Spring 2003
Spring
2003
In a conversation with soundings, Professor John Dower discusses how his concept of cultural analysis has shifted during his career.
soundings is published by the Dean's Office of the
School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at MIT
Book notes
Donald L. M. Blackmer, The MIT Center for International Studies: The Founding Years 1951–1969. MIT Press, 2002. In a volume marking the 50th anniversary of the Center for International Studies, Blackmer's history focuses on the first two decades of the Center's history. Donald L. M. Blackmer is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at MIT.
Noam Chomsky, Adriana Belletti (editor), Luigi Razzi (editor), On Nature and Language. Cambridge University Press, 2002. Collection of texts related to Noam Chomsky's visit to the University of Siena's Certosa di Pontignano. Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor Emeritus of Linguistics.
Roger Celestin, Eliane DalMolin, and Isabelle de Courtivron, eds., Beyond French Feminisms: Debates on Women, Politics and Culture in France, 1981–2001. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. A collection of essays covering recent and crucial developments in the field of French Feminism. Isabelle de Courtivron is Professor of French Studies.
Thomas F. DeFrantz, ed., Dancing Many Dreams: Excavations in African American Dance. University of Wisconsin Press, 2002. This groundbreaking collection of essays explores African American dance history, theory, and practice, and in so doing reevaluates "black" and "African American" as both racial and dance categories. Thomas F. DeFrantz is Class of 1948 Career Development Associate Professor of Theater Arts.
Joe Haldeman, Guardian. Berkley Publishing Group, 2002. A tale in which the future of humanity is intertwined with the destiny of Rosa Coleman—an ordinary woman in the days after the Civil War, trying to make a new life for herself in the Alaska gold fields. Something not of this world approaches her and reveals the universe's secrets to her. Joe Haldeman is Adjunct Professor of Fiction in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies.
Jean Jackson and Kay B. Warren, eds., Indigenous Movements, Self-Representation, and the State in Latin America. University of Texas Press, 2003. Examination of the cross-currents of change that lie behind the growing indigenous activism in Latin America. Jean Jackson is Professor of Anthropology.
Henry Jenkins, Tara McPherson, and Jane Shattuc, eds., Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture. Duke University Press, 2003. Showcases the work of a new generation of scholars, from fields such as media studies, literature, cinema, and cultural studies, whose writing has been informed by their ongoing involvement with popular culture and who draw insight from their lived experiences as critics, fans, and consumers. Henry Jenkins is Ann Fetter Friedlaender Professor of Humanities and Professor of Comparative Media Studies and Literature.
Christina Klein, Cold War Orientalism: Asia in the Middlebrow Imagination, 1945–1961. University of California Press, 2003. Analyzes the relationship between representations of Asia in American popular culture and U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. Christina Klein is Associate Professor of Literature.
Victor K. McElheny, Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution. Perseus Publishing, 2003. On the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double helix by Watson and Crick, distinguished science reporter Victor McElheny takes us inside the post double helix revolution in biology in this masterful and fascinating biography of James Watson. Victor K. McElheny is Founding Director of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships.
David A. Mindell, Between Human and Machine: Feedback, Control, and Computing before Cybernetics. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. Mindell shows how the modern sciences of systems originated from disparate engineering cultures at four pre-war research institutions. David A. Mindell is Frances and David Dibner Associate Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing in the Program in Science, Technology and Society.
Roger Petersen, Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, and Resentment in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2002. This book seeks to identify the motivations of individual perpetrators of ethnic violence. Roger Petersen is Associate Professor of Political Science.
William Keller and Richard Samuels, eds., Crisis and Innovation in Asian Technology. Cambridge University Press, 2003. A distinguished group of contributors addresses change in the innovation and production systems of Asia in response to economic and political upheaval of the recent financial crisis in Asia. Richard Samuels is Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for International Studies.
Richard Samuels, Machiavelli's Children: Leaders and their Legacies in Italy and Japan. Cornell University Press, 2003. In a book on leadership and historical choices, Samuels draws upon interviews and archival research in a series of paired biographies of political business leaders from Italy and Japan. Illustrating the role of human ingenuity in political change, he traces how these two late-developing nations, similarly obsessed with achieving modernity and with joining the ranks of the great powers, have traveled parallel courses with very different national identities. Richard Samuels is Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for International Studies.
Stephen Tapscott, ed., Gabriela Mistral: Prose and Prose-Poems. University of Texas Press, 2003. Edited and translated by Stephen Tapscott, this is the first English-language edition of works by the Chilean writer Gabriela Mistral: poet, feminist, pacifist, and first Latin American winner of the Nobel Prize [1945]. Stephen Tapscott is Professor of Literature.
Rosalind Williams, Retooling: A Historian Confronts Technological Change. MIT Press, 2002. An attempt to make sense of the rapidly changing role of technology in contemporary life. Rosalind Williams is Robert M. Metcalfe Professor of Writing and Director of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society.
Copyright © 2003 Massachusetts Institute of Technology