Politics and the Art of Commemoration
by Meredeth Turshen
The scraps of burlap are arranged in quadrants to create a central cross. The patch on the lower right is stamped Congo Binga, the name of a plantation town on a tributary of the Congo River in Equateur Province, some 850 kilometers northwest of Kindu, where the murders took place. How ironic that a sack from a Congo plantation, the sort of work site where millions of Africans had died at the hands of Belgian colonists, should be used to memorialize thirteen Italian pilots.
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What if this Crisis Had Hit 25 Years Ago?
by Joseph Bentz
Many of us who teach in the humanities complain about the frustrations and limitations of remote learning, and understandably so. As a literature professor, I miss being with students in person. I miss the magic that can happen when students gather in a room, hover over a shared text, and dig out its meaning. I miss the conversations before and after class and the unplanned encounters on campus sidewalks. I miss having students and colleagues unexpectedly pop into my office and start a conversation that sometimes turns out to be the most important discussion of the day.
However, as challenging as this crisis has been, one possibility that would have been even worse keeps creeping into my mind: What if this pandemic had struck 25 years ago? How would universities have handled it? Without adequate technology to teach remotely, would some universities, including my own, have had to simply shut down?
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Still Naming It!
by Christopher Raab
In 2006, I wrote a short journal article titled, “No Laughing in the Library: You Name It!” It was part of an ongoing humor series, and the article explored librarian surnames that were “professionally ironic” or “unintentionally descriptive.” For example, the Cataloging Librarian named Field, the Database Librarian named Gale, the Scholarly Communications Librarian named Spark, etc. I remembered the article being a lot of fun to research and write, so fifteen years later I figured I’d take another shot at it.
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Disney is partnering with a Nigerian-Ugandan animation studio for an African sci-fi series
via Quartz Africa
"Disney has announced Kugali’s science fiction series Iwájú will debut globally in 2022 on Disney+ fast-growing streaming service.
Iwájú, a name that loosely translates to “the future” in Yoruba, a language spoken in West Africa, is set in Lagos and will explore a number of thematic concerns from class and innocence to challenging the status quo."
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Society for Scholarly Publishing’s
Skills Survey
If you work in academic/scholarly publishing, a reminder to fill out the Society for Scholarly Publishing’s Skills Survey. Your responses will help the SSP Career Development Committee to create a unique framework enabling members to identify professional roles and skill areas that align with their career goals. It takes five minutes to fill out—deadline is January 8.
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British University Staff Up in Arms Re E-Book Pricing
via BBC
More than 2,500 university faculty and librarians in the UK (from almost every university in the country) have signed a letter calling for an investigation into what they call the "scandal" of excessive pricing of academic e-books.
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Ithaka Findings on the Impact of COVID-19 on Academic Libraries
Important findings from the recent Ithaka survey are that the global pandemic has reinforced and accelerated trends in library investment in digital resources and services; most libraries have undergone budget cuts in the current academic year, and there is uncertainty about longer-term financial recovery.
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THIRD CHAPTER THANKS EVERYONE WHO DONATED ON GIVING TUESDAY |
Thank you to everyone who donated to The Third Chapter Project, Inc. on Giving Tuesday! If you missed out and are still interested in donating to support the Third Chapter mission, click the link below. |
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OTH Call for Essays
OTH is looking for essays, reflections, articles from librarians, faculty, and publishers in the humanities (1,000 - 1,500 words).
These can vary from voicing your opinion on the current environment for professionals working in the humanities, promoting projects, books, or articles you are working on, personal essays incorporating your expertise in a humanities discipline or related area, responses to previous OTH pieces, or opinion pieces!
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OTH Masthead
© 2020 Edward Reiner
Published by The Third Chapter Project, Inc.
Editor: Christopher Plattsmier
Editor/Contact Manager: Clare Doyle
Advertising: Kathleen Scholz-Jaffe
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