Balancing work and a personal life can be a challenge for many of us, and we often make things worse by buying into myths that interfere with our effectiveness and happiness but are unsupported by social science.
Farnsworth Authors Chapter on Political Humor
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, is co-author of a book chapter, “Partisan Trends in Late Night Humor,” published this month in Political Humor in a Changing Media Landscape, an edited volume from Lexington/Rowman & Littlefield.
Sushma Subramanian Featured in Storytelling Podcast
Sushma Subramanian, assistant professor of English specializing in journalism, recently appeared on a Story Collider podcast episode titled “Sense of Touch” telling a story about her experiments using haptic technology to communicate with her long-distance fiance. She performed the piece, which is adapted from a forthcoming book she is writing, at Busboys & Poets last spring. Story Collider is a nonprofit organization that promotes storytelling as a way of humanizing science.
You can listen to her story here: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2018/8/24/sense-of-touch-stories-about-the-power-of-touch.
Craig Vasey to Present on Jean-Paul Sartre Friday
Craig Vasey, chair of the Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religion and professor of philosophy, will give a talk about Jean-Paul Sartre’s life, work and interests prior to a performance of “No Exit” by the Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble.
The talk will be held Friday, Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of 810 Caroline Street in downtown Fredericksburg.
For information about Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble, visit https://www.fredericksburgtheatre.org/
Dan Dervin Publishes Article in Journal of Psychohistory
Daniel Dervin, professor emeritus of English, recently published an article in The Journal of Psychohistory called The Auction Block, the Battlefield Angels, and the Politics of Purity.
According to an abstract of the article:
“The evolution of psychoanalytic theory entered new territory with the work of Melanie Klein (1882-1960). Previously, apart from Freud’s formations on narcissism, the prevailing framework was the Oedipal triad of desire, conflict, defense, adaption, and self-identity issuing from the child’s struggles to master issues involving both parents. Klein took a step back in child development phases and forward in clinical theory when she honed in on the dyad of infant and primary caregiver. Hers was the realm of preoedipal issues involving primal urges and frustrations. These she epitomized as good breast/bad breast. However resolved, transformed, or displaced, they set the stage for subsequent development. We don’t want to yield to reductionism, yet in psychohistory we continually observe regression to primitive levels of splitting one’s object-world into either/or absolutes of all-good vs all-bad. These dyad derivatives have increasingly dominated our polarized cultural and political discourses. Noting Trump’s “all-or-nothing” governing style, Lindsey Ford cites his off-and-on-again tactics with North Korea (NY Times, 25 May 18, p. A21); in this light Trump epitomizes these primitive processes. The present study examines this polar mode manifest in wide-ranging ideals of purity. Group-fantasies of white supremacy from our Civil War period are being revived. We see this in the controversies over Confederacy names and monuments: grappling with them anew injects our troubled past into our present. What we had assumed to be dead and buried evidently thrived in the margins, biding their time. More disturbing, their reentry is being aided and abetted at the highest levels of government. As these disparate phenomena echo and reverberate, psychohistorical perspectives fit them into larger patterns cued by the politics of purity.”
Rosalyn Cooperman Research Featured on Vox
Rosalyn Cooperman, political science professor, co-authored an op-ed in Vox.com addressing why so few women candidates are Republican.
“Different party cultures mean that Democratic elites support women candidates often — and because of their gender — while Republican elites do not,” according to the piece.
Hirshberg Presents Paper at International Seminar
Dan Hirshberg, assistant professor of religious studies and associate director of the Leidecker Center for Asian Studies, presented a new paper titled “Padmasambhava the Tibetan: Reflections on Memory and Cultural Identity” for the international seminar, “Perspectives on Padmasambhava,” organized by Columbia University and Skidmore College and held at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City (October 13-15, 2018).
Riffing on the cultural memory theory of Jan Assmann and others, the paper explores the ways in which this historically shady 8th ce. figure renowned as the “Second Buddha” represents the Tibetan construction of an enlightened other, and the ways in which this same figure is being adopted with similar functions in Western Buddhist communities.
The first international seminar focused on Padmasambhava organized in the US took place in conjunction with the exhibition, The Second Buddha: Master of Time, and took the form of a master class in which leading scholars discussed their ongoing research with colleagues, students, and attendees.
Hirshberg’s research is also featured on many of the museum labels for the exhibition.
Farnsworth Moderates Fifth Congressional District Debate
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently moderated a Fifth Congressional District debate in Madison County, Virginia. The debate for the district, which stretches from northern Virginia to Danville, was sponsored by Rural Madison and held at Madison County High School.
Farnsworth to Talk about Presidential Communication on “With Good Reason”
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington, will be speaking about the state of the Trump presidency and his new book, “Presidential Communication and Character” on “With Good Reason.” The public radio program airs in 99 cities around the nation starting this weekend.
The segment with Professor Farnsworth, who was named Outstanding Faculty of 2017 by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, will air at 2 p.m. on Sunday October 14 on 94.9 FM in Fredericksburg, 88.5 FM in Charlottesville and 92.5 FM in Richmond.
More information on the book can be found here:
Stommel and Morris Talk Classroom Technology in Inside Higher Ed
Q&A: 2 Digital Learning Devotees Evaluate Their Progress (Inside Higher Ed)
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- Jesse Stommel, Senior Lecturer of Digital Learning
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- Sean Michael Morris
Jesse Stommel and Sean Michael Morris examine their evolving thoughts on classroom technology and online education.