CFH Grad Students Weblog

Dispatches from Graduate School – Part 41

cfhgradstudents — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:28:05 +0000

*Re-posted by permission of John Fea’s The Way of Improvement Leads Home*

Cali Pitchel McCullough is a Ph.D student in American history at Arizona State University. For earlier posts in this series click here.

I first read Michael Pollen’s Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals in 2007, just after I graduated from Messiah College. For those unfamiliar with Pollan’s New York Times bestseller, the part memoir/part history/part exposé charts Pollan’s quest to answer a simple question: What should we have for dinner? Pollan follows three contemporary food chains—industrial, organic or alternative, and what might be best described as Paleolithic, or a hunt and gather approach—in order to reflect on every day decisions about what and why we eat. The book, in addition to top ten book of the year awards from the New York Times and the Washington Post in 2006, won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the James Beard Award for best food writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

His awards aren’t for naught. In lively prose, Pollan deftly exposes the horrors of the industrial food system. He pays special attention to the treatment of cattle. Ruminants by nature, the cows are fed a diet of animal parts, corn products, and antibiotics and forced to idle in their own feces until fattened for slaughter. Graphic, yes. After my first go-round with Pollan I avoided meat for three years. His all too colorful portrait of industrially raised cattle, chickens, and pigs led me toward a diet high in tofu and legumes and low in animal protein, milk and cheese included. For years I considered myself a quasi-vegetarian. Only recently did I reintroduce meat and dairy back into my daily regime. I credit Pollan for making me a better-informed eater. Rather than purchase products of the industrial system, I choose grass fed and pastured animals from nearby farms. In other words, I prefer my animals in their most natural, God-created state eating biologically appropriate foods and grazing or pecking in a field.

Pollan’s journalistic style, although it inspired in me a radical life change, has severe limitations. Only upon reading Omnivore’s Dilemma again, this time for a graduate readings course, did I recognize its weaknesses. Pollan ends his three- part journey through the food system with the most intimate of experiences—his own adventures of hunting wild boar and foraging fungi in the hills of northern California’s Marin County. He invites the reader into his kitchen while he prepares an elaborate meal: wild California pig (served two ways), bread baked with wild yeast from the San Francisco Bay, homemade egg fettuccine with hand-picked morels sautéed in butter, garden salad from Pollan’s own backyard lettuces, and a cherry galette with Bing cherries picked from a Berkeley neighborhood tree. Equal parts delicious and pretentious.

His decision to close the narrative with his personal choice to eschew the modern food system ignores the implications for society at large and escorts the reader down an individual, if not exclusive, path. Who can afford the time, the money, or the expertise to hunt and forage? Pollan admittedly notes the unrealistic nature of such an endeavor, but he fails to acknowledge social organization and questions of access when crafting his “perfect” foodscape. California, boasting the lush ecosystem necessary for the success of Pollan’s meal, also claims one of the highest food insecurity rates in the country (15.9% in 2009-2010). The national average is not much better; 14.6% of Americans live in food insecure households, and studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture find rates of food insecurity substantially higher among black and Hispanic households and those with incomes near or below the federal poverty level. While Pollan enjoys his perfect meal, hundreds of thousands of Americans struggle to put food on the table, often times forced to eat the very food Pollan so strongly condemns. The Omnivore’s Dilemma, or the choice of what to eat and why, is thus limited to those with a particular level of social and economic capital.

Further, Pollan focuses almost entirely on a consumer oriented politics. Not until 162 pages in does Pollan mention farm workers, and he completely glosses over supermarket and warehouse workers. In so doing, Pollan circumvents a more important conversation about class and racial divisions in the American food system.

Many credit Pollan with reinvigorating food studies (some even compare him to Upton Sinclair), but the absences in his narrative cannot be ignored. That some people can choose to protect themselves from the dangers of the American industrial food system and others cannot is the real problem. When food studies can reconcile the disparities in food access, the exploitation of farm workers, and the hazards of the industrial food system, then talk about the perfect meal can really begin.

Dispatches from Graduate School – Part 40

cfhgradstudents — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:25:46 +0000

*Re-posted by permission of John Fea’s The Way of Improvement Leads Home*

Cali Pitchel McCullough is a Ph.D student in American history at Arizona State University. For earlier posts in this series click here.

After what I consider an embarrassingly long hiatus, I return to my Graduate School Dispatches routine. Thanks to Dr. Fea and to my readers (Hi, Dad!) for your patience during my absence. I felt especially uninspired during the fall semester. I had what only a privileged graduate student could consider an unfair grading assignment that had my nose in bluebooks for a disproportionate amount of time. I needed the winter break desperately and feel reinvigorated for my final semester as a PhD student before I enter candidacy (fingers crossed) in the summer.

I look toward my last semester of coursework with a bit of heartache. In some way, this is the beginning of the end. In less than six months I take my qualifying exams and move from student to candidate. Although a quick search through the past year and a half of Dispatches will return more than a few melancholy missives on graduate school life, I envy those students still sitting in the lecture hall or seminar. What I love most about the study of history is the dialogue, the collaboration, and the opportunity to learn from seasoned scholars. To borrow an analogy from Jane Jacobs: the classroom ballet. Academia is a lifelong pursuit of knowledge, but there is a marked difference between furiously taking notes from a foremost historian on the Bracero Program and standing before a classroom delivering a synthetic commentary on the United Farm Workers. I will always look fondly on my time facing the lectern.

Despite the distress I felt (and will likely continue to feel) over my workload, I am more equipped than ever to take on my nine concluding credits. My course lineup agrees especially well with my interests. I’m taking two readings courses, one in urban history and the other in food production and consumption. The former prepares me for my secondary field in urban history, while the latter familiarizes me with a literature necessary for my dissertation prospectus due next fall. I am fortunate to work with two great faculty members, Philip Vandermeer and Matt Garcia, respectively. In my other course, North American Cultural Landscapes, we will read the likes of Tuan and Meining in order to better understand the systemic interaction of human beings with their environment. Susan Gray, whose work deals with the interplay of place, race and gender, teaches the course.

It’s quite the array of courses if I do say so myself, and what a fine way to close out some of the most rewarding
years of my life.

Opportunities to Chair a Session: CFH Gordon College in October

cfhgradstudents — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:14:18 +0000

Grad Students… to arms! to arms! (Or, at least, to pens!)

We’ve been volunteered (you’re welcome, I think) to serve our esteemed organization by way of offering commentary on the papers for the undergraduate conference at Gordon College in October. The dates are October 4-6, 2012. Check out the details of the conference here.

Some of you may be a little apprehensive about this, but we’re really looking for advanced graduate students (ABD preferred) to comment on papers within your field of specialization. That said, we may not have a perfect match between papers being presented and commentors available. So, let’s begin the process by getting willing volunteers to contact me (grjones83@gmail.com) and I will work with Jared Burkholder, the undergraduate conference organizer, to match things up.

If you’re wondering WHY on Earth you should volunteer your time for such an endeavor, the answer is simply because it will help your career. Not only is it the ever-popular “vita line,” it is also and opportunity to show future employers your willingness to help in a time of need. We, the grad students, will be lightening the load for the rest of the membership of the CFH. Additionally, you’ll gain experience in commenting on papers. Remember that these will be more polished than the average undergraduate “written the night before its due” papers. Many of these are inquiring young scholars attempting to dip their toes in the academy. We have a chance to offer them direction and encouragement in the way that many of us received at a similar critical juncture in our careers.

I truly hope many of you will volunteer.

Check it Out: Kennedy on Science and the Church

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:22:37 +0000

Please check out this link to Point Loma’s Professor Rick Kennedy’s (Former CFH President) latest work. It’s of particular interest to folks interested in science, Darwinism, and how that intersects with faith. The historian/philosopher’s take is engaging if also re-orienting.

As historians, this is an important read. It shows that not only do we not have to check our faith at the door of secular universities, but also that it is a worthwhile (perhaps even necessary) conversation.

http://biologos.org/blog/jesus-history-and-mount-darwin-an-academic-excursion-part-1

CFP: SSHA

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:52:34 +0000

*I get a ton of these CFP through H-Grad, but this one seemed particularly applicable. Perhaps we could get a CFH panel together for this integrating history and theology? Thoughts?*

********

We invite you to take part in the Urban Network panels of the 37th annual
meeting of the Social Science History Association, November 1-4, 2012, in
Vancouver. The members of the Social Science History Association share a
common interest in interdisciplinary and systematic approaches to
historical research (including, but by no means limited to, sociology,
urban planning, geography, demography, economics, and political
science).The SSHA is a particularly good forum for graduate students’
work: we welcome a diversity of scholars at various stages of their careers and
encourage graduate student participation in network events.

The thematic topic of the 2012 annual meeting is “Histories of Capitalism.”
However, we welcome papers and panels on all urban topics. Proposed panel
topics include:

- The Occupy Movement as an urban phenomenon

- Financial Crises and Cities

- Capital and the Rise and Fall of Cities

- Urban Economies

- Vancouver’s History and Development

- Cities of the Pacific Rim

- Olympic Games and Host Cities

- Migration and Immigration

- Cities and the Environment

- Urban Governance

- Crime and Justice in the City

- The Ancient City

To propose a paper or panel please submit: Paper Title, Brief Abstract, and
Contact Information at http://conference.ssha.org/.While we welcome paper
submissions, panel proposals are encouraged. Panels should include an
organizer, discussant, and at least four papers. The deadline for paper
and/or panel submissions is *MARCH 1, 2012.*

For more information on the meeting as well as the call for proposals,
please refer to the SSHA website: http://www.ssha.org or contact either of
the Urban co-chairs (Carl Zimring–czimring@gmail.com or Megan
Stubbendeck– mrs8v@virginia.edu).

We look forward to seeing you in the Fall!

Sincerely,

Megan Stubbendeck and Carl Zimring

Urban Network Co-chairs

Renewing Membership

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:54:48 +0000

Friends, colleagues, countrymen and women…

It’s that time of year to renew membership. Since our membership is free (hip hip horray!), we don’t have to send in a dues check. HOWEVER, what I’d like is for you to touch base with me (the grad rep) to let me know that you are still in graduate school and desire to be a member.

**NOTICE** We are going to make some massive cuts to the membership rolls for the people who have graduated, given up, or got lost somewhere in the 13th layer of NARA.

Please, also, add our fancy new Facebook Page! The other “group” is defunct per Facebook’s new “group” policy.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Conference-on-Faith-and-History-Grad-Students/323046044383504

Thanks all. My contact (to renew membership) is grjones83@gmail.com.

CFH at AHA in Chicago – Just a few weeks!

cfhgradstudents — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:16:09 +0000

American Historical Association Meeting

Chicago Marriott Downtown
Saturday, January 7, 2012

The annual breakfast reception of the CFH will be Saturday morning, January 7, in the Cook Room of the Chicago Marriott Downtown, from 8-9 am. All are welcome to join us, especially graduate students.

This will be followed by a stimulating panel discussion from 9 to 11 am in the McHenry Room of the Chicago Marriott Downtown on “Historians, Historiography, and the Confessional Divide,” in which historians from differing faith traditions discuss their perspectives on the intersection of faith and history. Will Katerberg (Calvin College) will chair. The panel will be composed of Bradley Nassif (North Park University), Mark A. Noll (University of Notre Dame), Dana L. Robert (Boston University), Lamin Sanneh (Yale University), and Leslie W. Tentler (Catholic University of America). We expect an interesting dialogue.

Announcement taken directly from: http://www.huntington.edu/cfh/announcements.htm

Please comment, or email me (grjones83@gmail.com) if you’d like to get together. PLEASE do attend the CFH breakfast and panel.

Attending the American Historical Association

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:04:11 +0000

The AHA Meeting in Chicago, January 5-8, 2012 is registering. Check it out.

If enough of “us” are going, it would be great to get together. Maybe for a deepdish pizza? (That’s what we do in Chicago, right?)

Leave comments. Tell friends. Let’s do this!

Academic Status Update

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:06:59 +0000

Many graduate students are a part of a largely digital generation and are used to “status updates.” For the sake of developing community here at the CFH Grad Student blog, it would be great if we could share a quick “status update.” Just give us a sentence or two in the comments section about where you are (physically and progressively) in your program.

It only takes a minute! You can post as “anonymous,” but tell us who you really are in your comment.

I’ll get us started.

I’m Greg Jones, fifth year PhD student at Kent State, and I’m currently editing my dissertation on Civil War soldiers in southeastern Ohio. I am an adjunct history professor at Kent State and Geneva College, teaching a mix of intro and upper division courses.

Alright everyone… let’s hear the update!

Dispatches from Graduate School – Part 39

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:06:17 +0000

Cali Pitchel McCullough is a Ph.D student in American history at Arizona State University. For earlier posts in this series click here. –JF

[Reposted by permission of John Fea's The Way of Improvement Leads Home]

I always enjoy my time in Southern California. Every six weeks I take a quick flight from Phoenix into Burbank to spend the weekend visiting a few of my favorite people. My uncle, a PR executive, lives in Sherman Oaks, and a close friend works for the Associated Press and lives one block off Hollywood Blvd. My geographical zone remains relatively small while visiting. I might enjoy the sunshine and cool air in my uncle’s backyard, or I stay with my friend in her tiny apartment, watching chick flicks and eating take-out.

During the past weekend, I ventured out of my typical routine and drove north and west along the Pacific Coast Highway toward Malibu. Rather than celebrity-watch at a beachside café, I spent Saturday participating in the Western Regional Conference on Faith and History. The Conference met on the campus of Pepperdine University, situated on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I drove the meandering road from the 101 Freeway into the Malibu Valley before the sunshine and heat dispelled the morning fog, but after the second panel the haze lifted. The ocean views made conference-going a difficult option, but the intriguing panel line-up drew me inside.

The conference theme, “The Historian and the Text,” seemed the perfect forum to discuss History to the People. I submitted my unorthodox proposal to Bryan Lamkin, the President of the Western Regional chapter of the CFH and Professor of History at Azusa Pacific University. My proposal looked more like a call to action than scholarly research, but it undoubtedly aligned with the theme of the conference. To break down the barriers between academic historians and people and to provide the general public with the skills necessary to think historically are two of the main tenants of HTTP.

I presented in a panel entitled “Public Texts” with Steven Wentland, a Professor of Liberal Studies at Azusa Pacific. Dr. Wentland examines the challenges teachers face incorporating the study of religion into lesson plans (despite their overwhelming presence in state standards). He offers some prescriptions, because he suggests “you can’t understand American history without studying religion.”

Ryan McIlhenny, from Providence Christian College, provided comments for Dr. Wentland and I. Dr. McIlhenny suggested we had several points in common, most importantly, our commitment to preserving democracy and diversity in the study of history. HTTP will attempt, through a more democratic use of the historian’s tools, to teach others to lay aside self-interest and see the world from the perspective of someone else. As John Fea suggests, “unlike any other discipline, history requires us to engage the human condition primarily through understanding and empathy, not criticism.” This quote gets to the second point in common between Dr. Wentland and I—the culture wars. If a person encounters the text with the necessary tools, it becomes less easy to condemn the actions of other people. Perhaps we can ease our culture wars by disclosing the ways in which we’ve honed our historical thinking and encouraging such behavior in more people in a more intentional way.

The audience seemed enthusiastic about HTTP. Aside from some brief discussion on this blog, I have not had the chance to present the idea to an academic audience (other than my classmates). I received great questions at the end: How will we achieve nuance and complexity in short blog posts? How will we reorientate the way in which people think about history? How will we protect ourselves against bias? These are great questions, some of which I have already spent a good deal of time thinking through. At HTTP we value specificity and we write and edit in a community. This keeps us morally engaged, accountable, and self-critical. A willingness to work collaboratively, in a community of scholars open to debate and dialogue and the testing of ideas keeps us honest—this goes for all good history.

I had a great experience at the Western Regional CFH. It provided me the opportunity to not only present an idea, but it also gave me the opportunity to think about how my faith plays a role in my commitment to bring history to the people. In preparing for the conference I found a quote by Henri Nouwen, a twentieth century priest and writer. Nouwen, meditating on the gifts given to a body of believers, believed that “the basis of all ministry is the experience of God’s unlimited and unlimiting acceptance of us as beloved children, an acceptance so full, so total, and all-embracing, that it sets us free from our compulsion to be seen, praised, and admired and frees us for Christ, who leads us on the road of service. This experience of God’s acceptance frees us from our needy self and thus creates new space where we can pay selfless attention to others.” Because I have acquired certain skills, I have a responsibility to use these skills in service to others. The website provides a space for me to share these skills outside the classroom, and in hopes, foster a sense of historical thinking that might change the world one person at a time.