The York Centre for the Americas
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The York Centre for the Americas (YCA) seeks to promote the understanding of the history of the American continent. We particularly focus on transnational, comparative and connective analysis of relations between regions within the continent, and between the Americas and the rest of the world.
Housed within the Department of History, the Centre engages in a wide range of activities: including research, teaching, public engagement and scholarly exchange.
News from the Centre
- Professor David Blight in Conversation on 12 March 2019
We are delighted to welcome David W. Blight for a public discussion of his brand new landmark biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom (Simon and Schuster, 2018).- Promoting Potatoes in Peru and Other Tales of the Hispanic EnlightenmentThis year's Visiting Lecture was delivered by Professor Rebecca Earle of the University of Warwick.
- Interdisciplinary Workshop: The Novel at the End of History: Donald Trump and 'Infinite Jest'
This event is the first in a number of interdisciplinary workshops aimed at broadening conversations at the YCA. It will consist of a presentation by Adam Kelly (Department of English and Related Literature, York) followed by Q&A. More talks will follow soon.Please RSVP to: shaul.mitelpunkt@york.ac.uk. All are welcome!- Staff news: The YCA is happy to welcome US historians David Huyssen and Shaul Mitelpunkt to the department in September. David's research focuses on the political economy and culture of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. He is the author of Progressive Inequality: Rich and Poor in New York, 1890-1920 (Harvard University Press, 2014), which tells stories of rich and poor New Yorkers at the turn of the twentieth century, in a range of social contexts. Shaul works on the US in transnational perspective; war and society; the politics of cultural production; and US-Israeli relations. He is currently completing his first book entitled American Liberals, Israel, and War: The Cultural-Politics of US-Israeli Relations and the Reinvention of American Empire, 1958-1986.
Free resources
Listen to three lectures from the York Centre for the Americas.
- Picturing Frederick Douglass: The Most Photographed American of the 19th Century (
45,212kb download), delivered by Professor Zoe Trodd, University of Nottingham, at a public lecture on 1 May 2015.
- A Tale of Two Hamiltons: North American-Caribbean Crossings in the 18th Century (
- Loyalist Opposition to the American Revolution (
Featured research
As TB was one of the leading causes of death in the world, the WHO made it one of its main priorities in 1947. This article traces how the WHO along with UNICEF came to undertake mass BCG vaccination campaigns in the Anglophone Caribbean between 1951 and 1956. It mentions various reasons why the region was an ideal location for WHO/UNICEF sponsored BCG campaigns and also highlights that in this region, the WHO/UNICEF built on and to some extent perfected the campaigns they had already undertaken in Europe, India and some other non-European countries.
- Read the full article
What our students say
"My time at the University of York exposed me to many different areas of history but it was in my second year that I developed a real interest in American history, and more specifically, in the effects of American foreign policy."
Courtenay, recent graduate
"The History department has a great sense of community, with excellent facilities, research opportunities and seminars that not only provide a wonderful opportunity to develop academically, but also to interact with fellow postgraduates on a social basis."
Andrew, current PhD student
"York is a particularly stimulating environment for exploring the Americas, and the kind of place where a question asked in a seminar can easily become a dissertation project and future MA or PhD research."
David, current MA student
