The American Historical Association (AHA) annual meeting is the largest gathering of historians in the U.S. The 138th AHA conference was held in New York City, which provided the perfect opportunity for students at St. Joseph’s University, New York to attend and interact with scholars and historians from around the world.
A group of SJNY students attended the four-day conference, which was held in early January and attracted approximately 1,500 people. The opportunity to attend came through Dr. Nerissa K. Aksamit, an assistant professor of history at SJNY, who presented original research at the AHA conference.
Dr. Aksamit’s presentation was “Infectious Diseases and (Mal)Nutrition: Training the FAU during the Second World War” with a panel titled “Spreading Good Words and Doing Good Deeds: British Efforts at Home and Abroad in World War II.”
As a presenter, she was able to bring SJNY undergraduate students to the AHA conference. For many, it was their first time attending a conference.
“It is a great opportunity from the AHA—it helps to inspire undergraduates in the field while introducing them to top scholars and innovative scholarship,” said Dr. Aksamit.
SJNY student Brandon Ronquillo was selected to present his research at the AHA conference. His topic was “A Nation of Grrrls? Riot Grrrl as an Imagined Community.”
Riot Grrrl is a radical feminist youth movement that began in the 1990s—quite a subject to tackle for one’s public research debut and first-ever conference.
Ronquillo described his interest in Riot Grrrl as “an amalgamation of his musical and artistic preferences, feminism and endless fascination with counterculture in the 1980s and 1990s.”
He participated in AHA’s “Undergraduate Lightning Round: Community Organizing, Activism and Political Engagement” session. It was structured like an elevator pitch; each student presented their research and the session chair and audience could then follow up with questions.
Beyond knowing the room location and how long he had to make his presentation (three minutes), Ronquillo wasn’t sure what else to expect.
Naturally, there were some nerves. For instance, “the room was much larger than he thought it would be,” he shared.
The Undergraduate Lightning Round included students from the University of Richmond, University of Pittsburgh, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dickinson College and Ivy League schools like the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton, among others.
Presenting at AHA was a goal for Ronquillo, who is pursuing a dual degree in history-social studies adolescence education and economics. He credits Dr. Aksamit with providing support and direction.
“With much encouragement from Dr. Nerissa K. Aksamit, I began to research the Riot Grrrl movement outside of the classroom,” Ronquillo said. “Before I defined my thesis, and armed only with a couple of guiding questions when I approached her, she handed me what quickly became one of my favorite books, ‘Imagined Communities’ by Benedict Anderson.”
“After I presented and the section ended, I experienced this immense feeling of validation—validation in my paper, research, knowledge about the subject and academic career at St. Joseph’s University,” said Ronquillo, who is currently a peer tutor and president of the History Club. “Supported by my peers and my professors, I felt capable and steady.”
He is now prepping for another presentation at the Phi Alpha Theta New York-New Jersey Regional Conference, which will be held at Iona University.
“I owe much of what I have been able to accomplish to both Dr. Aksamit and Dr. James Blakeley, as they guided me through the research process and responded to my incessant emails and questions,” Ronquillo said.
