When most of us think about that favorite Hollywood adventurer, Indiana Jones, the antebellum United States isn’t one of the first things that comes to mind. Not so for UNH graduate student Michael Verney, who will present his history dissertation research at UNH’s 13th Graduate Research Conference (GRC).
There were actually “dozens of Indiana Joneses, and they could be found in the 19th-century U.S. Navy,” he explains in his 3 Minute Thesis video, a new challenge for conference participants. While modern Americans don’t like to think of the nation as an empire and prefer to imagine intrepid explorers in the image of Indiana Jones, who fought to protect historic treasures from 20th-century empires, Americans in the early 19th century felt differently. Verney explains the antebellum explorers were “death-defying globe-trotting adventurers who dallied in science, but unlike Indy, instead of fighting against empires, they tried to build them.”
Here's a sneak peek at Verney's 3-minute thesis.
Save the date! The Graduate Research Conference takes place April 11 - 12, 2016.
Not registered yet? The registration deadline for this year’s GRC is fast approaching on March 25. To register, or for information on presenting your own 3-minute thesis, visit the conference website.
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Written By:
Jennifer Saunders | Communications and Public Affairs | jennifer.saunders@unh.edu | 603-862-3585
