Faculty and Staff Notes

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Allegra Hyde published her third book, the speculative story collection The Last Catastrophe. Comprised of fourteen short stories and a novella, the collection imagines vegan zombies, a herd of RVs, a finishing school in space, and more, to speak to futures rife with disaster. Booklist noted in a starred review that THE LAST CATASTROPHE exposes "the absurdities of trying to survive in a world increasingly warped by climate change, hunger, and capitalist priorities." The Chicago Review of Books called the collection both "funny" and "remarkably hopeful" despite its subject matter.

Read interviews with Hyde about The Last Catastrophe at Electric Literature, Shondaland, The Creative Independent, and also listen to podcasts from the Ohio Center for the Book, Keen on, Austin Liti Limits, among other venues. To read about and listen to a playlist inspired by the collection, check out Largehearted Boy.

Associate Professor Cynthia Taylor was a panelist for Meeting of the Minds: Inclusive Pedagogy, a panel on Peer Instruction organized by The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT).

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow/Visiting Assistant Professor in Cinema Studies Jennifer Blaylock recently won the Media Industries Special Interest Group of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Best Article Award for her article "The Mother, the Mistress, and the Cover Girls: Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and the Coloniality of Gender." The article highlights the pivotal role of Oberlin alum and first director of Ghana Television, Shirley Graham Du Bois, in the formation of the Ghana Television in the 1960s.

CIO Marcel Mutsindashyaka was recognized by CDO Magazine as one of its "Under 40 Security Leaders 2023." This recognizes the world’s most influential and successful cybersecurity leaders under the age of 40 and honors their efforts to protect data — an organization's most valuable asset — and positions them as role models for others pursuing similar careers or considering joining the field.

Professor Emeritus of Religion Margaret Kamitsuka was a panelist at the "Religion and Reproductive Politics" event at the Martin Marty Center, University of Chicago Divinity School, April 20-21. This two-day collaborative conference brought together scholars, creatives, journalists, organizers, policy-makers, and religious leaders to discuss the relationship of religion to the politics of human reproduction.

Associate Professor of Art History Matthew Rarey's first book, Insignificant Things: Amulets and the Art of Survival in the Early Black Atlantic, has been published by Duke University Press. The book traces the history of African-associated amulets carried as tools of survival in the Black Atlantic world between the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Rarey argues that these visually benign objects demand new ways of writing the histories of art and Atlantic slavery.

Yveline Alexis was part of the National Council on Public History's conference opening plenary where she spoke about “Considering the [US American] Revolution: The Rhetoric of Freedom" in Atlanta, GA.

Piano professor Peter Takács and violin professor Sibbi Bernhardsson have released a recording, Schubert: Three Sonatas for Piano and Violin, Op. 137, on the Leaf Music label—their first collaboration together. Recorded in the May 2020 in Oberlin Conservatory's Clonick Hall, these sonatas are some of Schubert’s most lively yet least-known compositions. This recording is a digital-only release and available online at Leaf Music, Apple Music, and in a lossless audio format on TIDAL Music.

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Allegra Hyde's debut novel ELEUTHERIA was longlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature Anna Levett published an essay, "Can Art Save Your Life?: On Revolution, Political Prisoners, Climate Activism, and Pink Floyd," in the Los Angeles Review of Books. The essay was inspired by discussions with Professor Levett's students in her CMPL 237 course, "Art of Revolution," as well as by Bakunin's Barricade, an installation by the Kurdish-Turkish artist Ahmet Öğüt that made its North American Premiere at Oberlin's Allen Memorial Art Museum last fall.