CURRENTS: Dan Ritschel (HIST) & Teresa Ko (Ursinus College)

Dan Ritschel
Associate Professor, History, UMBC

When does historical interpretation slide into scholarly malpractice? Dan Ritschel’s research has found that the popular claim that interwar British fascism contained “left-wing” or “socialist” elements rests on careless misreading, even neglect of the available evidence. How can we explain what amounts to remarkably sloppy interpretation?

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Chisu Teresa Ko
Associate Professor, Modern Languages and Latin American Studies, Ursinus College

Spring 2021 Inclusion Imperative Visiting Faculty Fellow

In 1895, the authors of Argentina’s second national census stated that they had not surveyed non-white groups because the number of “existing negros, mulatos, and indios” was far too small to merit a statistical inquiry. The census’s omission reveals a fundamental strategy in constructing Argentina’s self-image as exceptionally white: the use of the unsubstantiated claim of “disappearance” to deny the existence of non-whites and displace the category of race altogether. In her project, Chisu Teresa Ko argues that despite state practices, which ensured the symbolic and statistical absence of non-whites, a close look at this country’s cultural expressions reveals that Argentines never stopped talking or worrying about race