Interview with Joe Street about His Recent Scholarship

Randall Stephens

The University of Florida Press has just published Senior Lecturer in History Joe Street's Dirty Harry's America: Clint Eastwood, Harry Callahan, and the Conservative Backlash.  In it Joe looks at the iconic antihero and asks what the popularity of the series reveals about modern America.  Dirty Harry's rogue conservatism, and machismo justice appealed to large sections of the American public.  The story also pointed to a powerful backlash against 1960s liberalism, the counterculture, and more.  The rise of Reagan-era conservatism, says Joe, owes something to this new, strident political reaction.

In Dirty Harry's America Joe writes of the 1971 film’s “representation of the counterculture, race, gender, and sexuality” that “must be approached within the context of recent San Francisco and national history. . .”(67)  At the same time Dirty Harry, Joe observes, “is far more complex than simple right-wing propaganda.”

I recently sat down with Joe to talk about why he wrote the book and how it fits into larger discussions about modern American culture.  Among other things, Joe comments on how the debates and skirmishes of two of America's most turbulent decades continue to shape the nation in powerful ways.

In the interview below Joe also discusses his more recent work on the Black Panther Party and the intersection of race and politics in the post-1960s United States.

 

An Interview with Matthew Avery Sutton, Keynote Speaker for the American Religious History Symposium, March 26

Randall Stephens

Roosevelts attending Christmas services,
St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Washington,
DC, 1934. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Matthew Avery Sutton is Edward R. Meyer Distinguished Professor of History at Washington State University.  He is the keynote speaker for the March 26th symposium on American Religious History.  (The event is co-sponsored by the Northumbria US History Research Group and Newcastle's Americas Research Group, Armstrong Building, Room 2.50, 3:30-6:15pm.  Read more on the event here.) Matt's keynote paper is titled: "American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism."

Matt is working on a new book tentatively titled FDR’s Army of Faith: Religion and Espionage in World War II (New York: Basic Books, 2019). He is the author of American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2014), Jerry Falwell and the Rise of the Religious Right: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012), and Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America (Harvard University Press, 2007). He has published articles in diverse venues ranging from the Journal of American History to the New York Times and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the US Fulbright Commission, and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation.

Below I ask Matt about his latest book, future research, and more.

Randall J. Stephens: What first got you interested in the topic of modern American evangelicalism?

Matthew Avery Sutton: I grew up in Southern California’s evangelical community and attended Christian schools. The further I moved away from the movement, the more fascinated I became with trying to make sense of its history. This particular book was inspired in part by an experience I had as a teenager. Along with some of the players on my high school basketball team, I attended a small prophecy seminar led by a layperson (the father of one of my teammates). After a day of seeing his evidence, including supposedly secret Israeli military documents, UN memos, and various articles about global news, I was sure that the Antichrist was alive and already working through the United Nations. Obviously, I was wrong. But making sense of what happened that day helped drive my interest in evangelical apocalypticism.

Stephens: How do you see your working fitting into the field of American history?

Sutton: Basically, I am trying to bring to light the many ways in which religion has shaped the American past. A few central questions have driven my work over the course of my career. They include: how has religion functioned in ostensibly non-religious venues over the last 150 years (such as in American politics and popular culture)? How has religion shaped the ways certain groups of Americans have responded to the growth of the modern liberal state, economic challenges, and evolving geo-politics? How does religion intersect with race, gender, class, and sexual orientation in defining individuals’ lives? And finally, how does positioning American religions in a global context help us understand the trajectory of U.S. history?

Stephens: For historians, and especially those who work in non-US fields, how would you describe the significance of American evangelicalism and fundamentalism?

Sutton: Part of the significance lies in the simple fact that religion has had such a profound impact on U.S. history in general. We cannot makes sense of the American past without grappling with the place of faith in people’s lives. Then, to move specially to fundamentalism and evangelicalism, I argue that they have represented two of the most influential forms of American religion, shaping popular culture, politics, American foreign relations, and the culture wars, among many other aspects of American life.

Stephens: Is it right to label fundamentalists as "anti-modernists"?

Sutton: Not really. I follow the lead of Grant Wacker here, as well as of Timothy Gloege and Brendan Pietsch who each have wonderful books on fundamentalism forthcoming. They all argue quite persuasively that fundamentalism is another expression of modernism.  

Stephens: Could you say something about what you are currently working on for your next project?

Sutton: Sure. My new book project tentatively entitled FDR’s Army of Faith: Religion and Espionage in World War II (Basic Books, 2019) looks at the roles of missionaries and religious activists (fundamentalists, liberal Protestants, Catholics, and Jews) who engaged in espionage and covert activities during the war. They played an outsized role during the war both in terms of their direct contributions to the war effort and in the ways in which their actions encouraged American leaders to wed state security to religious freedom in order to justify American intervention abroad.

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.

The Scottish Diaspora: An Interview with Tanja Bueltmann

Tanja Bueltmann is Principal Lecturer in History and Director of International Development and Recruitment at Northumbria University. Tanja’s research interests are in diaspora and British World history, especially the cultural and social history of Scottish, English and German immigrant communities and their associational life. Tanja is currently working on the project “European, Ethnic and Expatriate: A Longitudinal Comparison of German and British Social Networking and Associational Formations in Modern-day Asia” funded by the ESRC. The project investigates the role ethnic and cultural organisations play in British and German expatriate social networking in Asia.  Below Randall Stephens interview Tanja about her latest book, Clubbing Together: Ethnicity, Civility and Formal Sociability in the Scottish Diaspora to 1930 (Liverpool University Press, 2014).

Randall Stephens: What first got you interested in Scottish associationalism and ethnic identity?

Tanja Bueltmann: Perhaps I should first explain how I got interested in the Scots in the first place. That was the result of an Erasmus exchange I went on when studying for my MA in Germany (in those days that was the default degree, there was no BA). For that exchange I got the chance to study Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh, and that got me interested in Scottish ethnicity and ethnic identity. Initially I focused on developments in Scotland, however, writing my MA thesis (back in Germany) on the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights (NAVSR). Quite a name! From that stems my interest in associations: why do people come together in groups, formalising a club or society, for a particular aim? In the case of the NAVSR it was pretty obvious as it was a political organization. But how about clubs that had their roots in cultural activities, particularly ethno-cultural activities? These were questions I found fascinating when writing about the NAVSR as it had connections with Scottish groups abroad that pursued such aims. So I thought it would be a great project to explore those groups further for my PhD. By coincidence and with some luck that brought me to New Zealand to examine the Scottish immigrant community there. That's when I realized how important ethnic identity was for them, and how they expressed it through a variety of associations.

Stephens: Is it true that historians have not been as attuned to the Scottish expat experience as to the experiences of other ethnic groups?

Bueltmann: I wouldn't actually say that in quite this way, certainly not in terms of migrants from the British Isles: in scholarship focused on the movement of people from there to destinations in North America, Australasia and Africa, the Scots and their migration generally have received a good amount of attention. The point is perhaps more that this is a fairly recent development. So in that sense there is certainly currency in the point made in this question. First and foremost there is one basic problem, in some geographical contexts in particular, namely that the Scots are sometimes hard to identify as such. In much of nineteenth-century Africa, for example, available census records or colonial reports that might provide details on migrant origins often speak only of "British" migrants at best (equally often just referring to "Europeans"). In such cases where numbers of Scots are difficult to establish, it is also more difficult to examine their experiences. Secondly, and related to this point, a good number of scholars have also used the category "British" for their analysis. In that sense, as Campbell rightly noted, the experiences of the Scots (and Welsh and Irish for that matter) in their

The McRae family in highland dress about to attend
a Caledonian Society sports meeting. Courtesy of the Museum Victoria.

national distinctiveness were written out "in favour of an all embracing 'Britishness.'" White settlers were lumped together for a long time in the scholarship of many locations where Scots settled as a result of this focus. And that explains why, in more traditional scholarship, historians have been less attuned to the Scottish experience. After J.G.A. Pocock's famous plea for the new subject of British History - one with a four-nations approach - this has changed, however, so a lot of new scholarship is being published that shows clear recognition of the Scots and their distinctive experiences.

Stephens: How would you describe the key argument of Clubbing Together.

Bueltmann: The book provides the first global study that captures the wider relevance of Scottish ethnic associations. When people think about Scottish clubs and societies they mostly think of Burns Nights and Highland Games. Yet while such activities were critical, they often served a wider civic role in the respective host society. Within that wider context the book's key argument is that associations and formal sociability are a key not only to explaining how Scottish migrants negotiated their ethnicity in the diaspora and connected to social structures in diverse settlements, but also how these associations, as sites of civility (in its original sense of civic-mindedness), actually operated beyond their ethnic remit. The book reveals that the structures offered by Scottish associations engaged directly with the local, New World contexts, developing distinct characteristics that cannot be subsumed under one simplistic label—that of an overseas ‘national society’.

Stephens: Could you say something about how the Scottish diaspora differed from one country to another?

St. Andrew's Society Ball, Windsor Hotel, Montreal, QC, 1878.
Courtesy of the McCord Museum.

Bueltmann: The critical points to make is that this depended on the type of migrant, and the time of arrival. Let's stick with associations for an example of what this means in terms of differences. North America was an early destination for Scots to venture to. While a good number of them were able to make a good life for themselves in the early days of settlement, things got tougher when larger numbers of migrants arrived from the early eighteenth century. It was then that the traditions of Scottish associations really flourished. And this was because of their principal focus: the provision of relief and support for immigrants in distress. In North America this benevolence was the principal pillar of Scottish ethnic associationalism. Fast-forward to New Zealand in the mid-nineteenth century and the story is a very different one. Those Scottish migrants who made it there were, by and large, migrants by choice, and reasonably well-off. They did not need the same type of benevolence that was critical in North America. So their associations focused instead on the provision of Highland Games, developing them in such a way that they became critical in the establishment and consolidation of field athletics in New Zealand. So you see that in both these cases the timing of migration and the background of migrants directly impacted upon quite diverse developments. While Scottish ethnic associations are a key characteristic of the Scottish diaspora, it was as a result of these factors that developments were distinct in different locations. And that's, ultimately, why the Scottish diaspora differs from one country to another. Ethnic associations are only one example there, similar points could be made for the economic impact migrants had and how they shaped wider society.

Stephens: What are you currently working on?

Bueltmann: I am currently working on a project entitled "European, Ethnic and Expatriate: A Longitudinal Comparison of German and British Social Networking and Associational Formations in Modern-day Asia." Asia, while having seen a substantial degree of outmigration in recent years, has consistently received its share of European arrivals since the seventeenth century, and, given the region's economic growth over the last two decades, continues to witness an increase in their number. For many of these migrants, thrust into an alien cultural environment, ethnic associationalism and social networking are among the most common responses to life in the new home. By utilising such formal and informal strategies of sociability, they are building on an enduring tradition that has long since been part of the migratory chain. Yet despite its long history, the persistence of ethnic associations and networks among migrants in the Far East has received little attention, particularly when it comes to the new generation of expatriates. By moving beyond the traditional focus on Anglophone cultures in the former British Empire in Asia, this project compares contemporary migrant community life of expats from the British Isles and Germany, throwing up the prospect of better understanding both groups and exploring intercultural differences in expatriate social networking. The project concentrates on how social networks in the two communities are channelled by different ethnic and cultural organisations, including ethnic societies, such as St Andrew's societies and German clubs, but also cultural organisations like the Goethe Institute or the British Council, and diplomatic missions, recognising their quasi-ethnic associational roles. The project's overall aim is to unravel what expatriate social networks can tell us about present-day migrant life and identity in Asia, and shed light on the reasons behind the continued importance of ethnicity in migrant communities.

Joe Street on the British Assocation of American Studies 2015 Meeting

Randall Stephens

In the short interview below I speak with Joe Street (Senior Lecturer in History) about the April 9-12, 2015 BAAS annual conference.  Hosted by Northumbria University, it will mark the 60th anniversary of the organization and will draw together historians, literary studies scholars, political scientists, and others who work on American subjects.

In a letter to BAAS members Joe notes that Northumbria is a good fit for the 2015 meeting:

In 2013 Northumbria launched the biggest initiative in American Studies in the UK for more than a generation. Amongst numerous new academic posts was the University’s first Professor in American Studies. The University’s innovative and exciting BA programme in American Studies accepted its first students in September 2013. The research interests of staff include religion, race, ethnicity, presidential studies, horror film, poetry, the South, the San Francisco Bay Area, music, modernist fiction, immigration and urban studies, the Atlantic world and expansionism. The University holds numerous major resources that are of interest to American Studies scholars, including the papers of the Black Panther Party and the Records of Students for a Democratic Society.

(For more on the launch of the programme, see this feature, "Made in America," in the Journal, October 4, 2012.)

The conference promises a variety of excellent panels, roundtables, as well as a great lineup of speakers that Joe has put together:

• Gary Younge, author, broadcaster and award-winning columnist for the Guardian and the Nation
• Dana Nelson, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English, Vanderbilt University
• Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities, University of East Anglia

See more about panel and single paper proposals, as well as additional details, here on the BAAS website. And keep up with all the latest about the conference over at @BAASconf2015.

An Interview with Charlotte Alston on Tolstoy's Disciples

Randall Stephens

This marks the first in a series of interviews with History and American Studies academic staff.  Here you’ll have a chance to find out more about the exciting research being conducted by those in our programmes, as well as learn about conferences and other events and initiatives planned for the near future.

In the segment below I speak with Charlotte Alston, Senior Lecturer in History at Northumbria University, about her most recent book, Tolstoy and His Disciples: the History of a Radical International Movement (I.B. Tauris, 2013).  She is also the author of two other books; Piip, Meierovics and Voldemaras: The Baltic States, Makers of the Modern World, the Peace Conferences 1919-23 and their Aftermath (Haus Publishing, 2010); and Russia’s Greatest Enemy? Harold Williams and the Russian Revolutions (I.B. Tauris, 2007). Charlotte has published journal articles and book chapters on Russia’s relations (both cultural and diplomatic) with the West, the history of the Russian revolution and the Russian civil war, the post-First World War peace settlements, and the international influence of Tolstoy’s thought.