The American Historical Association Annual Conference

I’m typing this now mostly because I don’t feel like packing. But I need to pack. I’ve got to fly to the American Historical Association Annual Conference on Thursday. The AHA is in San Francisco this year, a city I’ve never visited, which was definitely a factor in my decision to attend.

Conferences are a mixed bag for me. I tend not to enjoy panels, which is where historians read their papers to you in ways that often make you question your life decisions over the course of an hour. These panels are usually themed—Lincoln: Did He Like Cheese?—an consist of about three or four scholars and a commenter. The idea being that you present your work in progress at a conference, receive feedback, and as I have noted before demonstrated to senior scholars that you cited their work.

I’ve never been able to keep my focus during them. I much prefer roundtables, where a group of scholars introduce a topic—Imperial Pit Stains: Avocado Diasporas in the 20th Century—talk for maybe five minutes each, and enjoy in discussion with an audience who feels varying ways about guacamole. These sessions are usually far more productive than panels, unless you are in the CPAP industry.

The real work, like most other professional associations, takes place over coffee, in the hallways, at dinners, and at drinks, where you hear about what new histories are coming down the pike, learn about potential job openings, or can talk to presses about your potential manuscript.

For me, these conferences are important. Talking to other scholars reinvigorates me. There are so many amazing folks attending this one, including a bunch who have been on the pod or are coming on the pod soon. It’s also important to know what discussions are taking place. I’m fortunate that my employer understands how important these spaces are both to my work and my personal development as a scholar, and frankly, as a person.

This will be a big week. Lots of people are starting to ask about HATM and I’m hoping to talk to people about it as well. We’re going to need to figure out how to inject funds into this little experiment of ours to see it really take off in 2024. I’m hoping to learn about grants and donors and maybe be just charismatic enough to get some investors. I have a lot of things in the can that I want—but can’t quite—to tell you about. We are going to be expanding. There will be new themes. More hosts. Different works. It’s daunting. But as I was saying the other day, outside of my boys and my family, there is nothing more important to me in life right now than this.

That said, I’ll try to report in from the conference as best I can to let you know what’s going on, what I’m seeing, and yeah, tell you about my first impressions of San Francisco.

One last thing— we have an AWESOME pod dropping tomorrow. It about Point Break (1991) and the political history of surfing. San Francisco is close to one of the greatest big wave breaks in the world and this felt right. Everyone loves this film and the discussion with fellow surfer Scott Laderman is really terrific. Here’s a taste, where we talk about how surfers dealt with South Africa’s apartheid rule in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.

Alright, it’s gonna be a busy week so I’ll catch you dudes later.

Jason