The Center inaugurated Critical Conversations with the aim of keeping humanities scholars at BU informed about new work by colleagues and allowing for exploration of shared points of interest that cut across disciplines and periods.
AY 22-23 Faculty Book Reviews
Yair Lior (Religion) on his recent co-edited volume, The Routledge Handbook of Evolutionary Approaches to Religion, which was published with a BUCH subvention. Lior teaches courses ranging from Jewish mysticism, to Chinese religions and philosophy, and Religion & Science.
PhD Candidate Elisheva Ash (Graduate Program in Religion) reviews Deeana Klepper’s (Religion and History) recent book, Pastoral Care and Community in Late Medieval Germany. Professor Klepper worked on this monograph during her time as a BUCH Henderson Senior Research Fellow, and the book was published with a subvention from BUCH.
Faculty Projects
Longtime BU faculty collaborators, Roy Grundmann (COM), Peter J. Schwartz (WLL), and Gregory H. Williams Associate (HAA), respond to questions from BUCH staff about their co-edited volume, Labour in a Single Shot: Critical Perspectives on Antje Ehmann and Harun Farocki’s Global Video Project, Film Culture in Transition Series, Amsterdam University Press, 2021.
Christine D’Auria, AMNESP PhD candidate and graduate Seeing and Not Seeing coordinator, writes about Jeffrey Rubin’s (CAS History) Seeing and Not Seeing Seminar.
Interviews
Graduate Voices Interview Series
Arthur George Kamya, Center graduate intern and AMNESP PhD candidate interviews graduate student workers from various departments and programs about the challenges of trying to meet their academic and professional goals during lockdown and the pandemic:
Hyunjin Cho (History of Art & Architecture)
Joanne Lafortune (African American Studies Program)
Merve Rumeysa Tapinç (Philosophy)
Emily Gowen (English)
Kira Ganga Kieffer (Religion)
Mariah Gruner (American & New England Studies)
Additional Interviews
Ashley Mulcahy, Center administrative coordinator and mezzo-soprano, interviews Brian Barone (PhD Candidate, Ethnomusicology & Historical Musicology) about his involvement with the Inclusive Early Music project and the project’s potential impact.
The Center’s graduate intern, Arthur George Kamya (AMNESP), interviews two award-winning professors about their current projects: Gregory Williams (History of Art & Architecture) and Anthony Petro (Religion).
Earlier Faculty Book Reviews
Professor of Religion David Eckel, a scholar of Buddhism, reviews the recent book by his departmental colleague Jonathan Klawans, Heresy, Forgery, Novelty: Condemning, Denying, and Asserting Innovations in Ancient Judaism.
In another cross-departmental conversation, James Johnson, professor of History, reviews the new book by English Department’s Michael Prince, The Shortest Way with Defoe.
Abigail Gillman, professor of Hebrew, German, and Comparative Literature in the Department of World Languages & Literatures, reviews the recent study of Claude Lanzmann’s SHOAH (1985) by Romance Studies assistant professor, Jennifer Cazenave.
A book review by James Uden, professor of Classical Studies, weaves together work by Abigail Gillman (World Languages & Literatures), Jodi Cranston (History of Art & Architecture), and Adela Pineda (Romance Studies).