Creolization and Contraband by Linda M. Rupert

Professor Linda M. Rupert (History) has published Creolization and Contraband: Curaco in the Early Modern Atlantic World, a book that explores the language, commerce and cultural exchange of Curaco.

According to the publisher, Creolization and Contraband uses the history of Curaçao to develop the first book-length analysis of the relationship between illicit interimperial trade and processes of social, cultural, and linguistic exchange in the early modern world. Rupert argues that by breaking through multiple barriers, smuggling opened particularly rich opportunities for cross-cultural and interethnic interaction. Far from marginal, these extra-official exchanges were the very building blocks of colonial society.

Additional information about this book can be found on the authors homepage. 

Elements of Culture by Susan Andreatta

Professor Susan Andreatta has co-authored the Book Elements of Culture: an Applied Perspective.  According to the publisher, Elements of Culture is a concise new text that allows you to quickly access the main concepts in cultural anthropology. The book's streamlined content, pedagogy, and real-world applications showcase global current events and issues that illustrate the usefulness of anthropology in careers and in solving societal problems.

Learn more about Susan Andreatta on her UNCG homepage. 

Trouble in the West, by Stephen Ruzicka

Professor Stephen Ruzicka (History) has published Trouble in the West: Egypt and the Persian Empire, 525-332 BC.  According to the publisher, "this book provides the first full and continuous account of the Persian-Egyptian War, a conflict that continued for nearly the two-hundred-year duration of the Persian Empire. Despite its status as the largest of all ancient Persian military enterprises--including any aimed at Greece--this conflict has never been reconstructed in any detailed and comprehensive way. Thus, Trouble in the West adds tremendously to our understanding of Persian imperial affairs. At the same time, it dramatically revises our understanding of eastern Mediterranean and Aegean affairs by linking Persian dealings with Greeks and other peoples in the west to Persia's fundamental, ongoing Egyptian concerns. In this study, Stephen Ruzicka argues that Persia's Egyptian problem and, conversely, Egypt's Persian problem, were much more important in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean worlds than our conventional Greek-centered perspective and sources have allowed us to see. In looking at this conflict as one stage in an enduring east-west conflict between successive Near Eastern imperial powers and Egypt--one which stretched across nearly the whole of ancient history--it represents an important turning point: by pulling in remote western states and peoples, who subsequently became masters of Egypt, western opposition to Near Eastern power was sustained right up to the 7th century Arab conquests. For classicists and historians of the ancient Near East, Trouble in the West will serve as a valuable, and long-overdue, resource."

Life After Death Row by Saundra Westervelt

Professor Saundra D. Westervelt (sociology) has co-authored the book, Life After Death Row: Exonerees’ Search for Community and Identity.  The book, which chronicles the lives of 18 death row exonerees as they struggle to reclaim their lives after being set free, examines how policy changes could mitigate those struggles for others.

More information about the author and this book can be found in the campus news section of the UNCG Website and on the publisher's website.

The Erotics of Sovereignty by Mark Rifkin

from the publisher's website:

In 1970 the Nixon administration inaugurated a new era in federal Indian policy. No more would the U.S. government seek to deny and displace Native peoples or dismantle Native governments; from now on federal policy would promote “the Indian’s sense of autonomy without threatening his sense of community."

In The Erotics of Sovereignty, Mark Rifkin [English] offers a telling perspective on what such a policy of self-determination has meant and looks at how contemporary queer Native writers use representations of sensation to challenge official U.S. accounts of Native identity. Rifkin focuses on four Native writers—Qwo-Li Driskill (Cherokee), Deborah Miranda (Esselen), Greg Sarris (Graton Rachería), and Chrystos (Menominee)—approaching their fiction and poetry as forms of political theory. 

Rifkin shows how the work of these queer or two-spirit Native writers affirms the significance of the erotic as an exercise of individual and community sovereignty. In this way, we come to see how their work contests the homophobic, sexist, and exclusivist policies and attitudes of tribal communities as well as those of the nation-state. 

Professor Rifkin's previous book, When Did Indians Become Straight?: Kinship, the History of Sexuality, and Native Sovereignty (2011) was recently awarded the prestigious John Hope Franklin Prize in American Studies.    Please see the Department of English's website for more information on Professor Mark Rifkin and his published works. 

The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its History and Structure by Joseph Hill

Dr. Joseph Hill (Specialized Education Services) is a co-author of the recent book, The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its History and Structure  (Gallaudet University Press).   Many people are at least somewhat familiar with American Sign Language, but few are aware that, like any other language, sign language can have dialects and other variations. According to one review, this book and its companion DVD “present the first empirical study that begins to fill in the linguistic gaps about Black ASL.”

The separation of  black and white deaf children was a contributing factor to the development of distinct dialects of ASL.  This book is an important step in understanding how and why such divisions occur and the extent of their ramifications. The growing interest in multicultural education ensures that it will reach an interested audience.

Please see the UNCG website for an in-depth article about Dr. Hill and his book.

Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective, by Dale H. Schunk

Professor Dale H. Schunk, Education, has published Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective. According to the publisher, this book is "an essential resource for understanding the main principles, concepts and research findings of key learning theories - especially as they relate to education - this proven text blends theory, research and applications throughout, providing its readers with a coherent and unified perspective on learning in educational settings."