Month: January 2024

ART – The Bascom Center for Visual Arts in Highlands, N.C. has chosen BFA student in Sculpture Zrai Aiken and Assistant Professor of Art in Sculpture Alex Schechter for the juried exhibition titled “Emergence: A Survey of Southeastern Studio Programs” at the Bunzl Gallery. This exhibition aims to celebrate the crucial role of teaching and mentoring in the development of artists by showcasing the collaborative works of faculty and student pairs. Running from January 20th to April 27th, 2024, “Emergence” features 35 pairs of artists representing 23 higher education institutions from the Southeast. This exhibition serves as a celebration of artistic collaboration and an exceptional experiential learning opportunity for students creating contemporary art. The diverse range of artworks reflects various approaches to subject matter, innovative use of materials, and a mastery of traditional mediums taught and practiced in contemporary studio programs.

ART – Lecturer in Ceramics and Foundations John Cummings attended a two-week Red Lodge Clay Center residency during Clemson University’s 2023 winter break. The Center, known for its national and international recognition, supports ceramic artists, fostering creativity and providing a platform for new work. The residency, partly funded by the South Carolina Arts Commission and the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund, highlights the importance of art in everyday life.

ARCHITECTURE – Gunnin Architecture Library librarian Ann Holderfield and Assistant Professor Berrin Terim curated the exhibition “Between the II Mirrors” with student work from ARCH 8600: “The Emergence of Modern Architecture.” The project emphasizes the critical role of representation in the history of architecture. 

ARCHITECTURE + HEALTH — Professor Anjali Joseph, Assistant Research Professor Sahar Mihandoust and doctoral candidate Swati Goel, all with the Center for Health Facilities Design & Testing (CHFDT), coauthored an article published in the Health Environments Research & Design Journal titled, “Design of Pediatric Outpatient Procedure Environments: A Pilot Study to Understand the Perceptions of Patients and Their Parents.” The study found that children undergoing surgery enjoyed murals, double chairs, patient beds, wall color, and access to a television. They disliked medical equipment and lack of child-friendly furniture. Most parents accompanying the children liked the murals, access to a television, and nature photos, while disliking the lack of privacy, lack of toys in waiting areas and lack of child-friendly furniture.

ARCHITECTURE – Associate Professors Andreea Mihalache and David Franco won a $40,000 grant from the LS3P Foundation for the project titled “Addressing Climate Change and Tourism on Southeastern Barrier Islands.” This is the inaugural grant cycle of the LS3P Foundation that will support “leading design thinkers in advancing research, strategies, and technologies which promote transformative change, improve human and planetary well-being, increase economic mobility, and advance issues of health and social equity across the Southeast.”  

HISTORY — Humanities Hub director James Burns was an invited presenter at the symposium, “Colorful Threads: Bridging Oceans Through Artistic Narratives of the Indian Ocean Rim,” held at the Africa Institute in the United Arab Emirates in December. His presentation, “Movie-mad Island: Cinema and Public Leisure in Colonial Mauritius, 1897-1968,” featured an ARC-GIS Storymap that was developed with the assistance of Digital History Ph.D. student Addison Horton and staff at the Clemson University Geospatial Institute. All conference papers will be published in the Duke University Press Journal, “Monsoon: Journal of the Indian Ocean Rim.”

HISTORY — Professor Vernon Burton spoke on the “Two South Carolina Reconstructions and how Briggs v. Elliot became Brown v. Board” at the Horry County Museum on December 2 as part of the South Carolina Humanities series, “Just Sharing: Building Community Through Stories of Our Past.” On December 4, Burton’s discussion with David Rubenstein of the New York Historical Society on “Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court” aired on the “For the Ages: A History Podcast.” On December 7, Burton appeared as a guest alongside Maricopa County, Arizona, Supervisor Bill Gates on NPR’s “The Middle with Jeremy Hobson” to discuss how democracy is at stake in the 2024 election. On December 17, Burton lectured on African Americans and the American Revolution for the keynote of the Charleston Victory Day commemoration for Revolutionary Charleston America 250.

ENGLISH — Pearce Professor of Professional Communication Jordan Frith’s newest book, Barcode, has been mentioned on CNN, The Conversation and in The Atlantic. The book is an engaging exploration of the cultural history of the barcode that examines how this taken-for-granted 50-year-old technology significantly shaped the global economy and became maybe the most recognizable icon of contemporary capitalism. The book covers the early history of the barcode. It analyzes how the barcode somehow ended up playing a significant role in sci-fi dystopias, biblical prophecies, consumer protests, labor movements and a presidential election.

PERFORMING ARTS — Brooks Center Director Emerita Lillian Utsey Harder, artistic director of the Utsey Chamber Music Series, secured one broadcast on America Public Media’s “Performance Today” in December with a broadcast on December 11 of Joachim Stutschewsky’s “Hassidic Fantasy” by the Goldstein-Peled-Fiterstein Trio from their concert on February 9, 2023.

LANGUAGES — Department of Languages chair Joseph Mai’s in-depth review of Martin O’Shaughnessy’s recent work, “Looking Beyond Neoliberalism: French and Francophone Belgian Cinema and the Crisis,” in “SubStance.”

GLOBAL BLACK STUDIES — New assistant professor Vincent Ogoti co-authored an article with Reginold A. Royston titled “Voicing Afro-Modernity: How Black Atlantic Audiobooks Speak Back.” The piece published in the “Journal of African Cultural Studies” examines the evolving world of audiobooks and how they breathe new life into critical works of Black Atlantic literature. The authors explore how audiobooks like Zora Neale Hurston’s “Barracoon” and Yaa Gyasi’s “Homegoing” resonate with listeners, offering a fresh perspective on these profound narratives. The article highlights how sound studies scholars and literary critics alike can reconsider the importance of the “talking book” as a critical form of oral literature. Ogoti and Royston offer a method of “close listening,” drawing on the tactics of reading in sonic literary studies and suggest, through engagement with the work of scholars such as Ato Quayson, Tsitsi Jaji and others, an interdiscursive approach toward “binaural” voices in African and Afro-descendant cultural production.

LANGUAGES — Professor Eric Touya published “Liberal Arts Approaches to Teaching Women Entrepreneurship in Senegal: Narratives, Ethics, Empathy” in “The Entrepreneurial Humanities: The Crucial Role of the Humanities in Enterprise and the Economy.” He also published a review of “Gender and the Spatiality of Blackness in Contemporary Afro-French Narratives” by Polo B. Moji in “French Review, 97.2” and of “Misère de l’homme sans Dieu: Michel Houellebecq et la question de la foi” by Caroline Julliot et Agathe Novak-Lechevalier in “French Review, 97.1.”