University press blogs share the voices and insights of top scholars, cultivating a community of thought that is valuable in a time of uncertainty.
That’s why Anthem Press has curated a diverse collection of the most interesting university press blog posts from May 11 – May 17. We aim to keep you informed, engaged, and part of the ongoing scholarly conversations.
On May 15, 1970, Mississippi Highway and Safety Patrol and the Jackson city police marched into the historically black Jackson State College in Mississippi and began shooting at students outside the women’s dormitories, killing two. Fifty years later, protests erupted in the unjustified killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, who was murdered while jogging. How do we reconcile these tragedies? Professor Nancy Bristow points to white supremacy (Oxford University Press).
How can we learn from our past mistakes? Bruce Burnett was an esteemed advocate for HIV/AIDS education in New Zealand while Li Wenliang was a disgraced whistleblower for the coronavirus pandemic.
Guest post author Hugh Stevens says, “This is, perhaps, what the living owe the dead: a willingness to learn from what they have told us, from their true statements, the messages they have shared with us, a willingness to learn from their living, and from their dying. Dear Wenliang, dear Bruce, I am still listening to you” (Cambridge University Press).
While cities remain in lockdown and we remain restlessly stuck at home, Natilee Harren reminds us that art can be created from the mundane.
“Now is the time to discover or reinvent your personal rituals and reframe them as art. In the philosophy of Fluxus, everyone’s an artist and everyone can do it. In any case, this is what I do when I don’t know what to do: Pay attention to artists. They know not just how to survive, but how to live—with creativity, wit, compassion, dignity, and grace” (University of Chicago Press).
Speaking of art, theatre productions have been made available online for FREE, some notable ones being Comédie-Française, the Opéra national de Paris, and the National Theatre. But how did people access theatre before the internet? (Liverpool University Press).
And even more art! For those interested in sound art and sound studies, the first issue of Resonance: the Journal of Sound and Culture is OUT and FREE for a limited time! (UC Press).
How about the culinary arts? Miss the dine-in experience? Check out this post written by the authors of the just-published book The Social Significance of Dining Out, which discusses the recent diversification of takeout and the social trends in the practice of eating that have been affected by the pandemic (Manchester University Press).
Can’t get access to hard copy books? Check out these new audiobook releases instead, featuring the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, “cultured” meat as the future of food, wrongful convictions, and the agricultural exchanges on the Silk Road (UC Press).
Feeling hopeless? Read about the interconnection of youthquakes and pandemics and how children going viral will change the world (Oxford University Press).
