Research

Ward Stavig Memorial Lecture

The USF History Department invited Dr. Julio Capo to give the 2024 Ward Stavig Memorial Lecture on Thursday, February 15th  at 6:00 p.m in MSC 2708.  Dr. Capo’s lecture focused on "How Florida Helped Shape the Nation’s 'Culture Wars': A History of the 1950s and 60s" and provided much needed historical context to the current debates around gender and sexuality happening in our state.

This is a lecture series inaugurated in 2008 to honor the memory of our former colleague Ward Stavig, who was a beloved social historian of colonial Peruvian and Bolivian peasant culture. As in past years, we have invited a prominent scholar who works on Latin American history and culture, broadly defined.  

Dr. Capo’s research focuses on South Florida and its relationship to the Caribbean and Latin America through immigration, trade, and tourism, with a particular focus on issues of gender, sexuality, and LGBT history.  He has written on Miami’s queer past, the Mariel boatlift, queer border crossings, and many other topics.  He also serves as an Organization of American Historians “Distinguished Lecturer.” His first book, Welcome to Fairyland: Queer Miami before 1940 (UNC Press, 2017) was the recipient of numerous awards

The event is co-sponsored by the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and, the USF Humanities Institute, and the History Department Graduate Student Organization.