Read local, national, and world news that feature faculty, students, and alumni from the College of Arts & Sciences. Most recently, the College is trending in the news for the music therapy program, a new advanced dance degree, research on John Stuart Mill, and more.
Tag: American studies
A&S in the News: September 16-22, 2018
Read local, national, and world news that features faculty, students, and alumni from the College of Arts & Sciences. Most recently, the College is trending in the news for the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, research on Hurricane Florence, a new production by the Department of Theatre and Dance, and more.
Two Roads Converged
Dr. Eric Weisbard knows first-hand that the 1990s were a great decade to be writing about popular music. After all, he worked as a rock critic for New York City’s Spin magazine and The Village Voice in the years following the rock band Nirvana’s surge in popularity, which paved the way for hundreds of alternative bands nationwide to receive unprecedented, widespread recognition for their music. At the time, people lived and died over questions of musical authenticity across all genres, […]
College Establishes New Academic Minors
From the April 2015 Desktop News | Two interdisciplinary minors focused on burgeoning academic fields have been created and can be pursued by students beginning in fall 2015. The first, cybercrime, will combine classes on the technical aspects of thwarting cyber attacks and processing digital forensic evidence with classes on understanding criminal motivations. The second, Latin American, Caribbean and Latino studies, will allow students to explore the social, cultural, linguistic, political, economic and biological diversity of nations that make up […]
The “Top 40 Democracy” of Popular Music
From the January 2015 Desktop News | A former music critic, Dr. Eric Weisbard has always been interested in connecting the dots of popular culture. When critics began talking about “rockism,” the idea of rock as a biased way of valuing some music and not others, and “poptimism,” the idea that commercial music of all kinds should be celebrated for its diversity, he thought both ideas were too simplistic, so he wrote a book about it, using a historical approach […]
Anniston PCB Pollution Focus of New Book
From the April 2014 Desktop News | With Anniston as the backdrop, Dr. Ellen Spears, assistant professor in New College and the Department of American Studies, explores environmental justice in her new book, Baptized in PCBs, which was released April 7. Though focused on the 1990s legal battle between Anniston residents and the agrochemical company Monsanto, which dumped cancer-causing chemicals into the city’s working-class west side, Spears also addresses broader topics, such as significant themes in the social history of […]
Professor Takes on Lead Role with MLA
From the February 2014 Desktop News | Dr. Jolene Hubbs, assistant professor in the Department of American Studies, was elected to the Modern Language Association’s executive committee of the Discussion Group on Southern Literature. As an executive committee member, Hubbs will help ensure the association stays abreast of current trends in research done by Southern literary scholars. The Modern Language Association is the chief professional organization for scholars of language and literature with nearly 30,000 members in more than 100 countries. […]
Through the Doors Events Continue
Activities Commemorate 50th Anniversary of UA’s Desegregation From the September 2013 Desktop News | As part of the yearlong commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of The University of Alabama, the College has a full schedule of “Through the Doors” events underway, including lectures and trips to the state’s capital. The events highlight the last 50 years of transformation on campus with an emphasis on courage, change, and progress toward the future. The Rose Gladney Lecture for Justice and Social Change will […]
Bracero Exhibit Highlights Immigrant Issues
Smithsonian Guest Worker Exhibit Displayed at UA From the 2013 Celebrating Excellence | Immigration has been on the minds of many in Alabama since the passage of Alabama’s House Bill 56, regarded as the nation’s strictest anti-illegal immigration legislation. In the discipline of American studies, however, immigration is an enduring theme and, in the College’s Department of American Studies, Latino immigration and culture is a particular academic strength. Because of that strength, the department and UA became one of only two sites […]
Smithsonian Exhibit on Bracero Guest Worker Program Hosted by American Studies
The Smithsonian Institute has selected the Department of American Studies to be a host for its exhibit “Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964.” The exhibit, which tells the story of Hispanic “bracero” workers, who were part of the largest guest worker program in U.S. history, will be at UA February 16-April 28 in the J. Wray and Joan Billingsley Pearce Foyer in Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library on the UA campus. The program was named for the Spanish term bracero, “strong-arm,” and […]
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