Spring 2021

PAGE ARTICLE TOPICS
From the Dean
1 From the Dean During the COVID-19 pandemic, the virtual Humanities Day in the fall of 2020 serves as a prototype of how to conduct an online signature event that showcases the urgent and timely work of the Humanities scholars and makes it available to a broad audience.
Alumni Spotlight
2 (Micro)history in the making UChicago alumnus Theodore Jun Yoo looks at Korea differently. Now a professor of Korean language and literature at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, Yoo offers a distinct perspective on the history of the two Koreas.
Ideas
4 Two perspectives on a divided America Clifford Ando and Chris Kennedy discuss problems of communication, identity, and trust. Ando contemplates how ancient empires relate to what’s happening now in the United States. Kennedy looks at how linguistic interaction can enhance or disrupt unity.
Humanities at Work
6 Side by side Chandani Patel, PhD’15, and Brady Smith, AM’09, PhD’15, found a solution to their job dilemma in challenging nonacademic careers. They both draw on their graduate research and knowledge in the humanities.
Young Faculty Focus
8 Outside the boxes Junior faculty in the Department of Comparative Literature are helping to focus on a more global perspective. They are leading the way in thinking beyond obvious connections.
Graduate Students
10 Diaspora and descent Jazmin Graves, AM’15, focuses on the Sidis of western India whose ancestors came from East Africa. She combines ethnographic and archival research with studies of Sidi devotional songs.
Here & Now
11 Into quarantine Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley, both AM’01, became intrigued with Q Station, a historic quarantine site in Australia. They wrote about quarantine’s history and architecture in their book, “Until Proven Safe” (2021).
Faculty Focus
12 Excerpt: “Mental Traveler” An excerpt by W. J. T. Mitchell, the Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor in English Language and Literature, about the life and death of his son who struggled with schizophrenia.