Lauren RubensteinProfessor of Economics Richard Grossman provided an "expert view" on the question "Will Japan's economy rebound under Abenomics and resume its growth?" in an issue of SAGE Business Researcher on "Doing Business With Japan." Japan's economy has performed poorly during the past two decades, and many wonder if it will ever "recover its former glory." Grossman took the affirmative view, arguing "there is good reason to believe that Japan will emerge from its funk and achieve growth rates similar to those of its counterparts in the developed world." He writes that the prospects for success depend on the effectiveness of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's…
Astronomy magazine has an in-depth feature in its October issue on Wesleyan's astronomical history and the restoration of its century-old, 20-inch refractor telescope, just in time for the Van Vleck Observatory's centennial observation this spring. Telescopes like Wesleyan's 28-foot-long, two-ton refractor had once been cutting edge, and a source of pride for dozens of American universities. But as they "staggered into obsolescence" over the past half century, institutions have had to make tough choices about whether to renovate or retire them. In 2014, Wesleyan hired Chris Ray and Fred Orthlieb of Pennsylvania to give its refractor a second life. The story traces the history…
Associate Professor of History Jennifer Tucker is the co-author of an op-ed in the Boston Globe titled, "What the Clean Air Act can teach us about reducing gun violence." Tucker and co-author Matthew Miller of Northeastern University write, "The recent scandal over Volkswagen’s polluting engines vividly illustrates the contrast between the way Americans, and in particular elected officials, treat guns and the way we (and our elected officials) treat cars — both of which kill approximately 32,000 Americans every year." The Clean Air Act, passed in 1970, has averted tens of thousands of premature deaths though "a systematic and scientific approach to…
Professor of Theater Ron Jenkins participated in a discussion on WNPR's The Colin McEnroe Show about Dante Aligheri's 14,000 line epic poem, "The Divine Comedy," of which "Dante's Inferno" is the most famous section. This adventure story is based on Dante's real life in 14th century Italy, where he was a city official, diplomatic negotiator, and a man who dared to cross the Pope. Jenkins has taught Dante at Wesleyan and in prison courses. "I discovered that I could learn a lot about Dante by teaching it in prison. I brought my Wesleyan students and my Yale students into prison to work with…
Astronomers at Wesleyan have detected shock waves produced by a high-speed "hot Jupiter" exoplanet caught in a tight orbit around its host star, io9 reported. The story explains: It’s a potential indication of an incredibly powerful magnetic field around the planet. Also known as “roaster planets,” hot Jupiters are so named because they have many characteristics in common with the largest gas giant in our solar system, most notably mass. But they have much hotter surface temperatures because they orbit much closer to their parent stars. Researcher in Astronomy Wilson Cauley has published a new study on the topic in the Astrophysical Journal. io9 quotes Cauley's…
The Washington Post published a remembrance by President Michael Roth of Carl Schorske, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who died this month at age 100. Schorske taught at Wesleyan for many years, and was a mentor to Roth. Roth writes: Carl was the great historian of anti-historical thinking. What does that mean? He charted how at times a wave of culture makers attempted to break free of any connection to the past. But Carl, with care and precision, wove their rejection of history into a narrative that made meaning out of context and change over time. In his masterwork, “Fin de Siècle Vienna:…
At a time when gun deaths are spiking and Congress has failed to enact significant legislation to tackle the problem, Associate Professor of History Jennifer Tucker writes an op-ed looking at how we got here. She contends that it is Hollywood’s version of history—not reality—that is behind the belief that guns have been a critical part of American culture over centuries. She writes: The 1953 movie “Shane” exemplifies the narrative of a “good man with a gun.” Responding to a woman’s wish that guns be banished, Shane replies: “A gun is just a tool, Marian. It’s as good or bad as…
President Michael Roth reviewed Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning by Timothy Snyder in The Washington Post. While many other historians have emphasized structural elements that made the Holocaust possible, Snyder focuses on Hitler's personal ideology "as essential for grasping the history of Nazi efforts to eliminate Jews from the planet." Roth writes: In “Black Earth,” we are reminded that for Hitler, Jews were the explanation for everything that went wrong. The health of the human race was dependent, he shrieked, on protecting it from Jewish pollution. There was talk among Nazis and others of isolating the malignancy — maybe shipping Jews…
Assistant Professor of Economics Damien Sheehan-Connor is the author of an oped in the Orlando Sentinel (available to subscribers) arguing that raising the gas tax would not only help the environment, but would save lives on the road. Sheehan-Connor considers the findings of a new study out by the National Safety Council, which suggested that automobile accidents are on the rise again after years of decline. While many factors could potentially contribute to this reversal, he writes that it's likely that two seemingly positive developments--lower gas prices and stricter fuel economy standards imposed by the government--have played an important role. How? Lower…
David LowSalvatore Scibona, the Frank B. Weeks Visiting Assistant Professor of English, is the author of a new short story published in the September 2015 issue of Harper's Magazine. Titled, "Tremendous Machine," the story follows Fjóla Neergaard, a failed fashion model, lacking direction, and living in seclusion at her wealthy parents' vacant Polish country house. She sets out to purchase a sofa for the house, which contains almost no other furniture, and finds herself in an odd store full of pianos. She purchases a piano and signs up for lessons with an elderly, once famous pianist. Scibona shared some thoughts about the inspiration of his new story from…
Associate Professor of French Catherine Poisson recently participated in a radio series on the French writer and intellectual Simone de Beauvoir. The series aired the week of August 17-21 on the France Culture network; it can be heard online here. Taped in Paris, New York and Chicago, the Grande Traversée (the "great crossover") show sought to reveal another Simone de Beauvoir, considering every stage of her life--from the dutiful daughter to the independent and engaged woman to, finally, breaking the taboo of old age. It showed her as passionate and multi-voiced---intimate and political, unleashed in her youth diaries and love letters, audacious in her…
Professor of Theater Ron Jenkins writes in The Jakarta Post about Wayan Nardayana, a popular and provocative puppet master in Bali who "combines the political insight of a social activist with the spiritual wisdom of a priest and the comic instincts of a master entertainer." Jenkins describes the artist's recent performance at a celebration of the birthday of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno. "The dalang’s ability to make connections between sacred texts, Indonesian history and contemporary reality is at the core of his art," Jenkins writes. Nardayana tells the audience, "Indonesians today can also harness the power of their ancestors to inspire them to…