Faculty and Staff Notes

Professor of Chinese and Cinema Studies Hsiu-Chuang Deppman published a new book, Close-ups and Long Shots in Modern Chinese Cinemas (University of Hawaii Press). Two of the most stylized shots in cinema—the close-up and the long shot—embody distinct attractions. The iconicity of the close-up magnifies the affective power of faces and elevates film to the discourse of art. The depth of the long shot, in contrast, indexes the facts of life and reinforces our faith in reality. Each configures the relation between image and distance that expands the viewer’s power to see, feel, and conceive. 

On October 23, 2020, Jennifer Fraser presented a paper titled “Teaching as Scholarship or, How My Students Have Made Me a Better Ethnomusicologist,” as part of a panel, “Ethnomusicology as a Liberal Art: Pedagogy, Disciplinarity, and Institutionalization at the Educational Crossroads” at the annual Society for Ethnomusicology conference. Fellow panelists included Jeffers Engelhardt at Amherst College, Morgan Luker at Reed College, and Whitney Slaten at Bard College. Several Oberlin alumni participated as part of the audience, including Alicia Lola Jones, faculty at Indiana University and Christian James, graduate student, at Indiana University. 

Kara Leaman was a guest speaker on an episode of The Washington Ballet’s Barre Talk, a virtual public interview series. She spoke on her research on George Balanchine’s ballets. 

Kristina Mani was quoted in a Vox story on the Chilean plebiscite. Mani was also interviewed and quoted in another article about the militarized response to the pandemic in Latin America. 

Bridget Flynn presented at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE’s) virtual Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education. Flynn was joined by colleagues from UPenn, Trust, and AASHE for the session "Catalyzing Sustainable Communities through Change Management."

Assistant professor Chanda Feldman published two poems, "It was the middle of February" and "That was the end of summer” in The Gettysburg Review, Volume 33/ Number 1.  

Associate Director of the Career Development Center Dustin Evatt-Young awarded the Alice P. Naylor Outstanding Dissertation Award by Appalachian State University. His dissertation titled "White Scripts in Higher Education: White Administrators Navigating Racial Equity and Inclusion Efforts" examines how whiteness manifests in the various behaviors, interactions, and decisions of white higher education administrators. 

Assistant Professor of Politics Jenny Garcia was interviewed and quoted in a PBS NewsHour article.

Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón recently published his short story, "The Primary Substance", in World Literature Today (Autumn 2020).

Professor of Philosophy Todd Ganson published “An Alternative to the Causal Theory of Perception” in Australasian Journal of Philosophy.