Sueann Caulfield, Professor of History at the University of  Michigan, discussed the multitiered social world of African former slaves and their descendants in nineteenth-century Bahia in her January 8 lecture for the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. Her talk, "Jesus v. Jesus: Legitimacy Law, Patronage Networks, and the Transfer of Wealth in a Nineteenth-Century African-Bahian Family," continued the Institute's 2013-15 theme, "Materials of History." The talk is available online as an MP3 audio file to University of Michigan account holders (link here to access).

On January 9, the Institute presented the symposium, "Empathy and Experience and the Writing of History," featuring Matthew Countryman (Associate Professor of History and American Culture, University of Michigan), Tara Dosumu Diener (Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology and History, University of Michigan), Sherry Funches (Ph.D. Candidate, History, University of Michigan), Amanda Hendrix-Komoto (Ph.D. Candidate, History, University of Michigan), William Glover (discussant; Associate Professor of History and Architecture & Urban Planning, University of Michigan), and Howard Brick (panel chair; Louis Evans Chair in U.S. History, University of Michigan).