2108 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20052

Thursday, November 6, 2025

SPRING 2026 SCHEDULE OF CLASSES NOW AVAILABLE!!
Undergrad Courses // Grad Courses
Schedule of Classes

1860 - Republican Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th President of the United States.

1913 - Mahatma Gandhi is arrested for leading Indian miners' march in South Africa.

1947 - NBC’s “Meet the Press” debuts, it will ultimately become the longest running TV show in the US.

2018 - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) is the youngest person ever elected to the US House of Representatives at 29 years old.

American studies turns G Street townhouse into puppy runway. GW Hatchet.

The 32 best things to do in D.C. this weekend and next week. The Washington Post.

Flight Cuts Could Hit Biggest Airports From Coast to Coast. The New York Times.

Little District Books Begins Its Next Chapter.
Washington City Paper.

Image credit: Celeste Elsbury

This newsletter edition we spotlight Celeste Elsbury, a first-year MA student in American Studies at GW. This past May, she received her BA in American Studies and Spanish and Latin American Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, also at GW. During her time as an undergraduate student, Celeste studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina and explored topics such as Argentine cinema and the cultural history of the Cold War in Latin America.

Celeste’s undergraduate American Studies coursework drew from cultural history and feminist theory to analyze how gendered subjects are both constructed and contested through mass and popular media. For her senior thesis, she sought to analyze how upper/middle class white women in the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) used a discourse of maternalism to claim gendered political authority within the anticommunist movement in the 1940s and 1950s. However, through her research Celeste found the maternalist framework, often used to examine women’s civic activism, to be both reductive and counter-productive. Celeste concluded that a maternalist lens used by organizations such as the GWFC erases the nuanced understanding of women’s role in the postwar national project. 

While conducting archival research at the GFWC headquarters, Celeste studied issues of Clubwoman magazine, finding a much more complex narrative of group identity construction, political subjectivity, and negotiations around gender and citizenship than the maternalist/political dichotomy allows for. For this work, she was awarded the Elsie M. Carper Prize for Outstanding Senior Research Essay by the American Studies Department.

As a master’s student, Celeste hopes to deepen her engagement with feminist media studies by contributing to scholarship on young women online. She is tentatively pursuing a project on “get ready with me” videos circulated by young women on social media, exploring how this content engenders a sense of consumable identity and intimacy between creator and viewer. Outside of her academic work, Celeste enjoys movies, collaging, and practicing yoga and mat pilates!

ESIA Institute for European, Russian, & Eurasian Studies
Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right
Book Launch and Roundtable

Donald Trump is not a big thinker, but his 2016 presidential victory presented a grand opportunity for people who are, and it set off a radicalization and reconfiguration of the American conservative intellectual world. In Furious Minds, Laura Field, who spent close to a decade in conservative academic circles, chronicles the rise of the New Right—the network of academics, public intellectuals, and influencers who provide ideological fuel to Trumpism. This movement includes figures such as Patrick Deneen, Christopher Rufo, Peter Thiel, and JD Vance. Their agenda is built to last, and it has dire long-term implications for liberal democracy. The New Right has precedents in American history, but it is distinct for its youthfulness, misogyny, and extraordinary successes. It is determined to harness state power and use it in new, illiberal ways, from college campuses to the international scene—all driven by the fantasy of restoring a pure America. Incisive and urgent, Furious Minds tells the story of the thinkers of the New Right—and their powerful assault on American freedoms, values, and ideals.

When: Monday, Nov. 10, 2025; 4:00 PM
Where: 1957 E St, Lindner Family Commons, 6th floor

Register here!

GSEHD Form on Democracy & Education
George Washington's Enlightenment
Dr. Denver Brunsman

George Washington is celebrated for many things, particularly his military and political leadership, but rarely his intellect. In this talk, Denver Brunsman, chair of the GW History Department and noted Washington scholar, will explore the first president’s commitment to educating not only himself but others. Amidst our current crisis of democracy, Washington’s education ideals provide a model for renewing learning as a means to transform individual lives and contribute to the common good. 

When: Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025; 4:00 PM
Where: 1957 E St, Room 113

Register here!

GW/Textile Museum
Albert H. Small D.C. History Symposium

Join us for the Albert H. Small D.C. History Symposium showcasing emerging scholars and their cutting-edge research on Washington, D.C. Held in honor of Mr. Small, who donated his vast collection of D.C. prints, maps, books and ephemera to GW in 2011, this symposium invites you to engage with the next generation of D.C. scholars as they continue to explore and share the city’s story. After the student presentations, GW professor Denver Brunsman will deliver a keynote address on his study of the city’s eponymous figure George Washington. A reception will follow for in-person attendees. This program is organized by the Albert H. Small Center for National Capital Area Studies with support from the Albert and Shirley Small Family Foundation.  

When: Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025; 5:30 PM
Where: 701 21st St NW (GW/Textile Museum) & Virtually

Register here!

Prof. James McMaster’s monograph Racial Care: On Asian American Suffering and Survival, published by Duke University Press, is now available!

Congrats to Lemon (and Jonah Fox) and Stencil (and Ben Hanley) on their victories at this year's "Real Dogs of GW American Studies" event! Lemon won "Best in Show" while Stencil took home the prize for "Most Unusual." Lemon and Stencil receive bragging rights for one year! See the winners below!

Call for Applications: The Department of Ethnic Studies at Western Washington University is inviting applications for an Assistant Professor in Black Studies, beginning Fall 2026. Click here to learn more.

Call for Applications: The American Council of Learned Societies invites applications for the 2025 competition of the ACLS Digital Justice Grants Program. Click here to learn more // Deadline: Nov. 20, 2025.

Call for Papers: The 2026 GWU English Graduate Student Association Symposium is now accepting papers! This year’s symposium, titled “The Mind and the Machine: Mental Disability and Technology,” will be held virtually. Click here to learn more // Deadline: Nov. 30, 2025.

Call for Applications: The 2026 SHAFR Summer Institute, held at The Ohio State University, is accepting applications. The 2026 SHAFR Summer Institute will focus on the variety of US strategic cultures that emerged in response to previous moments of international crisis. Click here to learn more // Deadline: Dec. 15, 2025.

Call for Papers: Critical Ethnic Studies is currently accepting submissions for a special issue devoted to the transnational exploration of caste domination and anti-caste social movements and theories, with emphasis on the interrelation of caste and race in the history and geography of empire. Click here to learn more // Deadline: Feb. 2, 2026.

Call for Applications: The Eudora Welty Foundation and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) announce the 2026 Eudora Welty Research Fellowship to encourage and support research using the Eudora Welty Collection and related materials at the MDAH. Click here to learn more // Deadline: Mar. 6, 2026.

Need Support?

Like what you see? Have spotlights, kudos, events, or opportunities that you would like to share? We want to hear from you! Navigate to our feedback form using the link below, or more simply, forward your tip to amst@gwu.edu.