Faculty and Staff Notes

Public Books and Dr. Marlene Daut commissioned Yveline Alexis to write an essay, which she named, "Tracing Women: Haitian and Black Cuban Women Archivists." The work explores themes between Drs. Grace Sanders Johnson and Takkara K. Brunson's books about feminism, black political organizing, and our multilingual archives.

Professor Ghassan Abou-Zeineddine recently attended the Arab American Book Awards ceremony at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, on Saturday, November 11, where he received the 2023 Evelyn Shakir Creative Nonfiction Award for his coedited anthology Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging. Hadha Baladuna explores the diverse range of the Arab diaspora in the Detroit metro area.

Jackie Zubin was awarded the Dorothy Brickman Award for Outstanding New Professional last week at the NAFSA Association of International Educators Region VI conference in Lexington, KY. This award is presented to an outstanding individual who has made significant contributions to their campus, regional organization, and the field of international education.

Cinema Studies Lecturer Joey Rizzolo can be heard as the narrator of the current season of Night Vale Presents' immersive fiction podcast, "Within the Wires." All episodes are free to download at Night Vale's website, or wherever you get podcasts.

Associate Professor of Art History Matthew Rarey has been named a finalist for the 2024 Charles Rufus Morey Book Award from the College Art Association. Rarey's book Insignificant Things: Amulets and the Art of Survival in the Early Black Atlantic is one of five finalists for the prize, which will be announced in January. The award honors "an especially distinguished book in the history of art, published in the English language," and is among the highest recognitions for scholarship in art history.

Associate Professor of Percussion Ross Karre performed with his group, the International Contemporary Ensemble at the Kaufman Center's Merkin Concert Hall in NYC on November 1 in a concert curated by Oberlin honorary doctorate, George Lewis. Lewis commenced his newest curatorial series, "Composing While Black Volume 1," with a program of premieres by Courtney Bryan ’04 and Adegoke Steve Colson as well as works by Wendall Logan (creator of Oberlin's Jazz Department) and Brittany J. Green. Bryan's artistry has been celebrated by a recent MacArthur Award. Her piece was commissioned by Oberlin locals and Kendal Residents, Arlene and Larry Dunn.

Yveline Alexis was the keynote speaker on the origins of Haitian Vodou(n) at the Fet Gedé, Haiti Group in the United Kingdom. The talk combined history with live performances by acclaimed percussionist Ted Beaubrun.

Professor of Religion Cindy Chapman published “The Field Belonging to Boaz: Creating Kinship through Land, Labor, Food, and Feeding” in the Journal of Biblical Literature 142/3 (2023): 431-450.

The Korean edition of Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager's book, Narratives of Nation-Building in Korea: A Genealogy of Patriotism (M.E. Sharpe, 2003; Routledge, 2016), was published by Namu Yonpil publishers in October 2023.

Professor Ron Cheung, chair of the Department of Economics, was interviewed for an article on rising and declining cities that appeared on FinanceBuzz, a site that provides news on finance topics. Cheung teaches and conducts research in public finance and urban economics, and also teaches a seminar on the economics of housing and real estate.