May 2018 is here, and as D.C. finally shook off winter for good, the Kluge Center welcomed three new scholars into residence. Here are the projects that they will be working on:
Seth Masket, our incoming Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance, arrived from the University of Denver. During his residency, Masket will conduct research on his project, “The Road Back: Party Activists and the 2020 Presidential Nomination.” On Monday, May 21, 2018, in Montpelier (Madison Building, 6th floor), he will be participating in an afternoon symposium for congressional staff and members of the public to explore the potential impacts that the growing numbers of American citizens who do not identify with either major political party will have on the future of political parties and American politics in general. Click here to see more information on this exciting future symposium, and here to sign up to attend.
Lauren Beck, our incoming Kislak Fellow in American Studies, arrived from Mount Allison University. During her residency, Beck will be doing research for her project, “Indigenous and European Place-Naming Practices in North America, 1492-1800.” This work examines naming practices of various places in North America, including towns, cities, and states, and will focus on the Colonial period, using several European and Indigenous languages. While in residence, Beck will use the Library’s extensive Kislak collection, as well as our other collections, to further her research into these naming practices and produce an article. She hopes this research will lay the groundwork for a monograph devoted to the impact of distinct approaches to naming as well as the persistence of colonial name practices in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
Amy Offner, a Kluge Fellow, arrived from the University of Pennsylvania. During her residency, Amy will focus on her project, “Sorting Out the Mixed Economy: Political-Economic Change in the United States and Colombia, 1950-1990.” This work examines two issues in the political economy after WWII: the making and unmaking of welfare and developmentalist states, and the rise of economic reasoning in public life. While in residence, Offner will delve into the Library’s massive manuscript collections, looking at the papers of Sol Linowitz, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Donald Rumsfeld, and William J. Baroody, among others. While here she hopes to further her research on how ideas and practices commonly considered neoliberal grew out of midcentury ideas and practices, rather than in simple opposition to them, as well as demonstrating the Third World roots of social policy and economic thinking in the North Atlantic.
Check back next month for more arriving scholars. Click here for the full list of scholars currently in residence.