As historians renew their discipline’s commitment to questions of social justice in the past and present, they increasingly focus on the role of “the state.” Scholars working at different scales, from the local to the global, seek to interrogate the political apparatuses that enact and enforce power relations in a variety of dimensions. Yet, this focus on “the state” also raises the danger of reductionist and deterministic explanations, which reify the political realm and downplay human agency. This workshop will take up the question of how we, as historians, conceptualize the meanings of “the state” in our work with those dangers in mind. In their thematic diversity, ranging from the US-Mexican border to military research, the panelists’ papers share a commitment to examining the role of “the state.” Yet, they also reveal how sensitive this category is to specific conceptual and theoretical framings.
Featuring panelists:

Salem Elzway (PhD Student, History, University of Michigan)
ToniAnn Treviño (PhD Candidate, History, University of Michigan)
Ramón A. Gutiérrez (commentator; Preston & Sterling Morton Distinguished Service Professor in United States History and the College, University of Chicago)
Anthony P. Mora (chair; Associate Professor, History and American Culture, University of Michigan)

Free and open to the public. Lunch provided.

This event is part of the Friday Series of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.