From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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Contact: Jon Niccum, KU News Service, 785-864-7633, [email protected]
‘The Interwar World’ examines how global extremism and cultural transformation of last century shaped today’s society
LAWRENCE — In many ways, the previous century was defined by its wars. But a new book argues that an equally important and perhaps even more significant period existed between World War I and II.
“This sense of crisis, of ennui, of worry about where we find ourselves in the 2020s is very much an echo of what was happening in the 1920s,” said Andrew Denning, associate professor of history at the University of Kansas. “We have a lot to learn from studying what happened and how things worked or didn’t work.”
“The Interwar World” collects an international group of contributors to discuss, analyze and interpret this crucial period (1918-1939) in 20th century history. Each chapter takes a global, thematic approach, integrating world regions into a shared narrative. It’s published by Routledge.
“These are pivotal moments that historians dedicate their entire lives to,” said Denning, who co-edited “The Interwar World” with Heidi Tworek of the University of British Columbia.
“It’s when fascism arises. It’s when European empires are at their territorial apex. We’re seeing those empires at their strongest and the seeds of their destruction being sown. We have the rise of communism in the Soviet Union. We have the United States arriving as the preeminent global power, but we also have the Great Depression.”
Denning and Tworek recruited 53 contributors from 25 countries. The book is divided into six sections: Structures; Institutions; Identity and Ways of Life; Knowledge and Information; Ideologies and Practices; and Trade and Production. Chapters cover such topics as “Violence and Genocide,” “International Law,” “The Middle Classes” and “Women’s Rights and Feminism.”
“Something my co-editor and I realized is the interwar period is among the most studied and written-about periods, but it’s not a historical era that has its own scholarly societies, conferences or journals in the way that, for instance, the Cold War or Victorian era does,” Denning said.
The authors also found this era to be one of true paradox.
“People were suffering. Extreme ideologies were popularized and taking root in major countries like Germany, Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union. Yet there was a sense of much promise in these years as well. New technologies and mutual curiosity knit together a global culture for the first time. Truly global cultures of things like soccer and jazz and fashion solidified in this time period,” he said.
Modern readers should keep in mind, Denning said, that even extreme ideologies such as fascism or communism were considered by their fledgling practitioners to be utopian.
“Many thought they were building a perfect world,” he said. “These paradoxes are what make this era so catastrophic.”
A KU faculty member since 2015, Denning specializes in 20th century European history. His work has appeared in American Historical Review, The Atlantic and Journal of Modern History. He is also the recently appointed director of KU’s Museum Studies Program.
Denning said, “In my teaching, the interwar period has always been part of longer trends. If I teach a course on Nazi Germany, that’s part of it, but I’ve often considered it as only a prelude to World War II and the Holocaust. Doing this work has helped me understand that we need to think about this as a distinct, coherent period of time.”
He hopes the book will launch a move to treat interwar studies as its own field of study, that it’s no longer subsumed in the longer age of catastrophe — as just the interregnum between World War I and II —but has specific historical dynamics that define this era in a global sense.
“There are important lessons to be learned in terms of what it means to live through an era in which see ourselves as globally interconnected,” Denning said.
“We share a widespread sense today that there are contemporary crises of climate change or of political extremism. Studying the paradoxes, crises and tensions of the interwar period helps us better understand what is going on in the 2020s. We can learn what is truly new and what is an echo or a new gloss on things that were happening a hundred years ago.”
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From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

KU scholars mark 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s first folio with new exhibition
LAWRENCE — An exhibition at the University of Kansas titled “To the Great Variety of Readers: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio” will open Sept. 21 at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library. In the exhibition, University of Kansas scholars highlight the importance of the first collection of the Bard’s works as well as the importance of libraries in preserving arts and scholarship.

New Kansas Statistical Abstract offers relevant state information, including expanded data on climate
LAWRENCE — The 57th edition of the Kansas Statistical Abstract, an annually released compendium of data about Kansas, is now available from the Institute for Policy & Social Research at the University of Kansas. The KSA publishes data in 17 sections ranging from agriculture to vital statistics and health. These data help community leaders, entrepreneurs, researchers and others make informed decisions and understand how Kansas is changing.

School of Architecture & Design announces 2023 Fall Architecture Lecture Series
LAWRENCE — The School of Architecture & Design at the University of Kansas will welcome architectural and experiential design leaders from across the country to the University of Kansas this fall to illuminate new ideas and inspire purpose-driven design practice. The 2023 Fall Architecture Lecture Series begins Sept. 15 and will feature Stephen Cavanaugh with DLR Group.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings
KU scholars mark 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s first folio with new exhibition

LAWRENCE — The idea of forgetting classic Shakespeare plays like “Macbeth” or “Julius Caesar” is nearly unthinkable. But if not for the foresight of two actors and friends of William Shakespeare to publish a book 400 years ago, those plays might have been lost forever. A University of Kansas professor is teaming with KU Libraries to mark the 400th anniversary of the playwright’s first folio, the historical legacy of the publication and the importance of libraries in preserving arts and scholarship.
In 1623, seven years after his death, Shakespeare’s friends, actors John Heminge and Henry Condell, brought together a collection of 36 of his plays that were the first published collection of the Bard’s works. Half of those works were previously unpublished. The folio, titled “Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies” turns 400 this year.
An exhibition at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library titled “To the Great Variety of Readers: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio” will open Sept. 21 and remain on view to students, scholars and the public throughout the fall. David Bergeron, professor emeritus of English, curated the exhibition with assistance from Beth Whitaker, Spencer Library director and associate dean of KU Libraries. Bergeron and Geraldo Sousa, professor of English — both preeminent Shakespeare scholars — recently made a donation to KU Libraries to establish the Bergeron-Sousa Exhibit Fund, which pairs KU faculty and Spencer curators for annual exhibits. The first exhibition supported by the new fund will mark the anniversary of the first folio’s publication and also showcase the Spencer Research Library and the vital role both play in scholarship.
“I thought, ‘Why should we be left out of this momentous anniversary?’ This can be a time to call attention to the Spencer Research Library and its importance to the university. At the same time, we can do our part to celebrate a significant anniversary,” Bergeron said. “Through the exhibit we can tell the story of the folio and how it helped preserve the work of Shakespeare as we know it today.”
The exhibition takes its title from the first folio, which was addressed “to the great variety of readers.” It will include a fragment of a first folio, facsimile of the First Folio and the library’s Second Folio of 1632, all from the Spencer’s collections. It will also document the legacy of the folio and how it preserved Shakespeare’s work for future generations.
“It hadn’t really been done before,” Sousa said of the publication of the first folio. “Plays were not considered to be literature at the time like we consider them to be today. It helped preserve many plays that hadn’t been published. The notion was beginning to be accepted that plays could be serious literature. and the folio helped secure that idea.”
The exhibition’s curators also noted that without it, plays now regarded as timeless classics may have been forgotten, as manuscripts of the originals are no longer known to exist. Only about 235 copies of the first folio are known to exist in the world, the vast majority in libraries and museums.
Bergeron and Sousa also noted how the role of technology of the time and how the first folio came to be. The term folio simply refers to folded paper, and the exhibition will highlight how the work was an evolution from early printed works like the Gutenberg Bible, but was still labor intensive, as all type was set by hand, a major undertaking considering the hundreds of thousands of words contained in the 36 Shakespeare plays. They can also comment on how the technology of the time did not allow for standardized copies, as mistakes might appear in one copy, then be fixed by hand in another. Efforts to reduce such occurrences were influential on the standardization of spelling as we now know it, Bergeron said.
Without the folio, the state of English literature would be vastly different, according to Bergeron and Sousa, who also noted that without libraries, historical works such as the folio might no longer be known as well. They have both taught countless Shakespeare courses over their careers and often took their KU students to Spencer Research Library as part of their classes. “To the Great Variety of Readers” will be a chance to show the wealth of materials at Spencer to scholars from around the world, students and the public and to mark four centuries of a landmark piece of publishing.
“It really is a gem,” Sousa said of the library. “Spencer has an outstanding collection of materials from that era, and we hope to show how the folio was a significant revolution in publishing, much like what has happened in our time with digital publishing.”
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Contact: Carrie Caine, Institute for Policy & Social Research, 785-864-9102, [email protected]
New Kansas Statistical Abstract offers relevant state information, including expanded data on climate

LAWRENCE — The 57th edition of the Kansas Statistical Abstract, an annually released compendium of data about Kansas, is now available on the Institute for Policy & Social Research website.
The KSA publishes data in 17 sections ranging from agriculture to vital statistics and health. These data help community leaders, entrepreneurs, researchers and others make informed decisions and understand how Kansas is changing.
“The KSA paints a statistical portrait of the state of Kansas — what we looked like in the past and what we look like now. Kansans use the KSA to learn more about their communities, whether it be about agricultural production or educational attainment,” said Donna Ginther, Roy A. Roberts and Regents Distinguished Professor of Economics and director of the Institute for Policy & Social Research.
As the United States experiences a series of extreme weather events, including widespread heat waves and wildfires, the 57th edition of the KSA includes a newly expanded chapter on climate. One map shows the number of weeks in 2021 with severe, extreme or exceptional drought in Kansas by county. In 2021, 95 of the 105 counties in Kansas experienced at least one week with such drought, and five counties experienced 8-10 weeks of such drought. Drought can have significant impacts on the health of residents as well as the economic productivity of a place.
The KSA also includes a map comparing the total precipitation in 2022 to the 30-year average annual precipitation for each of six Kansas regions. Throughout the state, annual precipitation for each region fell between 5-10 inches. In the western part of the state, this decline was especially steep. One region received just over half the rainfall in 2022 compared to the average rainfall in this region from 1981 to 2010.
The climate chapter in the newest edition of the KSA also features a map showing the number of days in 2021 with a maximum daily temperature of 100 degrees or higher by county in Kansas. Of the 105 counties in Kansas, 33 experienced more than 21 days of extreme heat, and all but 14 counties experienced at least one day of extreme heat. Extreme heat hit central Kansas especially hard in 2021.
“With an increasing number of climate events, we felt it was important to add data and maps quantifying extreme heat and drought to help Kansans understand local trends and potential impacts on our health and economy,” said Xan Wedel, senior research data engineer for IPSR and a key member of the KSA team.
Prepared by staff and students at IPSR, the KSA is available on the IPSR website at no cost to users. Resources include a PDF of the current edition and all previous 56 editions, and electronic files for each resource in spreadsheets or high-quality images.

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Contact: Dan Rolf, School of Architecture & Design, 785-864-3027, [email protected], @ArcD_KU
School of Architecture & Design announces 2023 Fall Architecture Lecture Series
LAWRENCE — The School of Architecture & Design at the University of Kansas has announced programming for the Fall 2023 Architecture Lecture Series.
The Architecture Lecture Series welcomes architectural and experiential design leaders from across the country to the University of Kansas to illuminate new ideas and inspire purpose-driven design practice. Lecturers bring a wide range of expertise in areas such as sustainable building, digital environments, public interest design, historic preservation, health and wellness design and more.
Lectures begin at 5 p.m. in The Forum at Marvin Hall on the University of Kansas campus.

Sept. 15 | Stephen Cavanaugh
DLR Group: Mass Timber Work
Stephen Cavanaugh is a licensed architect who leads the timber research and design studio at DLR Group, a 1,200-person multi-disciplinary design firm. His Chicago studio has completed four mass timber office buildings and currently has over 1.5 million square feet of mass timber projects in progress. Cavanaugh has built his 35-year career designing complex, technically challenging projects including offices, hotels, mixed-use and transportation facilities. His large-scale project design experience was developed during a 10-year tenure at the international design firm, Jahn, and subsequently at Goettsch Partners, where he served as project designer for numerous award-winning tower projects. He is a principal and North Central Region design leader at DLR Group, and his projects have received numerous design and sustainability awards including three AIA Chicago Distinguished Building Awards.

Oct. 20 | John Guenther
The Gateway Arch: An Illustrated Timeline
John Guenther has produced a distinguished body of architecture that contributes significantly to the built environment, with projects ranging from the adaptive reuse of historic landmarks to new projects that fit comfortably into their physical, environmental, social and historic context. His work has received over 50 national, regional and local awards from the AIA and a diverse array of professional organizations, civic groups and publications. Author of multiple books, Guenther’s latest, “The Gateway Arch: An Illustrated Timeline,” takes a chronological look at the historical foundations of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

Nov. 3 | Mack Scogin & Merrill Elam
The Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects Portfolio
Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam are the principals in Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects. Together they have a self-referential architecture distinguished by situational differences. Each of their projects — diverse in type, size and location — embodies a personal search for an architecture of expansive specificity. In addition to their practice, both principals lecture and teach frequently. Scogin is past chairperson of the Department of Architecture and professor emeritus in practice of architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Recent projects include a Boathouse and Lodge at Gathering Place, Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the George Kaiser Family Foundation; Jackson Park, Queens, New York, for Tishman Speyer; the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta; and the new U.S. Courthouse, Des Moines, Iowa.

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KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
[email protected]
http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

Headlines

Contact: Rick Hellman, KU News Service, 785-864-8852, [email protected], @RickHellman
Author seeks literature of a Latino heartland

LAWRENCE – When did Latinos start to imagine the Midwest as a possible homeland? When Tejano cowboys drove their cattle to market in early 20th century Kansas City? When bracero migrant workers arrived during World War II and continued coming in the postwar era?

Those are two possible answers postulated by Marta Caminero-Santangelo, University of Kansas Distinguished Professor of English, in her new article “Imagining a Latino Heartland: Migrant Placemaking, Corridos of the Midwest, and Tomás Rivera” in the journal MELUS (Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States).

“This article is part of a book project I’m working on called ‘Imagining a Latino Heartland,’” Caminero-Santangelo said. “In literary scholarship, there’s been almost no attention paid to Latino literature in the Midwest or about the Midwest. It creates the impression that there is no Latino literary cultural production in the Midwest and that Latinos themselves have not been here at all, or not for a long time.

“The idea was to find some early cultural production establishing Latino presence in the Midwest and giving some sense of how Latinos were imagining the so-called heartland, and whether they were building a relationship to it — even in imagination.”

Caminero-Santangelo turned to “The Harvest,” a posthumously published (1992) and lesser-known collection of writings by Rivera, whom she called “one of the forefathers of Chicano literature. His canonical text about migrant farmworkers is called ‘And the Earth Did Not Devour Him.’”

In an essay titled “The Great Plains as Refuge in Chicano Literature,” it was Rivera who turned to corridos — folk ballads — from an earlier era for inspiration.

Caminero-Santangelo examines two corridos — The “Corrido de Kiansis” and “Los reenganchados a Kansas” — for signs of any feelings of attachment the migrant workers might have for the place. She finds herself less convinced than Rivera.

“Rivera does a little bit of flip-flopping and hedging in general,” Caminero-Santangelo said. “He is trying to open up a space where the corridos imagined Kansas in a positive way because he’s trying in that essay to claim a tradition of Mexican American cultural production that actually was positive about the Great Plains. And when I looked at the corridos that Rivera looked at, I thought he was stretching it a bit, and that they were not nearly as positive as he laid out. So that’s my revisionism of Rivera.”

Caminero-Santangelo noted that by the time of his death in 1984, Rivera was imagining a Latino homeland in the Midwest.

“It was a rare instance of seeing a classic, very well-known early writer imagining the Midwest as a potential home,” she said. “Part of the book project is really playing with these terms, homeland and heartland, and when do writers start to think that the heartland can be a potential homeland, or even a place of the heart, a place where familial relations and communal relations are located … which gets to the bigger issue of placemaking.”

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KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
[email protected]
http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs