Catriona Gold (University College London), “Passport Denial & Public Diplomacy: The Politics of Travel in Cold War America”, Loeb A220, 14:30-16:00.

ABSTRACT: In the aftermath of WWII, the travel of US citizens assumed a hitherto unprecedented political significance. The Cold War struggle for economic and cultural dominance combined with post-war American prosperity and rapid developments in transportation technology to thrust tourism and cultural exchange into the political spotlight. Actors across the political spectrum rushed to construct travel as a matter of national security, with the American traveler emerging as a figure of both threat and opportunity — and, crucially, a subject in need of governance. This seminar draws upon in-depth research at the US National Archives and the Library of Congress to unpack and contextualize the most significant Cold War developments in American travel policy. By illuminating the circumstances under which these earlier forms of traveler surveillance and discipline were pioneered and contested, I seek to further both understanding of and possibilities for critical intervention in contemporary approaches to securing travel.

Catriona Gold is a PhD candidate at University College London and a Visiting Scholar at Carleton’s Political Science department. Her current research concerns shifting policy approaches to American citizens’ travel during the Cold War, with a particular focus on the US Passport Office. She is a political geographer and mobility scholar by training, with previous degrees from the University of British Columbia, University College London, and the University of Nottingham. Catriona’s current research and her visit to Carleton are funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council; her PhD fieldwork in Washington DC was facilitated by a six-month fellowship at the Library of Congress, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.