he conducted with dozens of active and former Rangers, some of whom had served during the especially tumultuous years between Reconstruction and World War I. Although “The Texas Rangers” remains enormously popular today, it has not aged well. READ MORE

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-06-05T10:15:31-07:00 June 5th, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, History, SW Center|Comments Off

Clements Fellow Sarah Pearsall’s Book, Polygamy: An Early American History, reviewed in The New York Review of Books.

The New York Review of Books Originally Posted: April 9, 2020 The Mormon leader Brigham Young had more than fifty wives. Many of them lived in adjacent homes, the Beehive House and the Lion House, in Salt Lake City, which Young founded in 1847 as the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Polygamy, which the Mormons publicly announced as a church doctrine in 1852, provoked responses ranging from outrage to amusement among many Americans. Numerous anti-Mormon exposés appeared, with titillating titles like Awful Disclosures of Mormonism and Wife No. 19, or, The Story of a Life in Bondage. Bawdy jokes circulated, like this one from a comic newspaper: “Brigham Young cannot be said to rule with a rod of iron, [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-04-14T05:58:30-07:00 April 9th, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News, Graduate News, SW Center|Comments Off

Rethinking Student Success: History Pedagogy and the Promise of Social Change across the K–16 Continuum

The Journal of Academic History Originally Posted: March 1, 2020 This article was written by current Clements Center fellow Natalie Mendoza. As a California State University (CSU) (Sonoma State) alumna, I took pride in the impressive research project featured in this section, drawing considerable inspiration from its findings. A team of historians decided to take control of the narrowly defined data on “student success” collected on the CSU Student Success Dashboard: the vaunted administrative-driven data on student grades and demographics told them little, if anything, about students' grasp of historical thinking or their sustained scholastic success. The CSU team chose to address this by merging its discipline-specific learning goals with the pressing issue of retention among its underrepresented minority (URM)... READ MORE

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-04-08T07:52:53-07:00 March 12th, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, SW Center|Comments Off

Professor Amy Kohout Awarded Fellowship for Work on Book

Colorado College Originally Posted: March 11, 2020 Assistant Professor of History Amy Kohout has been awarded a David J. Weber Fellowship for the Study of Southwestern America at the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University. This prestigious award will allow her to complete work on her first book, tentatively titled “Taking the Field: Soldiers, Nature, and Empire on American Frontiers.” The book explores the intersection of ideas about nature and empire through an examination of the experiences of American soldiers in the U.S. West and the Philippines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. READ MORE

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-26T13:41:07-07:00 March 10th, 2020|SW Center|Comments Off

Fellows announced for AY 2020-2021

Clements Center Research Fellowships provide senior or junior scholars with an essential element for producing successful books, and that is time. The Center is pleased to announce its fellows for academic year 2020-2021. Link for more information: https://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Research/Institutes-and-Centers/SWCenter/Fellowships/Announce

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-06T17:37:28-08:00 March 9th, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Graduate News, SW Center|Comments Off

Event: March 11, Insurgents’ Rights and Borderlands Rebellions

Date: March 11. 2020 Location: Texana Room, Fondren Library Time:12 noon Contact: raelmore@smu.edu This talk by Clements Center fellow Eric Schlereth will explain why some U.S. citizens in the 1830s believed that they possessed "insurgents’ rights," which gave them the right to expatriation & to pledge their allegiance to the government of their choice. Link for more information: https://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Research/Institutes-and-Centers/SWCenter/Events/Afternoon-Talks/Schlereth

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-06T10:07:22-08:00 March 6th, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Events, SW Center|Comments Off

SMU historian Andrew R. Graybill is a newly elected member of the Texas Institute of Letters

Dallas Weekly Originally Posted: March 5, 2020 SMU historian Andrew R. Graybill and University alumna Regina Taylor, an actress and playwright, are newly elected members of the Texas Institute of Letters, an organization that celebrates Texas literature and recognizes distinguished literary achievement. Graybill and Taylor are among 19 new members to be inducted at the upcoming institute annual meeting, to be held in Georgetown March 27-29. “I was thrilled to be selected, particularly because of the extraordinary achievements of the institute’s other members,” Graybill says. “Texas is often undersold. It’s an exceptionally creative place. And to enter as part of a class that includes musicians Robert Earl Keen and James McMurtry is especially exciting to me.” Graybill, a San Antonio native, is a professor in the [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-09T11:33:46-07:00 March 6th, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News, History, SW Center|Comments Off

Cancelled: March 26, Weber-Clements Book Prize Award Talk – “Hopi Runners: Crossing the Terrain Between Indian and American”

Date: March 26, 2020 Location: Texana Room, Fondren Library Time:5:30 reception followed by lecture and book signing Contact: raelmore@smu.edu Weber-Clements Book Prize winner Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert looks at the venerable tradition of Hopi foot races and long distance running at a time of great consequence for Hopi culture placing long distance runners in a larger context of American sports. Link for more information: https://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Research/Institutes-and-Centers/SWCenter/Book-Prize/Current-Winners

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-24T08:47:18-07:00 March 1st, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Events, SW Center|Comments Off