CURRENTS: Christy Chapin (History) & Liz Patton (MCS)
Humanities Work Now
Location
Performing Arts & Humanities Building : 216
Date & Time
February 24, 2020, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Description
CURRENTS: Humanities Work Now lunchtime series showcases exciting
new faculty work in the humanities in a dynamic and inter-disciplinary
setting with short, informal presentations and time for discussion
(Lunch will be served at 11:30am)
Women, Technology, and Checks: Commercial Banking after World War II
Christy Chapin
Associate Professor, History, UMBC; Summer 2019 Dresher Center Summer Faculty Research Fellow
Associate Professor, History, UMBC; Summer 2019 Dresher Center Summer Faculty Research Fellow
This talk will present work from a manuscript chapter on banking and finance. In order to understand banking culture and rapidly changing machine technologies, the chapter traces a check as it was being processed in each department of a commercial bank in 1960. Christy Chapin will provide a small portion of the chapter to receive feedback on how she is infusing business and economic history with humanities-based topics, such as the construction of gender and the representation of banks in U.S. culture.
AND
Geographies of Race: Representations of Racial Mobility
Elizabeth Patton
Assistant Professor, Media and Communication Studies, UMBC; Summer 2019 Dresher Center Summer Faculty Research Fellow
Assistant Professor, Media and Communication Studies, UMBC; Summer 2019 Dresher Center Summer Faculty Research Fellow
Economic, social, and physical mobility are key aspects of race formation in the U.S., informing spatial policies, practices, and attitudes. For example, during the Jim Crow era, African Americans seeking to travel through racially charged spaces needed to depend on memory, word-of-mouth, and guidebooks such as The Negro Motorist Green Book to avoid physical and/or psychological harm. Elizabeth Patton’s research project examines the role of memory, racial mobility, and media in defining geographies of race.
