The Oxford Handbook of American Women's and Gender History is a compilation of essays that illustrate the history of an entire continent through women and their ideas about gender: migration, colonialism, warfare, free and unfree labor, incarceration, sexuality, race, music, and women in the work force, in politics and in motherhood. Nearly a third of the essays are penned by UC authors, including two from UC Irvine: Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, professor and chair of Asian American studies, and Sharon Block, professor of history.
Linda Trinh Vo, a professor of Asian-American studies at the University of California, Irvine, noted an upsurge in organizing and interest in town halls that lay out how more stringent immigration rules could affect Orange County's Vietnamese community. "The broadening of who could be deported has mobilized more people in the community," she said, and people are taking notice of newly elected Democrats excoriating the move. "That is something the Vietnamese community is going to pay attention to," she said, "and that could have a long-term effect on their openness to the Democratic Party."
Ngugi wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan writer and Distinguished Professor of comparative literature at the University of California, Irvine. He writes in Gikuyu and Swahili and has written and spoken extensively on African language. Thiong'o says he is "horrified" by Disney's claim on the phrase, even though the trademark had a specific business goal and just covers T-shirts. "It would be like trademarking 'good morning' or 'it is raining cats and dogs' in the case of English," he said. "It's a common phrase we use every other day. No company can own it."
The New York Times, Dec. 14, 2018
A Dissident Chinese Novelist Finds Echoes of Mao, and Orwell
"Although he's been living in exile for more than 30 years, Ma Jian's depiction of China in his writing hasn't been frozen in time," said [UCI alumna] Maura Cunningham, a historian of modern China based in Ann Arbor, Mich., who interviewed Mr. Ma on stage at the Hong Kong festival. "In 'China Dream,' Ma blends fact and fiction to explain how Xi Jinping and the party are enacting violence against, and even attempting to eradicate, the collective memory of China's recent history," she said.
Jonathan Alexander, Chancellor's Professor, and Rebecca Black, associate professor, at UC Irvine write, "As scholars of fan fiction and young adult literature, we started noticing how fan fiction authors were incorporating autism into their stories - sometimes through new characters and other times by rewriting existing ones. Since then we've been collecting and analyzing fan fictions in which young writers have created characters with autism."
Hector Tobar, UCI associate professor of literary journalism and Chicano/Latino studies, writes, "Today, the forty-fifth President of the United States is making common cause with professional and amateur deceivers as he governs and leads his party via his Twitter feed."
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, UCI Chancellor's Professor of history, writes, "I was lamenting the slow death of Hong Kong, or rather of a particular Hong Kong. A Hong Kong that was supposed to be able to enjoy a variety of distinctive freedoms relating to speech and assembly for 50 years after becoming integrated into the People's Republic of China under the terms of a 'one country, two systems' arrangement."
Where Elizabeth was the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII, Mary's descent from the Tudors was more direct, and, per UCI Professor of English Jayne Lewis, her "sterling pedigree, untainted by the stain of bastardy, put her before Elizabeth in the line to the English crown" in the eyes of many. Even at the time, it was tempting (and common) to compare and contrast the two. As Lewis puts it, "politically maladroit and sexually active ... Mary Stuart was indeed everything that her famously chaste and indomitable cousin once-removed was not."
Erika Hayasaki, professor of literary journalism at the University of California, Irvine, writes: "White power organizations are not uncommon in California--the state actually has the most active hate groups in the nation, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center--but Brown's family disapproved of their criminal behavior, if not their ideology."
[UCI alumnus] Erik Altenbernd and William Deverell write, "Living in California means living close to the beauty and power of nature. It also means understanding that we will pay a price when our supposed control of nature fails. California has much to learn from the terrible legacy of the St. Francis Dam, particularly at a moment when disasters are once again rocking the state. Congress and the president should move quickly to make the bill law."
The Atlantic, Nov. 15, 2018
Freeways Are Always Soul Crushing. Now They're on Fire.
Amy Wilentz, professor of literary journalism at the University of California, Irvine, writes: "Even when fires are not threatening them from both sides, freeways are a brutal part of California's physical and metaphysical infrastructure. ...The roads crisscross the soul, seeming to open up all kinds of destinations but, overcrowded, under construction, whimsically closed for unstated reasons, pretty much block your way to wherever you might be thinking of going."
