Faculty List

Patrick J Furlong, Ph.D.

Patrick J Furlong, Ph.D.

Professor of History
Joined Alma College Faculty in 1993
SAC 354
(989) 463-7254
Office Hours: MWF: 10:30-11:45 am, Th: 10:00-11:00 a.m., W: 1:30-2:30 p.m.; or by appointment
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Educated at the University of Cape Town and the University of California, Santa Barbara, Dr. Patrick Furlong was born and raised in South Africa, moving to the United States in 1983.

He taught at Presbyterian College (South Carolina) and Bethany College (Kansas), coming to Alma in 1993. At Alma he has taught courses in modern European, imperial, African, and South African history, including a seminar on Comparative Fascism and a Winter-Spring seminar culminating in three weeks of intensive research on World War II topics in the British National Archives in Kew, London. Participants have developed numerous senior honors theses from this research, resulting in presentations at Alma's Honors Day, the Michigan Academy, and award-winning papers at the Michigan annual conference of Phi Alpha Theta, the History Honorary Society. In 2001 he received an Alma College Posey Award for for his scholarship and work in undergraduate research and in 2009 received the Faculty Barlow Award.

He has published two monographs, including "Between Crown and Swastika" (1991), nominated for South Africa's Alan Paton non-fiction prize and one of four books in African history published that year to be named an "Outstanding Academic Book" by the American Library Association's "Choice" magazine. He has published research articles in the "Journal of Theology for Southern Africa," "Ufahamu," "African Affairs," "New Contree," and the "South African Historical Journal," and is the author of over thirty academic book reviews and review articles. He has presented numerous papers at conferences such as the meetings of the African Studies Association and the South African Historical Society, the Great Lakes History Conference, and the Michigan Conference of Political Scientists. He serves on the editorial boards of "New Contree" and the "South African Historical Journal," journal of the Southern African Historical Society. In recent years he co-authored with Alma College physiologist Dr. Karen Ball a chapter on AIDS and the state in South Africa in an anthology on the African state and the AIDS crisis, an article on British intelligence organizations in South Africa during the Second World War, a comparative article on the ruling African National Congress in South Africa and the previous ruling group, the National Party, and a chapter on the National Party in an anthology on the transnational Right.

Education

  • B.A., University of Cape Town (1981)
  • B.A. (Honors), University of Cape Town (1982)
  • M.A., University of Cape Town (1985)
  • Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara (1987)

Research Interests

20th century South Africa (especially Afrikaner nationalism, World War II, politics of science and AIDS, African National Congress), comparative fascism

Recent Courses Taught

Directed Student Presentations and Achievements

  • Joseph Caporale. "Competing Views of a Nazi Europe: Fritz Sauckel, Albert Speer, and the 1943 Franco-German Bichelonne Agreements." (Best Paper Award, political history) Phi Alpha Theta regional annual meeting, Indiana Wesleyan University, March 2012.
  • Erik Hanser. "Comrades and Freedom Fighters: The African National Congress and Communism in South Africa in the 1950s." (Best Paper Award) Phi Alpha Theta regional annual meeting, Oakland University, March 2011.
  • Porter, Katherine. “Field Marshal Alexander and the `Failure’ of the Sicilian Campaign, July-August 1943.” Clement S. Stacy Undergraduate Research Conference, Purdue University Calumet, April 2009.
  • Freeman, Jaclyn. "The Forgotten Sector of Operation `TORCH': General Anderson's Failed Advance on Tunis, November-December 1942." (Best Paper Award) Phi Alpha Theta regional annual meeting, Michigan State University, March 2009.

Selected Articles

  • "From `Struggle' to `Post-Revolutionary' Politics: The National Party, the African National Congress, and the `Great Rapprochement'."  New Contree.  2009. Vol. 57. pp.109-128.
  • "Allies at War? Britain and the `Southern African Front' in World War II."  South African Historical Journal.  2005. Vol. 54. pp.16-29.

Selected Reviews

  • Review of "The Law and the Prophets: Black Consciousness in South Africa, 1968-1977", by Daniel Magaziner.  International Journal of African Historical Studies.  2011. Vol. 44 No. 2. pp.353-355.
  • Review of "From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882-1960 - Volume 6: Challenge and Victory, 1980-1990", by Gail M. Gerhart and Clive L. Glaser.  International Journal of African Historical Studies.  2010. Vol. 43. No. 3. pp. 527-528.
  • Review of "The ANC Underground in South Africa, 1950-1976", by Raymond Suttner.  International Journal of African Historical Studies.  2010 Vol. 43. No. 2. pp. 374-375
  • Review of "The Jews in South Africa: An Illustrated History", by Richard Mendelsohn and Milton Shain.  African Historical Review.  2009 Vol. 41. No. 2. pp. 188-191
  • Review of "Nelson Mandela: A Biography", by Peter Limb.  The Historian.  2009 Vol. 71. No. 4. pp. 831-832.
  • Review of "The Unsettled Land: State-Making and the Politics of Land in Zimbabwe, 1893-2003", by Jocelyn Alexander.  American Historical Review.  2008 Vol. 113. No.1. pp.292-293
  • See More...

Selected Chapter Book Publications

  • "The National Party of South Africa: A Transnational Perspective." In New Perspectives on the Transnational Right, edited by Martin Durham and Margaret Power, 67-84. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
  • "The More Things Change: AIDS and the State in South Africa, 1987-2003." In The African State and the AIDS Crisis, edited by Amy Patterson (chapter co-author Karen L. Ball), 127-153. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2006.

Recent Presentations

  • "Indigenous `Africans' and Transnational `Pan-Netherlanders': `Re-Constructing' Afrikaner Identity in Post-Apartheid South Africa."  African Studies Association.  Washington DC.  19 November 2011.
  • "Constructing an `Indigenous' Identity: The Case of Afrikaner Nationalism in Modern South Africa."  Great Lakes History Conference.  Grand Rapids, Michigan.  14 November 2009.
  • "After the Fall: Reassessing Afrikaner Nationalism in South Africa."  African Studies Association.  Chicago, Illinois.  14 November 2008.
  • "An Ambiguous Colonial Legacy: `Constitutionalist' `Christian' Nationalism in Ireland and South Africa in the 1930s and 1940s."  Great Lakes History Conference.  Grand Rapids, Michigan.  27 October 2007.
  • "Afrikaner Nationalism and the European Right."  American Historical Association.  Atlanta, Georgia.  7 January 2007.
  • "Liberation Struggles and Post-Revolutionary Politics in South Africa: The National Party and the African National Congress Compared."  Great Lakes History Conference.  Grand Rapids, Michigan.  20 October 2006.
  • See More...

Awards, Honors, Recognitions

  • Barlow Award for Faculty Excellence

 

Frank Knox’s accomplishments are extraordinary: From fighting alongside Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders and publishing the Chicago Daily News vice presidential candidate in 1936 to Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Through it all, the 1912 graduate stayed true to his Alma College roots. His portrait adorns the conference room in the Reid-Knox Administration Building.

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Student Profile

Jacob Poliskey

Jacob Poliskey
Graduation: 2014
Major: Biochemistry

Jacob Poliskey’s experience at Alma College has helped him cross a few adventurous items off his bucket list, including immersing himself in another culture thanks to a Spring Term trip to Peru.

“I got to see Machu Picchu, explore the Incan Ruins in the outside of Cusco, learn more Spanish, and climb an 80-foot rock edifice,” he says. “I also became really good friends with a few people I didn’t know well before the trip.”

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