Ruth Rubio Marín, a professor of constitutional law at University of Sevilla (Spain), director of the Gender and Governance Programme at the School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute (Italy), and a faculty member at New York University’s Hauser Global Law School Program, will present “Reparations for Historic Institutional Violence: Learning from Transitional Justice?” on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. Her research represents an attempt to understand how public law creates categories of inclusion and exclusion around different axis including gender, citizenship, nationality, and ethnicity. She is the author or editor/co-editor of several books, including Immigration as a Democratic Challenge: Citizenship and Inclusion in Germany and the United States and What Happened to the Women?: Gender and Reparations for Human Rights Violations. Her current book project is The Disestablishment of Gender in the New Millennium Constitutionalism. She has extensive experience dealing with reparations in post-conflict societies, including in Morocco, Nepal, and Colombia. Her Lowell Humanities Series lecture is part of a conference on “Transitional Justice, Truth-telling, and the Legacy of Irish Institutional Abuse” supported by the Institute for the Liberal Arts, Office of the Provost, Irish Studies Program, the Jesuit Institute, Boston College Law School, and the Center for Human Rights and International Justice.
Reparations for historic institutional violence
The Sociable City
Boston College alumnus Jamin Creed Rowan will discuss his book, The Sociable City: An American Intellectual Tradition (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), on Oct. 30 in Devlin Hall, room 100 at 4:30 p.m. In his book, Rowan investigates the history of how American society has conceived of urban relationships and considers how these ideas have shaped the cities in which we live. Rowan used source materials often overlooked by scholars of urban life—including memoirs, plays, novels, literary journalism, and museum exhibits. He received a Ph.D. in English from Boston College, and teaches in the English Department and the American Studies Program at Brigham Young University. Sponsor: Boston College Libraries in conjunction with the Institute for the Liberal Arts and the American Studies Program.
A guide to Paris
Jayne Boisvert, who received a master’s degree in French from Boston College, has published a guidebook to Paris that includes travel tips as well as biographies and addresses associated with famous Americans, from the 18th century to present day, who lived in the City of Light. Pilgrimage to Paris: The Cheapo Snob’s Guide to the City and Americans Who Lived There (Open Books, 2018) highlights attractions, things to do in Paris, shops, museums, churches and eateries. Boisvert is a retired professor of French and comparative literature who has lived in Paris.
A Love Story in Eighteen Songs
Peter Coviello will read from his memoir Long Players: A Love Story in Eighteen Songs (Penguin Books, 2018) on Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. in Connolly House, 300 Hammond St. Coviello, a professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is the author of Intimacy in America: Dreams of Affiliation in Antebellum Literature and Tomorrow’s Parties: Sex and the Untimely in Nineteenth-Century America, a finalist for Lambda Literary Award in LGBT Studies and an honorable mention for the Alan Bray Memorial Book Prize. Sponsor: Institute for the Liberal Arts.
Corporations are People Too
Should corporations be able to claim rights of free speech, religious conscience, and due process? BC Law School Professor Kent Greenfield, an expert in constitutional law, takes on this very question in his new book, Corporations Are People Too (And They Should Act Like It) (Yale University Press, 2018). Greenfield explores corporations’ claims to constitutional rights and the foundational conflicts about their obligations in society. He argues that a blanket opposition to corporate personhood is misguided, since it is consistent with both the purpose of corporations and the Constitution itself that corporations can claim rights at least some of the time. The solution is not to end corporate personhood but to require corporations to act more like citizens. Greenfield served as a clerk to Justice David Souter of the United States Supreme Court. A frequent media commentator, Greenfield is also the author of the book The Myth of Choice and numerous articles in leading legal journals, including the Yale Law Journal and the Virginia Law Review.
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged Boston College Law School, constitution, legal issues
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West Wingers
Boston College alumna Stephanie Valencia is a contributor to the new book, West Wingers: Stories from the Dream Chasers, Change Makers, and Hope Creators Inside the Obama White House (Penguin Books, 2018). Eighteen staffers share their personal accounts of how they made it to the White House and what they did there. Each story showcases the human face of government and offers a behind-the-scenes take on the Obama presidency. Valencia worked for Barack Obama for nearly a decade, starting as deputy Latino vote director on the 2008 campaign, and then serving on the Obama-Biden transition team before joining the White House at the start of the first term. Valencia ended her time at the White House as special assistant to the President and principal deputy director in the Office of Public Engagement. Valencia is a past recipient of BC’s Romero Scholarship and has been named to Huffington Post’s list of 40 Under 40: Latinos in American Politics.
The other Wilde trial
Eibhear Walshe, director of creative writing and senior lecturer at University College Cork, will present “The Other Wilde Trial – The Mary Travers Scandal” on Oct. 23 in Connolly House. In his novel, The Diary of Mary Travers, Walshe imagines the life of Mary Travers, a woman connected to Oscar Wilde’s parents Jane and William and a key figure in a court case in 1864 Dublin. The Diary of Mary Travers was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Novel of the Year and longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. Walshe’s talk will begin at 4 p.m. Co-sponsors: Irish Studies and Culture Ireland. More about Walshe’s book.
Rebecca Solnit
Author and activist Rebecca Solnit will discuss her collection of essays titled, The Mother of All Questions, on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. Solnit is the author of 20 books on feminism, western and indigenous history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, and hope and disaster. Some of her titles include: The Faraway Nearby (nominated for a National Book Award), River of Shadows (National Book Critics Circle Award), and Men Explain Things to Me—which inspired the word ‘mansplaining.’ Her most recent publication is Call Them by Their True Names: American Crises. She has received two NEA fellowships for literature and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is a columnist at Harper’s and frequent contributor to the Guardian newspaper. Read more about Solnit in the New York Times Style Magazine. Sponsor: Lowell Humanities Series.
Posted in Guest Authors, Lowell Humanities Series
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James Harvey Robinson Prize
BC Associate Professor of History Cynthia Lynn Lyerly and BC alumna Bethany Jay of Salem State University have won the American Historical Association’s James Harvey Robinson Prize for their co-edited book, Understanding and Teaching American Slavery (University of Wisconsin Press, 2016). The James Harvey Robinson Prize recognizes the teaching aid that has made the most outstanding contribution to the teaching and learning of history in any field for public or educational purposes. The award will be presented to the editors at a ceremony in January in Chicago. More from BC News.
Posted in Alumni Authors, Awards/Honors, Boston College Authors
Tagged American history, History Department, slavery
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Invisible
Croatian playwright and screenwriter Tena Štivičić will present “Invisible: A Conversation about Migration” on Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. in Robsham Theater in advance of the U.S. premiere of her play “Invisible” that evening at BC. “Invisible,” which explores the many sides of migration, is described as a “funny, moving and topical portrayal of the world in flux.” Štivičić has written plays in both her native Croatian and in English and is a winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her major works in English include: “Can’t Escape Sundays,” “Perceval,” “Goldoni Terminus,” and “Fireflies.” Co-sponsored by the Theater Department and the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics. Guardian review
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