New book explores ‘ethical turn’ of critical theory
Professor Robert Doran focuses on iconic 20th-century philosophers like Michel Foucault, Hayden White, Gayatri Spivak, and Richard Rorty, and explores critical theory’s pivot away from a narrowly focused investigation of meaning and text.
The mysterious aftermath of an infamous pirate raid
Just before dawn on May 18, 1683, pirates stormed the port city of Veracruz, capturing around 1,500 people and selling them to the slave markets of Haiti and South Carolina. Pablo Sierra Silva, assistant professor of history, is on a mission to trace what happened to them.
Posters present a visual history of AIDS epidemic
For decades, Edward Atwater ’50, a professor emeritus of medicine at the Medical Center, has collected medical history artifacts. In 2007, he began turning his collection of more than 8,000 AIDS education posters over to the University and it is now the world’s largest single collection of visual resources related to AIDS and HIV.
One hundred years of solitude? Try 15 minutes instead
In a series of experiments, Rochester psychologists found that people who sat alone without devices for 15 minutes and chose what to think about experienced the positive effects of solitude: feeling calmer and less anxious, without feeling lonely or sad.
East High: Amid change, challenges persist
In this episode of the Quadcast, host Sandra Knispel speaks with members of the East High community to find out how far the school, the students, and the University partnership have come in the last two years.
History under a microscope
The Future(s) of Microhistory symposium brings prominent historians to Rochester to discuss one of the most influential methodologies in their field in the last few decades.
What makes Pulitzer Prize–winner Laurel Thatcher Ulrich curious?
In a 1976 journal article, Ulrich coined a phrase that has become ubiquitous: Well-behaved women seldom make history. The Humanities Center hosts the feminist historian, who will speak about writing and micro-histories.
William Riker Prize in Political Science goes to MIT’s Acemoglu and Chicago’s Robinson
The long-time collaborators and co-authors of Why Nations Fail were honored by the University’s Department of Political Science for their work toward essentially building a new theory of political economy.
Russia’s October Revolution not what Marx had in mind
100 years later, historian Matt Lenoe argues that the Russian Revolution was not a workers’ revolt, but a movement against predatory imperialism.
Thinking about time
Spring forward. Fall back. On two Sundays each year, as we move in and out of Daylight Saving Time, time itself suddenly starts to seem a little arbitrary. Every discipline in the University has its own way of constructing and thinking about time.