Faculty and Staff Notes

"Story of the Hurricane: Government, NGOs, and the Differences in Post-Disaster Relief," was presented virtually by Assistant Professor of Economics Evan Kresch at Skidmore College in New York on April 22, 2021.

Professor of Africana Studies and Comparative American Studies Meredith M. Gadsby's chapter, "Still Eating Salt: Teaching Toni Cade Bambara for the Sake of #BlackWomensWellness and Political Transformation," was published in Rethinking Gender, Culture, and Health: Perspectives from Africa and The African Diaspora (Gouldline and Jacobs Publishing, 2020). This volume creates the space for scholars, health professionals, and development experts from three continents to engage in a vibrant discussion about the complexities of Black women's health in Africa and the African Diaspora; particularly the intersection of gender, race, class, age, culture, ethnicity and nationality. Gadsby's chapter focuses on the importance of radical self-care for Black women activists, a timely discussion as we experience international movements in defense of Black lives headed by Black women. Toni Cade Bambara's novel reminds readers of the importance of inclusive conversation about the unique emotional and wellness needs of Black women. For students, this novel is instructive in imaging feminist futures that destigmatize mental health and wellness in communities of color.  

Associate Professor of Sociology and Comparative American Studies Rick Baldoz was the featured guest on Jacobin Magazine's The Dig podcast. Baldoz sat down for a two hour interview to talk about his award-winning book, The Third Asiatic Invasion: Empire and Migration in Filipino America, 1898-1946.

Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón contributed an essay to the volume Conservative Sensibilities: The Cultural Debate over Civilization in Latin America And Spain in the 19th Century, edited by Kari Soriano Salkjelsvik (Iberoamericana Vervuert, 2021). His essay, “Aesthetics, Polemics, and God: Theological Aesthesis in the Mexican Weekly La Cruz, 1855-1858,” studies a conservative Catholic newspaper which, on the eve of the Mexican Civil War, launched a programmatic project to adapt aesthetic reflection, a form of thought associated to liberal intellectuals, to conservative and Catholic ends.

Allegra Hyde, visiting assistant professor of creative writing, presented on the Kenyon Review's panel "Art and The Moment," addressing the right to vote, creative writing, and sustainable futures. 

Danielle Terrazas Williams was selected as a 2021-2022 Distinguished Visiting Scholar for the University at Buffalo's Center of Diversity Innovation.

Karl Offen publishes book review of On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galápagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden by Elizabeth Hennessy in the Journal of Latin American Geography. 

Professor of Geology Karla Hubbard and Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Anthropology Jennifer Fraser co-authored an article about a 2018 winter term trip that was supported by the Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment and Oberlin Shansi. The article, “'Natural'” Disasters, Cultural Framings, and Resilience in Indonesia: Transdisciplinary Engagements in an Immersion Program" is published in ASIANetwork Exchange: A Journal for Asian Studies in the Liberal Arts. 

Dustin Evatt-Young, Associate Director in the Career Development Center, presented a session titled "Disrupting White Scripts in Higher Education" at the NASPA National Conference for student affairs administrators in higher education in March 2021.

Marc Blecher, James Monroe Professor of Politics and of East Asian Studies, published “The Political Economy of Working Class Re-formation” in Lowell Dittmer, ed., China's Political Economy in the Xi Jinping Epoch: Global and Domestic Dimensions, World Scientific, 2021.