Duke University senior Jenna Smith was among the 32 recipients selected this weekend for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, chosen from among 865 applicants across the U.S. after receiving the nomination of their university.Recipients are selected based on academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and a commitment to service. The scholarship provides all expenses for two years of study at the University of Oxford.“Jenna Smith is an exceptional thinker, leader, writer, and reformer, and I… read more about Duke Senior Jenna Smith Wins Rhodes Scholarship »
In his latest book, Cemetery Citizens: Reclaiming the Past and Working for Justice in American Burial Grounds, Adam Rosenblatt pays tribute to the volunteers restoring systemically neglected cemeteries across the country, even coining a name for them: cemetery citizens.“I’m not a scholar who typically invents new jargon,” the International Comparative Studies professor confesses, “but I needed to explain and name a social movement that hasn’t been studied or properly acknowledged yet.” A cemetery citizen himself,… read more about Cemetery Citizens and the Practice of Care »
Suzie Choi is a graduating senior from Seoul, Korea studying International Comparative Studies with a Political Science minor and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Certificate (I&E). On campus, Choi served as the Vice President of the Social Impact Committee at Business Oriented Women (BOW), as the Co-Vice President of Duke’s UNICEF-Durham Affairs Committee, as a I&E Student Fellow and as a flutist at the Duke Flute Studio. Choi’s keen interest in locally led international development led her to a… read more about Suzie Choi Would Like You to Pursue Everything »
Maya Ghanem is a graduating senior majoring in International Comparative Studies and minoring in Religious Studies, with a concentration in the Middle East. A leader of the queer Muslim student group, Jummah 4 All, Ghanem’s research is grounded in queer Muslim studies and sexual ethics among Muslim authorities. Their honors thesis on queer Muslims and environmental futurisms focused on the interconnected struggles of queer Muslims and nonhuman creation against Orientalist binaries. Ghanem’s writing on analyzing Arab media… read more about Maya Ghanem Knows Collaboration is Critical »
Bidirectional learning and research between Duke and Latin America is a topic of particular interest for CLACS Director Liliana Paredes, professor of the practice of Romance Studies and International Comparative Studies. read more about Liliana Paredes Among Scholars Reflecting Latinidad Perspectives at Duke »
The course of Esther Kim Lee’s scholarship was set by a book that didn’t exist. When she accepted the 2023 Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) on November 11, Duke's Frances Hill Fox Professor of Theater Studies, International Comparative Studies and History recounted an experience from her days as a graduate student at The Ohio State University in the 1990s. While working on her dissertation, Lee searched the library for books about the history of Asian American theater. To… read more about Esther Kim Lee Wins American Society for Theatre Research’s Distinguished Scholar Award »
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) revealed its allocation of $41.3 million in grants, benefiting 280 humanities projects throughout the nation. Two Trinity College of Arts and Science Faculty are recipients of the grant. Jocelyn Olcott Jocelyn Olcott’s project focuses on the value of care. (John West/Trinity Communications) Jocelyn Olcott, Professor of History; International Comparative Studies; and Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, was… read more about Two Trinity Faculty Awarded Grants from National Endowment for Humanities »
The first day of the inaugural Duke Climate and Sustainability Teaching Fellows’ weeklong workshop series is wrapping up when Alex Glass assigns homework to the assembled faculty participants: “Before tomorrow, I challenge you to come up with a topic from your course that you think doesn’t relate to climate change at all. Tomorrow we’ll discuss ways it does.” The Climate and Sustainability Teaching Fellows Program may be new, but for its three faculty co-leads — Charlotte Clark, Associate Professor of the Practice of… read more about For the Climate and Sustainability Teaching Fellows, the Connections are Myriad »
Five members of the Class of 2024 have been named to the third class of Nakayama Scholars. The Nakayama Public Service Scholarship bolsters the university’s efforts to encourage students to use their Duke experience to engage with significant challenges facing communities around the world. The students represent multiple disciplines across Duke’s academic departments as well as a variety of future careers pursuits. Juniors Nhu Bui, Grace Endrud, Jacob Hervey, Chloe Nguyen and Ronit Sethi were chosen for their… read more about Duke Names Third Class of Nakayama Scholars »
Seven faculty members have been named 2023 Bass Chairs and inducted into the Bass Society of Fellows in recognition of their demonstrated excellence in both undergraduate teaching and research. The group was celebrated Monday evening during a reception at the J.B. Duke Hotel. The chairs were created in 1996 when Anne T. and Robert Bass gave $10 million as a matching gift to encourage Duke alumni, parents and friends to endow the positions. Candidates are nominated by faculty and evaluated by a faculty committee for… read more about Three Trinity Faculty Named 2023 Bass Chairs »
“It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out. But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live.” – “The Measure” by Nikki Erlick That is the premise of this year’s book selection for first-year students as part of the Duke Common Experience. Each year since the 2001-2002 academic year, newly minted Blue Devils have been expected to read and be prepared to discuss a book… read more about Summer Reading Program to be More Inclusive, Create Common Experience for All »
When they arrived in Mississippi for an internship last year, students Jenna Smith and Vishal Jammulapati learned they would spend their summer documenting history. Their assignment was to interview Civil Rights activists throughout the Mississippi Delta, weaving together personal stories with old photos and other artifacts that describe this era in American history. The students soon realized that although the Civil Rights movement is often perceived as long-ago history, in the Delta, the movement is still very much a… read more about ICS Students Ensure Mississippi’s Civil Rights History Isn’t Left in the Past »
Jennifer Nash, Jean Fox O'Barr Professor of Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, minces no words summing up how care as a product is viewed in the United States. “I think care isn’t valued because it's women's work. Anything that women do is devalued.” From birth to death, everyone receives care at some point in their life. And the “care economy” is the economic activity generated by the provision of care services like childcare, elder care and health care. This includes both paid and… read more about Vital but Invisible: How Women Drive the Care Economy in the United States »
Selected as this year’s Duke Chapel Student Preacher, first-year student Erin Dickerson will deliver a sermon in the chapel worship service at 11 a.m. on Sunday, March 5. A double major in Turkish and International Comparative Studies, Dickerson’s sermon, titled “Resting in the Lord,” is based on the Bible’s Psalm 121. “Psalm 121 is about finding rest in God, and God protecting us,” said Dickerson, who is a member of the Duke Wesley campus ministry and also attends the Summit Church in Durham. “It can be tempting to find… read more about Duke Chapel Student Preacher Sermon March 5 to Focus on Rest in God »
“This book is going to get me in trouble,” Kathryn Mathers says. It’s not because the associate professor of the practice of International Comparative Studies and Cultural Anthropology is looking for it. In fact, she thought long and hard about whether she had a right to tackle the subjects she analyzes in the book in question, “White Saviorism and Popular Culture: Imagined Africa as a Space for American Salvation.” Ultimately she decided it was worth the risk, because the book was born from the questions her students kept… read more about Kathryn Mathers’ New Book Debunks Common Myths About Duke Students’ Work in Africa »
North Carolina’s first known mosque was established in Durham nearly 65 years ago, and a current exhibit honors the rich, living history of African American Muslims in the city. “The Transformational History of Ar-Razzaq Islamic Center in Durham” will be on view through December 12, 2022, in the Jerry and Bruce Chappell Family Gallery at the Perkins Library. The thoughtfully curated and thought-provoking exhibition explores five facets of thriving Muslim life in Durham: culture, business, education, civic engagement and… read more about Celebrating North Carolina’s First Mosque and Durham’s Muslim Community »
In her new book, "Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era," Esther Kim Lee traces the history of yellowface from 1862 to 1940 — a time when Asians faced legal and cultural exclusion from immigration and citizenship in the United States. We sat down with the professor of Theater Studies, International Comparative Studies and History and director of the Asian American Diaspora Studies Program to talk about the book, why Hollywood producers would go to such lengths to avoid hiring East Asian actors and… read more about Esther Kim Lee Explains How Today’s Racism Has Roots in Last Century’s Yellowface »
Six members of Duke’s Class of 2023 have been named to the second class of Nakayama Scholars. The Nakayama Public Service Scholarship is part of the university’s efforts to encourage students to use their Duke experience to engage with the large challenges facing communities around the world. The students represent multiple disciplines across Duke’s academic departments as well as a variety of future careers. Juniors Alexandra Bennion, Bentley Choi, Garrett Goodman, Shreyas Hallur, Andrew Liu and Nellie Sun… read more about Duke Names Second Class of Nakayama Scholars »
Mother in the Mist (2021) Special Screening + Q&A with Writer-Director, Kay Niuyue Zhang (ICS Alumna) Friday, April 08, 2022 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm, Pink Parlor, East Duke Building Kay Niuyue Zhang SPONSOR(S): International Comparative Studies (ICS) Following Wuhan's Coronavirus lockdown, a rural single mother, Zhao, embarks on a dangerous journey in search of her preemie newborn baby stranded in Wuhan City Hospital. Joining her path is a mysterious eight-year-… read more about Duke International Comparative Studies (ICS) April Events »
When Michaeline Crichlow moved from her native St. Lucia to upstate New York, she had a lot to learn — and not just in the graduate program she attended at Binghamton University. “I became a Black person not in the Caribbean, but in the United States,” said the professor and interim chair of African & African American Studies. Race wasn’t often discussed in St. Lucia, where the vast majority of the population is Black. The rare times it was, the conversation wasn’t about Black and white, but the Indo-Caribbean peoples… read more about What Decolonization Means »