CURRICULUM VITAE
Jonathan Edward Robins
500 Quincy St
Houghton, MI 49931
jrobins@mtu.edu
906-487-3080
Education
Ph.D. University of Rochester, Global History
2010
Dissertation: “The Cotton Crisis: Globalization and Empire in the Atlantic World,”
supervised by Stanley Engerman and Stewart Weaver
Minor fields: Comparative Nationalism; Islam in the Middle East and Africa
B.A.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland, History, magna cum laude
2004
Honors thesis: “Imagined Pasts, Promised Futures: Revolutionary Leadership in Peru,
Sri Lanka, and Sudan”
Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Keble College, Oxford, 2003
Completed coursework on medieval and early modern European history
Teaching
Assistant Professor of History
Michigan Technological University 2012-present
Courses taught: world history, economic history, historiography.
Visiting Lecturer
Morgan State University
2010 - 2012
Courses taught: World History I (to 1500) and World History II (since 1500)
Adjunct lecturer
State University of New York at Geneseo 2009
Course taught: Western Civilization to 1600
Teaching fellow, teaching assistant University of Rochester
2005 - 8
Courses taught: West and the World since 1492, Colonial and Contemporary
Africa. Teaching assistant for: Germany and Austria to 1914, Hitler’s Germany,
West and the World since 1492, Economies and Societies in Latin America and
the Caribbean, Changing Concepts of Health and Illness
Publications
Robins, Jonathan. “ ‘A Common Brotherhood for their Mutual Benefit’: Sir Charles
Macara and the Internationalization of the Cotton Industry.” Forthcoming in Enterprise
and Society.
c.v. - Robins
2
Robins, Jonathan. “Review: Empire of Cotton by Sven Beckert.” Forthcoming in
Enterprise and Society.
Robins, Jonathan. “Lancashire and the ‘Undeveloped Estates’: Cotton and development
in the British Empire,” forthcoming, Journal of British Studies (October 2015).
Robins, Jonathan. “Oil Boom: African Farmers, Western Chemists, and the Edible Oils
and Fats Revolution, 1880-1920.” Under revision (Jan 2015) for essay collection ed.
Lissa Roberts, title tbd. Paper presented at “Chemistry and Global History” conference,
Chemical Heritage Foundation, April 2014.
Robins, Jonathan. “A tale of two cities?: jute, empire, and the imperial working class in
Dundee and Calcutta. Review of Anthony Cox, Empire, Industry and Class: the imperial
nexus of jute, 1840-1940.” H-Empire, H-Net Reviews (December 2013).
Robins, Jonathan. “Review of David Sunderland, Financing the Raj: The City of London
and Colonial India, 1858-1940.” Journal of British Studies, vol. 52, no. 4 (October 2013),
pp. 1117-1119.
Robins, Jonathan. “Coercion and Resistance in the Colonial Market: Cotton in Britain’s
African Empire,” in Jonathan Curry-Machado (ed.), Global Histories, Imperial
Commodities, Local Interactions, pp. 100-120. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Robins, Jonathan. “Two Models for World History. Review of Antoinette Burton, A
Primer for Teaching World History and Peter Stearns, World History: the Basics.”
History: Review of New Books, 41, no. 2 (2013), pp. 41-43.
Robins, Jonathan. “Slave Cocoa and Red Rubber: E.D. Morel and the Problem of Ethical
Consumption.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 54, no. 3 (July 2012), pp.
591-611.
Robins, Jonathan.” Review: Jim Tomlinson, Carlo Morelli and Valerie Wright. The
Decline of Jute: Managing Industrial Change. Perspectives in Economic and Social
History.” Journal of British Studies, vol. 51, no. 3 (July 2012), pp. 782-783.
Robins, Jonathan. “Review, Ronald Hyam’s Understanding the British Empire.” History:
Review of New Books 39, no. 4 (2011): 118.
Robins, Jonathan. “Colonial Cuisine: Food in British Nigeria, 1900-1914.” Cultural
Studies – Critical Methodologies 10, no. 6 (2010): 457-466. Special issue on Food and
Power.
Robins, Jonathan. “The ‘Black Man’s Crop’: Cotton, Imperialism, and Public-Private
Development in Britain’s African Colonies, 1900-1918.” Paper presented at the “Power
and Resistance in Commodity Chains” workshop, Commodity of Empires project, The
c.v. - Robins
3
Open University, London, June 2009. Published as Commodities of Empire working
paper
Scholarly Presentations
Robins, Jonathan. “Food and drink: Palm Oil and Palm Wine in colonial Ghana.” Paper
presented at the “Commodities of Empire: Commodities and the Environment”
workshop, The Open University, September 2015.
Robins, Jonathan. “Food comes first”: Finding a “food problem” in colonial Ghana.
Paper presented at April 2015 Britain and the World conference.
Robins, Jonathan. “Vegetable fats and the transformation of global food industries ,
1850-1950.” Paper presented at March 2015 American Society for Environmental
History Conference.
Robins, Jonathan. “Oil boom: African farmers, western chemists, and the edible oils and
fats revolution, 1880-1920.” Paper presented at the 2014 Cain Conference, "CHEMICAL
REACTIONS: Chemistry and Global History," April 10-12, 2014, Chemical Heritage
Foundation, Philadelphia.
Robins, Jonathan. “Invested in Empire: Political Elites and Imperial Business in Nigeria
and Uganda.” Paper presented at the “Cooperation and Imperialism” conference,
University of Bern, June 2013.
Robins, Jonathan. “Lancashire and the New South: British fact-finding missions and the
realignment of the global cotton industry,” paper to presented at the Britain and the
World Conference, University of Texas at Austin, March 2013.
Robins, Jonathan. “Lancashire and the ‘Undeveloped Estates’: Financing Cotton
Growing Campaigns in Britain, 1902-1918.” Paper presented at the North American
Conference on British Studies, Denver, November 2011.
Robins, Jonathan. “Finding a Local in Global History.” Paper presented at the University
of Rochester Global History symposium in honor of Anthony G. Hopkins, Rochester,
NY, May 2008.
Robins, Jonathan. “Confusion, Apathy, and Convenience: the British Cotton Growing
Association, 1902-1914.” Paper presented at the Graduate History Conference,
University of Rochester, May 2007.
Grants and fellowships
c.v. - Robins
4
January 2015, curriculum development grant (with Don LaFreniere), “Global Issues
Blended Learning Initiative,” funded by the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning at
Michigan Technological University.
April 2014, travel grant, “Chemical Reactions: chemical and global history” conference,
Chemical Heritage Foundation (Philadelphia)
June 2013, travel grant, “Cooperation under the premise of imperialism conference,”
German Historical Institute (London), Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung, and
University of Bern
June 2012, research grant, Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society,
Hagley Museum and Library (Delaware)
June 2009, travel grant, “Commodities of Empire: Power and Resistance in Commodity
Chains” conference, The Open University (London)
Awards and honors
University of Rochester: Egon Berlin Prize for European History (2008); Elwitt
Memorial Prize for British History (2007), Dean’s fellowship (2005-9)
St. Mary’s College of Maryland: Certificate of Distinction from the Paul H. Nitze
Scholars Program (2004); Alison Quinn Award for excellence in History (2003).
University, professional, and community service
Coordinator of UN 1025 Global Issues course, Michigan Technological University
(2014-present; course design committee member 2012-present)
Assessment committee member for University Student Learning Goal: Critical &
Creative Thinking, Michigan Technological University (2013-present)
Assessment committee member for Department of History & Geography at Morgan State
University (2011 – 2012)
Planning committee member for University of Rochester Graduate History
Conference (2010)
Graduate student representative to the University of Rochester History faculty (2006-7)
American Historical Association member (2009 – present)
World History Association member (2009 – present)
Environmental History Association member (2014-present)
c.v. - Robins
North American Conference on British Studies member (2014-present)
Other relevant employment
The College Board, Inc.: AP World History exam reader (2011-present); textbook and
instructor feedback reviewer for AP European History curriculum revision project
(2008).
The Saylor Foundation: Designed college-level curriculum in European and African
history for use in online learning environments (2010).
References
Dr. Brett Berliner, Associate Professor of History, Morgan State University (443885-1783, Brett.Berliner@morgan.edu)
Dr. Stewart Weaver, Professor of History and Department Chair, University of
Rochester (585-275-9348 swvr@mail.rochester.edu)
Dr. Stanley Engerman, Emeritus Professor of Economics and History, University
of Rochester (585-275-3165, enge@troi.cc.rochester.edu)
5