Oxford Bibliographies posts on the OUPblog:
2016
- By William P. Childers, author in Latino Studies:
"His words still shape our consciousness, even if we fail to read him. This is not due to some hackneyed idealism (“tilting at windmills”), but rather to his pervasive impact on the genre that taught us to think like moderns: the novel..."
Read more
- By Ellen Wohl, Editor in Chief of Environmental Science:
"These are the images I carry in memory that form my understanding of passion and compassion in science: Rachel Carson waking at midnight to return to the sea the microscopic marine organisms she has been studying, when the tidal cycle is favorable to their survival; John Muir clinging to the upper branches of a tall pine during a violent storm, reveling in the power of natural forces. [...]"
Read more
- By Devra Davis, Founding Editorial Board member in Environmental Science:
"What do Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Brazil, and India have in common? They have banned the use of Roundup—the most heavily applied herbicide in the United States. Why have these nations acted against what is the most heavily used herbicide in the world today? [...]"
Read more
- By Devra Davis, Founding Editorial Board member in Environmental Science:
"A tired old elephant hunched in the room as President Obama announced the launch of a new moonshot against cancer during his State of the Union address a month ago. We’ve heard that promise before. On 23 December 1971, when President Nixon first declared a national war on cancer, he also based his conviction on the successfully completed moonwalk. [...]"
Read more
- By Devra Davis, Founding Editorial Board member in Environmental Science, and Robert D. Morris:
"The tragedy of children poisoned by lead-contaminated water in Flint, Michigan is not an isolated incident. More than 11 counties in New Jersey have children with higher lead levels than those of Flint. Since 2008, drastic cuts in funding for public health programs across the board have slashed programs to educate parents and pediatricians to test young kids for lead poisoning or test water for its residues. [...]"
Read more
2015
- By Dee Clayman, Editor in Chief of Classics:
"When the ancient resort city of Herculaneum disappeared under more than 65 feet of hot ash and stone in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, a large library of important philosophical texts was buried with it. Like the city and everything in it, the library’s large collection of papyrus scrolls was burned to a crisp, and the efforts to recover, conserve, and read these texts has a long, intriguing history..."
Read moreThe following articles have been made freely available for a short time in conjunction with this blog post:
- By Rong Fu, Editorial Board member in Environmental Science:
"This year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, the 21st annual session of the Conference of the Parties since the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties since the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, will be held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December. Its objective is to achieve a legally binding, universal agreement for all nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby limit an expected global temperature increase to 2°C (3.6° F) above pre-industrial levels."
Read moreSee below for a selection of freely-available articles related to climate change, the Anthropocene, and more:
By Erika Edwards, Author in African American Studies:
"The 2014 Men’s World Cup finals pitted Germany against Argentina. Bets were made and various observations were cited about the teams. Who had the better defense? Would Germany and Argentina’s star players step up to meet the challenge? And, surprisingly, why did Argentina lack black players? [...]"
Read more
By Edward Mullen, Editor in Chief of Social Work:
"Health care reform in the United States has promoted policies and practices that are evidence-based. Prevention, diagnoses, and treatment decisions are to be guided by the best available empirical evidence. Decisions about what treatments are to be provided are to be informed by findings of randomized, controlled, research studies when such evidence is available. [...]"
Read moreMullen's article "Evidence-based Social Work Practice: Issues, Controversies, and Debates" has been made freely available for a short time in conjunction with this blog post.
By Justin Skirry, author in Philosophy:
"On a blustery St. Martin’s Eve in 1619, a twenty-three year old French gentleman soldier in the service of Maximilian of Bavaria was billeted near Ulm, Germany. Having recently quit his military service under Maurice of Nassau, he was new to the Bavarian army and a stranger to the area. The weather and lack of associates motivated the youth to remain alone in his room for days at a time. It was a comfortable room, warmed against the bitter cold by a porcelain stove. One can imagine that such cozy solitude might provide occasion for the young man to reflect on his course in life. [...]"
Read moreSkirry's article on "René Descartes" has been made freely available for a short time in conjunction with this blog post.
By Susan MacArthur, electronic resources librarian at Bates College:
"We know they will find Google and large databases—as well as citations—from our vast discovery system, but getting to the heart of a new topic is key. Our ability to recommend a resource that students can go back to when they have gone to their study places is reassuring for them—and for us. [...]"
Read more
By David J. Leonard, author in African American Studies (forthcoming):
"While excessive and violent policing takes place in working-class and poor communities across racial lines, research points to how black communities across class lines are confined to neighborhoods defined by depleted resources and hyper policing. [...]"
Read more
By Heidi Frontani, author in African Studies:
"Africa has long been home to innovative and civic-minded youths. Supportive international programs and modern communication are helping to raise global awareness of young African leaders’ initiatives and organizations. Africa’s leadership is changing for the better, and young people are leading the way. [...]"
Read moreThe articles "Religion, Politics, and Civic Engagement in the United States" and "Civic/Political Participation" were featured in conjunction with this blog post.
By Heidi Frontani, author in African Studies:
"Although the deaths of ‘charismatic’ species such as lions make the headlines, poaching occurs across a wide range of wildlife species. The effective conservation of Africa’s wildlife is complex. [...]"
Read moreFrontani's articles "Conservation and Wildlife" and "Geography and the Study of Africa" were featured in conjunction with this blog post.
- By Olga Real-Najarro, author in Hinduism:
"[W]hat is the relevance of Aurobindo nowadays? Is there any need to create an act of remembrance? The Indian Revolution considered him one of the fathers of the country, and centers of education and yoga were founded worldwide on the integral paradigm he outlined, but is that really enough? [...]"
Read moreReal-Najarro's article "Aurobindo" was featured in conjunction with this blog post.
- By Étienne Ollion, author in Sociology:
"The son of a postman from the Southwest of France, Bourdieu was far from predestined to become the most influential sociologist of his generation – maybe of the 20th century. Upon arriving at the École Normale Supérieure, the French elite school that was then the pinnacle of academic life, Bourdieu chose philosophy as a major. The curriculum, friendships, and what he saw as the useless posturing of philosophers made him stray from this standard trajectory for aspiring intellectuals at the time. [...]"
Read moreOllion's article "Pierre Bourdieu" was featured in conjunction with this blog post.
- By Matthew Davies, author in African Studies:
"As archaeology literally digs deeper into the past, it reveals an increasingly complex story that both emphasises our shared African origin and evidences the multiple complex trajectories that this evolution undertook. [...]"
Read moreDavies' article "Archaeology of Eastern Africa" was featured in conjunction with this blog post.
- By Ian O'Donnell, author in Criminology:
"In the United States, where prisoners can be held in administrative segregation for years on end, stories of psychological disintegration are common. A senate judiciary subcommittee on solitary confinement was told of a prisoner whose response to his predicament was to stitch his mouth shut using thread from his pillowcase and a makeshift needle. [...]"
Read moreO'Donnell's article "Solitary Confinement" was featured in conjunction with this blog post.
- By Catherine L. Benamou, author in Cinema and Media Studies:
"Few filmmakers have been as multi-talented, publicly outspoken, inventive, and culturally adventurous as Orson Welles. In addition to completing twelve feature-length films, and scripting and shooting at least a half-dozen other projects, including the soon to be reconstructed The Other Side of the Wind, Welles sustained a twenty-year radio career [...]"
Read moreBenamou is the author of the article "Citizen Kane," which was featured, along with "Orson Welles," in conjunction with this blog post.
See the What's New page for more OUPblog posts by Oxford Bibliographies contributors.
