TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURES MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT THE GREATNESS OF LINCOLN 6 He is like none other, and this article by Distinguished Professor James Oakes tells not only what made Lincoln a great President but also why he holds such a special place in our hearts. DEPARTMENTS

AT 365 ...... 2 STYLES OF HIGH TIMES 10 News of public programs and other highlight events at the Graduate The burst of creative energy that characterized the Sixties and still Center resonates today was captured in the multimedia exhibition FASHION + FILM: The 1960s Revisited at the Graduate Center’s James Gallery. On display were European fashions of the times, and such signature HONORS...... 16 Awards, prizes, and other distinctions Italian films of the period as La Dolce Vita, Rocco and his Brothers, and for faculty, students, and alumni L’Avventura.

MUSIC...... 17 IMMIGRATION AND ISLAM 12 Covering the Graduate Center’s rich and varied music scene The third program in the Great Issues Forum series on religion brought a quartet of experts to Proshansky Auditorium to consider how Western Europe will cope with rising concern about the region’s CENTERS ...... 20 What’s happening at the Centers and growing and restive Muslim population. Institutes

GRANTS ...... 21 A TOP PRIZE IN MATH FOR ONE OF OUR OWN 14 A summary of recent grants received by the Graduate Center For his innovative work in algebraic topology, Distinguished Professor Dennis Sullivan, who holds the Graduate Center’s Albert Einstein BOOKS ...... 22 Chair in Science, shared the 2010 Wolf Foundation Prize in A listing, with brief descriptions, of Mathematics, considered one of the field’s highest honors. recently published faculty books

ALUMNI...... 24 Brief reports of where our alumni are and what they are doing with 365 FIFTH | Fall 2010 folio | THE GRADUATE CENTER | The City University of New York

FOLIO with 365 Fifth is a publication of WILLIAM P. K ELLY IRA MOTHNER BARRY DISMAN The Graduate Center of the City University of President Editor, Folio Director of Graphic Design New York. © 2010. RAYMOND C. SOLDAVIN JANE HOUSE DONALD CHERRY Visit our website: www.gc.cuny.edu Vice President for Director of Publications Graphic Designer Institutional Advancement Editor, 365 Fifth ALEX E. IRKLIEVSKI Send comments and questions to: DAVID MANNING Contributing Writers: Graphic Designer FOLIO with 365 Fifth Director of Media Relations BHISHAM BHERWANI Office of Public Affairs and Publications JENNIE KAUFMAN and Marketing ANNA CONLAN Copy Editor The Graduate Center KRIS DILORENZO 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10016 JACKIE GLASTHAL ELIZABETH FRASER Send letters to the editor by email to: KERRI LINDEN Editorial Support JOE WALKER [email protected] Cover: Paul J. Richards/Getty Images MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Why Lincoln? What makes our sixteenth President such an iconic figure? Why do we write more about him, read more about him, and invoke his name and memory more than any other secular historical figure? In this issue’s major feature, James Oakes, distinguished professor of history, returns to the theme of his 2009 commencement address on the “greatness” of Lincoln, a greatness he ascribes to three factors: Lincoln’s capacity for growth, his political skill, and his legendary way with words. No early abolitionist, Lincoln came to oppose slavery over time. The young lawyer Oakes calls a “party hack” of the 1830s—a man who’d then use racial demagoguery to attack his adversaries—would grow to become the bold champion of emancipation of the 1860s. To bring the nation along with him—to preserve the union, free the slaves, and secure their civil rights—while avoiding compromise and maintaining relationships with men whose motives he deplored, required an extraordinary set of political skills. Chief What makes our sixteenth among these was Lincoln’s power of persuasion, a gift manifest in the rich heritage of his writings, from the celebrated Gettysburg President such an iconic figure? Address and Second Inaugural to the lesser-known Greeley and Conkling letters prized by historians. Why do we invoke his memory In his essay, Professor Oakes argues that the attributes that made more than any other? Lincoln a great President do not, of themselves, account for the deep affection of so many Americans. “Long before I had given much thought to the elements that made Lincoln great,” he writes, “I had come to admire him—for reasons that have more to do with his personality than with his policy.” Far from being corrupted by power, Lincoln was humbled by it. He was a great wartime leader, but his humility in triumph separates him from others in that pantheon of national heroes whose eminence is secured by military prowess. The Lincoln we cherish is a deeply compassionate figure who took no pride in victory, but rather mourned the horrendous cost to both North and South. We cherish Lincoln for his humanity, for the raw force of his ambition, the forbearance with which he confronted personal tragedy, for his humor and gentle kindliness. He is, as we perceive him—and few have been more scrupulously studied—an eminently accessible hero who expects only the best from us. And the depth of our affection, I suspect, says as much about our perception of ourselves as a nation as it does about our vision of Lincoln.

William P. Kelly President The Graduate Center

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little things is not such a little thing,” he declared. the poet who once described his own work as The Leon Levy Center’s Rampersad then went on to give a brief overview “chronicles of love and loss.” Annual Conference Sees a of African-American culture as depicted in Ameri- Next, Ileene Smith, editor at large for trade can biographies. Until “the literary ice cracked” in books at Yale University Press, and literary agent Bright but Quite Different the early 1970s, he pointed out, these life stories Steve Wasserman took up the issue of “Biography Future for Biography and Publishing.” They were followed by a panel ti- tled “The Silver Screen: Directors, Filmmakers, Bi- ography, and the Sad State of the Biopic.” On this “Biographical truth is not to be had.” So Sigmund panel, which addressed the difficulties of dealing Freud responded in 1896 to his friend Arnold with life’s complexities on celluloid and the genre’s Zweig, who had approached him for permission to questionable sense of responsibility to a subject’s ac- chronicle Freud’s life. That biography was never to be written. The elusive nature of biography, in print or other medium, is a problem that biographers, their readers, publishers, and critics still struggle with today, and it was a leading topic at the second Gary Giddins annual Leon Levy Conference on Biography, held tended to be written by whites and were primarily in the Graduate Center’s Elebash Recital Hall about athletes and entertainers. on March 19. The conference, provocatively Picking up on Rampersad’s point about biogra- titled “The End of Biography: Purpose, Promise, phy and ethnicity, jazz columnist Gary Giddins Prospects,” brought together an impressive array of noted his own frustrations at the “cloud of myth” scholars, authors, musicians, art and movie critics, often obfuscating the real life stories of early jazz poets, and publishers. greats such as Jelly Roll Morton, Buddy Bolden, and Louis Armstrong. Much more is known about New Orleans’ Storyville, its saloons, longshoremen, and prostitutes, he contended, than generally made its way into early books about these famous musi- cians. Representing other “nonverbal” art forms in this panel on “Biography on the Nonverbal” were Jed Perl, art critic for The New Republic; Amanda Vaill, who has written extensively about choreogra- (Clockwise from upper left) Caryn James, Patricia pher Jerome Robbins; and the panel’s moderator, Bosworth, Molly Haskell, and Andrew Sarris composer and music critic Eric Salzman. One con- tual life story, were biographer Patricia Bosworth,

ALL PHOTOS BY DON POLLARD sensus reached by this panel was that writing about film critics Molly Haskell and Andrew Sarris, and Arnold Rampersad “nonverbal artists” is perhaps even more satisfying moderator Caryn James. Following introductory remarks by GC President than writing about writers. As Vaill put it, “A piece Rounding out the day’s program was a discussion William P. Kelly, Shelby White, founding trustee of of writing explains itself. But it’s a challenge to de- between D. T. Max and Catherine Clinton, two bi- the Leon Levy Foundation, and Brenda Wineapple, scribe the creativity of things that are not otherwise ographers whose subjects clearly suffered from what director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the recorded or written down.” Clinton referred to as “psychic wounds.” For Clin- stage was turned over to biographer and literary In the first afternoon session, the life of Pulitzer ton these include Mary Todd Lincoln and John critic Arnold Rampersad, professor of English at Prize–winning poet James Merrill was seen from Wilkes Booth, and it is the latter whose life she de- Stanford University, a MacArthur Fellow, and au- two complementary yet unique perspectives—that picts in her first graphic novel, Booth, released in thor of a celebrated two-volume biography of of Merrill’s close friend, the poet Richard Howard, April. Max’s current area of interest, in contrast, is Langston Hughes. Acknowledging that the publi- postmodern novelist David Foster Wallace, who cation of multivolume works, such as the one he is committed suicide in September 2008. known for, is “pretty much dead,” Rampersad nev- While acknowledging the genre’s limits and the ertheless saw new forms of biography—such as ways that it is continuing to evolve, the speakers film, poetry, and what he called “artifiction”—aris- did, as a whole, agree that biography is still very ing to take their place. much alive and well. As Wasserman put it, specu- Emphasizing the close ties between biogra- lating on the potential growth of eBooks and other phy and history, however, Rampersad cautioned new technologies, “People will perhaps read these biographers to take care that “small errors” do things in more ubiquitous fashions . . . but it won’t not inadvertently slip into their text—an occupa- change their curiosity of how people lived, will live, tional hazard for scholars striving to create a and did live.” As far as he and the other speakers (l. to r.) Richard Howard and Langdon Hammer work worthy of literary merit. “A single deception,” could tell, biography seems very much here to stay. for example, might range from making up the and that of Merrill biographer Langdon Hammer. For more information about the Leon Levy Cen- weather on a particular day to the “fact” that While Hammer shared excerpts of the book he is ter for Biography, and events they’ll be holding, see a subject was born as the sun rose, as the sun writing about Merrill, Howard read poems and told http://www.leonlevycenterforbiography.org/. set, or as the midnight bell tolled. “Making up stories that helped flesh out a combined portrait of —Jackie Glasthal

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sented by the Scone Foundation, at ceremonies on President Kelly Talks with January 25 in Elebash Recital Hall. Ira Glass of Public Radio’s Yehoshua Freundlich, director of the Israel State Archives and Israel’s state archivist since 2006, and Popular This American Life Khader Salameh, director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Library and Museum, were honored for their ef- For the last fifteen years, fans of the celebrated pub- forts to preserve archives of the Middle East. Both lic radio program This American Life have been men have been part of the Endangered Archives tuning in to hear Ira Glass, the show’s award-win- Programme, sponsored by the British Library, which ning producer and host, interview an eclectic mix has surveyed the archives and libraries of Jerusalem. of characters—everyone from Steve Malarky, cre- “Archivists play an understated but important ator of the world’s best-selling home video for cats, role in our society and they should be honored,”

to Louann Mims, a 78-year-old retiree who found PHOTO: PAULA VLODKOWSKY said Stanley Cohen, founder and president of the herself trapped on her Stearns and Foster mattress President Kelly with Ira Glass Scone Foundation, as he made the presentation. for eight days after Hurricane Katrina hit her New mers who spent their time retaliating against Their work—preserving original and unduplicated Orleans home. real Internet crooks. To do so, for example, they documents and artifacts for scholars and the gen- But on May 17 in the Graduate Center’s baited a Nigerian scammer into war-torn Sudan eral public—plays an especially important role in Proshansky Auditorium, the spotlight was on Glass on the pretense of giving him money. “On their Israel with its rich and multicultural history. himself, as he went one-on-one with GC President Web site they were pitching it as—isn’t this hilari- Freundlich presides over a vast collection of doc- William P. Kelly. Their conversation was part of the ous,” recalled Glass. “But I just thought they were uments, maps, photographs, and other material in Extraordinary Lives series of talks in which Kelly monsters.” the Israel State Archives, including government speaks with public figures who have played a major Still, to do the story, Glass needed to sound sym- records from the origin of the modern state in 1948 role in shaping the fields in which they work. pathetic. That is, of course, a key to getting his sub- and the periods of Ottoman rule and the British Introducing his guest, Kelly referred to Glass as jects to talk. In hindsight, though, he worries that Mandate. Pointing out how Israeli archival docu- “the Scheherazade of the American airways” and he may have been too easy on them. “After the ments far outnumber Palestinian documents, he “the master of the caesura.” These are not the only story aired, I read on their Web site that they felt I stressed the importance of righting this imbalance: accolades that Glass has received for his work on had been very fair to them, which,” he admitted, “It is incumbent upon us to pay attention, as radio and TV. Dubbed Time magazine’s 2001 “Best “was not my meaning at all.” archivists, to all our communities,” said Freund - Radio Host in America,” Glass is also a recipient By 2007 This American Life had achieved such a lich. “We must make efforts to collect Palestinian of the George Foster Peabody Award and the 2009 following that Showtime invited Glass to create a documents and preserve them.” Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Edward R. television adaptation of the program. Even in its Salameh used slides to showcase some important Murrow Award for outstanding contributions to short two-season run (2007–09) the TV version Islamic manuscripts and artifacts housed in Al- public radio. At present, close to two million lis- earned Emmy awards for Outstanding Nonfiction Aqsa. He expressed his concern for the preserva- teners enjoy his radio show weekly on more than Series, Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Pro- tion of the library’s collection of Palestinian 500 public radio stations across the nation. Dur- gramming, and Best Editing for Nonfiction Pro- newspapers from 1900 to the present and showed ing most weeks, the podcast of the program is the gramming. In the end, however, Glass decided that some of the many ancient government records most popular in America. (To hear a sampling, go it was just too difficult to do both shows. “The damaged by age, mistreatment, and insects, for to thisamericanlife.org/.) radio show that meant so much to us and to the which a preservation and restoration initiative is During their conversation, Kelly tried to get at audience, and that had such a bigger audience, was being organized that “hopefully will start this year,” the heart of the show’s art, popularity, and staying suffering for this thing that not many people saw,” said Salameh. power. While he was still in his twenties, said Glass, he said. he worked as a tape cutter for some of National In summing up the show’s impact on American Public Radio’s daily news shows. It was there that culture, Glass acknowledged being in the worst po- he realized “you don’t need a body lying on the sition of anybody to judge. “I just want people to floor bleeding to create suspense.” According to get from it what I get,” he said. “I view it first and Glass, his program relies on a very old-fashioned foremost as a kind of class entertainment. To me, kind of story structure—one with a lot of narrative that seems like a proper ambition for it, and that’s motion. At the same time, he noted, a unique as- what I want it to achieve.”

pect of storytelling on the radio is that “somebody —Jackie Glasthal PHOTOS: A. POYO has to have a thought about what’s occurred—you Khader Salameh Yehoshua Freundlich actually have a character in the story reflect on the The two archivists were introduced by Merav action.” Honoring Two Archivists Mack, a research fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Glass finds that his show has the most impact Institute who had worked with them on the En- when it mimics the way people truly converse with from the Holy Land, an dangered Archives Programme. The evening ended one another. “In really good interviews I feel such Israeli and a Palestinian with a postpresentation discussion of “Archives and love for the other person,” he noted, “because both History” with comments by David Myers, profes- of us end up sort of vulnerable.” This approach, sor of history at UCLA and former director of the however, does hold some risks. As an example, In a rare display of Holy Land comity, two UCLA Center for Jewish Studies; Rashid Khalidi, Glass told of an episode a few years back in which archivists—an Israeli and a Palestinian—shared the Edward Said professor of Modern Arab Studies at he interviewed a group of reverse Internet scam- seventh annual Archivist of the Year award, pre- Columbia University; Dov Waxman, associate pro-

THE GRADUATE CENTER | The City University of New York 3 AHTEAD365

fessor of political science at Baruch College; and shall not be denied or abridged by the United rector, Professor Mauricio Font of Queens College, David Nasaw, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Professor States or by any State on account of sex. Congress and Peter Kingstone, associate professor of political of History at the Graduate Center. shall have power to enforce this article by appro- science at the University of Connecticut. Both Honored guests included two-time Pulitzer priate legislation.” scholars have written widely on Latin America. Prize–winning biographer Robert Caro; historian, Political action in New York City meant staging Coffee and Transformation in São Paulo, Brazil (Lex- journalist, and writer David Kahn; and French ac- big events that captured the entire nation’s atten- ington Books, 2010) is Font’s most recent book, ademic, writer, and historian Annie Cohen-Solal, tion, Bernikow explained. During President while Kingstone, the author of four books on biographer of Jean-Paul Sartre. Woodrow Wilson’s 1916 visit to witness the first Brazil, has forthcoming The Political Economy of The event was cosponsored by the Middle East illumination of the Statue of Liberty’s crown, two Latin America: Reflections on Neoliberalism and De- and Middle Eastern American Center, the Center women in a biplane flew over the President’s yacht, velopment (Routledge). for the Humanities, and the Center for Jewish showering it with suffrage leaflets; and the women’s A change in Brazil’s constitution, according to Studies. parades, sometimes 40,000 strong with half a mil- Font, heralded the new era. What has been called —Kerri Linden lion spectators, were carefully produced. “The pre- the Citizen Constitution of 1988 was Brazil’s sev- cision of this organizing is astonishing,” said enth constitution since 1824 and the first to in- Bernikow. “They were countering the myths that clude, among its reforms, severe punishment for Gotham Center Programs women were undisciplined, unorganized, and emo- breaches of civil rights. With new confidence in the tional.” Moreover, they marched in total silence, political system, Brazil has seen its first two-term Look at NYC Women as the better to draw attention to their organized democratically elected presidents and a peaceful Observers of City Life and force. This “force” comprised many social strata; transition between the governments of Fernando despite ongoing conflicts, often instigated by racial Henrique Cardoso (1995–2003) and Luiz Inácio Powerful Agents of Change issues, the poor of New York, of all colors and Lula da Silva (2002–10). creeds, joined hands with rich and powerful society Stable government and Cardoso’s Plano Real The women of New York City, their impact on his- women like Alva Vanderbilt Belmont to reach the (Royal Plan)—which tamed a 3,000 percent in- torical events, and their role in illuminating early goal of equal suffrage. flation rate—have earned Brazil membership in twentieth-century life within the metropolis were In another Gotham Center event, on May 5, “BRICs” (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), a topics of two spring programs sponsored by the Suzanne Wasserman, director of the Center, pre- newly powerful grouping of large and rapidly Gotham Center for New York City History. miered her documentary Sweatshop Cinderella, the growing economies. Font gives credit for this to story of Anzia Yezierska, a Jewish the post-1990s reforms, the recent commodities immigrant from Poland whose stark boom, and Brazil’s strategic role in the Western tales of immigrant life in New York Hemisphere. Open to private investment and made her a well-known writer in committed to a trading economy, Brazil has just the 1920s and whose short story about tripled exports in the past decade, and a re- “Hungry Hearts” became a feature cent discovery could make it one of the largest oil film. Yezierska’s work remains pop- producers. The nation is forming regional and ular today, particularly her novel global partnerships, participating in the Interna- Bread Givers. Wasserman, herself a tional Monetary Fund, and pursuing an active for- New Yorker, explained why she was eign agenda, which includes hosting the 2014 drawn to Yezierska as the subject of World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Its foreign re- her film: “The past really inspired serves helped Brazil weather the global financial Anzia. Maybe to a fault, since she crisis better than the United States, and its bank- felt as if she couldn’t escape it. But ing system is now stronger than ours. that was what I was interested in.” Wages have risen, and per capita income has

PHOTO: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS —Kerri Linden more than doubled since 1985. The growing mid- Suffragettes parade up Fifth Avenue, NYC, October 23, 1915. dle class—now the largest segment of the popula- In a May 11 program entitled “The ‘Weaker tion—is filling the enormous chasm that still exists Sex’ Takes Gotham: Fighting for Women’s Right to Probing Brazil’s Surprising between Brazil’s “haves” and “have nots.” Vote,” writer and activist Louise Bernikow deliv- Despite this extraordinary progress, however, ered a spirited, illustrated talk on the women’s suf- Economic Success in “The problems persist. Public sector debt doubled in the frage movement in New York City. She focused on Sleeping Giant Awakens” past year, delaying pension and tax reforms. There the final years of the movement, after voting rights is inadequate support for research and develop- for women had gained quick approval in the West, ment, primary education is underfunded, and sub- while the Eastern states stubbornly held out. Described not so long ago as “one of the region’s stantial investment in infrastructure will be needed When, in 1917, after extensive political action, basket cases” and “ungovernable,” Brazil has for Brazil to sustain its level of growth. Also trou- New York State passed a suffrage bill by referen- emerged of late as a global player, with the fastest bling is what Kingstone called “mission creep,” the dum, “This was so big, and had such a huge im- growing gross domestic product (GDP) in the increasing role played by the military in the coun- pact, that they felt the federal amendment was Western Hemisphere, rising life expectancy and try’s political and social spheres. within their grasp,” Bernikow said. “And indeed, adult literacy, and a rapidly expanding middle class. Font noted residual tensions from past authori- by 1920, it was.” That year, Congress passed the Unraveling this dramatic turnaround for a Jan- tarian episodes and friction between the federal and Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: uary seminar sponsored by the Bildner Center for state governments. Although regional cooperation “The right of citizens of the United States to vote Western Hemisphere Studies were the center’s di- on energy, infrastructure, and transportation needs

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to be pursued more aggressively, these issues are not being raised by the major 2010 presidential candi- dates, handpicked by Cardoso and “Lula.” “The Sleeping Giant Awakens: Unraveling Brazil’s Surprising Success” was the first in the Bildner Cen- ter’s 2010–11 seminar series, “Brazil: 25 Years of Democracy.” Ken Erickson, professor of political sci- ence at Hunter College, served as moderator. —Kris DiLorenzo

Were Artworks That Decorate a Famous Christian Chapel the Work of Muslim Artists?

Are there works by Muslim artists among the ele- gant mosaics and painted panels, rich in Christian iconography, decorating the ceiling of Palermo’s Cappella Palatina, the royal chapel of the Norman kings of Sicily? That’s the belief of Jeremy Johns, professor of the art and archaeology of the Islamic Mediterranean and director of the Khalili Research Centre, Oxford University. In a recent lecture at the Graduate Center, he used photographs taken after the reopening of the renovated chapel to il- lustrate his contention that the unique visual lan- guage of the cappella provides evidence of both

Muslim and Christian artistic traditions. PHOTOS: JEREMY JOHNS Commissioned in the 1130s by the Norman In one section of the Cappella Palatina ceiling shines this star with holy figures and epigraphic band. king Roger II, Cappella Palatina functioned as themselves, Professor Johns disagrees. Comparing tian prototypes into their own tradition of “paint- royal audience hall as well as a house of Christian differences in the grammar and syntax of paintings ings of wonders.” After all, by the 1130s Christian worship. This might well explain why the transi- from the Cappella Palatina and pre-existing Chris- images had been circulating in the eastern Mediter- tional border joining the intricately carved ceiling tian iconography, Johns suggested that Muslim ranean for hundreds of years. “Could Muslim and the luminous gold mosaic walls, which Johns painters absorbed details and themes from Chris- artists not have assimilated these images into their displayed, features painted panels depicting, along repertoires?” asked Johns. with religious stories, court life and entertainments, Moreover, he said, behind the assumption that military figures, and auspicious beasts, such as ele- the chapel painters must have been Christian is the phants and camels, which signified the king’s com- implication that Islamic art is aniconic. But, he ex- mand over the natural world and the geographical plained, although it is traditional for Muslim artists reach of his power. not to represent God or Mohammed figuratively, Many of these depictions, such as those show- from the earliest days of Islam, palaces had been ing board games, fountains, veiled women, and decorated with human and animal figures. men treading grapes, appear on the walls of other In conclusion, Johns asserted that paintings on Mediterranean courts. Significantly, Johns noted, the cappella’s ceiling show Muslim artists carefully these courts were not Christian, but Muslim, and manipulating the Christian iconography at their scenes in the Cappella Palatina correspond to the disposal and drawing on an Arabic tradition of rep- ceiling of the ruling Fatimid dynasty’s Western resentations of royal power to create a uniquely hy- Palace in Cairo, thus corroborating his belief that brid decorative program. If he is right in his the painters of the Cappella Palatina ceiling were hypothesis, the Cappella Palatina paintings lose led by an Arabic workshop from Cairo. their Christian charge and offer instead an intrigu- The Cappella Palatina ceiling exhibits Christian ing example of studied medieval multiculturalism. influence as well. Johns showed that images of men The April 7 lecture was sponsored by the Mid- strangling or riding lions can be linked to icons of dle East and Middle Eastern American Center. Pro- Samson or David, dragon slayers to St. George and fessor Jeremy Johns’s research was published in the St. Theodore, and a male figure holding two crosses anthology The Painted Ceilings of the Cappella to Easter ceremonies. While the Christian iconog- Palatina, by Ernst J. Grube, Jeremy Johns, and raphy in these paintings has led some scholars to This panel of court life depicts the ruler’s nadim, his Eleanor Sims (Saffron Books, 2005). conclude that the artists must have been Christians cup-companion, or drinking pal. —Anna Conlan

THE GRADUATE CENTER | The City University of New York 5 THE GREATNESS OF LINCOLN

BY JAMES OAKES

This White House portrait of President Lincoln by George P. A. Healy was commissioned by Congress in 1869 and hangs in the State Dining Room.

6 folio | with 365 FIFTH | FALL 2010 Lincoln is always with us—perhaps more so of FEW YEARS BACK I PUBLISHED A BOOK ABOUT ABRAHAM late, after last year’s bicentennial of his birth LINCOLN AND FREDERICK DOUGLASS. I did not realize and the election of Barack Obama the year while writing it that the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in before. But he is never far from our national 1809 was approaching, nor could I have known that we were about to elect a President who openly embraced Lin- consciousness, for he holds a special place in coln as his ideal. This conjunction of events kept me busy. our hearts. LikeA many of my fellow historians I was besieged with unusual invi- In his bicentennial year commencement tations—to do an interview, on Lincoln’s 200th birthday, with the address, Distinguished Professor of History national radio of the Czech Republic, for example. I have been asked James Oakes, who holds the Graduate Center’s questions I never imagined I’d ever have to answer: Was Abraham Humanities Chair, came to grips with a Lincoln Jewish? Was he gay? Were any of his ancestors African? It’s question, he admits, “everybody assumes I easy enough to wave such questions away by just saying no: Lincoln should be able to answer: What made was not Jewish. Neither was he gay. Nor did he have any black an- cestors that anyone knows about. But lurking behind this popular in- Abraham Lincoln a great President?” terest in Lincoln’s identity is a powerful urge on the part of various Professor Oakes is a leading historian of groups to claim some connection with him, and that urge is some- nineteenth-century America, whose book The thing I cannot fully explain, or explain away. Radical and the Republican: Frederick Nor can I wave off so easily some of the other questions put to me Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the during the bicentennial year. Just prior to Barack Obama’s inaugura- Triumph of Antislavery Politics was awarded tion I was invited to do an interview on Bloomberg television. I hesi- the 2008 Lincoln Prize. As most modern tated. Bloomberg is a financial news network. What do they want with historians do, he rejects “the Great Man a historian of nineteenth-century America? I should have said no. Theory of history” and the assumption that My concerns heightened when I was introduced to viewers as a presidential historian. Uh-oh, I thought. I write about slavery and an- certain outstanding individuals rise above the tislavery and the coming of the Civil War, so it’s not hard for me to chaos of events and shape the history of their talk about Lincoln. But I’m not a presidential historian. What if the times. Nevertheless, he admits, “I do think that interviewer starts asking me about Franklin Roosevelt or Lyndon Abraham Lincoln was a Great Man.” Johnson, or worse, Millard Fillmore or William Henry Harrison? As In his commencement address, Professor the beads of sweat began forming on my temples, she threw me her Oakes gave the reasons for Lincoln’s greatness as first curve ball: “What,” she asked, “will Barack Obama’s economic a President. Here, he addresses more fully the policy be?” greatness of the man himself and why Tolstoy There was no way for me to hide the blank stare spreading over my face. Why couldn’t this be a radio interview, I thought to myself. would say, on the centennial of Lincoln’s birth, I managed to mutter something to the effect that Obama’s policy “Of all the great national heroes of history, would likely be different from that of the previous administration. Lincoln is the only real giant.” “How so?” she asked. After a few more minutes of fumbling the interview got around to a very different kind of question: “Will Obama be a great President?” I couldn’t answer that one either—nobody can. But at least I could trace the logic behind it. You are an expert on Abraham Lincoln, the interviewer was assuming. Abraham Lincoln was a great President. Therefore you know what it takes for someone to become a great President. Does Barack Obama have what it takes? I left the interview frustrated, not because I couldn’t speculate in- telligently about Obama’s economic policy, nor because I couldn’t predict the fate of his presidency. Rather, I was frustrated because I re- alized that at that point—at this late date in my career—I still could- n’t answer the one question everybody assumes I should be able to answer: What made Abraham Lincoln a great President? It’s a hard question for me because I’ve never subscribed to what’s known as “the Great Man Theory of history,” a point of view most PHOTO: HOLGER THOSS

THE GRADUATE CENTER | The City University of New York 7 LINCOLN “He had to bring a good many skeptical closely associated with the Scottish historian Americans along with denouncing slavery, publicly and eloquently, Thomas Carlyle. He believed that the history and by 1858 he was publicly denouncing of human civilization could be told as a series him. And that racism as well. He continued to grow during of biographies of Great Men—those rare indi- his presidency. Only weeks after the war began viduals who rise above the chaos of events, take required unsurpassed Lincoln took the first of several steps that history by the horns, and shape it to their wills. would end in the abolition of slavery, and once I don’t think history works that way. On the political skill.” he made emancipation the policy of his ad- other hand, I would not go as far as Leo Tol- ministration Lincoln took the next step—to- stoy, who believed that history has neither ward supporting citizenship and voting rights rhyme nor reason, that it is little more than the chaotic flow of un- for blacks. The demagogic hack of the 1830s and ’40s had become a predictable events. If there are patterns in history, Tolstoy argued, determined emancipationist by the 1860s. they are the work not of Great Men but of an inscrutable divine prov- So Lincoln had not been the first politician to raise his voice against idence—which puts history beyond human control and even beyond slavery. Nor was he the first to support civil rights for the former human understanding. But that can’t be right either. I think there are slaves. He preferred to move with public opinion at his back, and he patterns in history, but they are the work less of great men than of or- certainly wanted to make it appear as though he were responding to dinary men and women who together create great forces and great pressure rather than taking the lead. “I claim not to have controlled movements—human forces and social movements that press against events,” he once said, “but confess plainly that events have controlled and shape the actions of those who exercise power. me.” There was a vein of fatalism running so deep in Lincoln that But Tolstoy changed his mind about great men, and one of the rea- some historians see him as essentially passive, “forced into glory,” as sons we know this is because toward the end of his life he was inter- one critic put it. But then most of history’s “Great Men” are, in some viewed by the New York World on the occasion of the centennial of sense, forced into glory. What distinguishes the Giants from the Lil- Lincoln’s birth, in 1909. On that occasion Tolstoy said that “of all liputians is their very different responses to the crises they confront. the great national heroes of history Lincoln is the only real giant.” Not everybody can be forced into glory. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, and even Washington—all of them, A different person might have been forced into disrepute by the Tolstoy believed, stood “far behind” Lincoln “in greatness of charac- very real pressures urging Lincoln to compromise with the slavehold- ter, in depth of feeling, and in a certain moral power.” Speaking less ers, to reject emancipation, and to repudiate civil rights for blacks. than fifty years after the assassination, Tolstoy believed that the world There were pressures from every direction. As Frederick Douglass was still “too near” to Lincoln to fully appreciate his greatness. After recalled, Lincoln was “assailed by abolitionists; he was assailed by “a few centuries more our posterity will find him considerably bigger slaveholders; he was assailed by men who were for peace at any price; than we do.” he was assailed by those who were for a more vigorous prosecution I’m not prepared to say that Abraham Lincoln was the greatest man of the war; he was assailed for not making the war an abolition war; in all human history, but I am inclined to believe—more modestly— and he was most bitterly attacked for making the war an aboli- that Lincoln was our greatest President. And so, in a sense, the prob- tion war.” lem posed by Tolstoy is the problem I’ve been struggling with: I don’t The political skill with which Lincoln negotiated these contradic- believe in Great Man history, yet I do think that Abraham Lincoln tory pressures is, I believe, the second element of his greatness. He re- was a Great Man. fused to compromise with secession, yet he kept the four border slave How so? states from leaving the Union. He kept the War Democrats loyal, yet Having failed on Bloomberg television, I went home and thought he moved steadily toward an increasingly aggressive emancipation about the nagging question. What made Lincoln great? Now, if CNN policy that most Democrats despised. He maintained relationships— ever decides to ask me the question, this is what I would say. even cultivated friendships—with radicals and abolitionists who often There are three things, different but closely related, that made Lin- distrusted him. coln great. So Lincoln’s capacity for growth—his embrace of emancipation The first was his capacity for growth. This was a man who, as a and his moves toward racial equality—cannot alone account for his young politician, was little more than a party hack—who in the greatness. He had to bring a good many skeptical Americans along 1830s used racial demagoguery to attack his political opponents and with him. And that required unsurpassed political skill. who, as a lawyer in the 1840s, took cases defending a master’s right It also required his legendary way with words, his ability to per- to reclaim fugitive slaves. Compared to other politicians—Salmon P. suade those skeptics—and so I would rank Lincoln’s literary gifts Chase and William H. Seward, for example—who took courageous third in my list of elements that made him great. His speeches are so stands against slavery and racial discrimination during the 1830s and impressive and well known that we give them names: the Peoria 1840s, Lincoln came relatively late to those causes. speech, Cooper Union, the Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugu- But once he got there, Lincoln was unflinching. In 1854 he began ral. But how many of you know about the public letters he began

8 folio | with 365 FIFTH | FALL 2010 LINCOLN What historian Richard Hofstadter issuing halfway through his presidency as part found to be “the much power and yet feel so slightly the private of a concerted campaign to persuade North- best measure of corruption that goes with it?” erners to support the war, emancipation, and This was Tolstoy’s point about Lincoln’s black troops? They, too, have names familiar Lincoln’s personal greatness. To illustrate it, the Russian novelist to most historians: The Greeley letter. The told a story about a trip he had once taken to Corning letter. And the most impressive of eminence” was the Caucasus during which he met a Circass- them, the Conkling letter—Lincoln’s brilliant ian chief “living far away from civilized life public reply to critics back in his home state “that he was in the mountains,” where “the fingers of civi- of Illinois who objected to a war for emanci- lization had never reached him nor his tribe.” pation, especially one in which blacks were chastened and The hospitable tribesmen invited Tolstoy to allowed to fight along with whites in the not intoxicated tell them all about the world he had come Union Army. from—its industries and inventions. He told “You say you will not fight to free negroes,” by power.” his listeners about the great czars, of their Lincoln wrote. “Some of them seem willing to military victories, and of Napoleon. But fight for you; but, no matter. Fight you, then, when Tolstoy finished, his host lifted his exclusively to save the Union.” But bear in mind, Lincoln warned, hand and said very gravely: that when this war is over and slavery has been abolished, “there “But you have not told us a syllable about the greatest general and will be some black men who can remember that, with silent the greatest ruler of the world. We want to know something about tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayo- him. He was a hero. He spoke with a voice of thunder; he laughed like net, they have helped mankind on to this great consummation; the sunrise and his deeds were strong as the rock and as sweet as the while, I fear, there will be some white ones, unable to forget that, fragrance of roses. The angels appeared to his mother and predicted with malignant heart, and deceitful speech, they have strove to hin- that the son whom she would conceive would become the greatest der it.” the stars had ever seen. He was so great that he even forgave the crimes I don’t want to say that Lincoln was a great President because he of his greatest enemies and shook brotherly hands with those who wrote beautiful sentences. My point is rather that Lincoln’s literary had plotted against his life. His name was Lincoln and the country in skill was an element of his greatness, precisely because he put it to which he lived is called America, which is so far away that if a youth use. Language was one of his weapons—his “sword,” Douglas Wilson should journey to reach it he would be an old man when he arrived. calls it. It matters that at critical moments Lincoln wielded that Tell us of that man.” weapon to persuade Northerners that a war for Union had to be a Tolstoy told all he could of Lincoln and the following morning he war for universal freedom and equality as well. and one of the Circassians rode off to a nearby town where Tolstoy se- Lincoln was not great the way Thomas Carlyle thought men could cured a large picture of Lincoln and gave it to the man. “It was in- be great: He did not bestride American history and bend it to his in- teresting to witness the gravity of his face and the trembling of his domitable will. He did not free the slaves with the stroke of his pen. hands when he received my present,” Tolstoy recalled years later. “He He did not give our otherwise amoral democracy a moral soul. To gazed for several minutes silently, like one in a reverent prayer; his accomplish what he did, Lincoln needed—among other things—the eyes filled with tears. He was deeply touched and I asked him why he pressure of the abolitionists, the commitment of the Republican Party, was so sad. After pondering my question for a few moments he the determination of runaway slaves, and the victory of the Union replied: Army. They were the winds at Lincoln’s back, the forces that con- “‘I am sad because I feel sorry that he had to die by the hand of a trolled him, the human forces and social movements he confronted, villain. Don’t you find, judging from his picture, that his eyes are full and to which he chose to respond. of tears and that his lips are sad with a secret sorrow?’” But none of this yet accounts for the thing that makes Lincoln so At the end of the war, where another leader might have reveled in attractive. Long before I had given much thought to the elements bombast and boasted of his great military victory, Lincoln instead that made Lincoln great I had already come to admire him—for rea- went before the nation and wondered whether God had been pun- sons that have more to do with his personality than with his policy. ishing the United States for the sin of slavery, inflicting four years of “Lincoln was shaken by the presidency,” the historian Richard Hof- horrific bloodshed as the price Americans had been made to pay for stadter once wrote. He was “moved by the wounded and dying men, the slaves’ two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil. At the mo- moved as no one in a place of power can afford to be. . . . For him it ment of his greatest triumph Lincoln rejected militaristic fervor in was impossible to drift into the habitual callousness of that sort of favor of soul-searching humility. officialdom that sees men only as pawns to be shifted here and there “Here,” Hofstadter wrote, “is the best measure of Lincoln’s per- and ‘expended’ at the will of others. . . . Is it possible to recall anyone sonal eminence in the human calendar—that he was chastened and else in modern history,” Hofstadter asked, “who could exercise so not intoxicated by power.” 

THE GRADUATE CENTER | The City University of New York 9 STYLES OF HIGH TIMES

For two and a half tion from old tradition- months this spring, the bound ways to modern James Gallery at the ways.” Graduate Center recap- The emphasis on style tured the heady exhilara- was pervasive, declares tion and creative Paulicelli, who also is enthusiasm of the Sixties, codirector of the GC’s in- with a multimedia exhi- terdisciplinary Concen- bition—FASHION + tration in Fashion FILM, the 1960s Revis- Studies. “Designers then ited—bringing together started from scratch de- the classic motion pic- signing clothes for films, tures and high-style de- and the directors were in- signer clothing of that volved from the outset. extraordinary era. Fellini, Visconti, Anto- This year marked the nioni, they were all ob- fiftieth anniversary of sessed with style,” she such signature films of says. Together, film and the period as Federico fashion became potent Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, PHOTO: PIERLUIGI © REPORTERS ASSOCIATI, ROME economic factors, for Eu- Michelangelo Anto- On the set of La Dolce Vita, director Federico Fellini coaches actress Anita Ekberg. rope then had little else nioni’s L’Avventura, and to export to the United Luchino Visconti’s Rocco States. And, over time, and His Brothers. The ex- When Europe transformed film and fashion American designers came hibit also evoked another to adopt and copy these symbol of those years European styles. with the return of Sixties high fashion to Fifth Avenue casements, as The fashions of Brioni, Pucci, Sarmi, Pierre Balmain, Oscar de La designer clothing of the era went on display in what were once the Renta, and the Fontana Sisters were on display at the gallery, along storefront windows of the B. Altman department store, now home to with rich archival materials—photographs, costume sketches, inter- the Graduate Center. views with stars of the Sixties, and TV commercials. Each week The films and fashions of the Sixties, says the exhibition curator, through the duration of the exhibition, different classics of the period Eugenia Paulicelli, professor of Italian and comparative literature at were shown in continuous screenings. These included The 10th Vic- the Graduate Center, “were crucial to Italian identity and modern- tim; La Dolce Vita; Rocco and His Brothers; L’Avventura; Red Desert; ization.” This was true elsewhere in Europe as well, she explained. Blowup; Zabriskie Point; Contempt; and Giulietta degli Spiriti. “Fashion and cinema were central in France and Sweden during this In mid-March, a symposium brought scholars in film, art, and period of experimentation in the arts.” fashion from both sides of the Atlantic to the Graduate Center. A In Italy, neorealism in film had predated liberation from fascism, symposium high point was a talk by costume designer Adriana but, with the fall of the regime, according to Paulicelli, “things some- Berselli, who had worked with Antonioni on L’Avventura. how exploded. It was a very fruitful period, and directors took dif- The exhibition was cosponsored by Commune di Cesena, Asses- ferent paths in cinematic experimentation. There was a shift away sorato alla Cultura; Centro Cinema, Città di Cesena; RAI; Archivio from neorealism, with modernization and Americanization, to an- Giuseppe Palmas; and Brioni. Cosponsoring the symposium were the other kind of film and an emphasis on style.” These were films that Center for Fashion Studies at the University of Stockholm and the reflected the urban revolution then under way. Paulicelli believes Graduate Center’s Center for the Humanities, Concentration in Fash- Fellini truly captures these changes in La Dolce Vita. “There,” she ion Studies, Center for Gay and Lesbian Studies, Film Studies pro- says, “the characters are in a state of crisis because of the transforma- gram, and Italian specialization. 

10 folio | with 365 FIFTH | FALL 2010 With films of the Sixties, directors moved away from neorealism toward modernization and an emphasis on style in works that reflected the urban revolution then under way. ALL PHOTOS BY RICHARD ALCORN

Above, Professor Eugenia Paulicelli, exhibition curator, checks the fashion array facing the James Gallery’s Fifth Avenue windows.

Left, a favorite exhibit was this smoking jacket by Brioni, whose elegant evening clothes were often on display at this very site, then the home of B. Altman’s department store.

THE GRADUATE CENTER | The City University of New York 11 GREAT ISSUES FORUM: IMMIGRATION AND ISLAM

The third program of the Great Issues Forum series on religion, “Im- migration and Islam,” focused on concerns that surfaced toward the end of the twentieth century, as Western Europe became aware that the growth of a permanent Muslim population had daunting politi- cal and cultural significance. European apprehension rose, explained panel moderator Chase Robinson, distinguished professor of history and provost of the Grad- uate Center, with the fierce Muslim response to the publication of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in 1988 and the terrorist events that followed at the start of the new millennium. “These,” he said, “brought into clear focus a number of issues about Islam, integration, and citizenship, and raised questions about how one balances the rights of religious communities in general with the values of a liberal society.” To address these issues, Robinson was joined on the stage of Aristide Zolberg Proshansky Auditorium on March 8 by José Casanova, professor of sociology at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs; Tariq Modood, pro- fessor of sociology at Britain’s University of Bristol and founding di- rector of the Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship; and Aristide Zolberg, Walter P. Eberstadt Professor of Political Science at the New School. Although immigration contributes enormously to diversity, mi- grant populations—particularly those with strikingly different ways and beliefs—arouse fear and mistrust. “This is by no means a unique phenomenon,” Professor Zolberg pointed out, noting the hostile re- ception given Irish Catholics and Eastern European Jews in the United States once they began arriving in large numbers. In time, however, the strange and different become familiar, and as Professor Modood explained, the immigrant communities themselves become less different—even in areas as seemingly fundamental as re- José Casanova ligion. “Virtually every migrant group that has come to the British Isles in the last 150 years,” he said, “has been more religious—and the same corner.” Among young people, he says, “talk of the ummah, more visibly religious—than what one might call the native popula- the Muslim global community, is much more common now than it tion of British people.” Over time, however, these groups tend to be- used to be.” come less religious. “Both in their own generation but certainly their The eagerness with which many young Muslims in Britain em- children’s and their grandchildren’s,” he declared, “they gradually brace their Muslim identity would seem to mirror the way Europeans come to approximate the rest of the population, give or take a few have come to identify these immigrants, not by their national ori- ultraorthodox sects.” gin—as Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Algerian, Turkish, or Iraqi—but by After noting that, in general, people tend to become more reli- their religion. The countries of Western Europe, Professor Casanova gious as they grow older, Modood pointed to a sharp break from this explained, have had little experience with religious pluralism and have trend in Britain’s Muslim communities. Recent research, he reported, become increasingly secular in recent years. “They had seen practically “has found that, among Muslims, the younger they were, the more Is- no immigration before the foreign ‘guest workers’ arrived in the ’60s,” lamic they were—and the more eager to display being a Muslim.” he said. “The guest workers were not meant to stay. They were meant This the British professor credits to pressures British Muslims have to work and then go back home. Obviously, many stayed, and they come to feel after the terrorist bombings and the invasion of Iraq and brought their families.” In general, those workers from southern Eu- Afghanistan. “So, people complain about Muslims, people are fright- rope either accommodated and integrated or returned to their home ened about Muslims. And any minority that has that kind of pressure countries. “It was the Turks and North Africans who stayed and cre- put upon it becomes much more aware of its own identity and tries ated this new situation,” said Casanova. But they were no longer per- to project its identity through a kind of defiant confidence, a reactive ceived as Turks or North Africans. “I worked in Germany, in the 1960s defiance.” This Muslim solidarity, he maintains, “has little to do with and 1970s,” he recalled, “and there were only Turks in Germany religiosity. It has to do with people, with the sense that they are all in then—no Muslims. Today, there are only Muslims—no Turks. Some-

12 folio | with 365 FIFTH | FALL 2010 How will Western Europe cope with its growing and restive Muslim population?

bound to grow, giving as his reasons Europe’s need for labor, North Africa’s need for jobs, the youth of the immigrant populations, and their reproductive capacity. But he sees in this no threat to the West. He believes the resulting diversity—in which “not all non-Europeans will be Muslims”—will make twenty-first-century European cities look much like twentieth-century American cities. This sanguine view was shared by his fellow panelists, and when Robinson raised the question of Islam’s perceived incompatibility with “the values that we commonly associate with Western liberal democ- racies,” the responses were uniformly optimistic. Casanova pointed out how Islam today is perceived much as Catholicism once was. “Catholicism in the ’30s was very undemo - cratic,” he reminded the panel, “but something happened, and you have a transition to Christian democracy. We forget that it was Catholic Christian democrats that basically established the European Tariq Modood Union, which led to democratization in many of those countries after World War II. If you look around the Muslim world, it’s true that there are a majority of Muslim countries that may have authoritarian regimes, but not necessarily because of Islam. There are other, very promising developments—in Indonesia, in Senegal, in Turkey—that show developments could go in a different direction. “The fundamental difference, I would argue, between Catholicism and Islam is that in Catholicism, when things change, they change radically, very fast, and homogeneously. After Vatican II, you sud- denly have a process of democratization throughout the Catholic world. In the case of Islam, it goes in an opposite direction. It’s a very pluralistic and diverse structure, has no hierarchic authority.” Not- ing contending trends in Islam that can be both pacifist and aggres- sive, feminist and misogynist, liberal and conservative, Casanova maintained, “There will be not one single direction, and probably ALL PHOTOS BY DON POLLARD we’ll have to live for a long, long time with very, very contradictory Chase Robinson manifestations of this transformation of Islam.” thing has happened in the way in which we denominate each other.” “I certainly don’t think there’s a fundamental incompatibility be- While there have been times, as Zolberg noted, when immigrants tween Islam and democracy,” said Modood, citing a global Gallup in the United States were defined by their religion, this has not gen- poll that found no real difference in support for democracy among erally been true in Britain or the rest of Europe. “In Britain,” Mod- Muslims and non-Muslims. Throughout the world, the closest par- ood declared, “overt religion is seen as something rather vulgar and allel to Muslim opinions was found among conservative Christians in unwanted and uncouth. People who want to be civilized and assim- the United States. “Most Muslims,” he added, “have no problems ilate and be good Brits should keep their religion to themselves, pri- with democracy. They’re dying for it, literally and in other ways, and vate.” Failing to do so, he maintains, does not enhance integration, Islamism itself really came to be a powerful movement because Mus- “because other people say, ‘Well, if you say you’re Pakistani, we can do lims were fed up with corrupt, authoritarian, dictatorial, nepotistic things for you. We can give you grants to build a community center. governments who were supported by the West.” Finally, he added, “I We can have affirmative action to get you into jobs or become a can- don’t think there’s any problem between Muslims and democracy, but didate for a political party, but if you say you’re a Muslim, well, what Muslims are likely to sit in the more socially conservative part of the can we do? This isn’t something you should be saying in public.’” political spectrum.” Despite the scale of immigration and the perception, by some, of Zolberg stressed the congregational structure of Islam, which, like Europe’s eleven million Muslims as a beachhead for Islam, the entire Judaism, has no central authority, and he raised the issue of differing panel rejected the notion of a crisis in the making and what Robin- circumstances among Muslim families in Europe. “I think it’s going son described as “the apocalyptic vision of Europe darkening because to become more diverse over time. So there will be very different ad- of an almost willful ignorance of the demographic threat.” justments of individuals and families. I would bet that the majority Modood, who admits to having “very little sympathy” for the “clash will probably integrate fairly well and act like other groups have and of civilizations” issue, allows that the non-European population is get some representation to protect their interests.” 

THE GRADUATE CENTER | The City University of New York 13 A TOP PRIZE IN MATH FOR ONE OF OUR OWN Groundbreaking work in topology earns international honors for Distinguished Professor Dennis Sullivan

After learning he had been study in topology are these knot- awarded the 2010 Wolf Founda- ted curves.” He explains, “Being tion Prize in Mathematics, Distin- knotted means that you cannot, by guished Professor of Mathematics deforming and stretching this Dennis Sullivan, who holds the thing, change it to a circle.” Albert Einstein Chair in Science at Describing his specialty, Sullivan the Graduate Center, observed, says, “Algebraic topology involves “Any time they give prizes, it’s usu- defining a topological object alge- ally because there’s some field braically—through systems of al- that’s experienced some interesting gebraic equations.” To illustrate, he activity, and they give it to some- points to a plastic model of a com- body who is visible. It’s not really plicated knot on his desk. “You so much related to that person.” have a geometric figure, you attach When asked about Professor an algebraic structure to it, and Shing-Tung Yau of Harvard Uni- you use that algebraic structure to versity, joint recipient of the prize, study the figure.” Sullivan suggested, “He’s much You can, for example, take a more famous than I am.” PHOTO: A. POYO knotted-up rubber band made up The Wolf Prize, instituted in For his achievements in mathematics, Professor Sullivan has also received: of what appear to be arbitrary 1978, is awarded more or less an- the 2006 Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Ameri- curves in three-dimensional space. nually by the Wolf Foundation in can Mathematical Society (AMS); the 2004 National Medal of Science, This knot can be separated into the nation’s highest honor for scientific accomplishment; the 1993 King Israel. It is considered one of the less complicated parts, and each Faisal International Prize in Mathematics, awarded by the King Faisal highest international honors in the Foundation of Saudi Arabia; the 1998 Elie Cartan Prize in Geometry, defined by an algebraic expression. field of mathematics; the Fields awarded by the French Academy of Sciences; and the 1971 Oswald Veblen The relationships between these Medal, mathematics’ equivalent to Prize in geometry, awarded every three years by the AMS. parts, complicated though they the Nobel Prize, is given only to are, can then be defined alge- mathematicians forty years old or younger. This year’s prize ac- braically. The procedure results in a complex formal algebraic defi- knowledges Sullivan’s contributions to algebraic topology, the branch nition of the entire knotted rubber band, which can then be studied of topology where his interests lie. as an abstraction, independent of the object itself. Topology is that area of mathematics concerned with the invariant, When Sullivan was awarded the National Medal of Science in or constant, properties of objects when they are stretched or twisted 2004, he was cited for “having developed new fields of mathematics into different shapes (what topologists call deformed). Take, for ex- and finding ways to connect seemingly unrelated disciplines.” Today, ample, a circular rubber band. It can be deformed into an oval with- he continues to examine connections between seemingly unrelated out cutting or gluing, which makes a circle and an ellipse disciplines, and an application of particular interest is the use of topol- topologically equivalent, for each has the same topological proper- ogy with fluid dynamics—that area of applied mathematics that stud- ties. It is this focus on qualitative rather than quantitative analysis— ies the flow of fluids—to address problems in meteorology. on the basic properties being studied rather than the quantities or During the Hurricane Rita threat in 2005, Sullivan flew to Hous- dimensions—that characterizes topology. ton, Texas, to board up his mother’s house. He recalls the chaos that Phenomena that benefit from this kind of analysis occur through- occurred when the hurricane struck east of the city, rather than the out nature. In the human body, some proteins, Sullivan points out, west as had been predicted. “If they had a more accurate prediction “can fold up in space and form knots. Different proteins perform dif- of where this hurricane would hit—to within twenty-five miles— ferent functions in the body, and there’s an interest now in under- twenty-four hours ahead, they wouldn’t have moved two million standing the structure of these proteins. One aspect of the structure, people. But this is in the realm of do-ability. This is something topol- if it’s connected at the ends, is how it’s knotted, because the structure ogy can help with.” The process, as he describes it, would involve of a protein will certainly affect its function. Among the things we taking the continuous space in which weather patterns play out

14 folio | with 365 FIFTH | FALL 2010 and separating it into discrete segments. “You actually break space up into finitely many pieces and see how they fit together, and you use the methodology of algebraic topology to build algebraic systems in which you can express these weather problems. We want to go from the continuous to the discrete, and algebraic topology is a perfect tool for that.” Sullivan teaches a two-semester course at the Graduate Center on “Algebraic Topology for Geometry, Algebra, and Analysis.” It explores the application of algebraic topology to other areas of mathemat- ics. The obvious relationship between the conceptual and the visual in topology connects it to geometry. “Topology is lurking in geometry,” says Sullivan, and “topology is a set of tools for studying geometry.” His blackboard during lectures fills up as much with geometrical fig- ures as it does with mathemati- cal symbols and equations. Kate Poirier, a student in the class, says, “I became inter- ested in al gebraic topology when I saw Dennis draw- ing pictures of the PHOTO: A. POYO surfaces and oper- ations. In fact, my reason for choosing Dennis as an adviser is his in- credible geometric intuition. Dennis’s approach to math is very visual.” To pursue the relationship of topology to other fields, Sullivan or- ganizes the Einstein Chair Mathematics Seminars, which are held once a month and bring speakers from throughout the world to the Graduate Center. However, despite his ideas about and contributions to the application of topology to other fields, Sullivan remains es- sentially a theoretician. “I really only care about the theoretical,” he says. “It’s nice if it would have some use, but it’s clear that there’s something important to understand anyway.” The Wolf Prize Awarding Ceremony was held at the Knesset in Jerusalem on May 13. Considering what the prize, which has an hon- Here is one of the most popular examples of topology. orarium of $100,000 (divided among joint recipients), is likely to en- The Möbius strip (above), named after its discoverer, the nine- able, Sullivan says, “It may be that some of the ideas I’d like to foster teenth-century astronomer and mathematician August Ferdinand or promote will be taken more seriously, such as this idea of applying Möbius, can be created by giving a strip of paper a half twist and then algebraic topology to study the weather.” taping the ends together to form a ring. What you then have is a ring —Bhisham Bherwani with only one side, what topologists call a nonorientable surface.

THE GRADUATE CENTER | The City University of New York 15 HHONORSEAD

Bea Hanson (Alumna, Social Welfare, 2010), chief lege Level from the American Philological Associ- Joel Spring (Prof., Queens, Urban Education) was program officer of Safe Horizon, a victim assistance ation. A certificate and a cash prize were presented presented with the Mary Anne Raywid Award for agency that provides support for victims of crime in January at a Plenary Session of the APA Annual 2009 in April by the Society of Professors of Edu- and abuse, has been appointed by President Meeting in Anaheim, CA. cation. The award recognizes individuals who have Obama as the next director of the Office of Vic- made outstanding contributions to the teaching of tims of Crime at the U.S. Department of Justice. Thomas McGovern (Prof., Hunter, Anthropology), education. Orri Vésteinsson (Adj. Asst. Prof., Institute for Ar- Alberto Blasi (Prof., Brooklyn, Hispanic and Luso- chaeology, Iceland, Anthropology), Mike Church Emelise Aleandri (Alumna, Theatre, 1984) was hon- Brazilian Literatures and Languages) has been (Adj. Asst. Prof., Durham University, Anthropol- ored with the Educator of the Year award for Pro- named Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Acadé - ogy), Ian A. Simpson (Adj. Prof., University of Stir- motion of Italian-American Theatre by the miques by the French government for “services ren- ling, Anthropology), Andy Dugmore (Adj. Prof., Association of Italian-American Educators at the dered for French culture.” University of Edinburgh, Anthropology), and 11th Annual Awards and Scholarship Celebration Sophia Perdikaris (Prof., Brooklyn, Anthropol- in Carle Place, Long Island, on April 18. Joshua Brown (Exec. Dir., American Social History ogy) received the 2010 Gordon R. Willey prize Project; Adj. Prof., GC, History) has been awarded from the Archaeology Division of the American An- Kelly Levano (Alumna, Biochemistry, 2009) re- a Guggenheim Fellowship for his work with Civil thropological Association for helping to author the ceived the Horst Schulz Biochemistry Prize, War–era images and illustrations. article “Landscapes of Settlement in Northern Ice- awarded for a first-authored, peer-reviewed re- land: Historical Ecology of Human Impact and Cli- search article in 2009. Levano published the article Jerry Carlson (Prof., GC, Film, French) won an mate Fluctuation on the Millennial Scale,” voted as “A genetic strategy involving a glycosyltransferase Emmy this year for the series Nueva York on an outstanding archaeology article appearing in promoter and a lipid translocating enzyme to elim- CUNY TV, a show he introduces. American Anthropologist during the past three years. inate cancer cells” in Glycoconjugate Journal.

Morris Dickstein (Dist. Prof., GC, English, The- Meena Alexander (Dist. Prof., Hunter, English) was Tarika Daftary-Kapur (Alumna, Forensic Psychology, atre) won the 2010 Ambassador the inaugural Poet in Residence at the University of 2009) and David Frost (Alumnus, Social-Personal- Book Award in the category of Hyderabad, India, in January 2010. During her ity Psychology, 2009) won prestigious James American Studies for his book residency, she conducted a workshop and gave McKeen Cattell Awards for outstanding doctoral Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural readings as well as a public lecture, “Migrant Mem- dissertations in psychology. Dr. Daftary wrote her History of the Great Depression. ory: The Poetics of Place.” In February she gave dissertation on “The Effects of Pre- and Post- The award is given by the readings at Calcutta University and at the Kolkata Venire Publicity on Juror Decision Making.” Mau- English-Speaking Union of the Book Fair. In June 2010 she will be a visiting pro- reen O’Connor (Prof., John Jay, Psychology) and United States as the focal point fessor at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies Steven Penrod (Dist. Prof., John Jay, Criminal Jus- of its Books-Across-the-Sea program that pro- in Shimla, delivering a series of three lectures under tice, Psychology) served as her mentors. Her dis- motes understanding through the written word. the title “Poetry, History, Memory.” sertation also won first place in the American The awards are given annually for books published Psychology-Law Society’s 2009–10 competition. in the preceding calendar year that have made sig- Carol Gould (Prof., GC, Philosophy) presented a Dr. Frost wrote his dissertation on “Stigma, Inti- nificant contributions to the interpretation of plenary lecture at the Ankara Bar Association Con- macy, and Well-Being: A Personality and Social American life. ference in Turkey, January 11–15, on the topic Structures Approach,” and Suzanne Oullette “Human Rights, Culture, and Gender Equality” in (Prof., GC, Psychology, Urban Education), with Richard Aste (Student, Art History), currently as- a session called “Human Rights and Ethics in Ad- Michelle Fine (Dist. Prof., GC, Psychology, sociate curator at Museo de Arte de Ponce in judication.” Her trip was sponsored by the U.S. Urban Education) and William Cross (Prof. Ponce, Puerto Rico, was appointed curator of Eu- State Department as part of its U.S. Speakers and Emer., GC, Psychology, Urban Education), served ropean art at the Brooklyn Museum. Specialists Program. as mentors.

Jennifer Gieseking (Student, Psychology/Environ- Marvin Carlson (Sidney E. Cohn Chair in Theatre Donny Levit (Student, Theatre) has been awarded mental) won an Alexander von Humboldt Foun- Studies, Dist. Prof., GC, Comparative Literature, the 2010 Graduate Teaching Fellow Award in Ap- dation German Chancellor’s Fellowship. Gieseking Theatre) was invited to be a part of the interna- preciation of Exemplary Service by the Depart- will spend a year in Berlin, carrying out her project, tional jury that will select the winners of the Prague ment of Theatre and Speech at the City College of “Living in an (In)Visible World: Lesbians’ and Quadrennial Performance Design and Space New York. Queer Women’s Spaces in Berlin, 1983–2008.” Awards in 2011, including the prestigious Golden Only ten of these awards are given per year in the Triga for the Best Exposition. Darla Linville (Student, Urban Education) received United States. She is the second Graduate Center the 2009 Paul Monette–Roger Horowitz Disserta- student to be given this fellowship; Yvonne Hung Mitchell Cohen (Prof., GC, Baruch, Political Sci- tion Prize for her dissertation “Resisting Regula- (Psychology, 2010) was the first to receive one, two ence) was an official guest of France in January, tion: Discourses about Sexuality and Gender in years ago. The aim of the program is to give young having been elected Visiting Director of Studies by Schools.” scholars the opportunity to spend an extended pe- the faculty of the School of Advanced Studies in riod of time in Germany at an early stage in their Social Sciences (École des Hautes Études en Sci- Gianni Pirelli (Student, Psychology/Forensic) won careers. ences Sociales) in Paris. Cohen gave talks to grad- second place in the American Psychology-Law So- uate seminars, including “Irving Howe and the ciety’s 2009–10 dissertation competition for his Ronnie Ancona (Prof., Hunter, Classics) received a New York intellectuals” and “Politics in the Operas work, “A meta-analytic review of competency to 2009 Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Col- of Richard Wagner.” stand trial research.”

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May 5 A Season of Musical Riches Faculty member Sylvia Kahan and several DMA at Elebash Recital Hall students performed “American Beauty: A Program of Chamber Music for the Piano.”

MUSIC IN MIDTOWN CONCERTS AND CONVERSATIONS With six performances this spring semester, Music “MUSIC AND THE IRAQ WAR,” on February 24, in Midtown brought faculty and other talented brought two very different musical experiences area professionals as well as the Graduate Center’s from the field of battle to Elebash Recital Hall. accomplished student musicians to the stage of the First was the program’s panel leader Jonathan Elebash Recital Hall. Pieslak (Asst. Prof., City, Music), whose recent February 25 book Sound Targets describes how U.S. soldiers “Chamber Music on Fifth,” a special two-hour pro- rouse themselves for battle by playing heavy-metal, gram, featured first flutist Bonnie McAlvin and rock, and hip-hop anthems. His view was echoed percussionist Barrett Hipes performing works by by Iraq veteran Colby Buzzell, author of the mem- David Carey and Gareth Farr. Violinist We-Ti Lin oir My War: Killing Time in Iraq, who told how and pianist Aleksandra Sarest followed with Béla iPods and computers created a new experience of Bartók’s Second Sonata for Violin and Piano. Next music for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, with

three sopranos offered a variety of chamber en- heavy metal and rap used to prepare for missions PHOTO: A. POYO sembles: Emily Eagan sang six folksong arrange- and get them “pumped up.” Panelist Alex Ross, In her monodramas, Lauren Flanigan plays celebrated ments by Beethoven; Mary Hubbell, Three music critic for the New Yorker, wondered whether women of medieval times (real or fictional) singing Chinese Love Songs by composer Bright Sheng; some music had aggression built into it and noted compositions of our times that suit their plight or fate. and Monica Harte, Franz Schubert’s Viola D. 786. that Shostakovich’s 1941 Leningrad symphony was A final group performed Anton Webern’s arrange- used to demoralize German troops during World Thomas Pasatieri. Pianist Miriam Charney and per- ment of Arnold Schoenberg’s Kammersymphonie War II, while Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” cussionist Ana Lorenzo provided accompaniment. No. 1. served to inspire them. “We like to idealize music,” Throughout the program, Ellen Lauren per- he said, “but it’s a form of human expression, as formed excerpts of the solo show “Room,” an adap- well as an art form. It’s going to take us to dark tation by Jocelyn Clarke of Virginia Woolf’s A places as well as light places.” Room of One’s Own. To close the show, Flanigan’s Quite another kind of musical experience is pos- friend and colleague, jazz singer Annie Ross, took sible during wartime, however, when the soldier the stage with pianist Tardo Hammer to sing “I himself is a musician. Guitarist and composer Jason Wonder What Became of Me,” by Johnny Mercer. Sagebiel, who joined the panel for the second seg- ment of the program, told of American soldiers’ in- tegration with Iraqis through music. Sagebiel, a Marine Corps scout sniper, struck up a friendship with Ali, a noted player of the ud, a Middle East-

PHOTO: A. POYO ern lutelike instrument. “Ali and I studied music Rolf Schulte (left) and Norman Carey (right) in a back and forth. I taught him about Western music, program of sonatas for violin and piano he taught me about Arabic music, and we became very close.” When Sagebiel returned home, he March 11 maintained his friendship with Ali and composed On piano Norman Carey (Assoc. Prof., GC, several songs for the ud and guitar, two of which Music), creator of the Music in Midtown series and he performed that evening. One of them, called deputy executive officer for the DMA program in “Missing Kut,” he dedicated to Ali, who died in a Music Performance, teamed with celebrated vio- bomb blast in Baghdad in 2006. linist Rolf Schulte, who joined the GC faculty last year, in a program of “Sonatas for Violin “SOLO: THE ART OF THE MONODRAMA: WIVES, and Piano” that included works by Schumann, DAUGHTERS, QUEENS AND WHORES—MEDIEVAL Beethoven, and Debussy. VOICES” March 25 In this program on March 2, soprano Lauren Flani-

Students and faculty, with guest musicians, per- gan took the role of well-known women—factual PHOTO: A. POYO formed “Right out of Winter: Songs of Tom and fictional—of medieval times, singing twentieth- Paquito D’Rivera holds center stage in a program of his Cipullo.” and twenty-first-century compositions. As Henry music, memories, and convictions. April 8 VIII’s wives, she sang Libby Larsen’s Try Me, Good The Raphael Trio played music of Schubert and King; as Desdemona, it was “A Business of Some AN EVENING WITH PAQUITO D’RIVERA Marjorie Merryman. Heat” from Susan Botti’s Telaio: Desdemona; as May 3 brought the celebrated musician and com- April 22 Ophelia, she offered Richard Strauss’s Ophelia-Lieder; poser Paquito D’Rivera to Elebash Hall for an Windscape, a woodwind quintet, presented a pro- and finally she sang “Lady Macbeth,” with Shake- evening of music and conversation, featuring five gram entitled “Mitteleuropa.” speare’s words set to music for her by composer songs from his Cecilio Valdés, King of Havana, an

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opera in progress, and the premiere of Ladies in to the Graduate Center were GC doctoral student is at the heart of My Heart, My Serpent. White, a composition for clarinet, cello, and piano, in ethnomusicology and Gilleece Fellow Joseph ERC productions fuse music and theater into commissioned by the Foundation for Iberian Alpar and his ensemble, David’s Harp. The en- highly original theatrical concerts on nineteenth- Music. Keeping the conversation segment flowing semble’s repertoire is drawn from Ottoman court century subjects—past presentations have focused was radio personality Candice Agee, who inter- music, Sufi devotional songs, urban Greek folk on George Sand, Frédéric Chopin, Gabriele D’An- viewed D’Rivera and lyricist Enrique Del Risco. music, or rebetika, and Judaeo-Spanish, or Ladino, nunzio, Vincent Van Gogh, Peggy Guggenheim, Performing the songs from Cecilio Valdés were music, among others, and the group is devoted to and the Dreyfus Affair—and the Brook Center for Brenda Feliciano, soprano, Loli Marquez Sterling, revealing cultural and religious interactions Music Research and Documentation and RILM contralto, and Mariano Vidal, tenor. The evening through music in their blend of diverse musical have been important sources of musicological re- also featured Alex Brown on piano and Borislav ideas from Jewish and non-Jewish worlds. The search for ERC productions. Strulev on violoncello. performance, which proved so popular that many “My Heart, My Serpent is really a dramatic —Kerri Linden were turned away at the door, was sponsored by Liederabend,” Melo explained, describing the the- the Middle East and Middle Eastern American atrical concert he had written—the Liederabend, Center (MEMEAC). or “evening of song,” being a form of public Reveling in the Musical recital popular in the late nineteenth century. As musicologist and occasional playwright for Traditions of Sephardic and A Brook Center Scholar’s ERC, Melo created the script using excerpts from Mizrahi Jewish Communities Nietzsche’s letters and philosophical writings as Liederabend Tells of Music, well as German lieder and other works by some of Madness, and Nietzsche the greatest Romantic composers, including An enthusiastic audience crowded the Martin E. Brahms’s Four Serious Songs, Liszt’s dramatic Segal Theatre on February 4 for a concert cele- recitation The Sad Monk, and Wolf’s Prometheus. brating the rich musical heritage of Sephardic and “Music was central to Nietzsche’s philosophy, “It took six to eight months to assemble the ma- Mizrahi Jewish communities. Both Sephardic Jews, and My Heart, My Serpent dramatizes that,” said terials,” said Melo, “and my work at RILM helped who define themselves in terms of traditions that James Melo, senior editor at the Brook Center’s enormously, because there I’m constantly aware originated in the Iberian Peninsula before the ex- Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale of what is being published and the most recent pulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal in the late (RILM). He was speaking at a preproduction sem- music literature.” fifteenth century, and Mizrahi Jews, who are de- inar prior to the performance in January of My The preproduction seminar made clear the scended from the Jewish communities of the Heart, My Serpent: Thus Spoke Zarathustra by the philosopher’s surpassing love of music, his role as Middle East, North Africa, and the Caucasus, de- Ensemble for the Romantic Century (ERC) at an amateur pianist and composer, and his fre- veloped extraordinarily sophisticated musical tra- Symphony Space. The seminar, titled “Dionysian quent reference to music in his writings. “God ditions over the past five hundred years. Ecstasies: Madness and Music in Nietzsche’s Phi- gave us music so that we, first and foremost, will Bringing these energetic and infectious losophy,” provided insight into Nietzsche’s struggle be guided upward by it,” he wrote at fourteen. rhythms, haunting melodies, and beautiful lyrics to free himself from the grip of madness, which The first paragraph of The Birth of Tragedy (1872) describes music as a Dionysian art that, when coupled with the Apollonian art of sculpture, “ul- timately generate[s] an equally Dionysian and Apollonian form of art—Attic tragedy,” which Nietzsche held to be the highest form of art. Later, in The Twilight of the Idols (1888), he wrote, “Without music, life would be a mistake.” The seminar also addressed Nietzsche’s grow- ing disenchantment with Richard Wagner, who, as Nietzsche wrote in Nietzsche Contra Wagner (1895), “had condescended step by step to every- thing I despise—even to anti-Semitism.” More- over, the speakers decried the undue influence of Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, Nietzsche’s sister, on the Nietzsche Archive in the 1930s, as she slanted his words towards her own anti-Semitic and fas- cist stance.

Celebrating Byzantine Music

“People come streaming in. There’s strong support

PHOTO: A. POYO from the Greek-American community in New The David’s Harp ensemble, with (l. to r.): Jason Calloway (cello), Duane Large (mandolin), Negin Moshtagh (daf, or York’s five boroughs and beyond,” says Stephen Persian drum), Joseph Alpar (santouri, darbuka, vocals), Cynthia Folio (flute), and Brenda Alpar (keyboard) Blum (Prof., GC, Music), director of the concen-

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tration in ethnomusicology, describing the popular response to a three-day celebration of Byzantine Keeping Alive the Spirit of Intimate, Informal Jazz music through workshops, lectures, and a closing concert with CBS anchor John Metaxas as master The spirit of jazz is alive and well and hangs out on plays, she sings, she writes, and she has that special of ceremonies. Sunday afternoons in Marjorie Eliot’s Harlem apart- communion with the audience,” he said. The concert, which featured both secular, or ment at 555 Edgecombe Avenue. Eliot, a writer, ac- At the February concert, after an introduction folk, music and sacred forms, was the second fes- tress, and pianist, has been hosting a free impromptu by Professor Jerry Watts (GC, English), director of tival of Byzantine music at the Graduate Center jam session every week for the past eighteen years. IRADAC, the slight and birdlike Eliot, who states and featured notable Greek soloists Christos On February 14, she brought a jazz quartet to the her age as “over fifty,” strolled across the Elebash Chalkias and Eleftherios Eleftheriadis, U.S. vio- stage at Elebash Recital Hall for the first in a series stage in a long white gown to begin the perform- linist Elias Sarkar, and percussionist Ozan Aksoy, of concerts honoring black women in jazz. ance. The professional musicians with her that a GC doctoral candidate in music. For the finale, Sponsored by the Institute for Research on the evening were Gerald Hayes on saxophone, Andrew the school choir from St. Nicholas William Spy- African Diaspora in the Americas and the McCloud III on bass, and Miranda Sielaff on viola. ropoulos School in Flushing joined the ensemble Caribbean (IRADAC), the evening was conceived Together, they played standards such as Duke in two folk songs. by Zee Dempster, the institute’s assistant director. Ellington’s “Come Sunday,” Charlie Parker’s “Con- The driving force behind these events is Angelo “When we thought of having a jazz concert here,” firmation,” and Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” Lampousis, a GC alumnus and director of the she said, “I immediately thought of Marjorie. Between musical numbers, DFaye Anderson, a spo- Axion Estin Foundation, which promotes the Women like her help to carry on the jazz tradition.” ken-word artist, gave a dramatic rendering of her knowledge and practice of Byzantine music in the The weekly gatherings began as Eliot’s tribute to own poetry. her son Philip, an actor who died in 1992 and who There was a warm and enthusiastic audience had shared her love of music. She soon was hold- that evening. They gave Eliot and the others a ing the sessions every Sunday, turning her parlor standing ovation after one dazzling set. Responding into a blue-lit salon and providing occasional piano to their accolade, she said, “I give to you, but it’s accompaniment herself. Still dedicated to what has you who give to me.” since become a Harlem institution, she has never Growing up with jazz all around her, Eliot taken a week off. Sunday crowds now average learned to play the piano as a child and performed about fifty and, while a donation bucket for the at church. Today, Eliot lends her talents to Hospi- musicians is passed around, there’s no pressure to tal Audiences, a nonprofit organization that brings contribute. Most Sundays Marjorie’s son Rudel music to homeless shelters, hospitals, and schools, Drears also plays the piano and Sedric Choukroun and she provides free piano lessons to children. the saxophone, while any number of guest musi- As a finale that evening, Eliot asked the audi- cians fill in on bass and other instruments. ence to help her commemorate the recent death of PHOTO: A. POYO Presenting the Great Theory of Music to Professor Antoni Pizà, director of the Foundation for Iber- a salon regular by singing along to “When the Stephen Blum (right) were Theodore Brakatselos (left) ian Music at the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Saints Go Marching In.” The band struck up the and Nick Kyriakos. Research and Documentation, compares Eliot to tune, and few refrained from singing and clapping artists like Nina Simone. “She brings back what the loudly in tribute to a departed companion. United States through public events, CDs, and spirit of jazz should be, in an intimate setting. She —Kerri Linden publications. The highlight of the festival was the presenta- tion to Professor Blum of an English translation of Great Theory of Music (Trieste, 1832) by Chrysan- thos of Madytos, one of the major texts on Byzan- tine music, and a talk by the translator, the distinguished Greek musicologist Dr. Katy Ro- manou, senior visiting scholar of the Onassis Foundation USA, who had submitted the transla- tion as her master’s thesis at Indiana University in 1972. It was Lampousis who arranged for the book’s publication after Charles Turner, GC doc- toral candidate in music, brought the English translation to his attention. “This is by far the most referenced book in Byzantine music,” said Lampousis. Cosponsors of the festival included the Gradu- ate Center’s Ph.D. Program in Music (Ethnomu- sicology), the Rev. Peter N. Kyriakos Endowment Fund, the National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians, the New York State Council

on the Arts, and the Onassis Public Benefit Foun- ALL PHOTOS BY DON POLLARD dation (USA). Marjorie Eliot (left), Andrew McCloud III (top right), Gerald Hayes (bottom right)

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titled Retracing a Nightmare, which received the Dr. Randolph Braham of Kamera Hungária award (the Hungarian equiva- “Self-Regulated Learning,” the Rosenthal Institute: lent of an Emmy) for best documentary in 2005. Failure Prevention from A member of the faculty within the CUNY sys- Keeping Memory of tem for more than fifty years, he is committed to the Center for Advanced the Holocaust Alive ensuring that future generations continue to study Study in Education the Holocaust. Toward that end, he has seen that research grants are available from the J. & O. Win- In 2003, for the ter Holocaust Research Fund, instituted through Drawing on the work habits of standout writers fourth time since the generosity of Gábor Várszegi, a successful en- and virtuoso athletes, Barry J. Zimmerman, dis- emigrating to the trepreneur in Hungary. Moreover, in 1997, Profes- tinguished professor of educational psychology at United States some sor Braham established the Randolph L. Braham the Graduate Center, and clinical psychologist John sixty years earlier, Award Fund, which each year awards one disserta- Hudesman, senior investigator at GC’s Center for Dr. Randolph Bra- tion fellowship in the field of Jewish, Eastern Eu- Advanced Study in Education (CASE), have de- ham returned to ropean, or Holocaust-related studies. In 2009–10 veloped an approach to education that is helping Dej, the small Garrett Eisler (Theatre) became the most recent thousands of struggling students overcome obsta- rural community award winner for his dissertation proposal titled cles to classroom success. It’s called “self-regulated in Romania where “Performing Wartime Zionism: We Will Never learning” (SRL) and it teaches students that aca- he was raised. Al- Die, a Flag is Born, and the Jewish-American Cul- demic achievement, as Zimmerman puts it, “is though this was tural Front.” something they do for themselves rather than

many decades PHOTO: PETER HARRIS Marta Bladek (John Jay College), who received something that is done to or for them.” later, Braham, dis- the 2007–08 award, was one of the speakers during Together, Zimmerman and Hudesman have tinguished professor emeritus of political science at the Rosenthal Institute’s Spring 2010 Lecture Se- won $1.8 million in competitive grants to dissem- the Graduate Center and director of the GC’s ries. Her talk on March 17 focused on “The Sec- inate and test applications of SRL. A controlled Rosenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, had ond and Third Generations’ Return to Eastern and study at New York City College of Technology pro- clearly never forgotten the devastating events that Central Europe in Recent Jewish-American Mem- duced compelling evidence of the program’s effec- compelled him to depart. A leading expert on the oirs.” In it, she described what she referred to as tiveness. When 496 remedial math students at the Hungarian chapter of the Holocaust, he has dedi- “deferred returns”—visits by survivor émigrés to school were randomly assigned to different sec- cated a good part of his adult life seeking to better their homeland many years after leaving. Examples tions—some that used SRL and others that did understand how and why the Holocaust was able she cited included the “deferred return” of Elie not—students in the SRL sections scored 15 points to occur. Wiesel to Sighet, Transylvania, in 1964, twenty higher on their math finals and proved twice as Braham’s motives in this endeavor are not purely years after his deportation to Auschwitz, and Israeli likely to pass the general proficiency test needed to intellectual. His own parents were killed soon after novelist Aharon Appelfeld, whose return to his remain at City Tech. The two are now awaiting a they were taken to Auschwitz, and he has vivid rec- childhood home in the Ukraine, fifty-seven years grant from the National Science Foundation that ollections of many other relatives, friends, and after his mother and grandmother were slaughtered will allow them to introduce SRL into New York neighbors who were also casualties of the war and there, he described in a 1998 New Yorker article. City public school classrooms. its atrocities. “I made a living teaching political sci- Braham’s own return to Dej in 2003 also quali- The SRL model teaches students to address ac- ence,” says Braham. “But writing about the Holo- fies as a “deferred return.” The first time he had ademic failure by focusing on their study habits caust is a matter of the heart.” been back was in 1945, after being liberated from rather than making excuses for themselves. “We’re If his list of accomplishments is any indicator, a forced labor camp. “I felt like a ghost driven by its trying to change their traditional view of math Professor Braham’s heart is very big indeed. Most own shadow, going from street to street,” Braham as something where you make a lot of errors, and recently, on November 30, 2009, at Ben-Gurion recalls. This is not so surprising, since the Dej the errors are bad things, to an alternative view that er- University of the Negev, Braham was awarded that professor was taken from in 1943 was home to rors are part of the process,” says Zimmerman, school’s Ladislaus Laszt International Ecumenical more than 3,700 Jews, and none of them were to “and if you know how to interpret them, that can and Social Concern Award for his groundbreaking be found on his last trip back. The ten elderly Jews be a powerful incentive to continue learning.” work in the field of Holocaust studies. His two- he did find were Jews from other parts of Hungary There are three phases to the SRL teaching volume The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in or Romania who settled there after the war. As model—forethought, performance, and self-reflec- Hungary won the 1980 Jewish National Book Bladek put it during her talk, “The places live on tion. On an SRL quiz, students must rate their Award and is cited twice in the Congressional for the survivors only as a memory; they are no confidence in answering a question correctly be- Record. At the end of this year, Northwestern Uni- longer in the actual geographical location where fore and after they attempt to solve it. When the versity Press, in conjunction with the United States they once were.” quiz is returned, and students learn—as they often Holocaust Memorial Museum, will publish an For more information about the dissertation do—that their confidence was unwarranted, they English translation of his extensive three-volume award, see http://web.gc.cuny.edu/Provost/Diss_ are then shown how they arrived at their incorrect Geographic Encyclopedia of the Holocaust in Hun- Awards/Instructions.pdf, or contact Professor answers and given the opportunity to earn back lost gary—a unique compilation reporting on every Braham directly at [email protected]. To find credit by doing the problem again. Next, they re- Jewish community in Hungary, including hamlets out more about the Rosenthal Institute and its um- flect on how they had prepared for the quiz and where even a single Jew once lived. Braham was brella organization, the Center for Jewish Studies, how they will prepare for the next one. featured in Steven Spielberg’s 1998 Academy go to their website, http://web.gc.cuny.edu/dept/ Through this process students gain a sense of Award–winning documentary The Last Days, and cjstu/index.html. ownership of their academic careers. For Zimmer- his 2003 return to Dej was documented in a film —Jackie Glasthal man, SRL is rooted his conviction that—from

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Abraham Lincoln to first- and second-generation From December 2009 to May 2010, the Gradu- Phase II,” $668,000. Mary Clare Lennon (Center for immigrant students today—achievement and ex- ate Center received fifty-three grants totaling Human Environments), NIH, “Residential Mo- cellence are possible even when a student has the $5,200,625. The name(s) of the principal investi- bility and Young Children,” $471,925. Kobiljski disadvantages of a “humble origin and limited ac- gator(s), awarding agency, the title of the project, Majstorac-Aleksandra (History), Smith-Richardson cess to high-quality instruction” or “a lack of flu- and the amount of each grant of more than $5,000 Foundation, “First Came the Missionaries and Stu- ency in English, poorly educated parents, and are listed below. This information was submitted dents: American Protestant Universities in the [studying at] an inner city school with few re- by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Middle East and Japan 1860–1960,” $7,500. Brett sources and large numbers of low-achieving class- Martin (Speech–Language–Hearing Sciences), Na- mates.” Richard Alba (Sociology), University at Albany– tional Organization for Hearing Research Founda- Zimmerman has studied the work habits of ex- SUNY, “The Social Contexts of Children of Im- tion, “Neurophysiologic Processing of Speech perts in a variety of fields and has found that vir- migrants in the U.S.,” $45,404. Laird Bergad (Cen- Noise in Children and Adults,” $20,000. Kathleen tually all of them exhibited self-regulated behaviors ter for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino McCarthy (Center on Philanthropy and Civil Soci- such as record keeping, goal setting, and self-re- Studies), Young Adult Institute Inc., “CLACLS ety), Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, “Interna- flection. He’s fond of telling anecdotes about great and Support for Fellowships,” $8,230. Sarah Chinn tional Community Foundation Fellows Program writers like Victor Hugo and Ernest Hemingway (Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies), Arcus Foun- 2010–12,” $200,000; Turkish Philanthropy Funds, who delayed gratification to achieve mastery. dation, “IRN NA Networking Meeting,” $25,000. “Support for Zeynep Meydanoglu as 2010 Emerg- “Hemingway, when he was working in Cuba, John F. Collins, Analia Villagra (Anthropology), Na- ing Leaders International Fellow,” $9,000; The writing The Old Man and the Sea, would not take tional Science Foundation (NSF), Doctoral Dis- Winnipeg Foundation, “Support for Jennifer off for fishing, which he dearly loved, until he had sertation Research: “Locating Monkeys in the Litchfield as 2010 Emerging Leaders International gotten more than a day ahead on his daily average Politics of Land and Conservation in Rio de Janeiro, Fellow,” $13,475. Thalia Moshoyannis (CASE), The of writing,” according to Zimmerman, who noted Brazil,” $13,500. Julie Cunningham (Library), New New York City Department of Education, “Para- that many professional writers recorded their daily York State Education Department, “Library Col- professional Academy,” $182,868. Leith Mullings, progress, particularly how much they had written. lection Aid,” $10,242. Eric Delson, Eva C. Garrett Daisy Deomampo (Anthropology), NSF, Doctoral A central tenet of the SRL model is providing (Anthropology), NSF, “DDI—Was there a sensory Dissertation Research: “Medical Migrations and the students with quick feedback, but Hudesman trade-off in primate evolution? A method of trac- Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Mumbai,” allows that the process can be both costly and time- ing vomerolfaction in the fossil record,” $19,715. $12,569. Gregory O’Mullan, Brian Brigham (Earth consuming. Thus, Hudesman and Zimmerman Marc Edelman, Carwil R. James (Anthropology), and Environmental Sciences), U.S. Department of have turned to the computer for assistance. NSF, Doctoral Dissertation Research: “Claiming Commerce NOAA, “National Estuarine Research Recently, the two have worked with the Gradu- Space, Redefining Politics: Road Blockades and the Reserve Graduate Research Fellowship Program FY ate Center’s computer science department to de- Articulation of Grassroots Power in Urban Bo- 2010,” $20,000. David Rindskopf (Educational Psy- velop the SRL model on a tablet computer that is livia,” $11,290. Kenneth Erickson, Leonard Markovitz chology, CASE), University of California, “Merced not unlike Apple’s iPad in appearance and func- (Political Science), Q Corporation/Comparative A d-estimator for single-case designs,” $98,288; tion. Students use a pen to write on its screen, Politics, Journal of Comparative Politics, $38,425. Rauch Foundation, “The Long Island Index which serves as a virtual dry-erase board. They go Michelle Fine (Center for Human Environments), Project,” $25,000. Susan Saegert, Desiree Fields through the same processes of forethought, per- Make the Road New York, Inc., “Youth Polling for (Psychology–Environmental), NSF, Doctoral Dis- formance, and self-reflection as they would on a Justice,” $9,500; What Kids Can Do Inc., “Tech- sertation Improvement Grant: “Mapping Over: paper quiz, only now it takes a fraction of the time nical Assistance for Two Participatory Action Re- Landlord abandonment and mortgage foreclosure to get feedback, since a hard drive, rather than a search Projects,” $18,500. Bert Flugman, Barbara in New York City neighborhoods,” $11,916. Brian teacher, is grading the exam. The program, still a Schroder (Center for Advanced Study in Education Schwartz (Institutional), The Slater Foundation, prototype, records data and produces charts that [CASE]), The City College/NSF, “CLUSTER: In- General Research Activities, $23,000. Alison Snow track student progress over time. “Graphs like that vestigating a new model partnership for teacher (Social Welfare), American Cancer Society, “Hyp- help students evaluate their progress rather than preparation,” $185,000. Keville Frederickson (Nurs- nosis for Treatment of Pain and Anxiety in Patients judge themselves against other students,” Zim- ing Science), Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence, Receiving BMBX,” $20,000. Anna Stetsenko (Psy- merman says. “Jonas Nursing Scholars Program 2010–12,” chology–Developmental), NYU/IES, ED, “Case The ideal self-regulated learners are virtuosos $80,000. Ofelia Garcia (Urban Education), The Studies for Kids: Teaching and Learning the Na- like Michael Jordan or Beethoven, those rare indi- New York City Department of Education, “A ture of Scientific Evidence in Elementary School,” viduals who by honest self-assessment and setting Study of NYC High Schools with Latino English $41,979. Thomas Weiss (Ralph Bunche Institute goals transcend their shortcomings to attain flu- Language Learners,” $25,000. Janet Gornick (Lux- for International Studies), Government of Bel- ency in their fields. Zimmerman posits that these embourg Income Study Center), Luxembourg Sup- gium, “Global Centre for the Responsibility to Pro- SRL strategies can be taught to anyone to attain port for Luxembourg Income Study, $25,275. John tect (GCR2P),” $39,648; Government of France, specific goals, even if they will not make everyone Graziano (Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research “GCR2P,” $78,630; Government of the Nether- into creative geniuses. and Documentation), National Endowment for lands, “GCR2P,” $661,470; Government of the “Being capable of self-regulation doesn’t mean the Humanities (NEH), “Music in Gotham: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, that you use it all the time, but it’s designed to New York Scene, 1862–1875 from Selected “GCR2P,” $80,015; the John D. and Catherine T. make you more effective when you do,” said Zim- Printed Sources,” $314,987. Roger Hart (Center for MacArthur Foundation, “GCR2P,” $200,000; merman, who has written dozens of scholarly arti- Human Environments), UNICEF/Innocenti Re- Government of Netherlands, “United Nations In- cles and several books on SRL and has successfully search Center, “Child Friendly Cities Research and tellectual History Project, Phase II,” $180,448; applied SRL to everyone from volleyball players to Development,” $16,263. Deborah Hecht, Bert Flug- Thomas Weiss, Rama Mani (Ralph Bunche Institute the mothers of asthmatic children. man (CASE), NSF via Hofstra University, “Evalu- for International Studies), Arsenault Family Foun- —Joe Walker ation of Math Infusion in Science Project (MISP) dation, “GCR2P,” $50,000.

THE GRADUATE CENTER | The City University of New York 21 BHOOKSEAD

This list does not include all the titles published LINDA ALCOFF (Prof., GC, Hunter, Philosophy) JAMES DE JONGH (Prof., City, English), Vicious since the previous listing in Folio with 365 Fifth and Mariana Ortega, eds., Con- Modernism: Black Harlem and (Winter 2010). Several more recent submissions structing the Nation (SUNY the Literary Imagination (Cam- will be included in our next issue. All members of Press, 2009). This collection ad- bridge University Press, 2009). the doctoral faculty are invited to contact pubaff@ dresses the U.S. racial issues in a In tracing the evolution of the gc.cuny.edu with information about their books post-9/11 environment and of- imaginative usage of Harlem by once final proofs have been submitted. Due to fers a philosophical response to literary artists over the past sev- space limitations, full descriptions cannot be xenophobia and the rhetoric of enty years, de Jongh emphasizes printed here. However, a listing that includes more freedom, homeland, and unity. the continuing aesthetic and complete descriptions, book covers, and links for cultural force of the idea of Harlem in the Black purchase may be viewed at www.gc.cuny.edu/ JEAN MAUDE ANYON (Prof., GC, Urban Educa- Diaspora today. faculty/bookshelf.htm. tion), Theory and Educational Research: Toward Critical Social IRWIN EPSTEIN (Prof., Hunter, Social Welfare), ANDRÉ ACIMAN (Dist. Prof., GC, Comparative Lit- Explanation (Routledge, 2008). Clinical Data-Mining: Integrat- erature, French), Eight White This valuable collection of essays ing Practice and Research (Ox- Nights (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, bridges the age-old theory/re- ford Press, 2009). This pocket 2010). Aciman’s romantic novel search divide and suggests how guide covers all the basics of examines, with uncompromising engaging with critical social conducting clinical data-mining and sensuous prose, the relation- theory can lead to work that is studies or doctoral dissertations, ship of two twenty-something theoretically inspired and politically relevant. drawing extensively on pub- New Yorkers who meet at a lished studies and completed swank Christmas Eve party and TALAL ASAD (Dist. Prof., GC, Anthropology), dissertations from multiple social work settings. whose relationship plays out over the course of the Wendy Brown, Judith Butler, seven following nights. and Saba Mahmood, Is Critique MAURICIO FONT (Prof., Queens, Sociology), Cof- Secular? Blasphemy, Injury, and fee and Transformation in São LAURIE SCHNEIDER ADAMS (Prof., GC, Art His- Free Speech (The Townsend Pa- Paulo, Brazil (Lexington Books, tory), The Methodologies of Art, pers in the Humanities, Univer- 2010). This volume pays close 2nd ed. (Westview, 2009). A sity of California Press, 2009). attention to the political and good choice for introductory The four authors discuss the economic implications of São courses in art history, this re- supposed standoff between Paulo’s great transformation and vised edition includes additional Islam and liberal democratic values, blasphemy the segmentation of the coffee illustrations, discussions on and free speech, religious taboos and freedoms of industry, the Brazilian Revolu- colonialism, Orientalism, race, thought and expression, and secular and religious tion of 1930, and regionalism. and gender, and an epilogue an- worldviews. alyzing Titian’s The Rape of Lucrezia from multiple ROBERT GOLDFARB (Prof. Emeritus, Lehman, perspectives. JUAN BATTLE (Prof., GC, Sociology, Public Speech–Language–Hearing Sci- Health, Urban Education) and ences) and Yula Serpanos, Profes- MARILYN AGUIRRE-MOLINA (Prof., Lehman, Pub- Sandra L. Barnes, eds., Black Sex- sional Writing in Speech-Language lic Health), Luisa Borrell, and ualities: Probing Powers, Passions, Pathology and Audiology (Plural William Vega, eds., Health Issues Practices, and Policies (Rutgers Publishing, 2009). This book in Latino Males: A Social and University Press, 2009). Con- aims to show that learning to be Structural Analysis (Rutgers Uni- tributors seek to clarify blacks’ a better professional writer does versity Press, 2010). Experts in understanding of their sexuality not have to be drudgery, and public health, medicine, and so- through stories of empower- uses humor and anecdotal material, plus self-test ciology examine the issues af- ment, healing, self-awareness, victories, and other questions, to help illustrate the issues under fecting Latino men’s health and historic and contemporary life-course panoramas discussion. recommend policies to overcome inequities and as well as provide practical information for foster- better serve this population. ing tolerance and acceptance. SAMUEL HEILMAN (Harold Proshansky Chair in Jewish Studies, GC; Dist. Prof., AMMIEL ALCALAY (Prof., GC, English), Islanders HERMAN L. BENNETT (Prof., GC, History), Colo- Queens, Sociology), and Men- (City Lights, 2010). Enigmatic nial Blackness: A History of Afro- achem Friedman, The Rebbe: and multilayered, Islanders is Mexico (Indiana University Press, The Life and Afterlife of Men- about finding one’s own hard 2009). In exploring neglected achem Mendel Schneerson (Prince- won truth. Set during the final Mexican archival records, Ben- ton University Press, 2010). The cataclysmic years of the Vietnam nett uncovers an Afro-Mexican Rebbe tracks Menachem Mendel War, in a landscape that shifts community with a majority of Schneerson’s remarkable life, de- between bleak fishing towns and freedmen living in an urban set- scribes his building of the Lubavitcher movement, ruined cities, the novel explores ting rather than a shattered in- and demonstrates that his embrace of traditional- the classic theme of identity’s intricate relationship dividualistic society dealing with the “social death” ism and American-style modernity made him to place. caused by slavery. uniquely suited to his messianic mission.

22 folio | with 365 FIFTH | FALL 2010 BHOOKSEAD

PETER HITCHCOCK (Prof., Baruch, English), ed., STACEY B. PLICHTA (Prof., Hunter, Public Health) JUDITH STEIN (Prof., City, History), Pivotal The Long Space: Transnationalism and Laurel S. Garzon, Statistics Decade: How the United States and Postcolonial Form (Stanford for Nursing and Allied Health Traded Factories for Finance in the University Press, 2009). (Lippincott, Williams & Seventies (Yale University Press, Through a series of case studies Wilkins, 2009). This introduc- 2010). The book argues that in of Guyanese, Somali, Indone- tory textbook explores the role of order to understand our current sian, and Algerian writers, this research in health care and fo- economic crisis we need to look fresh look at postcolonial writ- cuses on the importance of or- back to the 1970s, the era of ing examines how it articulates ganizing and describing research postwar liberalism, when politi- both history and place in content and form. data using basic statistics to teach students how to cal practices, high wages, and regulated capital analyze data and present the results. produced both robust economic growth and MARGARET BULL KOVERA (Prof., John Jay, Crimi- greater income equality. nal Justice, Psychology) and EDWARD G. ROGOFF (Prof., Baruch, Economics), Brian Cutler, Evaluating Eyewit- The Second Chance Revolution: PETER STURMEY (Prof., Queens, Psychology), Clin- ness Evidence (Oxford University Becoming Your Own Boss After ical Case Formulation: Varieties of Press, 2009). The book describes 50 (Rowhouse, 2009). With an Approaches (Wiley, 2009). Case best practices for evaluating the enlightening combination of formulation is a key skill for reliability of eyewitness identifi- real-life stories and hands-on ad- mental health practitioners, and cations and for serving as an ex- vice, this guide provides an in- this book provides examples of pert on eyewitness identification spiring yet practical how-to ten case formulations that repre- issues in legal settings. book for entrepreneurially sent the most common mental minded men and women who dream of finally health problems in a variety of ROSE-CAROL WASHTON LONG (Prof., GC, Art working for themselves. populations and contexts, offering commentary on History), Matthew Baigell, and contrasting formulations of the same case. Milly Heyd, eds., Jewish Dimen- RICHARD G. SCHWARTZ (Pres. Prof., GC, Speech– sions in Modern Visual Culture Language–Hearing Sciences), DESPINA STYLIANOU (Asst. Prof., City, Urban Ed- (Brandeis University Press, ed., Handbook of Child Language ucation), Maria L. Blanton, and 2009). United States and Israeli Disorders (Psychology Press, Eric J. Knuth, eds., Teaching and scholars confront the contradic- 2009). Schwartz presents an in- Learning Proof Across the Grades: tory impulses provoked by mod- depth, comprehensive, and state- A K–16 Perspective (Routledge, ernism’s interaction with Jewish of-the-art review of current 2009). This collection of es- culture and discuss how religion, class, race, and research concerning the nature, says informs educators and re- political alignments were used to provide a ration- assessment, and remediation of searchers about the teaching and ale for attacks on modern art. language disorders in children. There are individual learning of mathematical proof chapters that focus directly on research methods. at different grade levels and helps define an agenda ROSE-CAROL WASHTON LONG (Prof., GC, Art for future research. History) and Maria Makela, MICHAEL J. SMITH (Prof., Hunter, Social Welfare), eds., Of ‘Truths Impossible to Handbook of Program Evaluation ARACELI TINAJERO (Assoc. Prof., City, Hispanic Put in Words’: Max Beckmann for Social Work and Health Pro- and Luso-Brazilian Literatures Contextualized (Peter Lang Pub- fessionals (Oxford University and Languages), El Lector: A His- lishers, 2009). Essays by art Press, 2010). Evaluation is cru- tory of the Cigar Factory Reader, historians relate Max Beck- cial for determining the effec- trans. J. E. Grasberg (University mann’s work to the circum- tiveness of social programs and of Texas Press, 2010). Tinajero stances of its production and interventions. The author links traces the Cuban tradition of reception, thus expanding research that only re- current perspectives in social reading aloud in cigar factories cently has begun to consider context in relation to work and health practice to evaluation concepts from nineteenth-century Cuba to Beckmann’s work. and shows social work and health care profession- the present, when the tradition survives as a hard- als how to handle evaluations with ease. won right, deeply embedded in the workers’ culture. GERARDO PIÑA-ROSALES (Prof., Lehman, Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures JOEL SPRING (Prof., Queens, Urban Education), DAVID G. TROYANSKY (Prof., Brooklyn, History), and Languages), Hablando bien Political Agendas for Education: Hafid Gafaïti, and Patricia M. se entiende la gente (Santillana From Change We Can Believe In E. Lorcin, eds., Transnational USA, 2010). This new, highly to Putting America First, 4th ed. Spaces and Identities in the Fran- practical guide to correct Span- (Routledge, 2010). Spring up- cophone World (University of ish, tailored specially for the dates his description and analy- Nebraska Press, 2009). These Spanish language of the United sis of the current educational scholarly essays examine the im- States, contains more than agendas of major political play- pact of postcolonial immigra- three hundred pieces of advice for those who ers and organizations, focusing tion on identity in France and in wish to make themselves understood correctly in on the 2004 presidential campaign and the No the Francophone world, and reveal the vitality of Spanish. Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Francophone studies.

THE GRADUATE CENTER | The City University of New York 23 AHLUMNIEAD

Chinese opera, which has various styles, involves of philosophy and linguistics at the Graduate Cen- GC Alumna Adapts Ibsen and colorful costumes, heavy makeup, carefully chore- ter from 1975 to his death in 2002, was one of the Strindberg as Chinese Operas ographed staging, and stylized gestures. In general, world’s leading linguistic philosophers and a pio- the Yue style, the kind of opera that Fei has written, neer in semantic theory and associated philosoph- uses an entirely female cast and incorporates soft, ical issues. His seminal book, Semantic Theory Alumna Faye Chunfang Fei (Theatre, 1991) has al- romantic singing with plots that originate in folk (Harper & Row, 1972), had an enormous impact ways been interested in merging cultures. A scholar, and fairy tales. Fei conceived of adapting Hedda on philosophy, linguistics, psychology, and the translator, and playwright, Fei has achieved con- Gabler as a Chinese opera in 2006, the hundredth fledgling field of cognitive science. He showed that siderable success adapting Western drama for the anniversary of Ibsen’s death, when many global the question “What is meaning?” could be formally Chinese stage, specifically as Chinese opera. Born events were planned. “Ibsen is the second best analyzed in a way that was compatible with mod- in Shanghai, she completed her undergraduate known Western playwright in China after Shake- ern syntactic theory. Katz’s contributions were ex- studies at Shanghai’s East China Normal Univer- speare, and one of the most influential, yet Hedda ceptionally broad, including linguistic semantics, sity and earned her M.A. at Canada’s Queen’s Gabler had never been staged,” Fei said. For her philosophy of language, philosophy of linguistics, University. production, Liu Jiankuan composed music, which philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of science, Coming to the Graduate Center in New York was sung in Chinese with English subtitles, and metaphilosophy, and metaphysics. for her doctorate, Fei says, was the best way to performed with an eight-member orchestra. round out her educational experience. “I had in- The show, called Hedda or Aspiration Sky High, tensive study of theory and criticism in the theatre was first presented by the Hangzhou Yue Opera department,” she said, “and living at the student Company and then in Oslo’s National Theatre for dorm at 44th Street, I was able to be right in the the International Ibsen Stage Festival. “It was very middle of all the theatre, and went to see shows on well received, and we immediately had requests for Broadway at least twice a week. The theatre com- five more performances,” Fei recalls. “Our adapta- munity in New York was the reason I chose the tion is a deconstruction of the original. Everyone Graduate Center.” Fei secured several grants for re- knows the story, but this made it more universal, search with the help of Distinguished Professor more about human choices.” The Chinese opera Daniel Gerould, who encouraged her to incorpo- version more clearly displays the pure emotion of rate her interests and cultural background into her Hedda, Fei explained, with heartfelt arias and styl- dissertation on Huang Zuolin, a Chinese director ized movements that can express more than realis- who produced Western theatre in China in the tic acting. While Ibsen’s Hedda escapes dishonor 1930s. “I was given the Dissertation-Year Fellow- by shooting herself, Fei’s Hedda, like Madame But- ship for this, among other grants,” she said. “The terfly, commits hara-kiri, a ritual Japanese form of PHOTO: PAULA VLODKOWSKY Graduate Center was extremely generous to me.” suicide by disembowelment. The opera has since The annual lecture to honor his memory was in- While in New York in 1987, she and her husband, been produced in France, Germany, and India, and stituted soon after his death and welcomes philoso- William Huizhu Sun, wrote their first play, China in March moved to Romania. phers whose work touches on topics that interested Dream, a cross-cultural romance, which was first After Hedda, Fei and her husband adapted two Katz. David Pitt, who was his student, works staged at New York’s Henry Street Settlement The- more Scandinavian plays as Chinese opera. Their in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, atre and has since been produced by several production of Strindberg’s Miss Julie opened this and metaphysics. Pitt’s lecture, “Demonstrative theatres in China. past March at the Beijing Opera, and Ibsen’s Lady Thoughts,” drew on a current project in philoso- from the Sea has been commissioned both by the phy of mind—a phenomenally based theory of Hangzhou Company and Norway’s Nationalthe- thought content. The lecture, which sparked spir- atret, also known as the Henrik Ibsen Theatre. ited discussion at the symposium, dealt with the Fei and her husband, who now live in New York, character and content of thought and whether shuttle back and forth to Europe and Asia. Fei is a these are wholly determined internally, by the char- professor at both New York University and East acter of the thinker’s experience, or are in part de- China Normal University. Their two sons attend termined externally, by the thinker’s relation to his Columbia University and Stuyvesant High School. environment. —Kerri Linden Dr. Pitt’s publications include “International Psychologism,” Philosophical Studies (forthcoming); “The Phenomenology of Cognition, or What Is It The Jerrold J. Katz Memorial Like to Think That P?” Philosophy & Phenomeno- logical Research, 2004; “Mental Representation,” Lecture Was Given This Year Stanford Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, by GC Alumnus David Pitt 2000/2004/2008; “On Markerese,” Philosophical Forum, 2003; “Alter Egos and Their Names,” Jour- nal of Philosophy, 2001; with Jerrold J. Katz, “Com- David Pitt (Philosophy, 1994), associate professor positional Idioms,” Language, 2000; “Nativism and of philosophy, California State University, Los An- the Theory of Content,” Protosociology, 2000; “In

PHOTO: CHEN JIAN/COURTESY OF HANGZHOU YUE OPERA COMPANY geles, delivered the Jerrold J. Katz memorial lecture Defense of Definitions,” Philosophical Psychology, Actress Zhou Yujin plays Hedda Gabler in Faye at the Graduate Center philosophy department’s 1999; and “What Is Tonality?” International Jour- Chunfang Fei’s opera version of Ibsen’s classic. spring symposium. Katz, a distinguished professor nal of Musicology, 1995.

24 folio | with 365 FIFTH | FALL 2010 AHLUMNIEAD

For a full listing of alumni notes received, see Jay Sharp Theatre in Symphony Space, Manhat- lege, recently edited Hijas olvidadas: Two Contem- www.gc.cuny.edu/alumni/alumni_index.htm. tan, on April 17. porary Plays by Hispanic Women Writers (University Alumni are invited to submit news by contacting Press of America, 2009), which includes Nora [email protected]. Barbara Heyman (Music, 1989), a music historian Adriana Rodríguez’s Paula.doc and Paloma Pe- who most recently served as director of the Office drero’s Una estrella. Regina Axelrod (Political Science, 1978) recently of College Information and Publications at Brook- published the third edition of her edited book, The lyn College, appeared on NPR’s “All Things Con- Peter Muir (Musicology, 2004) gave a presenta- Global Environment: Law, Institutions and Policy sidered” on March 9 as a commentator discussing tion about his recent book, Long Lost Blues: Popu- (Congressional Quarterly Books), which was American composer Samuel Barber. Her award- lar Blues in America 1850–1920 (University of named a 1999 Choice Outstanding Academic winning biography Samuel Barber: The Composer Illinois Press, 2010), at the Mid-Manhattan Li- Title. and His Music (Oxford University Press, 1994) has brary on March 17. become a standard in music history scholarship. Thomas J. Carabas (Comparative Literature, 1978) Umesh Nagarkatte (Mathematics, 1976) was re- serves on the English faculty at the College of Jennifer C. Hunt (Sociology, 1982) has a new book, cently appointed to serve as chair of the mathe- Southern Nevada and, under his pen name E. D. Seven Shots: An NYPD Raid on a Terrorist Cell and matics department at CUNY’s Medgar Evers Karampetsos, he recently published Dante and Its Aftermath, forthcoming in August 2010, from College. Byzantium (Somerset Hall Press, 2009), a post- the University of Chicago Press. Byzantine reading of the Divine Comedy. Irwin Nesoff (Social Welfare, 1998), associate pro- Jeffrey A. Kroessler (History, 1991) has received fessor of social work at Wheelock College in Jack Carroll (Theatre, 1998) directed a production tenure at the Lloyd Sealy Library, John Jay College. Boston, has been appointed chair of the newly cre- of Much Ado About Nothing in April at the Albert He recently published The Greater New York Sports ated department of leadership, social policy and ad- L. Jeffers Theatre, University of Texas–Pan Ameri- Chronology (Columbia University Press, 2010), vocacy, which offers a master’s of science degree can, where Carroll serves as drama program coor- covering the history of professional and amateur and postgraduate certificates in organizational lead- dinator. sports from the Dutch in New Amsterdam through ership, and will provide a variety of opportunities 2009. for undergraduate and graduate students to be- Michele Cohen (Art History, 2002) published Pub- come engaged in policy practice and advocacy. lic Art for Public Schools (Monacelli Press, 2009). Angelo Lampousis (Earth and Environmental Sci- In September of 2009, he was named assistant pro- ences, 2009) currently splits his time between Marcos S. Pinto (Computer Science, 2007) had his fessor of arts administration and director of the teaching as an adjunct assistant professor in the book Performance Modeling in Intelligent Educa- Trustman Art Gallery, Simmons College. Hunter College geography department and work- tional Networks published (VDM Verlag, 2009). ing as an environmental engineering consultant in Jeffrey Couchman (English, 2006) published The a private consulting firm. Since June 2009, he has Stanislao G. Pugliese (History, 1995) is a finalist in Night of the Hunter: A Biography of a Film (North- acted as the seminar series faculty coordinator for the biography category for the National Book Crit- western University Press, 2009), which includes the the City College department of earth and atmo - ics Circle Award for his book Bitter Spring: A Life first study of James Agee’s recently discovered first- spheric sciences. of Ignazio Silone (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009). draft screenplay for Charles Laughton’s classic film. He is editing two volumes of Agee’s screen- J. Patrice McSherry (Political Science, 1994) and Mark Sacharoff (English, 1967) is founder of the writing for the University of Tennessee Press (part three colleagues, John Ehrenberg, Jose Ramon Jewish Remembrance Theater (JRT), which seeks of a ten-volume set of Agee’s complete works). Sanchez, and Caroleen M. Sayej, have coedited The to preserve and memorialize the great Jewish-Eu- Iraq Papers (Oxford University Press, 2010), a doc- ropean culture wiped out by the Holocaust by stag- Richard L. DiNardo (History, 1988) published Break- umentary reader that includes both an analytical ing plays and other works by Jewish playwrights through: The Gorlice-Tarnow Campaign, 1915 and historical narrative and a selection of key pri- and authors. JRT will hold a playwriting contest (Praeger, 2010), the first English-language study of mary documents that illustrate the Bush adminis- each year, which will lead to a first prize of one of the major campaigns on the eastern front in tration’s war in Iraq. $20,000, a book of the top five plays, and an World War I. archive of the top twenty-five plays. D.H. Melhem (English, 1976) has produced an Melissa Hope Ditmore (Sociology, 2002) coedited eighth collection of poems, Art and Politics: Politics Jingyi Song (History, 2000), a professor of history Sex Work Matters: Exploring Money, Power and In- and Art (Syracuse University Press, 2010), which and philosophy at SUNY–Old Westbury, pub- timacy in the Sex Industry (Zed Books, 2010). describes accounts of individual triumphs and the lished her book, Shaping and Reshaping Chinese ongoing catastrophic conflicts of our world. American Identity: New York’s Chinese During the Gabriel Drummond-Cole (Mathematics, 2010) suc- Depression and World War II (Lexington Books, cessfully defended his dissertation this spring under Henry Miller (Theatre, 2003) wrote and directed the 2010). John Terilla (Asst. Prof., Queens, Mathematics) new play Perfectly Black: Seductions in an Alternative and has received a Mathematical Sciences Postdoc- Cosmos of Negritude, performed by the Red Harlem Anne Witte (French, 1992) has published Past and toral Research Fellowship, which begins this fall at Readers at Indian Café in New York City in Feb- Future Culture (BookSurge Publishing, 2010), Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. ruary. which investigates cultural and postcultural mani- festations of human diversity and offers an intro- Ju Yong Ha (Music, 2007) produced “Korea 21: María Montoya (Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Lit- duction to values, authority, transnational Music Here & Now,” a concert of twenty-first- eratures and Languages, 2000), associate professor communication, social capital, and global civic century Korean contemporary music, at the Peter of Hispanic literature and Spanish, St. Joseph’s Col- concerns.

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Announcing GC’s Membership Program and Fall Public Programs Please Join Us

Sign up now for our new GC Membership Program and enjoy FALL 2010 a more rewarding relationship with the Graduate Center. PUBLIC PROGRAMS FOR THE PUBLIC MIND Extraordinary Lives As part of the growing audience for our rich and varied WILLIAM P. K ELLY INTERVIEWS EXCEPTIONAL MEN AND WOMEN programs of lectures, panel discussions, concerts, exhibitions, Great Issues Forum: “An Exploration of Place” films, and plays, or as a contributor to our Annual Fund, you have a stake in our institution—in its scholarly achievements Film Series curated by Ken Burns and the expanding role it plays in the intellectual and cultural Perspectives: Conversations on Policy and Place life of our city. Membership is an opportunity for you to MODERATED BY PETER BEINART AND FEATURING: CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, GEORGE PACKER, JEFF JARVIS, TINA BROWN, ANDREW deepen this relationship and be a vital part of our community. SULLIVAN

Membership has substantial benefits. All members receive the Elebash Presents: Music in Midtown Graduate Center’s new magazine, GC, successor to Folio, and Elebash Presents: Concerts & Conversations invitations to special members-only events. In addition, Gotham Center History Forums membership entitles you to discounted tickets to high-profile Exhibitions at the James Gallery public programs. While the vast majority of Graduate Center events will continue to be free, rising costs and expanded (To learn about these programs, ticket prices, and discounts, programming make admission charges necessary for some of go to www.gc.cuny.edu/events.) the more popular public programs listed here.

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