Resources for Teachers and Students
We are pleased to offer the following online resources to encourage teachers and students to enhance their engagement with the Lowell Humanities Series. We encourage you to adopt our speakers' most recent book as well as shorter essays and contextual material as part of your syllabi. Additionally, the resources below can be paired or used separately to fit a single class or a longer unit. These links allow students to watch a Youtube video, or read a short essay or interview, before or after one of our events. Teachers might also consider using these resources in conjunction with evening reflection activities, or opportunities for reviews/reports during or beyond class-time. For speakers book titles, please see their bios. Articles in academic journals are available to members of the BC community through the library webpage.
Kim Stanley Robinson
“The Future of Climate, Technology, and Society”
March 29, 2023
7:00 PM | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews:
- The New York Times: Ezra Klein Interviews Kim Stanley Robinson (transcript and podcast) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-kim-stanley-robinson.html
- Farsight: Futures Reviewed: “Mars is irrelevant to us know. We should of course concentrate on maintaining the habitability of the Earth” https://farsight.cifs.dk/interview-kim-stanley-robinson/
- Bioneers: Interview with Kim Stanley Robinson about his book “The Ministry for the Future” https://bioneers.org/kim-stanley-robinson-on-his-book-the-ministry-for-the-future/
- BookForum: Mountain Song: Kim Stanley Robinson Talks About His New Book, The High Sierra: A Love Story https://www.bookforum.com/interviews/kim-stanley-robinson-talks-about-his-new-book-the-high-sierra-a-love-story-24922
- Jacobin: Kim Stanley Robinson: We Need Democratic Socialism https://jacobin.com/2022/10/kim-stanley-robinson-democratic-socialism-science-fiction-utopianism-capitalism-climate-crisis
Reviews:
- The Guardian: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson review – how to solve the climate crisis https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/20/the-ministry-for-the-future-by-kim-stanley-robinson-review-how-to-solve-the-climate-crisis
- LA Review of Books: Of Course They Would: On Kim Stanley Robinson’s “The Ministry for the Future” https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/of-course-they-would-on-kim-stanley-robinsons-the-ministry-for-the-future/
- Ancillary Review of Books: Even This Is Too Good to be True: Review of The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2021/01/20/even-this-is-too-good-to-be-true-review-of-the-ministry-for-the-future-by-kim-stanley-robinson/
- Rolling Stone: What Will Sci-Fi Look Like in 30 Years? Sci-fi Author Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us There https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-ministry-for-the-future-interview-kim-stanley-robinson-1101738/
Op-Eds/Public Writing :
- Bostonia: Kim Stanley Robinson on the Importance of Imagination https://www.bu.edu/articles/2022/kim-stanley-robinson-the-importance-of-imagination/
- Bloomberg: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Guide to Keeping the Doomsday Glacier Hanging On https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-26/kim-stanley-robinson-saving-the-doomsday-glacier-in-antarctica-from-collapse
Excerpts:
- EW: Sustainability is possible in this excerpt from climate change novel The Ministry for the Future https://ew.com/books/the-ministry-for-the-future-chapter-excerpt/
- Alta: Excerpt: ‘The Gold Coast’ https://www.altaonline.com/california-book-club/a41735416/kim-stanley-robinson-gold-coast-excerpt/
Seyla Benhabib
The Seductions of Sovereignty: A Democratic and Cosmopolitan Critique
January 25, 2023
7:00 PM | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews/Lectures:
- Department of Political Science, Yale University: “From The Right To Have Rights To The Critique Of Humanitarian Reason: Migrants And Refugees In Political Theory” (Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJTT7ENlhx0
- University of California Television: Conversations with History (Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfQqPdcAG60
- NYU School of Law: Straus Public Lecture: “Democratic Sovereignty and International Law: the Contemporary Debate” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK-zFpVDxck
- Women Studies Quarterly: A Conversation with Seyla Benhabib and Judith Resnik https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/campuspress.yale.edu/dist/3/949/files/2015/08/A-Conversation -with-Seyla-Benhabib-and-Judith-Resnik-wmfwpn.pdf
Reviews:
- The Jewish Chronicle: Book review: Exile, Statelessness and Migration. Playing Chess with History https://www.thejc.com/life-and-culture/all/book-review-exile-statelessness-and-migration.-playing -chess-with-history-1.474287
Public Writing/Articles :
- The New York Times: Who’s On Trial, Eichmann or Arendt? https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/whos-on-trial-eichmann- or-anrendt/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&module=BlogPost-ReadMore&v ersion=Blog%2520Main&action=Click&contentCollection=The%2520Stone&pgtype=Blogs®i on=Body&_r=2&
- PS: Political Science and Politics: Borders, Boundaries, and Citizenship https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/campuspress.yale.edu/dist/3/949/files/2016/05/Borders-Bound aries-and-Citizenship-2f2gxxq.pdf
- Boston Review: Remembering Richard J. Bernstein https://bostonreview.net/articles/remembering-richard-j-bernstein/
- The New York Review: Thinking Without Banisters https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2022/02/24/thinking-without-banisters-hannah-arendt/
Books:
- Exile, Statelessness, and Migration: Playing Chess with History from Hannah Arendt to Isaiah Berlin https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv39x5fc
Francis X. Clooney
Annual Candlemas Lecture: Francis X. Clooney: On the Edge: Reflections on Being a Catholic Intellectual amid Many Religions
February 8, 2023
7:00 PM | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews:
- Theology Research News: Interview: Comparative Theology through the Eyes of Francis X. Clooney, SJ https://theo.kuleuven.be/apps/press/theologyresearchnews/2019/06/19/interview-comparative-theology-through-the-eyes-of-francis-x-clooney-sj/
- Harvard Divinity School: Faculty Focus: Crossing Religious Boundaries with Catholic Priest and Hindu Scholar Francis Clooney (podcast and transcript) https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2022/11/21/faculty-focus-crossing-religious-boundaries-catholic-priest-hindu-scholar-francis-clooney
- Spirit Matters Talk: Francis X. Clooney Interview and Discussion with Spirit Matters Talk (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V29Ak86cPwU
Talks and Lectures:
- Vedanta Society of Southern California: Ramakrishna and Me – Francis X. Clooney, SJ. (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TChXuFQqLcw
- The University of Edinburgh: Prof. Francis X. Clooney: Why Comparative Theology Works Interreligiously (video) https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/Prof.+Francis+X.+ClooneyA+Why+Comparative+Theology+Works+Interreligiously/1_kajlwz4f
- Vanderbilt Divinity School: Hindu Poetry and Christian Particularity: Translation, Disruption, Revelation (video) https://youtu.be/PAc2Y6ENmyo
Colm Tóibín
“Writing Thomas Mann: Fact into Fiction”
February 22, 2023
7:00 PM | Gasson Hall, Room 100
Interviews:
- The New Statesman: Colm Tóibín: “I think, ‘I must be deep.’ Then I think, ‘Stop this nonsense, get on with the story’”: The Irish novelist on writing after chemotherapy, growing up gay “in the 19th Century”, and winning the 2021 David Cohen Prize for Literature https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2022/01/colm-toibin-i-think-i-must-be-deep-then-i-think-stop-this-nonsense-get-on-with-the-story
- Hot Press: Interview: Colm Tóibín – The Master and the Magician https://www.hotpress.com/culture/interview-colm-toibin-the-master-and-the-magician-22903346
- Granta: Interview – Colm Tóibín & William Atkins https://granta.com/interview-colm-toibin/
- The Paris Review: Colm Tóibín, The Art of Fiction No. 256 https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/7955/the-art-of-fiction-no-256-colm-toibin
- The New Yorker: How Colm Tóibín Burrowed Inside Thomas Mann’s Head https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/20/how-colm-toibin-burrowed-inside-thomas-manns-head
Reviews:
- The Guardian: The Magician by Colm Tóibín review – inside the mind of Thomas Mann https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/17/the-magician-by-colm-toibin-review-inside-the-mind-of-thomas-mann
- The New York Times: Colm Tóibín Imagines the Life of Thomas Mann in ‘The Magician’ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/colm-toibin-magician.html
- Vulture: The Magician Resists the Shallow Gestures of the Hollywood Biopic https://www.vulture.com/article/the-magician-colm-toibin-book-review.html
- The TLS: Mann without qualities: Colm Tóibín’s latest recitation of a literary life https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-magician-colm-toibin-book-review-michael-hofmann/
- The New York Times: Colm Tóibín on the Fathers of Geniuses https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/books/review/colm-toibin-mad-bad-dangerous-to-know.html
- The Guardian: Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know: The Fathers of Wilde, Yeats and Joyce -review https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/21/mad-bad-dangerous-to-know-wilde-yeats-joyce-colm-toibin-review
- The Irish Times: Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know: The Fathers of Wilde, Yeats, and Joyce review https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/mad-bad-dangerous-to-know-the-fathers-of-wilde-yeats-and-joyce-review-1.3666787
Excerpts:
- The Guardian: The Testament of Mary – extract https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/19/testament-of-mary-colm-toibin-extract
- KCRW: Excerpt from ‘The Master’ https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/colm-toibin-the-master/excerpt-from-the-master
- Penguin Random House Canada: Excerpt From Brooklyn https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/179112/brooklyn-by-colm-toibin/9780771083563/excerpt
- Simon & Schuster: Excerpt from The Magician https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Magician/Colm-Toibin/9781476785097
Imani Perry
South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
March 1, 202
7:00 PM | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews:
- Southern Review of Books: Reckoning with Complexity: Imani Perry on “South to America” https://southernreviewofbooks.com/2022/02/07/south-to-america-imani-perry-interview/
- NPR: Want to understand the U.S.? This historian says the South holds the key https://www.npr.org/2022/01/25/1075316109/imani-perry-south-to-america
- The New York Times: Imani Perry Talks About ‘South to America’ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/books/review/podcast-imani-perry-south-to-america-oliver-roeder-seven-games.html
- Electric Lit: Traveling South to Understand the Soul of America https://electricliterature.com/south-to-america-a-journey-below-the-mason-dixon-to-understand-the-soul-of-a-nation-book-imani-perry/
- The Washington Post: Imani Perry: Don’t marginalize the South in America’s history https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/07/12/race-south-racism-black-lives-matter/
Reviews:
- The New York Times: Searching for America, South of the Mason-Dixon https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/books/review/south-to-america-imani-perry.html
- The Washington Post: An ‘exhile’ from the American South finds the nation’s soul there https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/01/20/imani-perry-review/
- Kirkus: South to America https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/imani-perry/south-to-america/
- LA Review of Books: Testimonies of Influence: On Imani Perry’s “South to America” https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/testimonies-of-influence-on-imani-perrys-south-to-america/
Op-Eds/Public Writing:
- The New York Times: New Orleans Is a Place Where There is Violence in the Sweetness, Horror in the Beauty https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/opinion/new-orleans-slavery.html
- The Atlantic: Racism Is Terrible. Blackness Is Not. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/racism-terrible-blackness-not/613039/
Excerpt:
- The Harvard Gazette: Heading South in search of the real heart of America https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/11/excerpt-of-south-to-america-by-imani-perry/
Jamelle Bouie
“Defending Democracy? The Political Role of Journalism”
March 15, 2023
7:00 p.m. | Gasson Hall 100
More to come.
Kim Stanley Robinson
“The Future of Climate, Technology, and Society”
March 29, 2023
7:00 PM | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews:
- The New York Times: Ezra Klein Interviews Kim Stanley Robinson (transcript and podcast) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-kim-stanley-robinson.html
- Farsight: Futures Reviewed: “Mars is irrelevant to us know. We should of course concentrate on maintaining the habitability of the Earth” https://farsight.cifs.dk/interview-kim-stanley-robinson/
- Bioneers: Interview with Kim Stanley Robinson about his book “The Ministry for the Future” https://bioneers.org/kim-stanley-robinson-on-his-book-the-ministry-for-the-future/
- BookForum: Mountain Song: Kim Stanley Robinson Talks About His New Book, The High Sierra: A Love Story https://www.bookforum.com/interviews/kim-stanley-robinson-talks-about-his-new-book-the-high-sierra-a-love-story-24922
- Jacobin: Kim Stanley Robinson: We Need Democratic Socialism https://jacobin.com/2022/10/kim-stanley-robinson-democratic-socialism-science-fiction-utopianism-capitalism-climate-crisis
Reviews:
- The Guardian: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson review – how to solve the climate crisis https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/20/the-ministry-for-the-future-by-kim-stanley-robinson-review-how-to-solve-the-climate-crisis
- LA Review of Books: Of Course They Would: On Kim Stanley Robinson’s “The Ministry for the Future” https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/of-course-they-would-on-kim-stanley-robinsons-the-ministry-for-the-future/
- Ancillary Review of Books: Even This Is Too Good to be True: Review of The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2021/01/20/even-this-is-too-good-to-be-true-review-of-the-ministry-for-the-future-by-kim-stanley-robinson/
- Rolling Stone: What Will Sci-Fi Look Like in 30 Years? Sci-fi Author Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us There https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-ministry-for-the-future-interview-kim-stanley-robinson-1101738/
Op-Eds/Public Writing :
- Bostonia: Kim Stanley Robinson on the Importance of Imagination https://www.bu.edu/articles/2022/kim-stanley-robinson-the-importance-of-imagination/
- Bloomberg: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Guide to Keeping the Doomsday Glacier Hanging On https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-26/kim-stanley-robinson-saving-the-doomsday-glacier-in-antarctica-from-collapse
Excerpts:
- EW: Sustainability is possible in this excerpt from climate change novel The Ministry for the Future https://ew.com/books/the-ministry-for-the-future-chapter-excerpt/
- Alta: Excerpt: ‘The Gold Coast’ https://www.altaonline.com/california-book-club/a41735416/kim-stanley-robinson-gold-coast-excerpt/
Dipesh Chakrabarty
“The Planetary Turn in Human History”
April 13, 2023
7:00 p.m. • Gasson 100
Interviews:
- CiMAM: Inteview: Dipesh Chakrabarty on how climate change upends long-standing ideas of modernity https://cimam.org/news-archive/interview-dipesh-chakrabarty-on-how-climate-change-upends-long-standing-ideas-of-modernity/
- UChicago: Critical Inquiry: Dipesh Chakrabarty (audio) https://criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/episode_5_dipesh_chakrabarty/
- UCL: Transcript: In Conversation with Dipesh Chakrabarty https://www.ucl.ac.uk/racism-racialisation/transcript-conversation-dipesh-chakrabarty
- Academic Influence: Interview with Historian Dr. Dipesh Chakrabarty (transcript and video) https://academicinfluence.com/interviews/history/dipesh-chakrabarty
- NOĒMA: The Planet is a Political Orphan https://www.noemamag.com/the-planet-is-a-political-orphan/
Reviews:
- The Indian Express: Dipesh Chakrabarty’s book The Climate of History in a Planetary Age contemplates why humanities needs a shift in perspective to confront the challenges of the climate crisis https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/dipesh-chakrabartys-book-the-climate-of-history-in-a-planetary-age-climate-crisis-book-review-7780971/
- The Book Review Literary Trust: Climate Change and the Infinite Horizon of History https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/climate-change-and-the-infinite-horizon-of-history/
- Taylor & Francis Online: The climate of history in a planetary age https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14702541.2021.1945194?journalCode=rsgj20
Excerpts:
- Provincializing Europe: Introduction http://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/i8507.pdf
- “The Climate of History: Four Theses” https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/596640?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents