Feast of Words

The Emory community gathered in Ackerman Hall of the Carlos Museum on February 10 to celebrate the 98 faculty members who authored or edited a total of 104 books in 2019.  Of those 104 books, 23 were authored by our members!

Lunch Colloquium--Monday, March 2

October 15 Debate

Pearl Dowe, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Political Science and African American Studies, Oxford College and Emory University

Headed into the 2020 election, the Democratic party is reckoning with the varied ideas that characterize liberal politics and complicate the question of "electability." The expansive Democratic candidate field suggests that the party is not (yet) clear about its current identity or what Democratic voters want.  This talk, by one of Emory's newest professors, an expert in American politics in general and African American political leadership in particular, will provide a discussion of how the Democratic party has reached this moment and what steps it should take to ensure it is seen as a viable party option for the many millions of voters it will need to attract if it is to succeed in removing Trump (and Trumpers) from power and reclaiming the White House (and then some).

About Pearl Dowe

Pearl Dowe is one of our newest faculty members.  An article about her appointment in Emory News gives an overview of her career:

Pearl K. Dowe, noted political scientist and scholar, will join Emory University in fall 2019 as Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Political Science and African American Studies with a joint appointment between the university's Oxford College and Emory College of Arts and Sciences. Dowe currently chairs the department of political science and is an affiliated faculty member of the African and African American Studies Program at the University of Arkansas. 

"This Asa Griggs Candler professorship is an exciting and important addition to our faculty ranks," says Oxford College Dean Douglas A. Hicks. "Welcoming a scholar of Pearl Dowe's stature to Oxford and Emory will greatly strengthen our curriculum in African American studies and leadership education. Her expertise in African American political leadership will make a valuable and much-needed contribution to our curriculum and to faculty scholarship in service to American democracy."

Dowe's unique joint appointment will bridge Oxford and Emory colleges. With a home base for teaching and scholarship at Oxford, Dowe will liaise to the Department of African American Studies at Emory College, where she will teach a course each year and help expand the curriculum. At Oxford, her courses will have a thematic focus on understanding leadership. 

"Building a strong community of scholars who study race, inequality and resilience is one of our strategic priorities, and Pearl Dowe will help us to achieve that goal," says Michael A. Elliott, dean of Emory College of Arts and Sciences. 

"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Dowe to the Emory community," says Dwight A. McBride, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. "Dr. Dowe's scholarship and teaching will contribute significantly to the innovative work taking place at both the Oxford and Atlanta campuses while also creating another connection between them."

Dowe's most recent research focuses on African American women's political ambition and public leadership. Her published writing includes co-authorship of " Remaking the Democratic Party: Lyndon B. Johnson as Native-Son Presidential Candidate" (University of Michigan Press: 2016) and editorship of "African Americans in Georgia: A Reflection of Politics and Policy Reflection in the New South" (Mercer University Press, 2010).

She has published numerous articles and book chapters that have appeared in the Journal of African American Studies, Political Psychology, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Journal of Black Studies, and Social Science Quarterly.

Dowe has presented widely at professional conferences and given frequent news-media interviews about American political topics. She currently serves as parliamentarian for the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and is a member of several committees for the American Political Science Association, and she previously served on the executive council of the Southern Political Science Association. She is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy and the Race, Gender & Class Journal.

The University of Arkansas recognized Dowe for her commitments to diversity and students, awarding her the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences' Nudie E. Williams Diversity Award, the NAACP Faculty of the Year Award, and the University of Arkansas Greek Life's Order of Omega Faculty of the Year Award. 

Raised in Georgia, Dowe is a graduate of Savannah State University and holds an MA in political science from Georgia Southern University and a PhD in political science from Howard University. She joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas in 2008. In 2016 she was visiting scholar in residence at Howard University's Ronald Walters Center for Public Policy.

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Lunch Colloquium--Tuesday, February 18

Daksheshwar Mahadeo Temple, Kankhal

An Ancient Hindu Cautionary Tale: The Destruction of Daksha's Sacrifice

When Charlotte and I visited Varanasi, India, several years ago, I don't know why, but I was enamored with the reverence and dignity shown to the dead and the central role death plays in Hindu culture.  Perhaps this is why I was particularly intrigued on February 18 at the Lunch Colloquium when Paul Courtright, Professor Emeritus, Department of Religion, presented to a packed room his research into "An Ancient Hindu Cautionary Tale: The Destruction of Daksha's Sacrifice."  As background, Paul first introduced us to some British-Indian history. The British colonizers in the early 19^th century encountered a practice there chiefly among Hindus, termed "Sati" or "Sutti," in which the living widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her dead husband's pyre.  They were puzzled and unnerved by this practice and were told it was part of the Hindu religion.  The practice was eventually outlawed in 1829 by the Brits.

So, what is the basis of this practice and is it indeed part of the Hindu religion?  These are questions Paul wanted to address when he began his research years ago.  He then came across this mythical story that he related in detail.  The story presumably originated in Kankhal, a place in the state of Uttarakhand, India. The characters include the father, Daksha (whose father was Lord Brahma), his daughter, Sati, a Goddess, and Shiva, the God who marries Sati.  Unlike in many Hindu marriages, Daksha did not have a say in the arranged marriage (since it was ordained by the Gods) and holds animosity toward Shiva because his son-in-law disrespects him. 

Sometime after the marriage, Daksha hosts a "sacrifice" and "everyone" is invited except Shiva.  However, Sati attends and asks her father why he has not invited Shiva.  The father has critical, mean-spirited words for Shiva and his daughter is enraged.  At this juncture Sati departs her body by "dying by fire," but Shiva then reconstitutes her and transports her to a mountain where the Gods deconstruct her into numerous body parts that are deposited across many sites in India.  In the meantime, Shiva directs retaliation against Daksha, driving away all the guests and then, through an intermediary, having Daksha beheaded and replacing the head with the head of a goat (after which he becomes a devotee of Shiva). 

One interpretation of the actual practice of Sati that the British observed and finally could not accept was the violence shown toward Hindu women thereby, a view that contributed to the end of the practice, though some would say the practice left a pall over India, perhaps not unlike the pall cast over America by slavery.

So, what are we to make of this mythical story?  Why is it a cautionary tale?  Well, Daksha has overstepped a boundary, and this leads to his head being replaced with the head of a goat and subservience to Shiva, the son-in-law.  But did the Gods not overstep a line by not allowing Daksha to arrange the marriage in the first place? 

Obviously the spotlight is on relationships in the family.  What happens when the father-in-law doesn't respect his son-in-law, and vice versa?  Obviously the person with the most power possesses the last word in this ethereal realm.  But perhaps the tragedy would have been averted if the father had not so blatantly baited the new son-in-law and daughter.  Words do matter!   And how important is an arranged marriage when we confront the idea head on?  We do see the wife coming to the defense of her new husband.  The daughter might have been more understanding of her father, and that feeling could have been communicated to the husband.  These are some of the more literal questions raised by the story.

But more broadly and metaphorically how can the story be interpreted?  Is there any spiritual meaning to be gathered from its handling of the relationship between the Gods and us?  Take for example the deconstruction of Sati and dispersal of her body throughout India in sites now deemed holy, sites where sacred fires may burn.  Paul mentioned a fourth component in the story, namely the sacrificial fire, "which moves the universe along," with Agni feeding the flames with clarified butter.  We are much more aware nowadays about the contribution of science in our understanding of death.  Whether we are placed on a pyre, buried, or exposed to sky burial, our bodies are eventually decomposed into our atoms or smaller particles and eventually become part of the universe. Perhaps the story is antedating our current understanding of what happens after death and even extending the idea of reincarnation as our atoms reenter the universe to be recycled again into other forms of being that "move it along."  Is this eco-theology in its beginning?  Is the story at the interface of religion, ecology, and science?  And what is happening in Varanasi?

One of the slides displayed in the presentation is reproduced below. In it, Paul shares the awareness he has developed in the course of his research into this story and all of the other cultural and historical material from such a decidedly other place and time that he has worked with in the course of his career--an awareness of how his own identity (indeed any author's identity) impacts his or her work, work that must be done with such awareness in mind so as to mitigate misunderstandings that might otherwise arise.

The positions of the author:  Positionality

"Positionality is the social and political context that creates your identity in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability status. Positionality also describes how your identity influences, and potentially biases, your understanding of and outlook on the world." (dictionary.com)

This is a marvelous slide to help one to begin to understand many of the influences that impinge on our minds as we ruminate on a subject, a story, a work of art, whether we're authoring a piece or reading one, offering a lecture or hearing one. So, until Paul's book on Sati (funded in part by his Heilbrun grant) comes out with a fuller explanation of his views on the story and the practice, we can each develop our own inevitably idiosyncratic interpretation of this fascinating mix of fictions and facts Paul has been able to share with us at our Colloquium.

--James W. Keller

Feast of Words

Carney, William (Law, emeritus). Mergers and Acquisitions: Cases and Materials. 5th edition. Foundation.

de Waal, Frans (Psychology). Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves. Norton.

Goldberg, Jonathan (English, emeritus). Saint Marks: Words, Images, and What Persists. Fordham UP.

Graham, M. Patrick (Theology, emeritus) and David Bagchi, eds. Luther as Heretic: Ten Catholic Responses to Martin Luther, 1518-1541. Wipf and Stock.

Hauk, Gary (Stuart A. Rose Library). Emory as Place: Meaning in a University Landscape. U of Georgia P.

Klehr, Harvey (Political science, emeritus). The Millionaire Was a Soviet Mole: The Twisted Life of David Karr. Encounter.

Konner, Melvin (Anthropology). Believers: Faith in Human Nature. Norton.

Kozarsky, Phyllis (Infectious Diseases, emerita), ed. Health Information for International Travel 2020. Oxford.

Kuhar, Michael (Yerkes). Research Ethics in the Life Sciences. KDP/Amazon.

Lucchesi, John (Biology, emeritus). Epigenetics, Nuclear Organization and Gene Function. Oxford UP.

Makkreel, Rudolf (Philosophy, emeritus) and Frithjof Rodi, eds. Wilhelm Dilthey: Selected Works, Volume VI: Ethical and World-View Philosophy. Princeton UP.

Newsom, Carol (Theology, emerita). Rhetoric and Hermeneutics: Approaches to Text, Tradition and Social Construction in Biblical and Second Temple Literature. Mohr Siebeck.

Patterson, Bobbi (Religion). Building Resilience Through Contemplative Practice: A Field Manual for Helping Professionals and Volunteers. Routledge.

Perkowitz, Sidney (Physics, emeritus). Physics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP.

Perkowitz, Sidney (Physics, emeritus). Real Scientists Don't Wear Ties. Jenny Stanford.

Roark, James (History, emeritus), Michael P. Johnson, Francois Furstenberg, Sarah Stage, and Sarah E. Igo. The American Promise: A History of the United States. 8th edition. Bedford/St. Martin's.

Saliers, Don (Theology, emeritus) and Emily Saliers. A Song to Sing, A Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice. 2nd edition. Fortress.

Schuchard, Ronald (English, emeritus) and Iman Javadi, eds. T. S. Eliot, The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical Edition, Vol 7: A European Society, 1947-1953. John Hopkins UP.

Schuchard, Ronald (English, emeritus) and Jewel Spears Brooker, eds. T. S. Eliot, The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical Edition, Vol 8: Still and Still Moving, 1954-1965. Johns Hopkins UP.

Sheth, Jagdish (Business), Varsha Jain, and Don E. Schultz. Consumer Behavior: A Digital Narrative. Pearson India.

Strocchia, Sharon (History). Forgotten Healers: Women and the Pursuit of Health in Late Renaissance Italy. Harvard UP.

Várady, Tibor (Law, emeritus), John J. Barceló III, Stefan Kröll, and Arthur T. von Mehren. International Commercial Arbitration: A Transnational Perspective. 7th edition. West Academic. 

Warren, Nagueyalti (African American Studies). Alice Walker's Metaphysics: Literature of Spirit. Rowman and Littlefield.

An Emory Report article on the Feast can be read by clicking here.

The complete list of books can be seen by clicking here. 

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