Visit our Digital Humanities page to find out about their upcoming talks and events.
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 the 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. |
Faculty Book Launch |
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Date and Time: October 17 at 6 pm Location: All Good Books Join us in celebrating recent publications by University of South Carolina faculty. Faculty speakers and their work to be announced soon. |
Lunch Colloquium: Clayton Whisnant |
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Date and Time: September 17 at 12-1:30 pm 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. Lunch will be provided. |
Faculty Spotlight and Lunchtime Workshop: Jessica Elfenbein |
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Location: Thomas Cooper Library/Level 2/L204 Join us in celebrating distinguished faculty at the University of South Carolina. Jessica Elfenbein is Professsor of History who specializes in American urban and public history. Elfenbein's current research interests include environmental and business history with the Wood Basket of the World project. Lunch will be provided. |
Margaret Renkl Lecture |
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Location: SCSM Margaret Renkl is an award-winning and bestselling writer and opinion columnist for the New York Times. Renkl is the author of The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year (Spiegel & Grau, 2023) and Late Migrations (Milkweed Editions, 2019). |
Date and Time: September 10 at 4 pm
Date and Time: October 30 at 12-1:30 pm
Date and Time: December 2 at 6 pm
Browse our archive of past lectures and events.