October 2021

Now & Then highlights UBC History news/events for students, faculty, staff & alumni

Faculty Announcements

UBC History Welcomes New Department Head Dr. Bonnie Effros

“As a department, we need to ascertain that history training adequately prepares our students to face the challenging environment that awaits them when they complete their degrees. I will endeavour to keep our teaching meaningful and relevant to their lived experiences and encourage a variety of engagement opportunities,” said Dr. Effros.

UBC History welcomes Dr. Hicham Safieddine

Dr. Safieddine is a scholar of global political economy and intellectual history of the 19th and 20th centuries, with an emphasis on the Middle East and North Africa region. Dr. Safieddine is the co-founder of e-zines Al-Akhbar English and The Legal Agenda’s English Edition. He is active in public debates, via press writings and community activism beyond the classroom. Welcome, Dr. Safieddine!

Faculty Spotlight

Know Your Profs with Dr. Laura Ishiguro

The Know Your Profs series is meant to help students get to know professors in their own words. In this instalment, Dr. Laura Ishiguro shares the meticulous thoughtfulness behind her teaching, her favourite student questions, and what it means to study history. She also reminds us that learning to sit in the discomfort of not knowing with an open mind is important, no matter what you choose to do with your life.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies via videoconference as U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about Facebook and Twitter's content moderation, in Washington DC, November 17, 2020. (Hannah McKay/Sipa USA)

Heidi Tworek: Facebook’s America-centrism Is Now Plain for All to See

Centre for International Governenance Innovation

Do the countries of the world want companies like Facebook to do more moderation, or do we want to think carefully about new models of content moderation altogether, ones that do not depend on more Facebook, asks Prof. Heidi Tworek?

Upcoming Events

Three Decades Later: Revisiting Ordinary Men and the Development of Perpetrator Studies

October 14, 5:00 - 6:15 pm

For over three decades, Prof. Browning has had a profound influence on Holocaust historiography. In addition to his pathbreaking work in Ordinary Men on the motives and behaviour of lower and middle echelon personnel, he has published seminal works on Nazi decision-making regarding the “Final Solution” and on the use of survivor testimony to describe and analyze Jewish responses during the Holocaust.

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Genetic Approaches to a History of Premodern Eurasia

October 21, 12:30 - 2:00 pm

The Department of History Departmental Research Colloquium showcases research within the department, as well as that of invited speakers from beyond UBC. It brings together works-in-progress by scholars who are exploring important methodological, chronological, or geographical issues that challenge the frontiers of our discipline and contribute strongly to our collective discussions.

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Ziegler Lecture: Author Reading and Discussion with Zafer Şenocak on Berlin, "The Capital of the Fragment

October 14, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

As part of UBC’s Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies Ziegler Lecture Series, Şenocak will read from his essay on Berlin, “The Capital of Fragment,” and discuss narratives of postmigration with Prof. Markus Hallensleben from UBC’s Centre for Migration Studies' Narratives Research Group.

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Latin American Heritage Month Roundtable 

October 20, 4:00 - 5:00 pm

In commemoration of Latin American Heritage Month, the UBC Latin American Studies program is hosting a Zoom roundtable discussion about pressing issues in Latin America today. This event will feature History professors Drs. María Muñoz, Ben Bryce, and Bill French.

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