On Thursday, February 13th, history professors Sarah Osten and Nicole Phelps both gave excellent presentations on their new research at the UVM Alumni House. As Humanities Center Fellows, their work was featured as part of the Humanities Fellows Research Salon. Synopses of their projects are provided below.
Sarah Osten, “‘No One is Free Until We Are All Free:’ Mexican Solidarity with Central American Revolutions, 1970-1985”
This book project examines solidarity actions and movements in Mexico City in the 1970s and 1980s in support of Central American revolutions and their exiled representatives in Mexico. At a time when the semi-authoritarian Mexican state was actively repressing its own leftist activists, many of these were inspired by and found common cause with leftist revolutionaries from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, particularly as Mexico underwent its own protracted but largely nonviolent process of democratization.
Nicole Phelps, “Masters of the 187 Forms: US Consular Officials and the Uneven Projection of US Sovereignty Abroad, 1856-1924”
In the second half of the 19th century, the US Department of State deployed hundreds of consular officials around the globe to perform myriad tasks that were essential to the functioning of various parts of the federal government, from certifying the value of goods imported into the United States to collecting plant samples for the US Department of Agriculture to obtaining witness testimony to be used in American courtrooms. They were supposed to be able to accurately fill out forms for at least 187 separate tasks; none of the forms came with instructions, and more general training for consular officials was minimal. My research explores the pain and anguish that ensued.
We all look forward to seeing this work in published form.
