Geographer and glaciologist M Jackson will discuss her book, The Secret Lives of Glaciers, at a webinar on October 7 at 7 p.m. In The Secret Lives of Glaciers, Jackson explores the profound impacts of glacier change on the human and physical geography of Iceland. Currently an Arctic Expert for the National Geographic Society, Jackson has worked for more than a decade in the Arctic chronicling climate change and communities. Her memoir While Glaciers Slept: Being Human in a Time of Climate Change weaves together the parallel stories of what happens when the climates of a family and a planet change. Jackson’s appearance is presented by the Lowell Humanities Series and co-sponsored by the Earth & Environmental Sciences Department and the Environmental Studies Program. Pre-registration is required.
The Secret Lives of Glaciers
Intellectual property and racial bias
In her new book, The Color of Creatorship: Intellectual Property, Race, and the Making of Americans (Stanford University Press, 2020), Associate Professor of Communication and African and African Diaspora Studies Anjali Vats describes how narratives of “good” and “bad” intellectual property citizenship reproduce racial and colonial exclusion in U.S. copyright, patent, and trademark law. From the publisher: “Vats historicizes the figure of the citizen-creator, the white male maker who was incorporated into the national ideology as a key contributor to the nation’s moral and economic development. She also traces the emergence of racial panics around infringement, arguing that the post-racial creator exists in opposition to the figure of the hyper-racial infringer, a national enemy who is the opposite of the hardworking, innovative American creator. Vats argues that once anti-racist activists grapple with the underlying racial structures of intellectual property law, they can better advocate for strategies that resist the underlying drivers of racially disparate copyright, patent, and trademark policy.” Vats also holds a courtesy faculty appointment in the Boston College Law School.
“One person, no vote”
Carol Anderson, author of One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy, will speak on that topic at a virtual webinar event on September 30 at 7 p.m. Anderson is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University. Her book One Person, No Vote was long-listed for the National Book Award and a finalist for the PEN/Galbraith Award in non-fiction. She also is the author of White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Nation’s Divide, a New York Times Bestseller, Washington Post Notable Book of 2016, and a National Book Critics Circle Award winner. She has served on working groups dealing with race at Stanford’s Center for Applied Science and Behavioral Studies, the Aspen Institute, and the United Nations. Anderson’s appearance is presented by the Lowell Humanities Series and co-sponsored by the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics and the History Department. This event will be live streamed and registration is required.
Lessons from Aristophanes
Behrakis Professor in Hellenic Political Studies Robert C. Bartlett presents new translations of Aristophanes’ most overtly political works in the new publication, Against Demagogues: What Aristophanes Can Teach Us about the Perils of Populism and the Fate of Democracy, New Translations of the Acharnians and the Knights (University of California Press, 2020). The comedic plays make clear the dangers to which democracies are prone and Bartlett disentangles Aristophanes’ serious teachings from the many jokes and pratfalls. The book features an interpretive essay for each play, expertly guiding readers through important plot points, explaining the significance of various characters, and shedding light on the meaning of the plays’ often madcap episodes. Along with a contextualizing introduction, Bartlett offers extensive notes explaining the many political, literary, and religious references and allusions. Bartlett’s other publications include the translations Aristotle’s Art of Rhetoric and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (with Susan Collins), and the book Sophistry and Political Philosophy: Protagoras’ Challenge to Socrates.
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged ancient Greece, Political Science department
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Images in Plato’s Republic
Boston College Philosophy Professor Marina Berzins McCoy writes on the important role images play in Plato’s philosophical argumentation in her new book Image and Argument in Plato’s Republic (SUNY Press, 2020). McCoy argues that “Plato’s use of images is pervasive and part of the Republic‘s main arguments, not limited only to a few well-known images such as the pilot of the ship, the myth of metals, or the cave.” She writes in the book’s introduction, “What is not often sufficiently recognized is that the main philosophical arguments of the text about central matters such as justice or the nature of the forms are highly reliant on images. Through examining the use of imagery in arguments, we can learn better how Plato philosophizes with images, and thereby something more about how Plato understands philosophical language itself.” McCoy also is the author of Wounded Heroes: Vulnerability as a Virtue in Ancient Greek Literature and Philosophy and Plato on the Rhetoric of Philosophers and Sophists.
Interracial dialoguing & female storytelling
Emily Bernard, author of the acclaimed book Black is the Body: Stories From my Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine, will give a webinar on fostering interracial understanding and the importance of female storytelling on September 22 beginning at 7 p.m. Bernard will read an excerpt from Black is the Body, followed by a keynote speech and Q&A session. Bernard is the Julian Lindsay Green and Gold Professor of English at the University of Vermont. She is also the author of several other books, including Remember Me to Harlem: The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten and Some of My Best Friends: Writings on Interracial Friendships. The free, public event requires registration in order to receive a link to the virtual presentation. The event is sponsored by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Boston College with the support of the Institute for Liberal Arts and the American Studies Program.
Student author Louise Faitar
Louise Faitar, a sophomore majoring in neuroscience in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, also is a published author. Her novel, The Evanescence of Fog, is a satirical science fiction/fantasy story that is a comedic yet profound exploration of the nuances of human nature and political institutions. In high school, Faitar was awarded the Joyce Carol Oates Award for Outstanding Short Fiction. A description of the book: “King Gordon Apache’s island nation gets turned upside down when a serial killer invades the mainland and threatens to decimate the population and overthrow the government. In an act of total desperation, the King turns to the only individuals he can trust: a sassy ten-year-old girl, a mentally-unstable musical genius, a pygmy unicorn who won’t shut up, and of course… the guy who lives in a tree. These four unlikely associates have the guts to stop the intruder. Only problem is―they all hate each other.”
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged fantasy, neuroscience, science fiction, student
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Biography of Rutilio Grande, S.J.
Rutilio Grande, S.J., a parish priest who was assassinated in El Salvador in 1977, is arguably the first Jesuit to be martyred after the Society of Jesus had proclaimed its commitment to “the service of faith and the promotion of justice” as two inseparable elements of the Jesuit mission. Jesuit Sources, which is housed in the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College, has published an authoritative biography of Fr. Grande through its IJS Studies: Research on Jesuits and the Society of Jesus imprint. Written by Rodolfo Cardenal, S.J., The Life, Passion, and Death of the Jesuit Rutilio Grande explores Fr. Grande’s prophetic ministry, a testimony to the Jesuits’ preferential option for the poor, and highlights the parallels between him and Saint Oscar Romero. Fr. Cardenal, a Jesuit historian who knew Fr. Grande, also prepared the documentation for Fr. Grande’s beatification, which was approved by Pope Francis earlier this year.
Posted in Guest Authors
Tagged biography, Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, Jesuit author
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Refugees and higher education
In Refugees and Higher Education: Trans-national Perspectives on Access, Equity, and Internationalization, contributors representing a variety of fields—from educational leadership and curriculum development to social work and higher education—offer a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary overview of refugee education issues around the world. These perspectives also provide key insights for faculty and staff at higher education institutions that currently enroll asylees or refugees, as well as those that may do so in the future. The volume is edited by Center for International Higher Education Director Hans de Wit, former CIHE postdoctoral fellow Hakan Ergin, BC alumni Lisa Unangst and Araz Khajarian, and CIHE Research Assistant and doctoral student Tessa DeLaquil. In addition to the editors, BC faculty and alumni contributors to the volume include: Natalie Borg, Hannah Maria Cazzetta, Thomas M. Crea, Michael Cronin, Kerri Evans, Betty Leask, Rebecca Lowenhaupt, Narintohn Luangrath, M. Brinton Lykes, Gabrielle Oliveira, Onur Özmen, Martin Scanlan, Kelber Tozini, and Ayenachew A. Woldegiyorgis. Refugees and Higher Education is the latest volume from the Global Perspectives on Higher Education book series, co-published by Brill|Sense and the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College. Editors for the books series, which provides cogent analysis and comparative perspectives on central issues affecting postsecondary education worldwide, are: CIHE Founding Director Philip G. Altbach, de Wit, and CIHE Managing Director Rebecca Schendel.
Animals with wild style
In her new nonfiction book, author Jenna Grodzicki introduces young readers to animals that accessorize in usual ways and looks at how these unconventional adornments help the animals survive. Wild Style: Amazing Animal Adornments (Millbrook Press, 2020) features critters such as crabs in sponge hats and lacewing larvae dressing up with jewelry. A Boston College alumna, Grodzicki also is the author of I See Sea Food: Sea Creatures that Look Like Food and Finn Finds A Friend, among other titles.
BC Bookmarks 