Read about 2024 Grad Prize winner Darby Ratliff's experience at the Kansas City Conference:

One of the things I love most about conferences is the orchestrated serendipity. Sitting in the “Time, Temporality, and the Indigenous Environments” panel on October 24th, I felt one of my comprehensive examination reading lists come to life as Brenda Child presented on her new project, taking questions from Louis Warren, Ned Blackhawk, and Col Thrush, all of whose work I read as part of an Indigenous Studies field list. In graduate school, there is so much discussion of being in conversation with scholars and learning where one’s work fits within that field that to see it literally embodied at the Western History Association’s conference this year was such a gift. It was also a reminder that though academic work can seem to exist in a vacuum as we sift through archives or at our respective desks, there is an intensely collaborative and community-based element to it as well. 

While at first overwhelmed by the sheer number of activities, events, and panels at WHA, I quickly settled into a routine of trying to absorb as much of its opportunities as I could. One of my favourite sessions was the first “Roundtable on Keywords in Western History.”. The four keywords were “treaties,” “expansion,” “queerness,” and “Whiteness.” As someone consistently wrestling with many of the same terms in my work, it was really useful to hear established scholars in the field discussing these terms, offering suggestions for reading, and explaining their approach. I was particularly interested in Jennifer Holland’s discussion of “queerness,” given that I am both not trained in queer studies, but I am interested in the way that historians of the nineteenth century can use it as a lens of examining same-sex relationships. In particular, I was interested in her assertion that queer theory dovetails particularly well with western history, given that geographically the West can be seen as placing the fringe as the center.  

This conference was particularly special to me because my home department in American Studies at Saint Louis University covered registration for anyone in my doctoral program who wanted to attend. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m an intensely team-oriented person, and so getting to do a conference with my team allowed for a reflection-based component that was helpful for processing elements of the experience relating to my research. For example, I was delighted to discuss  the “Contested Land and Competing Futures in Indian Territory, North and South” panel with my colleague. Dr. Katie Walkiewicz incorporated their family history into their presentation, discussing the nuances of being Cherokee, matriarchal traditions, and their grandfather’s service in the Confederate Army. Dr. Walkiewicz’s background is in literature, and both my colleague and I discussed how we appreciated their approach to storytelling through family history and through history in general, since we’re both more traditional historians.  

Moreover, I was delighted to be on a panel with a friend to discuss the intersections between Native history and the Catholic Church. Carving out time to talk about religious history and empire, it was wonderful to be in conversation with Zara Surratt and Danae Jacobson. Having been encouraged to attend WHA in the first place based on the idea of putting a panel together, it was great to see it come together and for us to be able to share our work and research. Moreover, I’d never been on a panel with a a commenter before, and so I’m eternally grateful to Dr. Jacobson for her time and attention to both my paper and Zara’s, as well as the questions she posed as I work to incorporate this paper back into my dissertation, certainly with her feedback in mind. It’s always interesting to hear one’s work reflected back, and so I was amazed to hear Dr. Jacobson noted how my paper incorporated print culture–which absolutely made sense given the inclusion of a Lakota-language newspaper–pointing out something obvious that being so in the weeds with the work itself, I had not recognized. Overall, the whole conversation made me excited to return to my research and my dissertation, giving me a second wind in a process that can feel so long and isolating. 

In the elevator one night, I was talking with a fellow attendee who said that conferences are great for scheduling time to see friends each year, and I feel lucky to have heard the many enriching papers, to have participated in great conversations and, of couse, to have seen so many new and old friends, both expected and otherwise. In a true moment of serendipity, I was chatting with someone from Stanford University for the first time after the Awards Ceremony, and I asked her if she happened to know someone I used to work with. Imagine my surprise when she told me that that person was flying in that night to present at the Southern Historical Association conference the next day! It was so delightful to catch up and, because both presentations on Saturday, not only were we able to see each other, we were also able to attend each other’s panels. Altogether, it was an incredible week, and I’m grateful for the support of the WHA Graduate Student Prize for making it possible.  I look forward to attending WHA in the future and seeing the folks I met for the first time again, exchanging stories and continuing conversations started at this one in Kansas City.