Each year, BAAS offers a growing list of awards, prizes, teaching assistantships, and research assistant awards, supporting the development of American studies in Britain. The 2025 Awards are now open to submissions. Descriptions of our awards can be found on the BAAS Awards web page, with more detail on the submission requirements. Please note that the deadline for submission is on December 16th, 2024.

"Through rich historical detail and theoretical sophistication, this book shows how queer struggles have engaged the question of the national and the transnational as a major site of disagreement, contestation, and emergence. Attending to the histories of gay liberation, black lesbian feminism, and HIV/AIDS activism, Stoffel argues that we cannot fully appreciate those movements without understanding their deep engagements with radical internationalism. The argument is one that should never be retired." —Roderick Ferguson, Yale University

An ambitious study, deftly grounded in a generous sampling of popular culture, influential figures of the era, historical scholarship, and his own experience, Henry Jenkins' magisterial Were the Wild Things Were invites us on a journey through the many permutations of the permissive imagination. What are you waiting for? Accept his invitation! ~Philip Nel, author of Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children's Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books

The true story of David Henry White, a free Black teenage sailor enslaved on the high seas during the Civil War, whose life story was falsely and intentionally appropriated to advance the image of a contented slave, happy and safe in servility.

"This pathbreaking volume is an invaluable resource for social scientists, students, and practitioners interested in understanding how masculinity influences politics. McDermott and Cassino have brought together compelling studies employing a wide range of approaches to document the multitude of ways that masculinity, in its various forms and complexity, pervades almost all aspects of American politics." ~Susan J. Carroll, author of A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Presence Matters (Oxford 2018)

"You’ll never think about lumberjacks the same way thanks to Willa Hammitt Brown’s Gentlemen of the Woods. From their complicated and hidden narratives to their significant historical impact and larger-than-life lore, the restless ghosts of the Northwoods are finally getting their due." —Susan Marks, author of Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America’s First Lady of Food

“A must-read for anyone who wants to go deep into the issue of race and sport and how they intersect with society. Focusing on Boston is a powerful and meaningful approach, as it is a perfect microcosm of these issues. . . . Cvornyek and Stark go deep into the subject of how racism affects sport but also show how sport can be used to bring people together across racial and economic divides.”—Richard E. Lapchick, president of the Institute for Sport and Social Justice.

University of Texas Press has released Redrawing the Western: A History of American Comics and the Mythic West, authored by William Grady. Redrawing the Western charts a history of the Western genre in American comics from the late 1800s through the 1970s and beyond. Besides tracing the history, forms, and politics of American Western comics in and around the twentieth century, Grady offers an original reassessment of the important role of comics in the development of the Western genre, ranking them alongside popular fiction and film in the process.

Weaving eyewitness history through US history, Forming the Public reveals what understanding the journalism landscape can teach us about the nature of journalism’s own interests in race, gender, and class while tracing the factors that shaped the contours of dominant American culture.

The Politics of Hate demonstrates how Christian Right organizations educate and train networks of soldiers to tactically engage the enemy in local, state, and national legal and political battles. Wilson carefully documents their history of co-belligerency, their strategies of political warfare, and, importantly, the impact of this war that has, over the past fifty years, forever changed American politics.

'A remarkable story of awakening, commitment, grit, and fearlessness in the wake of personal pain, grassroots struggle, and state violence. This first-ever historical biography of Ericka Huggins is itself a meditation on the pertinence and power of spiritual wellness and encourages us to consider what a radically holistic movement for liberation might need. Wholly original and illuminating!' ~Rhonda Y. Williams, author of Concrete Demands: The Search for Black Power in the 20th Century

The Society for the History of Women in the Americas (SHAW) welcomes proposals for its annual conference, co-hosted by Leeds Beckett University and the University of Leeds.

Conference dates: 26-27 June 2025. Organisers: CRINI, Nantes Université & Daulat Ram College, Delhi University. Paper proposals of max 300 words and a bio (max 100 word) should be sent before 20 December 2024 to: convalescencelit2025@gmail.com

The Urban History Association is holding its annual conference in Los Angeles in October 2025. Deadline for submissions 1 February 2025.

The American Politics Group's 2025 Annual Conference welcomes anyone with an interest in American domestic and international politics, political history, government and society. We invite proposals for conference papers on any aspect of US politics: the November elections and their consequences are likely to prove a central topic of discussion, but papers examining contemporary US political institutions or processes, US foreign policy, or US political history will all be very welcome. We particularly encourage proposals from postgraduate students and early career researchers.

Call for Papers: Disabilities and American Art Histories SAAM American Art Journal Deadline: April 1, 2025 https://go.americanart.si.edu/e/980712/ies-and-american-art-histories/h3d3t/733537467/h/NM_1tSwoUZs9-i9T8FTo7VcfmFdZRvzHxyNyVHtIxfw

Call for Papers: Thinking Art History and Black Studies Together SAAM American Art Journal Deadline: March 1, 2025

The Virginia Museum of History & Culture is accepting applications for its Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships and VMHC Research Fellowships, to promote the interpretation of Virginia and access to its collections.

The Audrey Flack Short-Term Fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum supports a one-month residency for a predoctoral, postdoctoral, or senior scholar who is researching a topic in American art and who resides, works, or attends school outside of commuting distance from Washington, D.C. Researchers whose personal circumstances (i.e., financial constraints, employment conditions, care-giving responsibilities, or other limitations) preclude them from participating in longer-term residencies are encouraged to apply. Application deadline: February 1, 2025.

SHAW invites expressions of interest to join its steering committee: ECR Representative, Treasurer and Membership Secretary

Based at the Amerika-Institut at the University of Munich, the project “Documentary Drawing in the 20th Century” is seeking a PostDoc researcher (100%; 36 months) with a background in Art History, American History, or a related field. Key responsibilities include running and researching the section of the project concerned with “documentary drawing in war”, and co-curating the exhibition planned for 2027. Job starts no later than May 2025.

We have PhD fellowships available in Area Studies at the University of Oslo. (American Studies comes under this umbrella.) In Norway, these fellowships are treated as jobs with benefits: healthcare, pensions, maternity/paternity leave, ample research funding, and paid vacations. Yearly salary: (NOK 532,200-575,400, or approx. £37.4k-£40.4k). Deadline: February 28, 2025. Start date: September 1, 2025. See more here: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/271067/doctoral-research-fellowship-in-area-studies