Faculty

Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Victoria Pitts-Taylor’s 2016 book The Brain’s Body: Neuroscience and Corporeal Politics has inspired a group of painters to offer their own artistic impressions of her complex ideas in a new gallery exhibit. The exhibit, called “Somatic Markings,” is on display through December 23 at the Kasmin Gallery, located at 297 Tenth Avenue in New York City. The exhibit features seven international artists employing the nude figure to grapple with issues of contemporary corporeal politics, according to the gallery’s press release. “A lot of the motivation behind the show was to push beyond a…

Forget the Christmas ham and the Fourth of July hot dog: there’s no ordinary-meal-turned-American-holiday-icon quite like the Thanksgiving turkey. In addition to adorning parade floats and being rendered via crayons and children’s splayed hands, turkey is expected to be at the center of the table for 85 percent of Thanksgiving celebrations this year. But turkey wasn’t the main course when the Wampanoags and Pilgrims convened for their legendary feast in 1621. In fact, it’s unclear whether it was on the menu at all: many experts believe fowl like duck, goose, or passenger pigeons were likelier complements to a feast that…

Sometimes the best learning can happen outside of the classroom. In June 2022, Assistant Professor of African American Studies Garry Bertholf traveled to the Dominican Republic for two weeks with seven students involved in the Africana Research Collective, a group of first-generation low-income students of color who study the African diaspora. The Collective, founded by Yohely Comprés ’24 and Gissel Ramirez ’24, explores the effects of colonialism in the Americas and considers the repercussions of race beyond the United States, through on-campus research and international travel. Other student members include Ethan Barrett ’24, Ayer Richmond ’24, Edmund Jurado ’24, Finn…

What Mark Masselli Hon ’09, P’15, ’16 had to do in 1972 to start Community Health Clinic, a local health clinic that offered free care to the underserved in Middletown was, in retrospect, almost impossible. Renting a storefront as a 20-year-old? Opening the doors and offering medical services without a license or permit? Masselli had dropped out of Wesleyan, so there was no degree backing him up. The students in Charles Barber’s service-learning class were baffled. “It was a seismic moment when a student commented, ‘you couldn’t do what you did now in 2021’ … too many rules, too many…

Associate Professor of History Laura Ann Twagira’s recent book begins with a song – women from Mali are singing and bragging about the quality of their cooking. From this domestic moment, Twagira found the keys to a technological revolution. “Women are bragging and praising one another. They’re making food that everyone’s going to enjoy and that will enliven life. In order to do that, they need a key set of technological skills,” she said. Twagira’s book Embodied Engineering: Gendered Labor, Food Security and Taste in Twentieth-Century Mali was named a finalist for the 2022 Best Book prize from the African…

Outside group advertising on television in federal races is breaking records, according to a new analysis released by the Wesleyan Media Project on October 20. Since the 2010 election cycle, the Wesleyan Media Project has provided real-time information on the extent of corporate and union spending in federal election campaigns across the country, who specifically is doing that spending, and which candidates are benefiting. The project releases a detailed report addressing the current political advertising landscape every two weeks during election season. In just the last two weeks alone, the Republican super PAC, Congressional Leadership Fund, has targeted ads in 42 different…

In the United States, firearms elicit clashing perceptions. They can be sources of leisure and recreation, of livelihood and profit, of grief and fear. “Guns mean different things to different people,” said Jennifer Tucker, director of the new Center for the Study of Guns and Society at Wesleyan, “and sometimes different things to the same people.” Held over October 14 and 15, the Center’s inaugural conference brought about 150 historians, museum curators, Wesleyan students, and others to campus to explore the historical contexts around one of the most polarizing subjects in modern America. The conference, “Current Perspectives on the History…

What might a life anchored in integrity, community, and meaning look like? A small group of faculty, students, and staff, fortified by Thai food and a welcoming atmosphere, got together in the Develin Room in Olin Library October 15 to kick around these ideas. The talk, entitled “In a World Full of Fear, How Do You Love Yourself and Others?” brought together thinkers from across campus for a conversation. Exploration was the goal of the day. Mary-Jane Rubenstein, professor of religion; Rev. Marichal Monts ‘85, pastor of The Citadel of Love in Hartford; Dia Fortenberry, the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Engagements…

One-hundred-and-eighteen days after the Supreme Court repealed Roe vs. Wade, a group of Wesleyan faculty and students assembled in Judd Hall for a teach-in focusing on protecting reproductive freedom across the country. The October 20 event, co-sponsored by Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Wesleyan Reproductive Advocacy and Legislation (WRAL), gave students the opportunity to learn more about abortion access, coalition work around reproductive freedom, and other related issues. Historically speaking, Connecticut has played an important role in the abortion debate. A 1965 Supreme Court decision, Griswold v. Connecticut, set the legal groundwork for the Roe v. Wade decision. And…

Wesleyan University faculty and students played an important role at Middletown’s 2022 Amistad Journey to Freedom Community Day Celebration in Harbor Park Saturday, October 8. Event planners coordinated with Discovering Amistad to offer age-appropriate tours of the replica vessel, which arrived in Middletown one week earlier. Jesse Nasta ’07, assistant professor of the practice in African American Studies, who wrote his honors thesis on Middletown’s Beman Triangle, was already signed up to participate, leading the 4th Annual Middletown Middle Passage Ceremony. “The Middle Passage and the Middle Passage Ceremony are an origin story of the Beman Triangle and other…

Community can be defined in many ways—shared interests, shared experiences, a shared zip code. For Oliver Egger ’23, founder of the student-led Route 9 Collective writing community, Middlesex County provided fertile ground from which to examine the different voices that populate this small Connecticut county spanned by Route 9. In early September, Wesleyan University Press (WesPress) and the Route 9 Collective published Route 9 Anthology: A Collection of Writing from Wesleyan Students, Faculty, Staff, and Middlesex County Residents, compiled and edited by Egger, who has dreamed of fostering community through art in this manner since his first year at Wesleyan.…

Krishna Winston, Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature, Emerita, and Professor, College of the Environment, Emerita, was recognized with the Tom ODell Distinguished Service Award by the Rockfall Foundation at a ceremony held Thursday, October 6. The award, which recognizes long-term accomplishments in environmental conservation and preservation, was given for Winston's many years of advocacy for the environment in Middletown. Winston's formal service to the City began in 1989 when she was appointed to the task force that designed Middletown's recycling program. When mandatory recycling began in Connecticut two years later, she became the chair of Middletown's…

Research Inspires New Gallery Exhibit

How Thanksgiving Became Turkey Day, According to Animal Studies Professor Elan Abrell

Africana Research Collective Reflects on Summer Travel and Future Goals

New Book Chronicles History of Community Health Center

Twagira’s Newest Finalist for African Studies Association 2022 Best Book Prize

Wesleyan Media Project Political Advertising Update: October 20

Center for the Study of Guns and Society Explores the Histories of Firearms at Inaugural Conference

How Do You Love Yourself and Others?

Teaching Reproductive Rights

Wesleyan Joins Middletown To Recognize Amistad Journey to Freedom Day

Celebrating Community Voices: The Route 9 Anthology

Krishna Winston Named 2022 Environmental Champion by Rockfall Foundation