Hande Gürses publishes chapter in edited volume on Orhan Pamuk

The ISI congratulates current ISI Faculty Fellow Hande Gürses on the recent publication of a chapter in the edited volume, Orhan Pamuk: Critical Essays on a Novelist Between Words, edited by Taner Can, Berkan Ulu, and Koray Melikoğlu and published with Columbia University Press. Gurses’ chapter is titled, “Voices of Dissent: Belonging and Identity in Silent House and A Strangeness in My Mind.”

Marian McCurdy to speak at National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)

Marian McCurdy, ISI ‘Dissent’ Fellow, will be speaking at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) in Belmont, MA on December 14, 2017. McCurdy will be speaking on "Nemesis, Justice, and Inter-generational Trauma: How Resistance Promotes Resilience."

Lee Badgett named Spotlight Scholar

Current ISI ‘Dissent’ Fellow and economist M.V. Lee Badgett has been named a 2017-18 Spotlight Scholar.

When Badgett published her 1995 study on the wage gap faced by gay men and lesbians, there was nothing like it in the field. In fact, conventional wisdom held just the opposite of what she found. Badgett’s research was the first to look at LGBT realities through an economic lens. As an economist, she understood that money and power were intertwined.

Former ISHA Fellow Whitney Battle-Baptiste Panelist at Conference on Black Religious Traditions

Former ISHA and ISI Fellow, professor of anthropology and director of the W.E.B. DuBois Center Whitney Battle-Baptiste appeared on a panel during a two-day academic conference on the relationship between black religious traditions and material objects hosted by the new Center for the Study of African American Religious Life (CSAARL) at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. Battle-Baptiste spoke about the importance of material culture as a physical connection between our past and present.

Laura Furlan publishes Indigenous Cities: Urban Indian Fiction and the Histories of Relocation

Laura Furlan, current ISI Faculty Fellow, recently celebrated the publication of her latest book, Indigenous Cities: Urban Indian Fiction and the Histories of Relocation, in which she demonstrates that stories of the urban experience are essential to an understanding of modern Indigeneity. More information about the book is available on the website of the University of Nebraska Press website.

2018 Graduate Seminar Application Call: 'Dissent'

Graduate Seminar 2018: Call for Applications

Dissent

Dissent has gained great prominence. How do we conceive of dissent in the past and the present, whether this relates to racism, women’s rights, gay and transgender rights, migrant and immigrant rights, human rights, labor rights, education, health and other areas of stress and vulnerability? In an era in which Islamophobia, racism, and xenophobia are renascent, questions of solidarity and dissent are likely to take on increasing importance. Where scientific consensus—for example on climate change—is under threat, there may for once be a paradoxical overlap between consensus and dissent. Where ‘truth’ itself has become a malleable political commodity, a matter of performance and simulacrum rather than fact, how will we tie dissent to notions of evidence and truth? How will evidence and truth be legitimated?

ISI Fellow Laura Furlan's Book Launch for "Indigenous Cities" on October, 25 at 4pm at Amherst Books

"Digital Africas: Texts, Publics, Genre" at Amherst College

ISI is supporting the symposium, “Digital Africas: Texts, Publics, Genre” that will take place at Amherst College from October 12-14. The symposium addresses how 21st century sub-Saharan writers use and respond to digital technologies when they publish traditional print texts, experiment with online platforms, or interact with local and international audiences through social media. The symposium will commence with a keynote address on October 12 at 5:00 p.m. by Ato Quayson, in the Center for Humanistic Inquiry (CHI) in the Frost Library on the Amherst College campus. ISI’s former director Stephen Clingman will be facilitating a panel discussion on Friday, October 13. The symposium is free and open to the public. Further details about the program, including affiliations of the participants, can be found on the Amherst College website.

Fred Wilson at the UMass Museum of Contemporary Art

On October 11, ISI is cosponsoring a visit by Fred Wilson to the UMass Museum of Contemporary Art. Wilson, an acclaimed artist who has created a diverse range of work challenging assumptions of history, culture, and race, will be giving a talk titled, “The Silent Message of the Museum, and Other New Works.” The talk will take place in room 151 of the Integrative Learning Center from 5:30-7:30 p.m, and is free and open to the public.

Former ISI fellow, Ervin Staub, delivers talk

On October 2, former ISI faculty fellow and emeritus professor in the department of Psychology and Brain Sciences, Ervin Staub, gave a talk on the UMass campus titled, “The Power of Active Bystanders: Genocide, Reconciliation, Police Behavior, Children and Bullying, and Trumpworld,” which addressed possible interventions to prevent harmful behavior and to generate positive action.

Interdisciplinary Studies Institute