Bertoti Conference

On March 31-April 1, 2023, we will host the Bertoti Conference in-person. Our conference is an opportunity for graduates and advanced undergraduates to share research projects in a supportive, professional environment and a chance to network with future colleagues. Our conference values interdisciplinary approaches to the past, and we invite proposals from historians and students in related disciplines whose work represents “innovative perspectives in history.” Presentations on any aspect of history, time period, or world region are welcome.

2023 Conference schedule of events To be announced

Friday, March 31:

Location: Hahn Horticulture Garden Pavilion

Saturday, April 1:

Location: Graduate Life Center Multipurpose Room and Conference Rooms

Conference Speakers

Dr. Leni Sorensen will deliver the keynote address on Friday, March 31. She earned her B.A. in History at Mary Baldwin College; she earned her M.A. and her Ph.D. in American Studies at the College of William and Mary. She is a food historian and the owner of the Indigo House in Crozet, Virginia. She owns a farmstead devoted to teaching the public about culinary history, historical meals, and effective home provisioning techniques. As a food historian, she researches a wide variety of topics varying from the lives of Black cooks, with a particular emphasis on the American Colonial period and the early nineteenth century, contemporary culinary practices, gardening, and animal processing. Dr. Sorensen contributed as a featured historian on the Netflix series “High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America,” a highly rated documentary series, which showcased African-American contributions to the American culinary scene.

Dr. Kelley Fanto Deetz will deliver our luncheon address on Saturday, April 1. She earned her B.A. in Black Studies and History at College of William & Mary, and her M.A. in African American Studies and Ph.D. in African Diaspora Studies both from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently the Vice President of Collections and Public Engagement at Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County, Virginia. She is a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley where she specializes in African American and African Diaspora Studies. Her 2017 book Bound to the Fire: How Virginia’s Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine used archaeological evidence, cookbooks, plantation records, and folklore to focus on the lives of enslaved plantation cooks from colonial times through emancipation and beyond.

Brian Bertoti Award