Lauren RubensteinAssistant Professor of Government Logan Dancey started teaching at Wesleyan this semester—the perfect time, he says, to be teaching a course on Campaigns and Elections. “The unfolding presidential and congressional elections continually give us new events to think about as we read and discuss broader theories about the importance and meaning of campaigns and elections,” Dancey says. And though Congress has mostly ground to a halt this election season—meaning a dearth of current events to discuss in his Congressional Policymaking class—the increasing polarization in Congress has led to many interesting and important discussions in that course nevertheless. Dancey describes the…
Jeanine Basinger, Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, chair of film studies, was honored in Variety magazine's special feature edition, "Women's Impact Report 2012." In the profile, Basinger discusses her typical work week; the often-underestimated number of hours that college professors dedicate to their jobs; her secret to work-life balance; and why she doesn't carry a cell phone. She says, "My worklife and my personal life are very highly integrated. Students I've taught have now become my friends and are a part of my life. I don't have a problem juggling two lives, my life is coherent and it's only one life. In a…
In an op-ed published Oct. 18 in The Jakarta Post, Ronald Jenkins, professor of theater, writes about a disturbing new documentary in which “gangsters” responsible for mass murders in Indonesia from 1965-66 reenact their crimes as they remember them. "This enables audiences to witness the deaths, not as they happened, but as they are remembered by the killers," he writes. The documentary, "The Act of Killing" by Joshua Oppenheimer, “reveals the links between the human capacity for self-delusion and cinema’s ability to reedit the past into comforting fantasy," writes Jenkins.
On Oct. 17, Peter Rutland, Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, professor of government, professor of Russian and Eastern European studies, had an op-ed published in The Moscow Times exploring whether the European Union deserves the recently awarded Nobel Peace Prize. "Europe is certainly a more peaceful place today than at any time in its past, but does the E.U. deserve all the credit for this? Defenders of the committee's decision argue that the E.U. has ended the centuries-old proclivity of European states to invade each other. It's true that most of Europe has enjoyed six decades…
Erika Franklin Fowler, assistant professor of government, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, will be a panelist at a roundtable discussion at Yale University on Monday, Oct. 29. The subject is China and the American Election. Fowler will be joined by James Fallows of The Atlantic, Stephen Roach of the Jackson Institute of Global Affairs and the Yale University School of Management, and Jeremy Wu of the Committee of 100, and former senior advisor to the U.S. Census Bureau. As China's rapid development, and Sino-American relations continue to be featured in the media during the current U.S. election season, the panelists will…
Professor of Music Eric Charry is the editor of a new book, Hip Hop Africa: New African Music in a Globalizing World, published Oct. 23 by Indiana University Press. The book is part of the African Expressive Culture series. Hip Hop Africa explores a new generation of Africans who are not only consumers of global musical currents, but also active and creative participants. Charry and an international group of contributors look carefully at youth culture and the explosion of hip hop in Africa; the embrace of other contemporary genres, including reggae, raga and gospel music; and the continued vitality of…
In an op-ed, Jenkins writes about killings in 1965-66 being glorified as anti-communist acts of heroism
Thanks to local businesses and groups, Wesleyan program will help prepare first-generation college students
In an op-ed, Peter Rutland questions whether the EU deserved the Nobel Peace Prize
Greenwood comments on new evidence the lunar surface is rich with water coming from the sun
Film Studies Chair Jeanine Basinger was honored as one of the most powerful women in show business
The President holds an advantage in 14 of 15 top markets, says a new Wesleyan Media Project study