Duke University Press Log

Karkazis on The Health Show

Katrina Karkazis, author of Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience, appears on The Health Show with Bob Barrett this week. She discusses the various medical conditions that make up intersex, and talks about what parents can expect if they have a baby born with an ambiguous gender.

DUP Director Cohn Interviewed by Herald-Sun

Duke Press director Steve Cohn is interviewed in today's Durham Herald-Sun. Reporter Laura Collins writes about how Duke and UNC Presses are coping in the down economy. Cohn says Duke Press sales are down about nine percent but remarks, "Most university presses publish books almost entirely. A few publish scholarly journals, but in proportion I think we are one of the highest journals publisher," he said. "It's not a big problem if book revenues are down. Journal revenues are ahead of budget."(free registration required to view article online).

Roger Beebe Interviewed on NPR

Roger Beebe, co-editor of Medium Cool: Music Videos from Soundies to Cellphones, was interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition today. Neda Ullaby reported on how music videos have changed in the era of YouTube and cellphones. She contrasts a cinematic video like Michael Jackson's "Thriller" with Beyonce's "Single Ladies," which is just dancers in front of a minimal backdrop. Beebe talks about OK Go's 2006 video "Here It Goes Again," which features the band on a set of treadmills. "It's sort of beautifully crazy in its choreography; they come up with trick after trick," he says. "I don't know if that band or that single would have made the cut in the glory days of MTV."

Mexican American Mojo and The World of Lucha Libre Reviewed in LA Times

Gustavo Arellano reviewed Anthony Macías's Mexican American Mojo and Heather Levi's The World of Lucha Libre in Sunday's Los Angeles Times. Arellano says that Macías's book is filled with "riches of information -- dates, names, long-gone establishments like Venice's Aragon Ballroom and the Trianon" and "reams of trivia with interviews of musicians and people who lived through the era, adding their voices to the history of Los Angeles." He calls Levi's book "entertaining," saying the book 'entertains, informs and breezes by." So check out these fascinating books about Mexican American popular culture for yourself.

positions Receives the 2008 CELJ Award for Best Special Issue

“War Capital Trauma,” a special issue of positions: east asia cultures critique, was unanimously selected as the winner of the 2008 Council of Editors of Learned Journals Award for Best Special Issue. Contributors to the issue explore the notions of trauma and memory, address inequalities in non-Western societies, and seek to enable political intervention in world suffering.

Essays range from reports on sexual war crimes in Japan and survival during the Khmer Rouge attacks to a discussion of the manga Akira and the atom bomb. As the editors explain in t he introduction, “Trauma as concept or ‘theory’ . . . has no substitute; nothing else stands by to replace the term or to focus our attention as it does.”

Find out more at dukeupress.edu.

Earthquakes Shape History in Peru

Today's Los Angeles Times has an article about a new archaeological theory for the decline of the Mayan civilization. Researches believe that about 3800 years ago, a massive earthquake struck the Supe Valley, a region of Peru about 120 miles north of Lima, destroying settlements and loosening the soil. "Massive rainfall triggered by El Niño weather patterns washed the sediment into bays, destroying the fishing grounds. Constant winds then blew a steady rain of sand ashore, burying farmlands and rendering population centers virtually uninhabitable," writes reporter Thomas H. Maugh. Earthquakes continued to shape the region's history, as Charles H. Walker argues in his book Shaky Colonialism: The 1746 Earthquake-Tsunami in Lima, Peru, and Its Long Aftermath. On October 28, 1746, a massive earthquake ravaged Lima, a bustling city of 50,000, capital of the Peruvian Viceroyalty, and the heart of Spain’s territories in South America. Half an hour later, a tsunami destroyed the nearby port of Callao. The earthquake-tsunami demolished churches and major buildings, damaged food and water supplies, and suspended normal social codes, throwing people of different social classes together and prompting widespread chaos. Walker examines reactions to the catastrophe, the Viceroy’s plans to rebuild the city, and the opposition he encountered from the Church, the Spanish Crown, and Lima’s multiracial population.

Abalone Gets Endangered Species Status

The black abalone, a Pacific coast mollusk that is a central feature in many Pacific coast Native tribes' cultures, was granted endangered species status this week. The abalone used to be abundant along the California coast but a withering syndrome, apparently caused by rising ocean temperatures, has caused their numbers to dwindle. In Abalone Tales, Les Field collaborates with many Native co-authors to look at the place of the abalone in California and Native history and culture. The essays in the book shed light on abalone’s role in cultural revitalization, struggles over territory, tribal appeals for federal recognition, and connections among California’s Native groups.

Debra Blake on KPFK's Feminist Magazine

Debra Blake, author of Chicana Sexuality and Gender, appeared on KPFK's Feminist Magazine Wednesday night. She discussed how Chicana professional intellectuals and U.S. Mexicana women refigure confining and demeaning constructions of female gender roles and racial, ethnic, and sexual identities. Listen to the podcast here.

Swanee Hunt on Women's Advancement

Swanee Hunt, author of This Was Not Our War and Half-Life of a Zealot, has an article on The Huffington Post about the priority of women's advancement, for both political and policy reasons. "We were the deciding demographic during the presidential campaign. We propelled Hillary Clinton to victory in primary after primary; in the general election, we accounted for 56% of the voters who elected Barack Obama. Analysts say that women's role in America's electoral politics is likely to increase. We will play a major role in determining the outcome of the 2010 midterm and the 2012 presidential elections." She urges President-Elect Obama to call to attention the importance of women in high-profile leadership positions: "Without a clear signal of the importance of their work from the President-elect, many American women leaders and organizations will be frustrated and possibly less engaged in this administration."

New Contest on our Facebook Page

We've just posted a new contest on our Facebook fan page: What should Obama read? This month we're asking our fans what Duke Press book Barack Obama should read and why. Post your answer on the wall of our Fan page and we'll select a winner at the end of the month. Winner will receive a free Duke Press book of his or her choice, AND we'll send the book he or she suggests to the White House! It's easy to become a fan of the Press if you're a member of Facebook; sign up today and stay tuned for a new contest each month.