Why Does Labour Matter?
The Past, Present, and Future of Labour
and Labour Studies
Militant Labour in a Midwest State: Labour Studies in Indiana
A True Friend of Labor: The lasting legacy of Paul Mishler
Patricia Linner
Friend, brother, comrade, and mentor are how we describe our colleague Paul Mishler, a long-time IUSB professor and community activist who lost his battle with cancer last year. Paul was a brilliant historian, and his work focused on radical movements, social justice, and equality in labor and life. I will discuss his lasting impact on our community and campus through his work and mentoring relationships.
“This is our program”: An overview of working-class education at IU
William Mello
This presentation examines the historical development of Indiana University Labor Studies over time; a process of crisis, continuity and resistance pressured by the consolidation of market forces within the university and the decline of the organized labor movement. In this way, the attack and decline of organized labor in Indiana was equally detrimental to labor studies and constrained in multiple ways the programs' ability to advance its fundamental mission of working-class education.
It’s the Last Damn Thing We Got”: Union Survival in Reactionary Times
Joseph Varga
In this presentation, Professor Varga examines the current state of the Department of Labor Studies at Indiana University. The paper looks at the new relationship between the department and the Indiana AFL-CIO, a new state-based course in Indiana labor history, and the struggle to survive and thrive in a hostile environment.
- Isobel Plowright
Biographies
Patricia Linner is a Visiting Lecturer of Labor Studies at Indiana University-South Bend. She received her BA in Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies, and her MLS and MPA degrees from Indiana University. She is currently a doctoral student in Education at the University of Miami (FL). Her research focus is on women’s issues at home and work and sustainability partnerships within the labor movement.
William Mello Dr. William J. Mello is an Associate Professor of Labor Studies at Indiana University Northwest. He received a BA in Historical Studies from Empire State College/ SUNY. He received an MA and PhD in Historical Studies and Political Science from the New School for Social Research. He is an affiliated faculty at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) and the Brazilian Studies Program at IU -Bloomington. Dr. Mello is also a leader of the research group The World of Work: Politics, History and Culture, located at the State University of Ceará (UECE), Fortaleza, Brazil, and is currently working on a book that explores the constraints of working class organization in Brazilian political development.
Joseph Varga is Associate Professor of Labor Studies at Indiana University-Bloomington. He is a proud graduate of Rutgers University, and of the New School for Social Research, where he received his Doctorate in Sociology. Dr. Varga researches the effects of deindustrialization on the US working class, and teaches courses in labor history, globalization, and the role of unions in US society. He is currently completing a book on the shifting allegiances of Indiana workers and the effects of new right populism on former union workers. He was a long-time rank-and-file militant in the Teamsters union before entering academia. He lives in Bloomington with his partners and many cats.