Henry Knight Lozano Writes about Teaching American Studies with iPads for US Studies Online

Henry Knight Lozano, “Teaching American Studies with iPads,” US Studies Online, January 18, 2016

Technology-enhanced learning. Among the many buzzwords in higher education at the moment, ‘TEL’ is among the most pervasive. In 2015 HECFE funded an in-depth programme, “Changing the Learning Landscape,” designed to explore Technology-Enhanced Learning as a “key part of modern UK higher education,” while universities increasingly employ tools such as Textwall and Panopto to augment teaching. And yet for many lecturers, TEL arguably remains an elusive if not daunting proposition: how, exactly, can I incorporate “technology” (broadly conceived) into a particular seminar or lecture? Apart from following the vogue, why should I? Above all, in what ways is student learning actually going to be enhanced?

Recent experience from my final-year American Studies module on California has given me some food-for-thought on these questions that I wanted to share. For the first time I chose to involve iPads regularly within our weekly three-hour session. This experiment had two broad aims in mind: firstly, to get students familiar with an excellent online repository of California-related primary source materials [Calisphere] that could prove useful to their research; and, secondly, to deepen our discussion of topics like the Gold Rush, the anti-Chinese movement, and the marketing of California citrus. The iPad activity was straightforward enough. In pairs, students navigated to the Calisphere site and then searched out particular collections, selecting, analysing, and introducing one of the primary sources which I would put up on the screen. read on >>>>>

Northumbria Hosts International Conference for British Association of American Studies

American studies at Northumbria University attracted an international array of delegates for the 60th Anniversary conference of the British Association for American Studies (BAAS) between April 9-12. Current BAAS chair, Sue Currell of the University of Sussex, was delighted with the conference which attracted over 250 people: “It seemed very fitting to look back on 60 years of the British Association for American Studies while being hosted by one of the newest and most ambitious American Studies programmes in the country. As we approach another US election, I think the success of the conference speaks volumes about the vitality and significance of research and teaching on American topics around the UK.” 

The opening plenary was well-attended lecture given by Guardian journalist Gary Younge that featured in the newspaper the following day. The full transcript will be published in a forthcoming collection of essays on voting rights in the United States to be edited by Dr Henry Knight Lozano and Dr Joe Street both of Northumbria University. Current political events in the US were also central to another plenary lecture delivered by Professor Dana Nelson from Vanderbilt University, who spoke about the politics of Presidential power. Professor Nelson updated the audience on the findings of her 2008 book Bad for Democracy, to include observations on the current Obama administration. American literature Professor and Guardian columnist, Sarah Churchwell, also gave a lively guided tour of the world of F. Scott Fitzgerald as it appeared in The Great Gatsby. Speakers were sponsored and supported by the Journal of American Studies and the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library. The audience and participants included members of the public as well as representatives from the cultural affairs office of the US Embassy, who generously supported postgraduate student attendance at the conference.

Alongside numerous academic panels in a wide variety of subjects of significance to American studies scholars, there were publishing workshops and representation from over 20 international publishers. Delegates also took the opportunity to visit the University’s library holdings in American materials, including the papers of the Black Panther Party and the Records of Students for a Democratic Society.  Local hotels and the local economy also benefited from such a large influx of extra guests as delegates took advantage of visiting the city, many for the first time. Sue Currell noted that “The annual conference is central to sustaining the network of scholars who are researching the history, culture and politics of America in the UK. BAAS is very grateful to the hosts at Northumbria University for creating such a welcoming and successful event to celebrate our Anniversary: there is no doubt in my mind that everyone who attended is now looking forward to the nearest opportunity to come back.”

An Interview with Henry Knight Lozano on Teaching California History and Culture

Randall Stephens

One year after Henry Knight Lozano started teaching in American Studies and History at Northumbria he began offering a new, exciting module called "The Golden State: California."  Henry's current research covers Florida, California, and Hawaii, making the module a great example of research-led teaching.

The course has certainly proved to be a popular option for our third-year students.  Fittingly, some of those who have taken it have written their dissertations on topics related to the module.  Those enroled in it this semester are engaging with the history, literature, art, and themes of what was, for many years, America's most western, and one of its most dynamic, states. 

Henry says that The Golden State:

considers how California developed as both a place and an idea in the American imagination, focusing on the transformative century from the 1840s to the 1950s. While historical, our approach will also be interdisciplinary, reflecting the ways in which cultural constructions and popular representations have played a crucial role in California’s development. Thus, novels and visual culture, advertisements, films, and music, will all be consulted at different points as key elements in the Golden State’s formation. . . . Studying California’s remarkable transformation from the Mexican-American War to the early Cold War period, students are expected to take an interdisciplinary approach to the seminars and into their research on California and its “exceptional” history.

In the interview below, I speak with Henry about how he has set up the module, the kinds of reading and research students are doing, and the themes being covered.

From the Archives: A Research Fellowship at the Huntington Library

Henry Knight Lozano

Being a scholar of the US based in the UK presents certain obvious geographical challenges – there is no archive down the road to help kick-start a new project – and thus any research trip stateside needs to be considered carefully to get the most value for the time and money being spent. 

With this in mind, in August, I spent a month as a Research Fellow at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, California, and found it to be both a welcoming and distinctive place to do research. Founded in 1919 by railroad and real estate magnate Henry E. Huntington, the Huntington is a stand-alone research and educational institution that does not belong to any university (although the recent USC-Huntington Institute on California and the West represents an exciting new collaboration). The library offers a wide range of funded fellowships (over 150 annually) typically from one to six months; moreover, it sits in stunning botanical gardens dotted with fine art galleries that, if you’re not careful, can stretch a quick coffee break into a meandering wander through the grounds. 

The Huntington Gardens

This combination of southern California sun, semi-tropical gardens and tourists adrift therein made the Huntington feel a particularly apt location for my new project exploring cultural connections that developed between California and Hawaii in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The library’s archives, though, are lure enough. The Huntington holds an immense amount of Anglo-American materials: the library’s western and Californian sources were my focus – from private letter collections to visual ephemera – but literary scholars and historians of Britain and Europe from the medieval to the early modern are also drawn to its rich manuscript and rare book collections. This creates a lively and collegiate atmosphere among researchers with new fellows constantly arriving and informal talks organised to share projects and insights, often across disciplines and levels of study: postgraduate students, for example, are a notably significant presence among the fellowship community, reflecting the inclusive approach of the library and its funding schemes. In all, I found the Huntington an extremely useful research archive and institution and would recommend it to anyone working in a relevant field – the sun and the grounds are just a bonus!

Henry Knight Lozano is a Lecturer in History and American Studies at Northumbria University.  He is the author of the award-winning Tropic of Hopes: California, Florida, and the Selling of American Paradise, 1869-1929 (University Press of Florida, 2013).