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Modern North American History

   

European Forum on US History

The European Forum on US History is a monthly hybrid seminar series rotating among seven European institutes in seven different countries, bringing together scholars from diverse backgrounds and career stages to explore innovative research on US history through global and transnational perspectives.

At a time when academic freedom faces mounting challenges, this platform strengthens vital cross-border collaboration, diversifies scholarly voices, and creates avenues for mentoring and joint projects. Each session fosters substantive historiographical exchange, with particular emphasis on reframing America's place in interconnected global histories.

The Forum cultivates an inclusive space where doctoral students and established scholars engage with innovative research, exploring how the past illuminates present-day issues. It represents one of the few initiatives of its kind in Europe, and it maintains strong ties with the European American Studies Network (ASN) and EAAS.

This collaborative platform for critical dialogue and interdisciplinary exchange reaffirms our shared commitment to understanding the United States in its full complexity—past and present. 

To learn more about the Forum, including upcoming dates, speakers, and registration for upcoming sessions, visit https://www.ushistoryforum.eu. For more information, please contact info@ushistoryforum.eu.

Calendar 2025-2026

  1. September 22, 2025
    TBA (Opening roundtable with EAAS & ASN?)
     
  2. October 27, 2025 
    Host: Rothermere American Institute 
    Speaker: Beth Wilson (RAI / early career) 
    Themes: Emotional History and Slavery
     
  3. November 24, 2025
    Host: Instituto Franklin-UAH, Universidad de Alcalá
    Speaker: Francisco Rodríguez Jiménez (Universidad de Extremadura & University of Salamanca / mid-career)
    Themes: US foreign affairs / US Public Diplomacy in Latin America
     
  4. January 26, 2026
    Host: American Studies Center, University of Warsaw
    Speakers: Sylwia Kuźma-Markowska (University of Warsaw / mid-career)
    Themes: Transnational history / US-Poland anti-abortion movement (1970s-1990s)
     
  5. February 23, 2026
    Host: Sciences Po-Paris
    Speaker: Tom Meinders (ScPo)
     
  6. March 23, 2026
    Host: University of Bologna
    Speaker: Roberta Ferrari (University of Bologna / mid-career) 
    Themes: Poor People's Movement and the Debate on Social Planning in the USA during the 1960s
     
  7. 20 April 2026
    Host: University of Southern Denmark
    Speaker: David E. Nye (University of Southern Denmark / emeritus professor)
    Themes: History of technology, environmental humanities
     
  8. 18 May 2026
    Host: RIAS
    Speaker: Olivier Burtin (University Picardie Jules Verne / mid-career)
    Themes: State and society, War & society, US right

Les développements politiques, les transformations sociétales, les changements culturels, les initiatives de politique étrangère, les préoccupations de sécurité nationale et les relations internationales qui ont vu le jour aux États-Unis ont laissé une marque indélébile sur le continent nord-américain et le paysage mondial. Cette série de séminaires, organisée par le Centre d'histoire de Sciences Po (CHSP) à Paris et le Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS) aux Pays-Bas, constitue une plateforme pour explorer ces thèmes divers et interconnectés.

Cette série, l'une des rares du genre en Europe, recoupe plusieurs tendances historiographiques significatives, poursuivant le mouvement vers une vision plus intégrée de l'histoire des États-Unis et de l'Amérique du Nord. Elle accorde une attention particulière à l'inclusion d'histoires globales, impériales, transnationales et interconnectées afin de recadrer notre compréhension de la place des États-Unis dans le monde et de l'intérêt émergent pour l'histoire et les questions environnementales internationales.

La plateforme, qui se réunit une fois par mois en ligne ou dans un format hybride, encourage la participation active des doctorants et vise à servir de forum ouvert et inclusif pour discuter de certaines des recherches récentes les plus innovantes. Elle vise à rassembler des historiens de différents horizons et à différents stades de leur carrière, à favoriser une conversation historiographique et interdisciplinaire, et à examiner de manière critique les ramifications sociétales et politiques contemporaines des événements historiques examinés.

Calendar 2024-2025

  • 23 Septembre 2024, 17:00-18:30 CEST (online)
    Melani McAlister (George Washington University), Promises, Then the Storm: Memory, US Politics, and the Israel-Gaza War
     
  • 7 Octobre 2024, 17:00-19:00 CEST (hybrid, in Person at Sciences Po)
    Jayita Sarkar (University of Glasgow), Global Southwests: Capital and Uranium in Africa and America
     
  • 18 Novembre, 2024, 17:00-18:30 CET (online) 
    James T. Sparrow (University of Chicago)
     
  • 9 Decembre 2024, 17:00-18:30 CET (online)
    Emma Day (Oxford University)
     
  • 27 Janvier 2025, 17:00-18:30 CET (online)
    Evan McCormick (Columbia University)
     
  • 17 Février 2025, 17:00-18:30 CET (online)
    Lisa McGirr (Harvard University)
     
  • 24 Mars 2025, 17:00-19:00 CET (hybrid, in Person at Sciences Po)
    Evan Bonney (Sciences Po, Centre d'histoire)
     
  • 14 Avril 2025, 17:00-18:30 CEST (online)
    Gretchen Heefner (Northeastern University)
     
  • 19 Mai 2025, 17:00-19:00 CEST (hybrid, in Person at RIAS)
    Jeanine Quené (RIAS)

Semestre 1

  • 25 Septembre 2023, 17h-18h30 CET
    Kristin Hoganson (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Structures of Power: U.S. Infrastructure Building in the Circum-Caribbean During the Bad Neighbor Era 
  • 23 Octobre 2023, 18h-19h30 CET
     Matthew Connelly (Columbia U), America's Secrecy Industrial Complex: History and the Future 
  • 20 Novembre 2023, 17H00-18H30 CET 
    Andrew Preston (Cambridge U), From Planning to Strategy: New Deal Liberalism and the Invention of National Security
  • 11 Décembre 2023, 17h30-19h00 CET 
    Rebecca Herman (UC Berkeley), Cooperating with the Colossus: US Military Basing in World War II Latin America

Semestre 2

  • 29 Janvier 2024, 17h-18h30 CET 
    Sean Vanatta (University of Glasgow), A Treacherous Ocean of Money: Finance and Failure across the Interwar Atlantic, 1920-1935
  • 26 Février 2024, 17h-18h30 CET 
    Sarah Nelson (Leiden U), Networking Empire: Communications, Decolonization, and American Power in the 20th Century
  • 25 Mars 2024, 17h-18h30 CET 
    Augusta Dell’Omo (SMU Center for Presidential History), Human Rights for White Power
  • 29 Avril 2024, 17h-18h30 CET
    Elsa Devienne (Northumbria U), Rubbish Tactics? Oil Spills, Beach Clean-Ups, and the Making of Modern Environmentalism (1969-2023)

Pratical information

A hybrid seminar series connecting seven European institutes for new research on American history

Partners and contact persons: 

  • American Studies Center, University of Warsaw: William Glass
  • Centro di Studi sugli Stati Uniti – LAB-USA: Raffaella Baritono
  • CHSP, Sciences Po: Mario Del Pero, Olivier Burtin, Jonathan Levy 
  • Instituto Franklin-UAH: Ana Lariño
  • Roosevelt Institute for American Studies: Dario Fazzi, Gaetano Di Tommaso
  • Rothermere American Institute: Daniel Rowe
  • University of Southern Denmark: Jørn Brøndal

Five of the seven belong to the American Studies Network (ASN), a consortium of European American‑studies centres affiliated with the European Association for American Studies (EAAS).

Format: Every institute will host and lead at least one monthly session from September 2025 to May 2026.

All seminars take place on Mondays, 17:00 – 18:30 Central European Time (CET/CEST).

Sessions may be fully online or hybrid, depending on the availability of the host institution. Each presenter will have up to 40 minutes for their talk, followed by an open Q&A.

For more information, please contact info@ushistoryforum.eu

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