History and Geography

Charles Irons, associate professor of history and geography, recently completed a yearlong sabbatical to study the segregation of Southern churches in the post-Civil War American South and how black Southerners endeavored to create churches independent of white control. His journeys took him to seven archives in three different states. He commandeered the Department of History’s microfilm reader. He completed more archival work and took more intellectual risks than he ever had in his career to date. And, he says, he expects the hard work to be well worth it.

Amy M. Johnson, an assistant professor in the Department of History and Geography, presented her research at the Harriet Tubman Summer Institute 2011: Slavery, Memory, and Citizenship conference hosted by York University in Toronto from August 21-27.

Ethan Moore, Coordinator for Elon's Collections and Instructor in General Studies, will have an article entitled "From Sikwa to Swine: The Hog in Cherokee Culture and Society, 1750-1840" published in the upcoming issue of the journal Native South.

People with disabilities have made significant progress raising awareness of public policy issues that affect them in recent years, advances that students in an Elon University interdisciplinary course learned this spring as they researched the history, culture and psychology of a population that is often overlooked.

An intern with Elon University’s Belk Library worked this semester in coordination with the N.C. Digital Heritage Center to digitize and publish online scrapbooks created by eight of Elon’s earliest students.

Honglin Xiao, an associate professor of geography, has coauthored a paper in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science and Policy.

Jack Garratt '09, who graduated from Elon with a major in History and a minor in German Studies, has received a grant to conduct archival research at the Bundesarchiv-Lichterfelde in Berlin.

Four faculty members were honored May 11, 2011, for superior scholarship, teaching, mentoring and service at Elon University’s faculty-staff awards luncheon. Those recognized included Mary Jo Festle, Ann J. Cahill, Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler and Stephen Bailey.

Since the 1600s, lawyers and scholars have grappled with how to best bring to justice the men and women who commit war crimes. Elon University senior Elizabeth Leman studied three of the biggest global conflicts in recent history to shed light on the complexities of international humanitarian law, and her work is the latest to be featured in a series of E-net profiles on Lumen Scholars in the Class of 2011