March 4: Brewster History Lecture
ECU Brewster History Lecture to be held virtually, March 4
By Lacey L. Gray
East Carolina University will welcome Dr. Nancy Shoemaker, professor of history at the University of Connecticut, at 7 p.m., March 4, as the 2021 Brewster History Lecturer. The event is co-sponsored by the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences, Department of History and the ECU Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi.
During the free, virtual event, Shoemaker will discuss her recent book “The Whale Commons: Beached Whales in New England History.” Following her presentation, a panel of ECU history faculty including Dr. Christopher Oakley, Dr. Lynn Harris and Dr. Jason Raupp will offer a discussion and take questions from the audience. Register for the event online.
Shoemaker teaches courses in American Indian history, maritime history and environmental history. Her current research focuses on New England natives and the American whaling industry. She has published numerous articles and four books, including “Living with Whales: Documents and Oral Histories of Native New England Whaling History” and “Native American Whalemen and the World: Indigenous Encounters and the Contingency of Race.”
In a synopsis of her book, “Native American Whalemen and the World,” Shoemaker said, “In the 19th century, nearly all Native American men living along the southern New England coast made their living traveling the world’s oceans on whaleships. Many were career whalemen, spending 20 years or more at sea. Their labor invigorated economically depressed reservations with vital income and led to complex and surprising connections with other indigenous peoples, from the islands of the Pacific to the Arctic Ocean. At home, aboard ship or around the world, Native American seafarers found themselves in a variety of situations, each with distinct racial expectations about who was ‘Indian’ and how ‘Indians’ behaved. Treated by their white neighbors as degraded dependents incapable of taking care of themselves, native New Englanders nevertheless rose to positions of command at sea. They, thereby, complicated myths of exploration and expansion that depicted cultural encounters as the meeting of two peoples, whites and Indians.”
Oakley, professor and chair of the Department of History, said the Brewster History lecture, established in 1983, has four main goals — “to provide students, faculty and members of the community with the opportunity to hear distinguished historians share their knowledge; to stimulate an exchange of ideas about issues of fundamental importance; to illuminate the present through the reflective prism of the past; and to support the continuing process of education.
“The study of our shared past has never been more important than it is today,” Oakley said.
For additional information or questions about the event, contact Oakley at oakleyc@ecu.edu.