Novelists and politicians

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Bookworm

burns scholarBoston College’s Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies James H. Murphy will present “Novelists and Politicians in 19th-Century Ireland” on Nov. 18 at 4:30 p.m. in the Thompson Room of Burns Library. Murphy is a leading scholar of 19th-century Ireland who has authored, or edited, more than a dozen books, including Abject Loyalty: Nationalism and Monarchy in Ireland During the Reign of Queen Victoria and Irish Novelists and the Victorian Age. He is a professor of English and a former director of Irish Studies at DePaul University, Chicago. A reception will follow in the Irish Room of Burns Library. Sponsors: Center for Irish Programs and BC University Libraries. Read a Q&A with him in the Boston College Chronicle.

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Caring for women in regions affected by war

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Bookworm

sunday morningNurse-midwife Linda Robinson, a Boston College alumna whose work has taken her across the globe, will present “Nurse-Midwifery Care to Women in Areas Affected by War: Addressing Global Public Health,” on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. in Gasson 210. Robinson has volunteered for the Peace Corps and Doctors Without Borders. Her memoir, Sunday Morning, Shamwana: A Midwife’s Letters from the Field (Pine Knoll Press LLC, 2012), recounts her assignment in a remote village in Democratic Republic of Congo deeply affected by a decade of war and famine. At once heart-­wrenching and humorous, joyful and filled with grief, her riveting narrative allows readers to encounter the realities of childbirth and survival in a time of war. Robinson shares her own horror, frustration and small victories while questioning the limits of human strength, the role of international aid and the meaning of her place in the world. Sponsors: Connell School of Nursing, Medical Humanities, and BC Public Health Sequence.

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An unfinished council

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Bookworm

unfinishedIn spite of its impact, Vatican II was, in many ways, an unfinished council, according to Joseph Chair of Catholic Systematic Theology Richard R. Gaillardetz. He says the council bishops were able to establish key pillars in the construction of a new vision for the church of our time, but, for various reasons, they were not able to draw those pillars together into a coherent unified structure. In his new book, An Unfinished Council: Vatican II, Pope Francis, and the Renewal of Catholicism (Liturgical Press, 2015), he describes both the council’s building project itself and the challenges facing the church today if we are to complete the project begun 50 years ago. Gaillardetz is past president of the of the Catholic Theological Society of America. His previous publications include Keys to the Council: Unlocking the Teaching of Vatican II and When the Magisterium Intervenes…The Magisterium and Theologians in Today’s Church.

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Death by drone

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Bookworm

dronesDrones have become an essential part of US national security strategy, but most Americans know little about how they are used. In Drones and the Ethics of Targeted Killing (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015), Associate Professor of Theology Kenneth R. Himes, OFM provides not only an overview of the role of drones in national security but also an important exploration of the ethical implications of drone warfare—from the impact on terrorist organizations and civilians to how piloting drones shapes soldiers. Fr. Himes leads readers through the ethics of targeted killings in history from ancient times to the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then looks specifically at the new issues raised through the use of drones. Fr. Himes is moral theologian whose previous publications include Christianity and the Political Order, Modern Catholic Social Teaching, and Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching.

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Immigrant life

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Bookworm

deliriumThe Center for Human Rights and International Justice (CHRIJ) is hosting a book launch on Nov. 16 to mark the publication of two books exploring different facets of the life of the immigrant in the US and in the Boston area. The event will be held in Devlin Hall 101 starting at 7 p.m. One of the featured books is The New Deportations Delirium: Interdisciplinary Responses (NYU Press, 2015), co-edited by CHRIJ Associate Directors Brinton Lykes of the Lynch School of Education and Daniel Kanstroom of the BC Law School. Since deportation laws were toughened in 1996, millions of migrants to the U.S., including many long-term legal permanent residents with “green cards,” have experienced summary arrest, incarceration without bail, transfer to remote detention facilities, and deportation without counsel—a lifetime banishment from what is, in many cases, the only country they have ever known. The New Deportations Delirium aims to raise public consciousness about the complexities of the issues, presenting fresh conversation and urging a holistic response. In the book, deportation policy is debated by lawyers, judges, social workers, researchers, and clinical and community psychologists as well as educators, researchers, and community activists. The other book being celebrated at the event is The New Bostonians: How Immigrants Have Transformed the Metro Area since the 1960s (University of Massachusetts Press, 2015) by Professor of History Marilynn Johnson. [See 8/31/15 BC Bookmarks for more on this book.] Listen to Johnson talk about her new book with WGBH News.

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Intellectual origins of the Easter Rising

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Bookworm

declanDublin native Declan Kiberd, a leading international authority on the literature of Ireland, will present “Militarism or Modernism? Intellectual Origins of the Easter Rising, Dublin 1916,” on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. in Merkert Hall, Room 127. Kiberd is the author of The Irish Writer and the World, Irish Classics, Inventing Ireland, and Ulysses and Us: The Art of Everyday Life in Joyce’s Masterpiece, among other books. He is the Donald and Marilyn Keough Professor of Irish Studies and professor of English at the University of Notre Dame. Sponsor: Lowell Humanities Series

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No Such Thing as a Free Gift

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Bookworm

madoff-RayAt a book launch Nov. 11 for Linsey McGoey’s No Such Thing as a Free Gift,  BC Law School Professor Ray Madoff will engage in conversation with the author, as well as Alicia Yamin of Harvard University and Nicole Aschoff  Jacobin magazine. The book launch will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Harvard Coop on Mass. Ave. in Cambridge. The charitable sector is one of the fastest-growing industries in the global economy.  As large charitable organizations replace governments as the providers of social welfare, their largesse becomes suspect. In her new, McGoey puts this new golden age of philanthropy under the microscope—paying particular attention to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Power in 19th-century Britain and Ireland

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Bookworm

catholics of consequenceCiaran O’Neill, Ussher lecturer in history at Trinity College, Dublin, will conduct a seminar titled “Power in 19th-Century Britain and Ireland” on Nov. 12 from noon to 2 p.m. at Connolly House. O’Neill is president of the Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland and the author of Catholics of Consequence: Transnational Education, Social Mobility and the Irish Catholic Elite, 1850-1900 and Irish Elites in the Nineteenth Century. Sponsor: Irish Studies.

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Why Liberal Education Matters

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Bookworm

liberal ed bookWesleyan University President Michael S. Roth will present “Why Liberal Education Matters” on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in Gasson Hall, Room 100. Roth is the author of Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters (Yale University Press, 2014), a stirring plea for the kind of education that has, since the founding of the nation, cultivated individual freedom, promulgated civic virtue and instilled hope for the future. While serving at Wesleyan, he has overseen the launch of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, the Shapiro Creative Writing Center, and four new colleges emphasizing interdisciplinary research and cohort building. Among Roth’s previous publications is Memory, Trauma, and History: Essays on Living with the Past. Sponsor: Lowell Humanities Series

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Yeats & Irish Romanticism

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Bookworm

claireconnollyUniversity College Cork Professor Claire Connolly will present “Counting on the Past: Yeats and Irish Romanticism” on Nov. 11 at 4:30 p.m. in Connolly House, 300 Hammond St. Connolly’s research and teaching interests include Irish writing; the novel in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; romanticism in Ireland, Scotland and Wales; Welsh-Irish cultural exchanges, and Ireland and cultural theory. She is the author of A Cultural History of the Irish Novel, 1790-1829 (Cambridge University Press, 2014). She has been a visiting professor in Irish Studies at Boston College (2002-03). Sponsor: Irish Studies Program

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