Author Archives: Katie Holt

Lecture: Maya Archaeology Thursday 9/26 @7:30

I write to share an announcement from Dr. Navarro-Farr about her upcoming research presentation “Archaeology Beyond our Imagining: Sustainable Practices inside the Maya Biosphere Reserve” on Thursday, September 26 @7: 30pm.  It promises to be a fascinating evening, and I hope to see you there!

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Dear colleagues and OLAS students,

I write to cordially invite you to a forthcoming lecture which will be part of the Archaeology Student Colloquium’s (ASC) annual lecture series. Our speakers will be offering a discussion on the intersections of archaeological research in the present as our team conducts investigations inside the second largest area of tropical rainforest left north of the Amazon. This talk will be a fluid and dual (English and Spanish) language conversation about the challenges and opportunities associated with doing community-centered and collaborative archaeology inside a protected area of high canopy rainforest. I am reaching out to you because this conversation promises to be multidisciplinary and intersectional and I hope you can join us.

Archaeology Beyond our Imagining: Sustainable Practices inside the Maya Biosphere Reserve 

Griselda Pérez Robles – Director of Conservation Proyecto Arqueológico Waka’ (PAW)

Juan Carlos Pérez Calderon – Director Proyecto Arqueológico Waka’ (PAW)

Olivia C. Navarro-Farr – Director Proyecto Arqueológico Waka’ (PAW) & Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at the College of Wooster

Archaeological research is generally seen as an academic or scientific activity that, after long field or laboratory seasons, provides historical data on the past societies under study. However, archeology goes beyond what we think or imagine; It goes beyond our carefully excavated and registered excavations, vessels or maps. Archaeological research plays an important role in governance, access to decent work, inclusion, conservation and protection of natural and cultural areas. The work carried out by the Proyecto Arqueológico Waka’ (PAW) researchers within the Laguna del Tigre National Park, in the Maya Biosphere Reserve of Petén, Guatemala is academic and scientific. It is also fundamental to the sustained presence of this protected biosphere and the communities which exist in close proximity. The PAW cooperates with other actors in the area to protect the integrity of the natural landscape and to rewrite the ancient history of Guatemalans today.

Date: Thursday, September 26, 2019, 7:30 p.m.

Location: Scovel Hall Room 105

History Fall Picnic Wednesday 9/18 @4

All are welcome at our fall picnic!  I write to share a message from our official picnic historian, Dr. Greg Shaya:

Please join us for the Fall History Picnic Wednesday 9/18 from 4-6pm at Bornhuetter Pavilion!

Come relax together and meet your professors and fellow students. Your student reps and your favorite professors will be there.

We’ll supply hamburgers, veggie burgers, salads and lemonade. There will be croquet – and the distant possibility that a student may win the title. (It would be the first time, however. A Shaya family member has held the History Croquet Title since the founding of the game.) For more information on croquet at Wooster, see https://youtu.be/oFMCUzsKHrs

We hope to see you all there! gks

More on Inca Architecture

By popular request, here is some more information on Inca masonry and architecture.  The first is a quick, popular overview from the Ancient History Encyclopedia that describes Inca use of stones and bronze tools to shape rock.

I also found an older academic article on “Inca Stonemasonry” from Scientific American by University of California architect Jean-Pierre Protzen.  In the article, he gives a summary of the historiography of Inca technologies, and then goes on to describe his efforts to recreate Inca wall construction.  He provides a wealth of detail on the rocks used, quarries, and the tools used for transportation and structure.

As I mentioned in class, this is a topic rife with sophisticated-looking, poorly researched pseudo-scholarship.  I found an example (I won’t link to it) of a youtube video with over 900k views claiming that the Inca build their walls with bags of concrete…. historians beware!

 

Lecture by Distinguished Historian on Women and War on Tuesday 9/10 @4pm

Please join us for the inaugural Hayden Schilling Lecture, a talk by the distinguished historian, Susan Grayzel, on women’s experience in the First World War. The event, open to the public, will take place on Tuesday, September 10 at 4:00 pm in the Lean Lecture Room.

Grayzel is Professor of History at Utah State University, having previously served as Director of the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies at the University of Mississippi. She is the author of several award-winning works, including War: Gender, Motherhood, and Politics in Britain and France during the First World War (1999) and At Home and Under Fire: Air Raids & Culture in Britain from the Great War to the Blitz (2012). She will also be leading a faculty workshop and meeting with students.

This talk is the first of what will be an annual event, The Hayden Schilling Lecture, supported by the Hayden Schilling Fund for History.

More details below. We hope to see you there!  Greg Shaya, History

Public Lecture 

Susan R. Grayzel, Utah State University

The Hayden Schilling Lecture: “Did Women Have a Great War? Reflections on Women’s Experiences 100 Years On”

Tuesday, September 10, 4:00 pm, Lean Lecture Room

This talk explores some of the ways in which women experienced the First World War in order to ask if women’s “had a great war.”  It examines not only what women across a range of backgrounds and circumstances did during the war—where, how, and why they participated and what they thought about this—but as important, what a focus on women might add to our understanding of the First World War itself.

Meeting with Prof. Grayzel

Prof. Grayzel will be available to meet with students during the day on Tuesday, September 10. If you are interested in meeting with Prof. Grayzel – perhaps if you are working on topics of British history, gender history, war and gender – please contact Greg Shaya in the Department of History (gshaya@wooster.edu).
 
Short Biography

Susan R. Grayzel joined the faculty at Utah State University in 2017, teaching classes in modern European history, gender and women’s history, and the history of total war, having previously been Professor of History at the University of Mississippi, where she was also Director of the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies. Her most recent publications include Gender and the Great War (Oxford University Press, 2017), co-edited with Tammy M. Proctor. Her previous books include Women’s Identities at War: Gender, Motherhood and Politics in Britain and France during the First World War (1999) and At Home and Under Fire: Air Raids & Culture in Britain from the Great War to the Blitz (2012). She is engaged in two current research projects; one tracing how the civilian gas mask came to embody efforts to address the consequences of chemical warfare in the British empire, c. 1915-45, and the second with Prof. Lucy Noakes (University of Essex) on gender, citizenship, and civil defense in twentieth-century Britain. She is spending the academic year 2019-20, first as a visiting fellow at All Souls College (Oxford) for Michaelmas term 2019 and then as UK Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the University of Leeds from mid-January to mid-July 2020.

Holt Office Hours Fall 2019

I’m writing to update my office hours for fall 2019.

I hold office hours:

  • Tuesdays from 10:00-11:00
  • Wednesdays from 3:30-4:30
  • Fridays from 10:00-11:00
  • Other times by appointment

Come by and see me with questions about assignments, advice as you plan your OCS in Latin America, or to find out more about majoring in History or Global  & International Studies!

I give priority to students who book appointments with www.katieholt.youcanbook.me  but “office hours” mean you can just drop by at these set times and talk with me if I’m not busy with another student.  My office is in Kauke 119.  Talk to you soon!

Interested in Model UN? There’s still time!

Due to the time conflict with the Pharrell Williams event, we know that many interested students were not able to attend the Model United Nations Informational meeting. No problem, you can still participate this semester! Please email Model UN President Emily Farmer at efarmer20@wooster.edu and she will get you information and signed up to participate.

As a reminder, this semester the team will be representing Kenya at the American Model United Nations held in Chicago right before Thanksgiving.  No previous experience is necessary and all students are welcome to participate!  The team will meet every Wednesday 5:30-6:30 this semester in preparation for the competition.

If you have any questions, also feel free to contact the Model UN Faculty Advisor Professor Kent Kille at kkille@wooster.edu. You can also connect with the MUN team through Instagram @woostermun and facebook.com/woomun.

Model UN Information Meeting

The Model United Nations informational meeting is this Wednesday August 28 at 5:30pm in Kauke 038.  This semester the team will be representing Kenya at the American Model United Nations held in Chicago right before Thanksgiving.  No previous experience is necessary and all students are welcome to participate!  The team will meet every Wednesday 5:30-6:30 this semester in preparation for the competition.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Model UN Faculty Advisor Professor Kent Kille at kkille@wooster.edu. You can also connect with us at Instagram @woostermun