Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere

Please pre-register for the event through the Zoom link.

Daniel Fernandez (History), Rothman Doctoral Fellow: “Circumventing Conservative Nativism: Transnational and National Efforts to Resettle Spanish Republican Refugees in Cuba, 1939-1945”

In 1939, more than 500,000 Spanish Republicans crossed into France after the destruction of Spain’s Second Republic. Subsequently, Spanish refugees attempted a second exodus from Europe to places like Cuba, where a rising tide of anti-immigration decrees prevented their resettlement. However, Daniel Fernandez argues that a burgeoning transnational community of Spanish refugees, international aid organizations, and pro-Republican forces in Cuba helped many “red” refugees circumvent these legal barriers. By exploring these networks and the contributions of state and non-state actors, Fernandez exposes the role of transnational actors on the fluidity of borders in Cuba.

Professor Lauren Pearlman (History), Rothman Faculty Fellow: “The Security State: The Rise of Private Security Industries in Post-World War II America”

This talk will focus on Dr. Pearlman’s work on the rise of private security industries in the post-World War II era, including private security firms, prisons, immigration detention centers, military contracts, and security training companies. In the talk, she will provide a case study of the Wackenhut Corporation, which provided highly trained armed security forces for nuclear power plants, airports, and embassies before establishing a strong presence in the private prison industry and immigration detention services. Ultimately her research seeks to complicate the lines between foreign and domestic, peace and war, and civilian and military in the United States.​