News articles featuring Center for the Ideas and Society events, programs, and projects.

Director’s Musings

By Jeanette Kohl Dear colleagues and friends of the CIS, As we all find ourselves in the midst of the fall quarter already, I write to you with some updates and good news from the Center. I am happy to announce three new initiatives in the Being Human event stream, all of which are part of our efforts to create a robust cross-disciplinary discussion platform, emphasize the role of the Arts and Humanities in our university, and increase international exchange. Thanks to the continued [...]

2023-10-24T16:58:31-07:00October 24, 2023|Categories: Director's Corner, News|Tags: |

Director’s update: October 2023

By Dylan Rodríguez Dear UCR colleagues, students, and staff, It is an honor to begin my third year as Co-Director of the Center for Ideas and Society. I am excited about the Fall 2023 schedule of events for the Decolonizing Humanism(?) programming stream, including a lecture and performance by globally renowned scholar, lawyer, and activist Dr. Ana Flauzina (UCR Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, 2021-2023) on October 30-31 (in person) and “On Violence: Fall 2023 Experimental Study Sequence” (online). Clickable link to participate in the “On [...]

2023-10-23T09:20:22-07:00October 23, 2023|Categories: Director's Corner, Dylan Rodríguez, News|Tags: |

2023-24 Conferences & Symposia Awards

The Center is pleased to announce the following 2023-24 Conferences & Symposia award winners: A Panoply of Colors, A World of Materials: Global Connections of Early Modern Dyes Spring 2024 Yong Cho (History of Art), Jody Benjamin (History), Savannah Esquivel (History of Art), Fatima Quraishi (History of Art) This UCR conference will bring together a leading group of scholars studying dyes and related materials to shed light upon the vast and entangled networks that constituted a global world of colors. While this conference [...]

2023-07-05T13:49:11-07:00July 5, 2023|Categories: News|

2023-24 UC Humanities Research Institute Award Winners

Congratulations to the following UCR faculty and students for being awarded a UCHRI grant! ✪ Multi-Campus Graduate Student Working Group Daisy Herrera (History) - Refusing to be Refugees: Mapping Sites of Chicanx/Latinx Defiance and Activism in California ✪ Conference Grant Anusha Kedhar (Dance) - Embodying Caste, Re-casteing the Body ✪ UC Underrepresented Scholars Fellowship Elyse Ambrose (Religious Studies and Black Study) Courtney Baker (English) Jasmin Young (Ethnic Studies) ✪ Dissertation Support Grant Samarth Singhal (English) - Artistic Agency in the Contemporary Indian Anglophone Picturebook

2023-06-01T10:46:28-07:00May 31, 2023|Categories: News|

Director’s update: February 2023

By Dylan Rodríguez It continues to be a privilege and pleasure to participate in shaping the work of the Center for Ideas and Society. I trust that this brief correspondence will help encourage you to attend, participate in, and organize activities that reflect the experimental, inter/trans/counter/anti-disciplinary, creative character of the Center. As always, please feel free to reach out to me if you have ideas or questions: dylanrodriguez73.CIS@gmail.com Success! AFD Grant update I'm happy to report that the Faculty Commons Project will continue to [...]

2023-02-06T09:18:25-08:00February 6, 2023|Categories: Director's Corner, Dylan Rodríguez, News|Tags: |

Postcard from Hamburg

Dear colleagues and friends of the CIS, I hope you have all had a good start into the new academic year! My CIS letter today comes from Germany, where I am in residency at the Institute for Advanced Study in Hamburg (HIAS) until June 2023. It is a trip down memory lane for me. My mother and her family are from Hamburg, and as a child I spent many summers here and on the beaches of the nearby North Sea. I thought I’d share [...]

2022-10-27T11:03:41-07:00October 27, 2022|Categories: Director's Corner, News|Tags: |

A year of collective work

Colleagues, it has been a privilege to serve as Co-Director of the Center this year. I have taken special joy in the numerous collaborations reflected in the collective work of the Decolonizing Humanism(?) programming stream, which I proudly initiated in Fall 2021. As the nationwide attacks against Critical Race Theory continue to saturate the politics and institutional culture of K-12 schooling, it has also been distressing to observe how overlapping and related forms of intellectual reaction and academic repression have crept into public university [...]

2022-06-07T13:05:03-07:00June 7, 2022|Categories: Director's Corner, News|Tags: |

A year of changes and opportunities

Dear colleagues and friends, At last, summer is around the corner – after what felt like an unusually long and demanding academic year. We did get a lot done at the Center for Ideas and Society, with the revamping of our internal structure, two new event streams designed by Dylan and me with Katharine’s input, and a variety of activities on zoom and in person, most notably perhaps our two impromptu zoom events at the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, attended by a [...]

2022-06-07T13:04:27-07:00June 7, 2022|Categories: Director's Corner, News|Tags: |

CIS Advisory Committee Statement

We the members of the Advisory Committee for UC Riverside’s Center for Ideas and Society learned with grave disappointment that the university will not preserve College Building South, which has been the Center’s home for nearly a decade. This historic structure, built in 1916 as a residence for the Director of the Citrus Experiment Station, offers a retreat-like setting for research and writing. We are distressed that the Center which serves as a center of gravity for faculty research, intellectual community and retention efforts [...]

2022-04-23T14:00:32-07:00April 23, 2022|Categories: News|

War in Europe

by Jeanette Kohl, Center for Ideas and Society Co-Director In the summer of 2011, I wrote an article on Vladimir Putin for the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.  Dmitry Medvedev was still president of Russia, with Putin, then prime minister, eagerly waiting in the wings. His aspirations to take over power in the world’s largest country were unmistakable. In my article, I looked at the ways in which Putin made use of historical image types of military prowess, sexualized male power, and the Machiavellian [...]

2022-02-28T09:21:07-08:00February 28, 2022|Categories: Director's Corner, News|Tags: |

From the Directors

Dear CHASS community, colleagues, friends: It would have been nice to start our “monthly musings” from the Center for Ideas and Society with a heartfelt “Welcome back to campus after the holiday break!” As things stand, we might have to wait a while before we can all meet, teach, and talk in person again. In the meantime, we all the Center for Ideas and Society do wish you a happy, healthy, and productive year 2022, looking forward to many new and stimulating collaborations! Dylan, [...]

2023-05-25T12:57:51-07:00January 12, 2022|Categories: News|Tags: , |

Welcome to the new Co-Directors: Jeanette Kohl and Dylan Rodríguez

The Center for Ideas and Society is pleased to announce that Jeanette Kohl (History of Art) and Dylan Rodríguez (Media & Cultural Studies) have been appointed as co-directors. This innovative and ground-breaking partnership will draw on their combined visions, strengths and experiences to develop new projects and opportunities for the UC Riverside campus. Special thanks to interim Dean Juliet McMullin, Dean Daryle Williams, and all the faculty, students and staff who contributed to the search. Dylan Rodríguez: "To embrace the privilege of this co-directorship [...]

2022-01-14T08:26:58-08:00September 27, 2021|Categories: Dylan Rodríguez, News|

UC Humanities Research Institute Award Winners for 2021-22 | Part 2

Congratulations to the following UCR faculty and students for being awarded a UCHRI grant for the year 2021-22! Brittany Carlson, English, UC Riverside (Re)mediating Math Anxieties with The Narrative, the Ephemeral, and the Visual, 1830-1930 ✪ Graduate Student Dissertation Support Grant Jorge Leal, History, UC Riverside The Discursive Power of Rock en español and the Desire for Democracy ✪ Podcast Support Grants María del Rosario Acosta López, Hispanic Studies, UC Riverside On the (In)audible in Art: Tracing the Sound of lo inaudito in Latin American [...]

2021-05-27T16:40:17-07:00May 27, 2021|Categories: News|

In Focus: Melina Packer

Melina Packer Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in Gender & Sexuality Studies (2020-2022) Faculty Mentor: Jade Sasser Top three texts I would take to a desert island: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Mating by Norman Rush Favorite Activity: Hiking with my dog Something people might be amazed to know about me: I am deathly afraid of swimming. A ‘famous’ scholar I would love to meet: Michelle Murphy Theme song: “I Want to Break Free” - Queen URL [...]

2021-05-12T08:32:56-07:00May 10, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Claudia Holguín Mendoza

Claudia Holguín Mendoza Department: Hispanic Studies Rank: Assistant Professor # of years at UCR: 2.5 years Top three texts I would take to a desert island: “Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico: Photographs,” “The Tao Te Ching,” and “The Dispossessed” by Ursula Le Guin. Favorite things to do: Hiking and gardening. Something people might be amazed to know about me: I can cook very tasty food. An “adventure” I am looking forward to, post-pandemic… Traveling! Theme songs: Betty Davis as an inspiration. Learn more about Claudia's work [...]

2021-04-14T08:22:05-07:00April 13, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: |

UC Humanities Research Institute Award Winners for 2021-22

Congratulations to the following UCR faculty and students for being awarded a UCHRI grant for the year 2021-22! Melissa Wilcox, Religious Studies, UC Riverside Queer and Trans Studies in Religion in the 2020s: Defining the State of the Field ✪ Conference Grants Jacqueline Shea Murphy, Dance, UC Riverside ICR Pachappa: Navigating Place ✪ Conference Grants María Regina Firmina-Castillo, Dance, UC Riverside ICR Pachappa: Navigating Place ✪ Conference Grants Grecia Perez, Anthropology, UC Riverside California Economies Collective ✪ Multicampus Graduate Student Working Groups

2021-03-31T13:53:31-07:00March 31, 2021|Categories: News|

In Focus: David Lo

David Lo Advisory Committee Member, Center for Ideas and Society Department: Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine Rank: Distinguished Professor, and Senior Associate Dean of Research # of years at UCR: 14 Top three texts I would take to a desert island: The Eighth Day of Creation, Horace Freeland Judson. (it’s a history of modern molecular biology); Joy of Cooking, Rombauer, Becker (enough said); A History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell (it’s fun for triggering internal arguments with the book) Favorite thing(s): Anything SciFi/ComicCon, and [...]

2021-02-23T13:37:57-08:00February 22, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Worku Nida

Worku Nida Developing African Studies Initiative Participant Department: Anthropology Rank: Assistant Teaching Professor of Anthropology # of years at UCR: This is my 5th year. Top three texts I would take to a desert island: 1) Mediocre, by Ijeoma Oluo, which I am reading now; 2) A Promised Land, by Barack Obama, 3) WE WANT TO DO MORE THAN SURVIVE, by Bettina Love. Favorite activities: Tennis in sport, music (Ethio-jazz, various ethnic music), love museums and open-markets, walking, kitfo (Ethiopian dish) Something people might [...]

2021-02-17T15:59:37-08:00February 17, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Bella Merlin

Bella Merlin Advisory Committee Member, Center for Ideas and Society Department: Theatre Film and Digital Production Rank: Professor # of years at UCR: 7 Top three texts I would take to a desert island: The Complete Works of Shakespeare (because I haven't read them all yet); The Toe-Rags by Daphne Anderson (a poignant memoir of growing up in Southern Rhodesia by my husband Miles's mother); The God on the Hill: Temple Poems from Tirupat by the fifteenth-century saint Annamayya (these poems wring my heart every time). Favorite things with favorite beings: Walking with my husband, [...]

2021-02-04T10:09:39-08:00February 1, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Thomas Cogswell

Thomas Cogswell Department: History Rank: Distinguished Professor # of years at UCR: 21 Top three texts I would take to a desert island: Robert Caro's volumes on Lyndon Johnson, Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, and Melvin Bragg's podcast In Our Time. Favorite foods: A toss up. A nice Mysore Masala Dosa or Korean Tofu Hotpot. Something people might be amazed to know about me …. I love exploring cities, one neighborhood at a time. An “adventure” I am looking forward to: Returning to the Hoover Wilderness in [...]

2021-01-27T13:35:54-08:00January 26, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Sherryl Vint

Sherryl Vint Department: English/Media and Cultural Studies Rank: Professor # of years at UCR: 8 Top three texts I would take to a desert island: There is no way I could pick just three. It would depend on the day and the project and so would always change. Favorite entertainment: I love films, not just sf films, but films of many genres, periods, and countries. An “adventure” I am looking forward to, post-pandemic…I’d like to say travel, and certainly I love to visit ruins [...]

2021-01-26T16:37:38-08:00January 20, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Eric Schwitzgebel

Eric Schwitzgebel Department: Philosophy Rank: Professor # of years at UCR: 23 (~44% of my life) Top three texts I would take to a desert island: The collected Borges, Montaigne, and Zhuangzi. See my Five Books interview on the philosophers of wonder! Favorite activity: Long walks in beautiful places. Or maybe, during a lecture, the well-crafted pause -- that silent moment when the attention of the audience slowly gathers. Something people might be amazed to know about me: I doubt that anything about me would [...]

2021-01-13T09:10:14-08:00January 11, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: |

2020 Emory Elliott Award Winner

Victoria Reyes' book Global Borderlands: Fantasy, Violence and Empire in Subic Bay, Philippines is the winner of the 2020 Emory Elliott Award. For more information about her work, we are sharing an updated version of her 2019 interview in our In Focus series. A big congratulations to Victoria! *** In Focus Victoria Reyes Participant, Mellon Advancing Intercultural Studies, Contested Histories Seminar Department: Sociology Rank: Assistant Professor # of years at UCR: Entering 4th year at UCR but 3rd year on campus because during my first year [...]

2021-01-06T10:31:12-08:00January 11, 2021|Categories: News|

In Focus: Crystal Baik

Crystal Baik Mellon Second Project Fellow Department: Gender and Sexuality Studies Rank: Associate Professor (first year as a tenured professor) # of years at UCR: this is my 7th year at UCR Top three texts I would take to a desert island: Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider; Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart; Lisa Yoneyama, Hiroshima Traces. Favorite activity: Since the pandemic, I’ve taken up birding and 풍물 (poongmul/Korean drumming). Something people might be amazed to know about me: I’m an identical twin and my partner is [...]

2021-01-06T10:35:58-08:00January 5, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Padma Rangarajan

Padma Rangarajan Mellon Humanities Fellow Department: English Rank: Associate Professor # of years at UCR: 3 Top three texts I would take to a desert island: The Mahabaratha, A Time of Gifts, David Copperfield. Favorite shows to stream: Sci-fi shows from the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. I love Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, all that stuff. Something people might be amazed to know about me: My father pierced my nose. It took him three tries. An “adventure” I am looking forward to, post-pandemic: Hugs. All [...]

2020-12-22T12:29:45-08:00December 16, 2020|Categories: News|Tags: |

UC Humanities Research Institute Award Winners for 2020-21

A banner year for UCR in awards from the UC Humanities Research Institute! UCR students and faculty won 10 awards including two of the most competitive awards in the system: the President’s Faculty Research Fellowship, won by Gloria Kim (Media and Cultural Studies), and the White Graduate Student Scholarship in Medicine & Humanities won by Jared Smith (Philosophy). Kudos to all applicants and this year’s awardees! ✪ Multicampus Graduate Student Working Group XIX to XXI: Bringing Spanish language in California to the forefront Álvaro Gonzelz [...]

2020-06-24T14:13:30-07:00June 17, 2020|Categories: News|

Congratulations to the following Center for Ideas & Society award winners!

Conference Awards ¡Que Viva Mexico! – Transnational Film and Audiovisual Art Paulo Chagas (Music) Nikolay Maslov (Culver Center of the Arts) Co-Productions: Literature, Media and Diaspora in the Japanese Transpacific Anne McKnight (Comparative Literature) John Kim (Comparative Literature) Setsu Shigematsu (Media & Cultural Studies) Traise Yamamoto (English) Catherine Gudis (History) (Re)Draft Manuscript Revision Workshops Undocumented Desires: Fantasies of Latino Male Sexuality Richard Rodriguez (Media & Cultural Studies) The 'Falls' of Rome: Transformations of the City in Late Antiquity (270-603 CE) Michele Salzman (History) Interdisciplinary [...]

2020-04-28T09:57:17-07:00April 21, 2020|Categories: News|

Success! Book manuscript workshop hosted online

The Faculty Commons Latinx & Latin American Studies Workgroup recently hosted an online book manuscript workshop for Xóchitl Chavez (Music), who found the virtual workshop to be very helpful. “I'm sure it would have been nice to share a meal to build further collegial ties,” she said, “but otherwise what is essential at this point is the content from the workshop.” All the participants in the two-hour Zoom session agreed, calling the workshop a “success” and a “great template” for future virtual meetings. For [...]

2020-03-26T10:05:58-07:00March 26, 2020|Categories: News|

Intellectual community just got an upgrade

Dear colleagues, In these stressful times, the work of building community is more important than ever. We’re re-designing our book talks, panel discussions, and reading groups so that you can join in online – where ever you are. As we develop our plans, we would love to hear your ideas for meetings, events or programs that help keep us all in engaged and moving forward. Email us at CISevents@ucr.edu. Check back soon for more details!

2020-03-18T10:08:57-07:00March 18, 2020|Categories: News|

In Focus: Matthew King

Matthew King Mellon Humanities Fellow Department: Religious Studies Rank: Associate Professor # of years at UCR: 5 years Top three texts I would take to a desert island: Sakya Paṇḍita Sakya Lekshé, Annie Dillard Teaching a Stone to Talk, Michel de Certeau Heterologies. Favorite thing: a guitar and Anstruther Lake in my Canadian homeland of Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park. Favorite films: Three documentaries that I have seen in recent years that I regularly bring to my students—all imperfect portraits but which tend to leave [...]

2020-12-16T11:09:39-08:00December 2, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Marissa Brookes

Marissa Brookes Mellon Humanities Fellow Department: Political Science Rank: Assistant Professor # of years at UCR: I am in my 7th year now. Top three texts I would take to a desert island: Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation; Theda Skocpol’s States and Social Revolutions; Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States Currently listening to: Dillinger Four, Naked Raygun, Danny Brown, Malibu Ken A favorite record I encourage students to listen to is: Propagandhi’s 1993 How to Clean Everything. It’s a political punk classic. Website: [...]

2019-12-02T15:14:23-08:00November 18, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Jody Benjamin

Jody Benjamin Participant, Committee on African Studies Department: History Rank: Assistant Professor Educational background: Ph.D. in African and African American Studies with a concentration in African History, Harvard University, 2016 # of years at UCR: Four Top three texts I would take to a desert island: The best collection of photographs I could find; The Fortunes of Wangrin by Ahmadou Hampate Ba. The Source of Self-Regard by Toni Morrison. Favorite things: music: afrobeat, hip hop, bebop, jazz, reggae; places: libraries, museums, big cities (Dakar, Lagos, New York [...]

2019-10-21T09:15:29-07:00October 10, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Victoria Reyes

Victoria Reyes Participant, Mellon Advancing Intercultural Studies, Contested Histories Seminar Department: Sociology Rank: Assistant Professor # of years at UCR: Entering 4th year at UCR but 3rd year on campus because during my first year I was on leave for a Postdoc at University of Michigan Top three texts I would take to a desert island: This is a difficult one…I’d say I would take my phone and internet connection Favorite thing: Philippine brand dried mangoes Website: www.victoriadreyes.com Q. Your research agenda [...]

2019-10-21T09:15:42-07:00September 4, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Juliet McMullin

Juliet McMullin Convener, Inequities in Health, Faculty Commons Project Juliet's Stats: Department: Anthropology Rank: Professor Years at UCR: 14 Favorite Thing: Chocolate. It is such a favorite thing that I host bi-annual chocolate parties. Book I'm reading right now: Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot. Personal Website: www.julietmcmullin.com Comic of Juliet's visit to the 2018 Asian American History graduate seminar at UCLA by Angel's Talitha Trazo. Q. Your research agenda summed up in one sentence: My research agenda is designed to examine the production of inequality [...]

2021-01-07T15:26:41-08:00July 8, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

UCHRI Award Winners

Congratulations to the following UCR faculty and students for being awarded a UCHRI grant for the year 2019-20! Alisa Bierria, Ethnic Studies Feminist Anti-Carceral Research Initiative ✪ Engaging Humanities Grant Michelle Dizon, Media and Cultural Studies Fugitive Archives ✪ Engaging Humanities Grant Dana Simmons, History Humanities Careers in Science History, Policy, and Communication (H-SCHIP) ✪ Grad Professionalization Workshop Grant Samuel Fullerton, History Sex and the English Revolution ✪ Dissertation Award Chelsea Silva, English Bedwritten: Middle English Medicine and the Ailing Author ✪ Dissertation Award [...]

2019-06-26T08:55:06-07:00June 25, 2019|Categories: News|

Thank you for another great year!

On behalf of everyone at the Center, we want to thank you for your continued participation and support! In addition to celebrating the Center's 30th Anniversary, we’re celebrating another successful year of humanities-oriented programs at UCR. Over the last academic year, Center-sponsored events reached over 800 people through... More than 15 conferences & workshops Over 20 community events 12 faculty-led projects hosting over 50 guest speakers 11 faculty book talks including Emory Elliott Award winner: Close Encounters with Humankind by Sang-Hee Lee 27 graduate [...]

2019-06-19T10:40:40-07:00June 19, 2019|Categories: News|

In Focus: Amanda Lucia

Amanda Lucia Second Project Fellow, Center for Ideas and Society Department: Religious Studies Rank: Associate Professor Years at UCR: 7 Favorite Thing: Building my secret garden. Top texts for a desert island: Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction; Max Weber, Economy and Society (Vols. I & II); Giles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus [Chosen not on the pretense of presenting myself as smart, but rather because these are texts that I can read and reread, again and again, and still always seem to find something new and interesting bit to “think with.” [...]

2021-01-07T15:26:50-08:00June 3, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Matthew Mahutga

Matthew Mahutga Co-Lead, 2018-19 Political Economy Seminars and the Globalization, Populism and the International Order Symposium Department: Sociology Rank: Associate Professor Years at UCR: 10+ Favorite thing: My favorite past-time is just about anything on the Central California coast. Fishing, hiking, food and wine are right at the top! Text I would take to a desert island: How to Survive a Desert Island by Tim O'Shei (Capstone Press, 2019). Hiking with friend Mark Martinez at Montaña de Oro State Park. [...]

2021-01-07T15:27:00-08:00June 3, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Anthony Jerry

Anthony Jerry Convener, Blackness Unbound, Faculty Commons Project Anthony's Stats Department: Anthropology Rank: Assistant Professor Years at UCR: 3 Project website: culturalmediaarchive.org         Q.  Summarize your research in one sentence:  My work seeks to highlight the ways that blackness has historically been conceived of as the means of production and the ways that this conception continues to inform the possibilities of experiences and expressions of contemporary blackness in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest. Q. How does your work add to current conversations in the [...]

2021-01-07T15:27:12-08:00May 28, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

UCHRI Grant Award Winners

Congratulations to the following UCR faculty for being awarded a UCHRI grant for the year 2019-20! Ademide Adelusi-Adeluyi Department of History Imagine Lagos: Speculative Cartography and the Making of a 19th Century African City ✪ Junior Faculty Manuscript Workshop --- Alejandra Dubcovsky Department of History At the Frontlines of a Forgotten War: Violence, Gender, and Conflict in the Early South ✪ Mid-Career Faculty Manuscript Workshops --- Dana Simmons Department of History Hungry, Thinking with Animals ✪ Mid-Career Faculty Manuscript Workshops --- Erith Jaffe-Berg Department [...]

2019-05-08T08:26:59-07:00April 30, 2019|Categories: News|

In Focus: Farah Godrej

Farah Godrej Senior Fellow, Center for Ideas and Society, 2017-2020 Department: Political Science Rank: Associate Professor Years at UCR: 12 Favorite places:  Walking the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena, or strolling the coast along the Pacific Ocean.  Staring at nature, whether in the form of plants, trees, fauna, or water, is a crucially rejuvenating practice. Top three texts I would take to a desert island: * A “wisdom” text:  The Bhagavad-Gita, the self-inquiry manual I turn to again and again. * An “intellectual” text: Karl Marx’s [...]

2021-01-07T15:27:22-08:00April 30, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

2019-20 Mellon Humanities Fellows

Introducing the 2019-20 Mellon Humanities Fellows at the Center for Ideas and Society. Please join us in congratulating our colleagues who have received a year-long residency fellowship at the Center. David Biggs Over the next year, I will conduct a study of base-periphery shorelines in the Pacific (California, Guam, and Vietnam then continuing to sites in the Philippines, Okinawa, Hawai’i, and several atolls) with historical attention focused on the people—scientists, troops, families, refugees, laborers—and non-human life forms that circulated between them. This site-based focus will allow [...]

2021-01-07T15:27:39-08:00April 21, 2019|Categories: News|

Call for Graduate Fellows: Global 19th Century 2019-20 Workshops

The Global Nineteenth-Century Working Group at the Center for Ideas and Society invites applications for Graduate Student Fellows in 2019-20. The Fellowship includes participation in two events: 1) A one-day, interdisciplinary workshop, loosely organized around the sub-themes of “Architectures,” “Devotional Practices” and “Empires” in the long nineteenth century, to take place on Friday, September 27, 2019. At this event, three local and three invited faculty will share works-in-progress. Graduate fellows will read these works in advance and participate fully in the discussions, lunch, [...]

2019-04-30T08:24:40-07:00April 18, 2019|Categories: News|

Lalami wins leading literary prize

Laila Lalami, a creative writing professor and author of several books, is the winner of the 2019 Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize. She was one of five finalists announced last month, selected from authors nominated by publishers, critics, agents, authors, and other author representatives. Lalami, who received a $50,000 prize, said she was thrilled to receive the award and honored to be in the company of the other finalists. “This award is a wonderful gift of time, which I will use to work on [...]

2019-04-15T11:28:57-07:00April 15, 2019|Categories: News|

In Focus: Stephen Sohn

Stephen Sohn Senior Fellow, Center for Ideas and Society, 2017-2020 Mellon Term Professor 2019-2020 Stephen's Stats: Department: English Rank: Professor Years at UCR: 5 years Favorite sport: Tennis Current favorite television show: Killing Eve and The Good Place (tie) Preferred desserts: Anything custard based! The text I cannot do without: Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life Stephen's favorite local dessert, Vanilla Custard Bun from Uncle Chuang's Bakery. Q. Summarize your research in one sentence... I am interested in thinking deeply about literature and culture in all of [...]

2021-01-07T15:27:52-08:00April 8, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

Lalami on short list for literary prize

UC Riverside Creative Writing Professor Laila Lalami is one of six finalists for the 2019 Simpson Literary Prize, which honors mid-career fiction authors. Lalami is the author of multiple award-winning novels, including her most recent book, “The Moor’s Account.” Her new novel, “The Other Americans,” will be published later this month. The $50,000 Simpson Literary Prize has been awarded annually since 2017 by the Simpson Project, a collaboration of the Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation and UC Berkeley’s English department. The finalists, announced March 6, [...]

2019-03-18T15:48:28-07:00March 18, 2019|Categories: News|

In Focus: Jade Sasser

Jade Sasser African Studies Workgroup, Co-organizer, Humanities Interdisciplinary Project, 2018-19 Jade's Stats: Department: Gender & Sexuality Studies Rank: Assistant Professor Years at UCR: 5 years Favorite things: Swimming, coffeeshops, and karaoke Non-academic class I would love to teach: "Motown Music for Beginners” Top three most important texts: Feminist Political Ecology (Rocheleau, et al.); Gender and Climate Change (Nagel); and This Changes Everything (Klein). Not light reading, but texts I can’t do without. Q. Summarize your research in one sentence... Environmental issues are social issues, and [...]

2021-01-07T15:28:06-08:00March 6, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Donatella Galella

Donatella Galella Performing Difference, Project Lead, Faculty Commons Project, 2018-19 Casting in Color, Project Lead, CIS Conference, 2019 Donatella's Stats: Department: Theatre, Film & Digital Production Rank: Assistant Professor Years at UCR: 4 years Favorite performer: Raúl Esparza Favorite Star Trek Captain: Benjamin Sisko Top three texts to take to a desert island: If we think about texts broadly, then I would choose Sara Ahmed’s The Promise of Happiness, the entire television series Steven Universe, and the Off-Broadway cast recording of The Fortress of Solitude. Q. Summarize [...]

2021-01-07T15:28:17-08:00February 26, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

In Focus: Robb Hernández

Robb Hernández Arte Público, Project Lead, Humanities Interdisciplinary Project, 2018-19 Robb's Stats: Department: English Rank: Assistant Professor Years at UCR: 7 years Favorite place: Boulder, CO (what can I say, I’m a proud hometown kid!) Favorite film that I encourage students to see: Mona Lisa Smile (Columbia Tristar, 2003) I love the way that Katherine Watson (played by Julia Roberts) is able to use the modern art and radically transform students’ perception of themselves and the world around them in 1953 Wellesley College.  Plus, the film gives an [...]

2021-01-07T15:28:40-08:00January 30, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

She’s truly the colleague we all hope for

Dana Simmons has devoted her life to teaching. She is an associate professor in the department of history and has been teaching at UC Riverside for 13 years. “With very little, if any, compensation, Dana has been tireless in her efforts to advance the careers of women faculty,” said Goldberry Long, UCR professor of creative writing. “She's truly the colleague we all hope for, one who wants all colleagues to be successful.  She works on their behalf without any apparent desire for recognition or [...]

2019-01-29T16:06:39-08:00January 29, 2019|Categories: News|
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