WashU Expert: Defining ‘concentration camps’
When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) accused the Trump administration of “running concentration camps on our southern border,” a political firestorm erupted. But a question remained. Was the comparison justified? Arts & Sciences historian Anika Walke, a scholar of the Holocaust, offers perspective.
‘Lessons learned’ from engaging in Africa
Washington University in St. Louis is committed to engaging with its global partners to help address our biggest challenges together. This spirit of collaboration was evident at the inaugural meeting of the Africa initiative, held April 23 on the Danforth Campus.
Cooking for civil rights
“Few chefs of African descent work at the pinnacle of our national haute cuisine today, yet their contributions to American kitchens and dining rooms have been definitive.” So argues Rafia Zafar, professor of English and of African-American studies, both in Arts & Sciences, in her new book “Recipes for Respect: African American Meals and Meaning.”
What We Talk about When We Talk about Hebrew
(and What It Means to Americans)
Why Hebrew, here and now? What is its value for contemporary Americans? In “What We Talk about When We Talk about Hebrew (and What It Means to Americans)” scholars, writers, and translators tackle a series of urgent questions that arise from the changing status of Hebrew in the United States. To what extent is that […]
Forums for Greater China, India focus on collaborations, partnerships
A pair of events in Hong Kong and Mumbai helped to further strengthen Washington University’s impact in the Asia-Pacific region and showcase its world-leading, collaborative research.
WashU Expert: Nigerian presidential vote of ‘hope and consequence’
A Washington University in St. Louis expert in African policy says Nigeria’s upcoming presidential vote is a consequential event, one that will determine critical steps forward for Africa’s most populous country and largest economy.
Recipes for Respect
African American Meals and Meaning
Food studies, once trendy, has settled into the public arena. In the academy, scholarship on food and literary culture constitutes a growing river within literary and cultural studies, but writing on African American food and dining remains a tributary. Recipes for Respect bridges this gap, illuminating the role of foodways in African American culture as […]
Diva Nation
Female Icons from Japanese Cultural History
Diva Nation explores the constructed nature of female iconicity in Japan. From ancient goddesses and queens to modern singers and writers, this edited volume critically reconsiders the female icon, tracing how she has been offered up for emulation, debate or censure. The research in this book culminates from curiosity over the insistent presence of Japanese […]
Ward wins 2019 W.E.B. Du Bois Award
Geoff Ward, associate professor and associate chair of African and African-American studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded the 2018-19 W.E.B. Du Bois Award by the Western Society of Criminology.
WashU Expert: R. Kelly had ‘serious problem with power’
Allegations against R. Kelly have finally exploded into the #MeToo era with Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly.” But the singer’s troubling behavior can be traced back decades. “There was a lot of sexual energy around Kelly that we as young people felt was a little bit dark and a little bit inappropriate and a little bit taboo,” says Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr., who studies race, gender and popular culture at Washington University in St. Louis. In the early 1990s, McCune was a student at Kenwood Academy, the Chicago magnet school Kelly had attended just a few years before — and a classmate to one of Kelly’s earliest accusers.
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