On Saturday, June 22nd, the Boston Museum of Science will open an exhibition of photographs by Gary Braasch, environmental photojournalist and author of the book, Earth under Fire. Braasch’s work not only reveals how climate change is altering our planet, but how humans are working to slow these changes through alternative energy use and conservation.
Each photograph is informed by information from scientific research, showing scientists at work collecting data, and locations ranging from the Arctic to Bangladesh and the Great Barrier Reef where climate change is already having an effect. The show ends with images of some of the actions being taken to reduce global warming pollution. Braasch, winner of the Ansel Adams Award, has been documenting climate change and its solutions since 1999 in his project, World View of Global Warming.
There are two special events Braasch will participate in to launch the exhibition: a public talk by a panel of Boston area climate scientists on Sunday, June 23rd at 1:30 pm and a gallery talk about his photography and climate documentary project on Monday, June 24th at 11:30 am. Both events are in the Current Science and Technology stage, open to all museum visitors.
Last week’s news that Detroit will default on $2 billion of debt has left many wondering what will happen to cities in similar financial distress, and to the nation’s economy as a whole. Gordon Young’s new memoir, Teardown, offers a unique perspective from inside one such city: Flint, Michigan. The birthplace of General Motors, Flint once boasted one of the world’s highest per capita income levels. Now it is one of the country’s most impoverished and dangerous cities—a place where speculators scoop up cheap houses by the dozen on eBay, arson is often the quickest route to neighborhood beautification, and police stations are closed on weekends.
In this episode of the UC Press Podcast, Young, a journalist and creator of the blog, Flint Expatriates, offers a glimpse into Flint’s day-to-day that is by turns idiosyncratic, painful, and inspiring. Listen to the podcast to hear Young’s take on the “shrinking cities” movement popularized by Dan Kildee, and how some longtime residents feel about the prospect of demolishing neighborhoods. Young also tells stories of a Flint unrecognizable from the one today—a place where children could obtain a “drivers license” at Safetyville and public harps were available for anyone to play.
Listen to the podcast now, and visit Teardown’s website for photos, excerpts, and more Flint artifacts:
In the latest UC Press Podcast episode, writer and editor Nathan Schneider takes us on a philosophical tour of proofs, from the ancient to the modern, revealing the historical continuum of arguments for and against the existence of God. His new book, God in Proof, explores centuries of believers and unbelievers—from ancient Greeks, to medieval Arabs, to today’s most eminent philosophers and the New Atheists.
Schneider’s sure-handed portrayal of the characters and ideas involved in the search for proof challenges how we normally think about doubt and faith while showing that, in their quest for certainty and the proofs to declare it, thinkers on either side of the God divide are often closer to one another than they would like to think. No matter where you fall of the spectrum of belief, this podcast will surely give you something think—or argue—about.
To Repair the World: Paul Farmer Speaks to the Next Generation collects, for the first time, short speeches by the charismatic doctor and social activist Paul Farmer. One of the most passionate and influential voices for global health equity and social justice, Farmer encourages young people to tackle the greatest challenges of our times. Engaging, often humorous, and always inspiring, these speeches bring to light the brilliance and force of Farmer’s vision in a single, accessible volume.
A must-read for graduates, students, and everyone seeking to help bend the arc of history toward justice, To Repair the World challenges readers to counter failures of imagination that keep billions of people without access to health care, safe drinking water, decent schools, and other basic human rights.
For a limited time only, UC Press is running a book giveaway over at Goodreads. Enter to win one of five SIGNED copies of this important book. Visit Goodreads before June 10 to enter.
Books like Mingus Speaks come around once in a lifetime, and Music editor Mary Francis’s enthusiasm for the project is palpable. That’s why we asked her to introduce this episode of the UC Press Podcast, a discussion with writer and former music critic John Goodman, complete with music and archival clips from Mingus’s interviews. Take it away, Mary!
When I first encountered John Goodman’s interviews with Charles Mingus I could hardly believe my luck. Detailed reflections from one of the great jazz composers and performers don’t surface every day, much less in-depth interviews that hadn’t been in the public eye. Not all artists are articulate, or even willing to talk much about their work. But I had a hunch that Mingus in his own words would be something special.
The interviews don’t disappoint. In his podcast, Goodman calls Mingus, “an incredible talker,” and that’s an understatement. Mingus’ voice, individual and idiosyncratic from the first quote (“Don’t take me for no avant-garde, ready-born doctor.”), reaches off the page to grab your attention. Reading his words it is easy to imagine how absorbing it must have been to sit at a bar, sipping Pernod and soda and listening to him discourse. Mingus was as nimble and inventive a raconteur as he was as a performer and composer. Goodman’s questions don’t just receive answers: they inspire passionate, detailed anecdotes, counterproposals, Socratic volleys of queries, reminiscences, rants, jokes, nuanced appraisals, praise for colleagues and friends, sarcastic cracks, testimonials to the ideals that guided Mingus’ artistic practice. Listen to the podcast for a snippet from one of the interviews: Mingus Speaks, “machine-gun style,” as Goodman observes, rapid, fluent, sharp.
The idea of authenticity ties together much of what Mingus had to say. Mingus’ high standards for authentic artistic, professional, even ethical practices shine through these interviews from his first reflections on the skill and study required for true musical mastery. Mingus is celebrated as innovative, even avant-garde, but he was suspicious of the avant-garde label. He speaks repeatedly in the interviews of the importance of studying and mastering the traditions and history of music, not just jazz, but Bach, Varèse, masters of the blues, other original musical thinkers rooted in solid technique and deep respect of their traditions. Briskly scornful of improvisational practices that had little to do with coherent form and expressive structure, Mingus doesn’t hesitate to point out which emperors among the free jazz community were wearing no clothes.
Mingus is similarly forceful and articulate about race and musical identity, the shady practices of the music industry, the complexities of working with other musicians to create truly collaborative, expressive music. He isn’t abstract, he doesn’t mince words, his emotions inform his intellectual musings and punctuate his words with laughs, rushes of excitement, anger, moody pauses; his words have the same intensity and integrity as his music.
Ananya Roy and her colleagues at the #GlobalPOV Project, an initiative of UC Berkeley’s Blum Center for Developing Economies, have just released a stunning new illustrated video that explores the business of poverty. Roy is the author of Encountering Poverty (forthcoming from UC Press), a path-breaking book that will consolidate a new field of inquiry: global poverty studies.
Watch the video to learn about the surprising ways microfinance companies take advantage of the poor, how society tends to criminalize opportunism and innovation only when it comes from the lower classes, and why Roy is skeptical about the time-worn maxim, “If you teach a man to fish…”. Roy looks at what it takes to build a “pro-poor” economy—one that doesn’t profit off the labor, consumption, and debt of the poor. It’s a complex problem, and this project is a great start.
Follow the #GlobalPOV project on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and its website. And check back in 2014 for the first edition of Encountering Poverty.
Caldwell’s experience and her passion for thinking about how food impacts the world socially and culturally make her a perfect fit for Gastronomica. We’d also like to thank Darra Goldstein, founding editor of Gastronomica, and acknowledge the extraordinary contribution she has made to the prestige and success of the journal.
Library Relations Manager Rachel Lee recently sat down with Melissa L. Caldwell to talk about her research interests, life as an academic, and what she sees in the years ahead for Gastronomica.
Rachel Lee: Can you introduce us a little bit to your area of research?
Melissa L. Caldwell: The Anthropology of Food is one of my key areas of research, and I’m particularly interested in Russian society. Russia is such a dynamic place, there are so many things a going on, and food is a fascinating way to track the changes in that society.
In the Soviet era food was used by Soviet authorities to implement particular political ideas, provided as a reward, or denied as a punishment. The state was involved right down to designing the kitchens where people ate.
Now in the postsocialist era people are still using food as a conduit for political values, to express themselves as Russians and as members of a new economic society. I find it fascinating.
RL: What attracted you to editorship of the journal?
MLC: I’ve always turned to Gastronomica for commentary that’s really interesting, both the scholarly articles and more popular pieces. We’re at a moment in Food Studies where there are so many different things going on in very different directions. Gastronomica has a really important role to play.
From a personal perspective I’ve been an author and edited special issues and collected volumes, and the editorship came at a time when I felt the challenge would be really exciting. It offers me the opportunity to be right in the thick of these exciting changes. This is a real moment of creativity in the field. There are so many conversations and ideas that are just starting to talk to one another.
RL: Why is now a great time to subscribe to Gastronomica?
MLC: Food studies is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary; there are new points of intersection of the different fields. People in Chemistry and Digital Arts might be exploring similar themes but from different perspectives. We want to pull together these ideas and publish the best research and be involved in exciting, provocative conversations.
RL: What are the important elements of the journal that you’ll be keeping?
MLC: I think it’s really important to say that Gastronomica will stay the same more than it will change. I want to keep the pleasurable aspects of the journal: the aesthetically and intellectually stimulating pieces and beautiful language and imagery. We want to build on its strengths and keep providing provocative and creative pieces that introduce readers to new arguments.
Over time we’ll be expanding the scholarly research articles, creating a place for Food Studies that captures the best in scholarship. There will also be a broader international focus that brings in the world outside North America and Europe. This is partly in response to the fact that there is an explosion of scholarly work in this area, work which will be really interesting to readers of Gastronomica.
RL: Is there anything coming up in 2013 that you’d like to highlight so librarians and readers don’t miss out?
MLC: Later in the year, do look out for an interview with Marian Nestle on the 10th anniversary of her book Food Politics. Its influence on scholars’ thinking about food, the state, and nutritional policy is unmatched: it really is one of the titles that put Food Studies on the map and we can’t wait to get her views 10 years on.
We’re also putting together a special issue on critical nutrition. A new wave of scholars are thinking about nutrition and nutritional science, and this special issue of Gastronomica comes from a recent workshop. The collection of essays will recreate the conversations between the workshop participants. It’s exciting to be experimenting with some different ways of publishing those discussions.
RL: I know that academics never really rest, but when you do get a chance to have some time off what do you like to get up to?
MLC: Well, I have a 2 year old who’s in love with her toddler kitchen, so there are a lot of tea parties and plastic ice cream sundaes in my house at the moment. We’ve got a lot of well-fed bears!
I also foster coonhounds, working with a national rescue group to give them forever homes. They’re just lovely; big, loud, noisy, goofy dogs.
I like to sneak off sometimes and go wine tasting – we live in California after all. And being professionally involved in Food Studies doesn’t stop me from enjoying cooking and eating. I have a recipe box created by my mother, with old family recipes. It’s full of old file cards where the splatters tell you which the most popular recipes are. That’s where I turn when I feel the need for some real comfort food.
Over the past three decades, a wine revolution has been taking place across the United States. There are now more than 7,000 American wine producers—up from 440 in 1970—and the best bottles are every bit as good as the finest wines of Europe.
In celebration of this burgeoning industry, Saturday, May 11th, is North America’s first-ever Wine Tourism Day. And what better way to celebrate than with a copy of American Wine, the essential guide to wines in all 50 states? American Wine is the first comprehensive and authoritative reference on the wines, wineries, and winemakers of America, brought to you by renowned wine author Jancis Robinson and U.S. wine expert Linda Murphy.
UC Press is running a book giveaway over at Goodreads. Enter to win one of ten free copies, and discover gems such as racy Rieslings from Michigan and bright-fruited Tempranillo from Texas.
David and Janet Carle, authors of Traveling the 38th Parallel: A Water Line around the World, report on their blog that the desalinization plant in Torrevieja, Spain—a 38th Parallel site they visited in 2010—is nearing completion after 10 years of construction. The Torrevieja plant will be the largest desalinization structure in Europe and the second-largest in the world.
Read more about the project’s environmental implications at the Carles’ blog, Parallel Universe.
We are pleased to announce that the Government of Japan honored UC Press author Merry White today with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon decoration. The award recognizes Professor White’s significant contribution to the development of Japanese studies and the introduction of Japanese culture in the United States.
Her most recent book, Coffee Life in Japan, traces Japan’s vibrant café society over 130 years, from the early coffee craze from the turn of the twentieth century, when Japan helped to launch the Brazilian coffee industry, to the present day. A recent interview with Professor White on coffee culture in Japan can be heard on Public Radio International’s program The World. Congratulations Corky White!
