Cultural History Faculty

Modern European historian Susan Crane specializes in German history. Her research focuses on thematic issues of collective memory, historical consciousness and Romanticism, photography and cultural representations. Among her publications: Collecting and Historical Consciousness in Early 19th-Century Germany and "Choosing Not To Look: Representation, Repatriation and Holocaust Atrocity Photography," History & Theory (2008). 

Alison Futrell specializes in the symbols and rituals of power in the Roman Empire, with particular focus on the deployment of gender and material culture in imperial politics, as well as representations of ancient Rome in the modern world, including film, literature, and art. Her publications include Roman Games and Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power.

Modern Chinese historian Fabio Lanza holds a joint appointment in East Asian Studies. His research focuses on the cultural and intellectual history of modern China, particularly on the history of modern student activism in the 20th century. His forthcoming book concerns the time and place where this history began, Beijing University during the May Fourth Movement on 1919. Student activism was not simply a reflection of intellectual change; rather, students learned their politics from the experience of the changing lived environment of the university and the city. In turn, political expression occurred in the students’ lived practice, in classroom, dorms, clothing, teaching routines, and associations.

Katherine Morrissey’s research on the North American West focuses on the region’s environmental, social, cultural, and intellectual history. Trained in American Studies, she has published on regionalism and cultural representations. In her current project she is particularly interested in the social construction of environmental perceptions and cultural contestations over the meanings of visual evidence. 

 

A historian of race, gender and culture, Tynia Steptoe's recent book Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City examines how the migration of Creoles of color, ethnic Mexicans and black east Texans complicated notions of race in 20th-century Houston. She is currently working on a project that examines the history of rhythm and blues music through the lens of race and sexuality.