 |
This series provides an opportunity for UW humanities scholars to discuss their recently published books.
Music from behind the Bridge: Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Shannon Dudley examines the rise of steelband music from a disparaged underclass pastime to a symbol of Trinidadian culture. Dudley tells the story of the steelband in the context of Afro-Trinidadian tradition, carnival, colonial authority, and nationalist politics, and connects the history of the steelband to the powerful relationship between popular culture and nationalism.
The Public Life of the Fetal Sonogram: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 In The Public Life of the Fetal Sonogram, Taylor analyzes the full sociocultural context of ultrasound technology and imagery. Drawing upon ethnographic research both within and beyond the medical setting, Taylor shows how ultrasound has entered into public consumer culture in the United States. This book offers much-needed critical awareness of the less easily recognized ways in which ultrasound technology is profoundly social and political in the United States today.
Practising Public Scholarship: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 Practising Public Scholarship collects twenty personal accounts by academics such as Terry Eagleton (English, University of Manchester), Julie Ellison (English, University of Michigan), Patricia Limerick (History, University of Colorado, Boulder), Doreen Massey (Geography, Open University, UK), and Howard Zinn (Professor Emeritus, Boston University), together with the reflections of engaged scholars from the University of Washington, including Katherine Beckett (Sociology), David Domke (Communication), and Stephen Bezruchka (Public Affairs). These accounts take form as intellectual biographies, field notes, confessions, and open letters. Edited by Katharyne Mitchell (Geography), this book emerged from her work as Simpson Professor of the Public Humanities from 2004 to 2007.
Academic Child Thursday, January 15, 2009 Hazard Adams’ most recent book, Academic Child, tells the story of his experiences with and in academia, describing a life-long professional career in education and academics. The memoir traces Adams’ boyhood education, his service in the Marine Corps, and his career at Princeton and the University of Washington. Adams also comments on his experiences researching and teaching in Ireland, his work in the founding faculty at the University of California’s Irvine campus, and his experiences under the first endowed professorship in the humanities at the UW. Reaching beyond Adams’ formal academic career as student and teacher, the memoir also voyages into memories of family, teachers, acquaintances, and anecdotes, occasionally punctuated with critical comments on the current state of higher education and the academic experience.
Writing Okinawa: February 3, 2009 Writing Okinawa: Narrative Acts of Identity and Resistance is the first comprehensive English-language study of Okinawan fiction, from its emergence in the early twentieth century through its most recent permutations. During this period the island experienced imperial subjectification, wartime annihilation, a protracted American occupation, and reversion to Japan. The book provides readings of major authors and texts set against the region’s political and social history. It also engages with current critical perspectives on subaltern identity, colonialism, and post-colonialism, as well as the nature of regional, minority, and minor literatures. The book argues that by consciously exploiting—to good effect—the overlap between regional and minority literature, Okinawa’s writers have produced a rich body of work, much of which challenges the notion of a unified nation arising from a single language and culture.
Natural Beauty: Wednesday, April 8, 2009 A philosophical account of the principles involved in making aesthetic judgments about natural objects, Natural Beauty: A Theory of Aesthetics Beyond the Arts makes an important contribution to the literature on environmental aesthetics. Ronald Moore borrows from historical and modern accounts of natural beauty to evolve a syncretic theory of aesthetic experience as that which sustains and rewards attention. Moore's theory distinguishes itself from the purely cognitive and purely emotive approaches that have dominated natural aesthetics until now, showing why aesthetic appreciation of art and aesthetic appreciation of nature can be mutually reinforcing and cooperative enterprises. Moore also makes a compelling case for how and why the experience of natural beauty can contribute to the larger project of living a good life.
The Modern Girl Around the World: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 During the 1920s and 1930s, in cities from Beijing to Bombay, Tokyo to Berlin, Johannesburg to New York, the Modern Girl made her sometimes flashy, always fashionable appearance in city streets and cafes, in films, advertisements, and illustrated magazines. Dressed in provocative attire and in hot pursuit of romantic love, Modern Girls seemed to flout the prescribed roles of dutiful daughter, wife, and mother. Contemporaries debated whether the Modern Girl was looking for sexual, economic, or political emancipation, or whether she was little more than an image, the hollow product of a new global commodity culture. This book, edited by The Modern Girl Around the World Research Group at the University of Washington, tracks the Modern Girl as she emerged in the interwar period as a global phenomenon. Sponsored by the Simpson Center for the Humanities from 2001-2004, the comparative and collaborative interdisciplinary research and teaching of this group developed new archives and methods, rewriting histories of gender formation and globalization.
Struggles of Voice: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Over the last two decades, indigenous populations in Latin America have achieved a remarkable level of visibility and political effectiveness, particularly in Ecuador and Bolivia. In Struggles of Voice, José Antonio Lucero examines these two outstanding examples in order to understand their different patterns of indigenous mobilization and to reformulate the theoretical model by which we link political representation to social change. Building on extensive fieldwork, Lucero considers Ecuador’s united indigenous movement and compares it to the more fragmented situation in Bolivia. He analyzes the mechanisms at work in political and social structures to explain the different outcomes in each case. Lucero assesses the intricacies of the many indigenous organizations and the influence of various NGOs to uncover how the conflicts within social movements, the shifting nature of indigenous identities, and the politics of transnationalism all contribute to the success or failure of political mobilization. |
Shannon Dudley (Ethnomusicology)
Janelle Taylor (Anthropology)
Katharyne Mitchell (Geography)
Hazard Adams (Emeritus, Comparative Literature)
Davinder Bhowmik (Asian Languages & Literature)
 |
 |
|
© 2009 Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities | Phone: 206-543-3920 | |
Mailing List Contact Us Site Map Support the Center | |
 |
Undergraduate Courses