History PhD Ceremony 2020: A Virtual Celebration
On May 1, 2020, this year's U-M History PhD graduates were supposed to convene with their family, friends, and advisors to commemorate a momentous occasion: the completion of their doctorate degree. A virtual celebration is less than ideal, but it does not diminish the accomplishments of this year’s PhD class.
Welcome
James W. Cook
History Department Chair
Professor of History and American Studies
Opening Remarks
Brian Porter-Szücs
Director of Graduate Studies
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History
2020 Arthur Fondiler Dissertation Prize
The Arthur Fondiler Dissertation Prize, endowed through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Craig and Lori Gurian, commemorates Arthur Fondiler, who was killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland in December 1988. Art Fondiler was a University of Michigan alumnus who earned an honors degree in history. Michigan was where he developed his passion for reading and thinking about the past, a love that enriched the rest of his life. The prize embodies his spirit by celebrating others who share and keep alive his passion for understanding the past.
The winner of this year's prize is Emma Thomas for the dissertation "Contested Labors: New Guinean Women and the German Colonial Indenture, 1884-1914."
Graduates
Participation in the PhD ceremony is optional. In lieu of the traditional speeches at the in-person event, students and their advisors were given the choice to present a video. Videos are password protected.
Cristian Capotescu (History)
Giving in the Time of Socialism: Economic Life, Humanitarianism, and Mobility in the Global Postwar
Committee: Pamela Ballinger (co-chair), Brian Porter-Szücs (co-chair), Kathleen Canning, Douglas Northrop, Krisztina Fehervary
Haydar Darici (Anthropology and History)
Living in the Play State: Insurrectionary Youth Politics in the Kurdish Borderlands
Committee: Andrew Shryock (chair), Rosalind Morris, Ronald Suny, Alaina Lemon, Fatma Gocek
Jan Dewitt (Interdepartmental Program in Greek and Roman History)
Money, Games, and Power: Rome's Lower Magistrates and the Development of a City
Committee: David Potter (chair), Celia Schultz, Nicola Terranato, Bruce Frier, Valerie Kivelson
Sara Katz (History)
Mobilizing the Hajj in Southwest Nigeria: Pilgrims, Technologies, and State Regulation 1914-1980
Committee: Derek Peterson (co-chair), Nancy Hunt (co-chair), Rudolph Ware, Juan Cole, Brian Larkin, Elisha Renne
Doreen Kembabazi (History)
Debating Property Rights: Land, Law, and Economic Development in Shanghai and Guangzhou, 1840-1940
Committee: Derek Peterson (chair), Rudolph Ware, Jean Allman, LaKisha Simmons, Martin Murray
Alyssa Penick (History)
Established by Law: Parishes, Power, and Property in the Chesapeake, 1720-1820
Committee: Susan Juster (chair), David Hancock, Mary Kelley, William Novak
Alessio Ponzio (Women's Studies and History)
Scandalous Practices: Homosexuality, Male Prostitution, and Sexual Citizenship in Post-Fascist Italy
Committee: Scott Spector (co-chair), Dario Gaggio (co-chair), Helmut Puff, Dean Hubbs, Kathleen Canning
Emily Price (History)
Place, Proof, and the Holy House in England, Scotland, and Italy, 1450-1620
Committee: Katherine French (chair), Paolo Squatriti, Megan Holmes, Achim Timmermann
David Spreen (History)
Dear Comrade Mugabe: Decolonization and Radical Protest in Divided Germany, 1960-1980
Committee: Geoff Eley (chair), Howard Brick, Kathleen Canning, Geoff Eley, Rita Chin, Adam Ashforth
Charley Sullivan (History)
Years of Dressing Dangerously: Modern Women, National Identity and Moral Crisis in Sukarno's Indonesia, 1945-1966
Committee: Nancy Florida (chair), Victor Lieberman, Perrin Selcer, Allen Hicken
Emma Thomas (History)
Contested Labors: New Guinean Women and the German Colonial Indenture, 1884-1914
Committee: Kathleen Canning (chair), Nancy Hunt, Geoff Eley, George Steinmetz
Daniel Williford (History)
Concrete Futures: Technologies of Urban Crisis in Colonial and Post-colonial Morocco
Committee: Joshua Cole (co-chair), Gabrielle Hecht (co-chair), Ellen Amster, Perrin Selcer, Juan Cole, Krisztina Fehervary
Parrish Wright (Interdepartmental Program in Greek and Roman History)
Competing Narratives of Identity in Central and Southern Italy, 750 BCE -300 BCE
Committee: David Potter (chair), Richard Janko, Nicola Terrenato, Celia Schultz, Anna Bonnell Freidin
