Interview with Former Fellow Jann Pasler on Rorotoko

Rorotoko recently published a feature interview with former fellow Jann Pasler on her recent publication Composing the Citizen: Music as Public Utility in Third Republic France (University of California Press, 2009).

In the interview, Pasler shares her hope that “reading this story of how music helped forge French citizens under highly contentious but evolving political circumstances will stimulate reflection on some critical issues in our own times. Three ongoing concerns hark back to this period: the desire to assure accessibility to the arts for all citizens, the use of music and musical practices to build community and help people explore what they value as a people, and faith in music’s capacity to revitalize and help us imagine change because we have heard it.”

Read on at http://www.rorotoko.com/index.php/article/jann_pasler_composing_citizen_…

Rene Girard Scrutinizes the Human Condition from Creation to Apocalypse

Emeritus French professor and former fellow René Girard is one of only 40 members, or immortels, of the Académie Francaise, France’s highest intellectual honor.

In this rare interview with Stanford’s Cynthia Haven, he admits that few people here understand quite what he does. Read the article in the Stanford Magazine.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak Comments on U.S. Ties to Southeast Asia in WSJ

Incoming 2009-10 international visitor Thitinan Pongsudhirak commented on America’s ties to Southeast Asian nations in the July 22 edition of the Wall Street Journal. Following Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s attendance at the summit of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Thailand, Pongsudirak said that “America is shaping itself to be a real player in the region again.” Hilary Clinton signed ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), opening the door to this important regional forum. Read the full article»

Former Fellows Receive Presidential Fund Grants

Former fellows Yoshiko Matsumoto and Michael Shanks have received 2009 grants from the Presidential Fund for Innovation in the Humanities.

Matsumoto’s project, “Noun-Modifying Constructions in Languages of Eurasia: Reshaping Theoretical and Geographical Boundaries” will bring together experts in Central and East Asian languages to investigate grammar.

Michael Shanks is collaborating with other Stanford scholars on a project called “Evoking Humanity Through Clay: A Replication Experience,” which investigates the development and transmission of pottery technology with a series of events and also an ethnographic study of the learning experience of making pottery.

Read more on the Stanford News Service: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/june3/innovate-060309.html

Revisiting Race Reviewed in Science

Revisiting Race in a Genomic Age (Rutgers University Press, 2008), a collection of essays that grew out of a Humanities Center research workshop and collaborative research project, was reviewed in the May edition of Science. The volume was edited by advisory board member and former fellow Barbara Koenig with Sandra Soo-Jin Lee and Sarah Richardson.