Visit our Digital Humanities page to find out about their upcoming talks and events.
Photo credit: Shayne Bennett, OTR Media Group
Fall 2025 Events
| Academic Talks and Speakers |
Faculty Spotlight: Saskia Coenen Snyder, “Under Pressure: Producing Diamonds for Nazi Germany” |
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Location: Close-Hipp 451 Join us in celebrating distinguished faculty at the University of South Carolina. Saskia Coenen Snyder is Professor of Modern Jewish History at USC, where she holds the Edward B. Cantey Chair in Liberal arts. She also directs the Jewish Studies Program. Coenen Snyder specializes in Jewish history, culture, and religion with particular interest in the intersection between material culture, economics, politics, and modern Jewish history. She is author of A Brilliant Commodity: Diamonds and Jews In A Modern Setting (Oxford University Press, 2022). This talk explores the tension between genocidal racial ideology and economic exploitation in Nazi-occupied Europe, exposing the depth of Nazi plunder, not merely of existing diamond company inventories, but of entire industries, networks, and expertise across borders. Coenen Snyder discusses the Nazification of the Dutch diamond trade during World War II, American consumer patterns, and the role of advertising during a time of global war. This research is forthcoming in the Journal of Modern History and is the basis of a new book on the international diamond trade during the Nazi years. |
Lunch Colloquium: Clayton Whisnant, “Queering the German Archive: History, Art & Activism in Weimar Berlin”(Co-sponsored with WGST and the SC Honors College) |
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Location: Gambrell 428/429 Clayton Whisnant is Chapman Family Professor of Humanities and European History, and chair of the Department of History at Wofford College. Join us for a discussion of Chapters 4 & 6 from Clayton Whisnant’s book Queer Identities in Germany: A History. Yvonne Ivory (LLC-German) and students enrolled in the SCHC 328 proseminar Out of the Archives and Into the Streets (Instructors: Lekan & Madden) will join the conversation. Lunch will be provided. |
Faculty Book Celebration |
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Location: All Good Books Join us in celebrating recent publications by University of South Carolina faculty, Natalie Letsa, Anna Swartwood House, and Andrew J. Kunka. Natalie Letsa is author of The Autocratic |
Digital Humanities Showcase: Wood Basket of the World |
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Location: Thomas Cooper Library/Level 2/Room 204 Join us in celebrating distinguished faculty at the University Jessica Elfenbein is Professsor of History who specializes in American urban and public history. Elfenbein's current research interests include environmental and business history. S. Wright Kennedy is Assistant Professor of History who specializes in public-facing spatial history projects, assisted by the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial analysis to study past and present health, environmental, and socioeconomic issues. Elfenbein and Kennedy will discuss the Wood Basket of the World project. Lunch will be provided. |
Margaret Renkl |
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Margaret Renkl LectureDate and Time: December 2 at 6 pm Location: SCSM Student Meet-and-Greet with Margaret RenklDate and Time: December 3 at 9:00-10:30 am Location: Kendall Room, Caroliniana Library |
Date and Time: September 10 at 4 pm
Date and Time: September 17 at 12:15-1:45 pm
Date and Time: October 17 at 6 pm
Voter: Partisanship and Political Socialization Under Dictatorship (Cambridge University Press, 2025). Anna Swartwood House is author of Antonello da Messina and the History of Art (Routledge, 2025), and Andrew J. Kunka and 
Date and Time: October 29 at 12-1:30 pm
Browse our archive of past lectures and events.