“How the BBC Served West Indian Literature” examines the role BBC radio played in the development of anglophone Caribbean literature between 1943 and 1958 and highlights the work of the literary radio program’s most influential editor and producer, Henry Swanzy. I argue that Swanzy’s encouragement of literary submissions from the region that emphasized the local and particular had the effect of subverting a federalist view of the soon-to-be postcolonial anglophone Caribbean, the very perspective that Swanzy’s BBC bosses had been promoting in the region in the lead up to decolonization, a process that would eventually begin in the early 1960s.      

The 98 Acres in Albany project documents the history of Albany's Empire State Plaza: the residents and business owners who made their homes and livelihoods there before the area's demolition, the planners and politicians who envisioned a beautiful modernist state capitol that would revitalize Albany, the construction workers who were able to enter the middle class through high-paying union jobs, and the public who have used the Plaza for performances and cultural events since its July 4, 1976 opening. Our goal is to tell compelling and visually appealing narratives about this history, and to create a bottom-up social history of urban renewal. This project is part of a larger NEH-funded digital public history of urban renewal around New York State. Follow us at https://98acresinalbany.wordpress.com/!

In this presentation, I talk about how aboriginal populations have been under great stress, both demographically and culturally all around the world. American Indians continue to be the poorest and the least healthy population within the borders of the United States. They are the most severe victims of most health disparities in the US. Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations (https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/disparities/). Health disparities result from multiple factors, including poverty, environmental threats, inadequate access to health care, individual and behavioral factors, educational inequalities, higher rates of cancers and diabetes. There are many health risk behaviors that are more common among American Indians and Alaskan Natives also. Since 2001, in comparison to other racial/ethnic groups, they have had the largest or next largest percentage of 18-year olds without a visit to a physician. In addition, some face the additional problem of an environment polluted by industries. In our study of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation who are impacted by nearby pollution with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), we saw that sexual maturation was earlier in girls in relation to their PCB level, and testosterone levels in adolescent boys were lower in relation to theirs. Thyroid hormone levels were altered also. Among adult women the risk of not ovulating was related to their level of PCBs. These are especially difficult effects considering that the survival of the culture and the people are a primary concern of the Akwesasne Mohawk people and of many American Indian and Alaskan Native groups.

In the past year, Americans have taken the act of sanitizing to new levels -- clearing shelves of disinfecting wipes, donning disposable masks, and even considering whether Clorox might have curative properties. Americans’ intense engagement with cleaning products did not begin with the Covid-19 pandemic. Nor was the pandemic the first instance in which supply chain challenges shaped their availability.

In this talk, I examine the longer history of disinfectants and disposable diapers. My talk demonstrates the ways these objects of everyday life carry consequences for the forests and waterways from which their components come. How we clean, it turns out, reflects public decisions not just about human health, but also about public governance of forests, rivers, and families.