James Wald

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Biography
James Wald, Associate Professor of History, School of Social Science, studied history (major field) and literature (secondary field) as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin and at the graduate level at Princeton University. I am primarily a cultural historian of modern and contemporary Europe (c. 1789-present), but I also teach and supervise student work in the early modern period (c. 1450-1800), in whose history I was likewise trained. (I gladly dabble in mediæval history, as well, but as an amateur and undergraduate teacher, not a researcher.) As my undergraduate advisor, George Mosse, used to teach us, it is ultimately most productive to organize one’s historical interests around historical problems rather than mere chronology or geography. He therefore began as a scholar of religion and state in the late medieval and Reformation periods, but then applied this understanding of the history of ideas, collective mentalities, symbols, and power to the rise of nationalism and fascism, turning eventually to pioneering studies of gender and sexuality. Seen from that perspective, it was only natural that I chose, in graduate school, to pursue my combined personal and professional interest in the relation between ideas, the physical forms in which they circulate, and their influence in society via the then-new interdisciplinary field of the “history of the book,” e.g. as developed by Robert Darnton, Natalie Davis, and Anthony Grafton. It was, in retrospect, fortunate that I came of professional age precisely between the generations that were solidly anchored in print and the new generations of students that were “born digital.” We are wedded to neither the one nor the other, and so we are able to take a broad perspective on recent developments. Because I view both books (from manuscript to print) and digital media as kindred technologies of the word—points on a continuum rather than polar opposites—and have moreover always been deeply interested in emerging technologies, as such, it was likewise but natural that I sought to integrate my interest in the history of traditional textualities with the study of “new media.” This took the form, on the one hand, of academic research, and on the other, of inquiry into practical applications. A good many years ago, just as the phrase, “Information Superhighway,” was gaining currency, my Five-College history colleagues and I collaborated on a pilot project that explored the new uses of computers and computing in history and the humanities. About a decade ago, I participated in a broader project funded by the Mellon Foundation, "Talking Toward Techno-Pedagogy: A Collaboration Across Colleges and Constituencies”. This gave rise, after various trial endeavors, to the Hampshire course websites and ongoing attempts to apply digital media wisely in the classroom and wider academic environment. In 1998, Hampshire colleagues and I, thanks to a MacArthur grant via the Office of the President, founded the Center for the Book, in hopes of exploring this transformation in a new way by bringing together academics, "book workers" (from authors to printers and artists), and the general public.   In recent years, I have developed my longstanding personal interest in material culture and historic preservation in both the civic and professional spheres. I have incorporated units on material culture into my classes on historiography and general history. Work on the Amherst Historical Commission led me to offer a course on local history and historic preservation, so that students can learn about the town in which they live even as they explore the field of public history. It was this work that in turn led to my involvement in town planning efforts, which awakened my interest in that crucial field and allowed me to deepen my older side-interests in such issues as conservation, architecture, design, and social policy. (see also, below) Among my more recent interests is the intersection of science and history in the application of genetics and DNA research in studies of deep history, genealogy, and ethnic identity. I view all of these interests as logically, and in some cases, intimately related.

Research and Teaching Interests


Europe in the Age of Enlightenment and Revolution, c. 1750-1850

• Enlightenment, Classicism, Romanticism

• development of the public sphere

• revolutionary ideas and movements



Europe in the era of Classical Modernity, c. 1890-1990

• cultural modernism

• era of the World Wars, including fascism, Nazism, and Holocaust studies

• antisemitism and racist ideologies

• socialism, communism, and post-communism



History of the book, from manuscript to multimedia

• history of literature and literary life--authorship, publishing, and reading--primarily in France and Germany

• history of the periodical press

• technology, book arts

• the technologized word in the age of digital media



German and Central European studies:

• cultural and political history of modern Germany

• German literature and literary history

• Czech and Hungarian history from Habsburg Empire to postcommunism

• Hampshire College field study program in Czech Republic and Poland



Material Culture, Historic Preservation, and Public History

• material culture: the objects and human-made environment of daily life

• historic preservation theory and policy

• gardens, landscape architecture

CSI 293:﻿﻿ Mass Man, Mass Movements, Mass Culture: Reading Seminar on Europe in the Era of Classical Modernity
Although we talk readily of "postmodernism," do we really know what "modernism" was about? Never did change seem to be as dramatic and rapid as in the first half of the twentieth century. Leftists and rightists, avant-gardists and traditionalists alike, spoke of the age of the masses, characterized by conscript armies and political mass movements, mass production of commodities, and mass media. The European "great powers" achieved domination over the globe, only to bleed themselves white in wars that devastated the continent physically and psychologically, weakened the colonial empires, and undermined faith in progress itself. The real victors were two rival systems of modernity: American consumer capitalism and Soviet communism. Although the age witnessed great violence and despair, it also brought forth great hopes and achievements in social thought, the arts, and technology, many of whose effects we are still pondering.

T, Th 12:30-1:50

(Course website: https://moodle.hampshire.edu/enrol/index.php?id=3398)

CSI 150: Fighting Over the Facts: Debates in History
Many people have learned and are accustomed to thinking of history as an authoritative account of the past, based on indisputable facts. Scholars of history, by contrast, understand history as a matter of contested and evolving interpretation: debate. And they argue not just over the interpretation of facts, but even over what constitutes a relevant fact. This course will use some representative debates to show how dynamic the historical field is. Topics may include: Did women have a Renaissance? How did people in early modern France understand identity? Why did eighteenth-century French artisans find the torture and slaughter of cats to be hilarious rather than cruel? Were Nazi killers who committed genocide motivated by hatred or peer pressure? Are European Jews descended from medieval Turks rather than biblical Hebrews? Students will come to understand how historians reason and work. In so doing, they themselves will learn to think historically.

M, W 1:00-2:20

(course website: https://moodle.hampshire.edu/course/view.php?id=3428)

Next Semester's Courses
• [sabbatical 2014-15]

Courses Offered
Historical Method and Mode of Inquiry: • Paths to the Past: An Introduction to History and Historical Thinking (SocSci 154)  (course website and additional information)

• Making Sense of the Past: Learning to Think and Teach Like a Historian (with Laura Wenk (CS/SocSci 146)  (course website and additional information)

• Fighting Over the Facts: Debates in History (course website and additional information)

• Encounters With the Past: Readings in Early Modern European History. Topic: Hopes and Fears: Religion, Gender, and Possessions from the Middle Ages Through the Industrial Revolution (CSI 275) (course website and additional information) • Preserving the Past, Planning for the Future: Historic Preservation and Local History (course website and additional information)  Early Modern Europe: • Books, Technology, and History from Manuscript to Cybeincunabula (Tutorial: CSI118T) (course website and additional information) • Gold, Lead, and Gunpowder: Knowledge and Power in Renaissance Europe (HACU/SocSci 269) (course website and additional information) • Encounters With the Past:  Readings in Early Modern European History. Topic: Hopes and Fears: Religion, Gender, and Possessions from the Middle Ages Through the Industrial Revolution (SocSci 275) (course website and additional information)

• Books Have Their Destinies: History of the Book from Manuscript to Cyberspace (HACU/SocSci 289) (course website and additional information) Modern Europe:  • Iron and Gold:  Reading Seminar on Europe in the Era of Upheaval and Ascendancy, c. 1789-1914 (SocSci 217)

• The Era of European Supremacy: Research Seminar in 19th-Century Europe (HACU/SocSci 288) (course website and additional information)

• Mass Man, Mass Movements, Mass Culture: Reading Seminar on Europe in the Era of Classical Modernity (SocSci 293) (course website and additional information) • The Laboratory Atop the Graveyard:  Research Seminar in 20th-Century Europe (HACU/SocSci 247) (course website and additional information)

• Literature and Society Between the Wars (with Norman Holland) (HACU/SocSci 100-level)

• The Rise of Secular Jewish Culture (with Rachel Rubinstein) (HACU/Social Science 190 (course website and additional information)

• Hating the Jews More Than Necessary: Antisemitism (SocSci 219)(course website and additional information)

• Shoah: The Destruction of the European Jews as History (SocSci 276) (course website and additional information)

• Coffeehouses, Catastrophe, and Culture: Central Europe from Dependency to Postcommunism (course website and additional information)

• Mastering the Past: Politics, Law, and the Struggle Over Memory in Postwar Central Europe (with Lester Mazor) (SocSci 269) History of the Book, Media, Communication: • Books, Technology, and History from Manuscript to Cybeincunabula (Tutorial: SocSci 115T) (course website and additional information)

• Gold, Lead, and Gunpowder: Knowledge and Power in Renaissance Europe (HACU/SocSci 269) (course website and additional information)

• Ordering the World: The Organization of Knowledge from Gutenberg to Google (with Jeffrey Wallen) (HACU/SocSci 188) (course website and additional information) • Dangerous Books:  Introduction to Textuality and Culture (with Mary Russo) (HACU/SocSci 220) (course website and additional information)

• Books Have Their Destinies: History of the Book from Manuscript to Cyberspace (HACU/SocSci 289) (course website and additional information)

New Courses in Development:
(stay tuned)

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Community Involvement
Over the years, I have served on a broad range of Hampshire College governance and service bodies, including the Senate, Fulbright and Threshold Awards Committees, Budget and Priorities Committee, Compensation Task Force, Panel on Academic Freedom and Procedures, Educational Policy Committee (EPC), Hampshire College Committee on Faculty Reappointments and Promotions (CCFRaP), Information Technology Oversight and Advisory Committee, and the Planning Committee for the First-Year Program.

I was the Faculty member of the Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2002.

Within the School of Social Science, I have served multiple terms on the Policy and Reappointment Committees. I served as a member of the search committees for positions in Early Modern Europe and South Asian history. I also served on search committees for positions in World Music and Ethnomusiciology and Jewish Studies (School of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies).

I direct the Hampshire College Center for the Book and teach or co-teach (with Polina Barskova) the Hampshire College Field Study Program in Prague and Kraków.

One of the great advantages of working and living in the Valley is the existence of the Five-College Consortium. Because Hampshire College relies so heavily on the resources of the neighboring institutions, I have from the start been a strong advocate for Five-College cooperation, and thus, a participant in Five-College planning. In particular, I have been involved with my own research and teaching fields of history and German studies, and in addition, with information technology. Since early in my tenure here, I have served as the Hampshire College representative to the Annual Meeting of Five-College Department and Program Chairs in History (and, in addition or by extension, German Studies). I have co-chaired both the Five-College History (formerly: Social History) and German Studies seminars and taken part in visits of review teams for the Amherst History and Mount Holyoke German departments.

Current/recent academic service


 * Hampshire College Educational Policy Committee (2016-)
 * Hampshire College Human Rights Committee (2016)
 * Hampshire College Budget and Priorities Committee (2016)
 * Hampshire College Intellectual Property Committee (2013-16)
 * Hampshire College Sexual Offenses Task Force (2013-15)
 * UMass/Five College Graduate History Program Admissions Committee (2013-14)
 * Hampshire College School of Critical Social Inquiry Self-Study Committee (2013-14)
 * Hampshire College Faculty Handbook Committee (2013-14)
 * Hampshire College Library Director Search Committee (2011-12)
 * Hampshire College: Committee at Hampshire on Investment Responsibility (CHOIR; 2012-15)
 * Hampshire College Governance Task Force (member; then Co-Chair: 2009-11)
 * Five-College "Blended" and Online Teaching Committee (2009-10)
 * Hampshire College Campus Planning Committee (2009-10)
 * Hampshire College Community Review Board (2009-11)
 * Hampshire College Campus Planning Committee (2008-11)
 * Hampshire College Retention Committee (2008-10)


 * Five-College Imaging Working Group (2008-)


 * Hampshire College site team, Wabash Study (Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education; 2008-)


 * Five-College/UMass Graduate Program in History Admissions Committee (2008-10).

Amherst Town Government

 * member, Amherst Select Board (town's collective chief executive), 2010-
 * Amherst Design Review Board: member, 2008-10
 * Select Board Liaison to Design Review Board, 2010-
 * Amherst Historical Commission: member, 2002-5: Vice Chair, 2005-7; Chair, 2007-11
 * Select Board Liaison to Historical Commission, 2011-
 * Amherst Comprehensive Planning Committee: member, 2004-7; Vice Chair, 2007; Chair, 2007-8
 * Amherst Town Meeting: elected representative, Precinct 1, 2008-10

Community Service

 * Amherst Club (service organization): member since 2003; Vice President and Chair, Charitable Appropriations Committee, 2006-7; President, 2007-8; member of the Board of Directors, 2008-9

History of the Book

 * Director, Hampshire College Center for the Book, 1998-
 * Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing (SHARP): Treasurer, member of the Executive Council, 2003-
 * Advisory Editor, Book History, 2007-
 * Massachusetts Center for the Book: member, Governing Board, 2003-; Treasurer, 2008-12; Chair 2012-

Other Service in the Professional Field/Historical Studies

 * Amherst Historical Society &amp; History Museum: member of the Board, 2009-

•
 * Member, UMass-Five College Graduate History Admissions Committee, 2013-2014
 * Allied Faculty, UMass Public History Program

Division II and III Work
The lists of research/teaching interests and classes, above, provide the best sense of the general areas in which I work with students. However, in a system in which all students design their own academic concentrations (Division II) and are required to complete a senior thesis project (Division III), we of course work on a broad range of other fields or special topics. Often, faculty thus have to "stretch" beyond our specialties in order to provide the requisite assistance, and that is sometimes a challenge but usually a pleasure. Indeed, one of the most exciting aspects of Hampshire is the opportunity to find shared interests between faculty and students—and develop new ones.

The following represent a sample of the sorts of topics on which I have worked over the years:

Division II (chair or member)


 * Modern European Political Philosophy and History
 * Medieval History and Physics: Unified Fields in Theory
 * Modern European Languages and Cultural History
 * History and Theatre: The Living History Museum
 * Early Music History (Western Europe and Then Some)
 * Culture and Society in Early Modern Europe
 * The Importance of Bookness
 * Literary and Historical Perspectives on Modern Jewish Identity
 * The Rise and Development of Individualism in Western Society
 * Text - Image - Space
 * Comparative History through Creative Writing
 * Comparative Religion: Pagan and Early Judeo-Christian Interaction
 * European Cultural Landscape of the Early Twentieth Century
 * Comparative 19th and 20th Century European Literature
 * Imagined Conquests: Examinations of National, Political and Personal Identity
 * Rebellion and Freedom: Revolution and Alienation In Political Theory,Literature and Philosophy

Division III

Chair:


 * The Intellectual and Moral Dilemma of English Writers in the 1930s: The Case of Orwell, Spender, and Gollancz
 * Manners and Society in the Victorian Era
 * Not Welcome Here: Antagonistic Books
 * We Created It; Let's Take it Over! The Birth of American Punk
 * The Trinity: Name or Metaphor?
 * The Highland Clearances and the Losses in Celtic Culture
 * Corporate Art Collecting in the United States
 * Golem: A Performance Piece Considering G-d, Science and Artificial Life
 * The Rise and Fall of the Episcopacy, from the Early Church to the Middle Ages
 * Frederick Mayhew, ""Limner"": Portraiture and Society on Early 19th-Century Martha's Vineyard
 * In Loving Memory of A Raid: The Deerfield Massacre and Savage History
 * The Dangers of Detente: Anglo-German Relations from 1909 to 1914
 * Prospects of the Associated Countries of Central and Eastern Europe for Accession to the European Union
 * A Comparative Historical and Economic Analysis of German and Japanese Development, 1820-1890
 * Destroying Books; A Preserved Collection
 * Libraries, translators, copyists and the written word: Book culture in the Middle Ages
 * Echoes of Shamanism in the Medieval Icelandic Grettir's Saga
 * Allohistory: The Use and Abuse of Counterfactual and Alternate History
 * Jak v Nebi, Tak na Zemi: Writing the Experience of Art and Travel
 * The Warsaw Uprising of 1944 and Symbolic Aspects of its Reconstruction and Representation
 * Digital Type Design and Typography
 * The Theme of Paradise in Monastic Gardens of the Middle Ages

Member:


 * Waiting for Whizz-Bangs: Representations of the First World War in Postcards
 * Has the Old Nomenklatura Become the New Managerial Elite in Hungary andthe the Czech Republic?
 * The Legal Profession in Nazi Germany
 * Creatures and Monitors: The Reading of Selfhood in Moll Flanders and The Book of Margery Kempe
 * The Indefinite Domain of the Nonconforming: Czechoslovakia after the Soviet Invasion
 * Music in the Culture of 16th and 17th Century Denmark
 * The Consequences of Literacy in Milton's Paradise Lost
 * Emulating Modernity: The Impacts of Industrialization in Colonial and Post-colonial India, 1900-1966
 * The Peasant in Nazi and Soviet Visual Culture
 * Becoming a History Teacher
 * The Magic Mirror: Avrom Goldfaden's 'Di Kishefmakherin' and the Creation of a Yiddish Literary Canon
 * Friedrich Nietzsche's Critique of Judaism and the Jewish Intellectual Response
 * The Burden of the Past: Historical Continuity and the Language Question in Greece
 * Nazis and Cowboys: A Comparison of Lebensraum and Manifest Destiny Ideologies
 * The Nuremberg Trials as a Symbol and Precedent During the 1960s
 * Greek Drama and German Opera
 * Literary Collaboration and the Control of Ideas: The History, Technology, and Legal Philosophy of Collaborative Literary Creation

Bottom line: If you think I can be of help to you on an examination committee, or are simply looking for some specific information or informal advice, don't hesitate to contact me or set up an appointment. I'll do my best to help, or to direct you to someone who can.

Research
My research continues to be divided between general modern European history and the history of the book.

Recent items:

• Multiple contributions to The Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History, 3 vols., ed. Gregory Fremont-Barnes (Santa Barbara, Denver, and Oxford: ABC-CLIO, 2006)

• Multiple contributions on history and culture in the Middle East in The United States at War, (online/ebook) and Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military History, 4 vols., ed. Spencer Tucker, et al. (Santa Barbara, Denver, and Oxford: ABC-CLIO, 2008)

• Chapter, “Periodicals and Periodicity,” in A Companion to the History of the Book, ed. Jonathan Rose and Simon Eliot (Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007)

I also share the results of my research, and historical perspectives on current affairs, via the blogosphere, e.g. in "The Public Humanist," a forum sponsored by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.

Current Projects
ongoing research for book-length study of authorship and publishing in Germany in the era of the French Revolution

smaller projects in preparation:

• publishing in Nazi Germany

• the abuse of history in contemporary antisemitic discourse

• historic preservation and cultural celebration in Amherst

Independent Studies

 * Fall 2008: Digitizing Hampshire group independent study EPEC course facilitated by Ananda Valenzuela, Adam Krellenstein, Jose Fuentes and Niko Kern.