EIU Humanities Center

Spotlight on...Dr. Matthew L. Basso

The 9th Annual James Jones Lecture Series will take place on Wednesday, November 4, 2015, at 7pm, in the Lecture Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center. This year's speaker is Matthew Basso, History and Gender Studies at the University of Utah. The subject of Basso's talk will be drawn from his highly regarded book, Meet Joe Copper: Masculinity & Race on Montana's World War II Home Front (U of Chicago Press). To read the introduction to Meet Joe Copper, click the image of the book's cover, right.

Matthew L. Basso is Associate Professor of History and Gender Studies at the University of Utah. Basso's work explores home-front men's relationship to the federal government, wartime popular culture, and the two protagonists of America's "Greatest Generation" World War II story: men who served in the military (commonly called Citizen Soldiers) and women who entered the war-production job force (commonly called Rosie the Riveters).

The Inaugural James Jones Symposium takes place Wednesday, Nov. 4, from 2 to 3:15 p.m., in the Booth Library Conference Room (4440). The symposium features undergraduate and faculty papers on and discussion of aspects of World War II, focused through the lens of history and literature. The event is free and open to all members of the community and university. Matthew Basso, our guest speaker for the James Jones Lecture, will be the respondent.

Jinhee J Lee (Associate Professor, History and Asian Studies): “Racism without Race and the Origin of ‘Korea-phobia’ in Imperial Japan and Beyond”

Kevin Lux (Undergraduate Student, History): “American Media and Perspectives on the Air-bombing of Japanese Cities during World War II”

Marjorie Worthington (Professor, English): “Coming All the Way Home: Fictions of Post-War Trauma”

Joelene Quinn (Undergraduate Student, History): “‘Thanks Babe, But We'll Take It from Here’: Shifting Public Opinion of Women Military Members in World War II”

Respondent: Matthew Basso (Associate Professor, History and Gender Studies, University of Utah)