Event

The Annenberg Series is pleased to host a Penn Global Fellows presentation with workshop discussants Alexandra Zborovsky and Taylor Prescott.

Title: Moving Subjects; Moving Archives

Speakers: Taylor Prescott and Alexandra (Sasha) Zborovsky

Time: 12-1:30pm

Room: College Hall 209

Abstract: Welcome to “Moving Subjects; Moving Archives” a workshop sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania’s History Department and the inaugural Penn Global Dissertation Grant.  Dedicated to methodologies of archival research in migration history, Penn PhD candidates Taylor Prescott and Alexandra (Sasha) Zborovsky will review the obstacles and achievements that they encountered throughout their own research in Sierra Leone, Lithuania, Jamaica, Georgia, England, and the Netherlands. The workshop portion of this event will contemplate how the international nature of migration history often clashes with the national orientation of most archives. Migrants often leave their mark on multiple archives, defying institutional attempts to categorize and organize historical subjects.  Our workshop also considers how historians can conduct international archival research in our current state of world affairs, punctuated by wars, insurgent nationalisms, and a xenophobia that particularly targets migrants. Finally, we will open to discussion the evolution and ethical dimensions of migration history.