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Cliona Murphy will present her paper "Porfirian Mexico through Finerty's Irish Eyes" at the Society for Irish Latin American Studies Conference at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo in July 2009. In March, she will serve as chair and commentator for a panel entitled "Women Workers in 19th- and 20th-century Britain" at the Pacific Coast Conference on British Studies at the University of San Diego.
Lia Schrader, who joined the History department in Fall 2008 as a lecturer in Latin America history, has completed her doctoral thesis and been awarded the Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Schraeder’s thesis, “Spirits of the Times: Mexican Spiritism in Reform and Revolution," focuses on the relationship between spiritism and the mythology of the Mexican Revolution,” a topic she will explore in the spring for the History Forum. Congratulations, Dr. Schraeder!
Prof. Miriam Raub Vivian spent winter term reading and organizing research material for a historical introduction and commentary to a new English translation (by husband Tim Vivian) of the anonymous fifth-century Life of St. Daniel the Stylite. The Life, which narrates the experiences and spiritual feats of this pillar saint--yes, he lived atop a column for over thirty-three years--sheds considerable light on several aspects of Roman life and culture in the Late Roman Empire, including travel, education, class, issues of authority, social mobility, religious values, and, of course, the fascinating world of Christian asceticism. That holy men (and women) such as Daniel commanded the admiration of so many in this period requires our attention and provides some understanding of the transformation of the Roman Empire during Late Antiquity, a period in which classical culture changed in important ways under the influence of Christianity, with monks such as Daniel at the forefront of this transformation, functioning as icons of holiness and replacing in visible flesh the classical statues of the ancient gods.
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