WORCESTER, Mass. — Here are the latest publications from the Clark University faculty:
Kiran Asher, associate professor of International Development and Social Change, and Women’s Studies released “Black and Green: Afro-Colombians, Development, and Nature in the Pacific Lowlands” (Duke University Press) in July. The book provides a framework for reconceptualizing the relationship between neoliberal development and social movements. Asher argues that development processes and social movements shape each other in uneven and paradoxical ways.
Jessica Bane-Robert’s chapbook of poems, “Scarred Seasons,” will be published by Finishing Line Press in October. Works from the collection have been anthologized by Outrider Press and have appeared in the Naugatuck River Review. Included in the chapbook is “Family Plot,” which won the 2007 Editor’s Choice Prize for the Writecorner Press Poetry Contest. Bane-Robert teaches in the English department and advises Clark’s new Student Creative Writing Group.
George Billias, professor of history, published “American Constitutionalism Heard Round the World” (New York University Press) in August. In it, Billias traces the spread of American constitutionalism—from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean region to Asia and Africa—beginning with the American Revolution and ending with the conclusion of the Cold War in 1989.
James Córdova, associate professor of psychology and director of clinical training published “The Marriage Checkup: A Scientific Program for Sustaining and Strengthening Marital Health” (Jason Aronson) in May. The book is designed to help couples assess the strengths and weaknesses of their relationships and to develop strategies for strengthening their marital health.
Debórah Dwork, Rose Professor of Holocaust History and the director of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, co-authored a fourth book with Robert Jan Van Pelt, professor at Waterloo University. Released in April, “Flight From the Reich: Refugee Jews, 1933-1946” (W.W. Norton & Co.) examines the dwindling choices open to asylum seekers, and the often painful decisions of the people who dealt with them.
Abbie Goldberg, assistant professor of psychology, is anticipating the release of her first book, “Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle” in September. Goldberg’s book provides a comprehensive overview of the research on same-sex parenthood, exploring ways in which lesbian and gay parents resist, accommodate and transform fundamental notions of gender, parenting and family. The book takes a family life cycle approach, beginning with research on how same-sex couples meet and build healthy relationships, then describing how and why same-sex couples decide to have children and how they grapple with the changing roles each partner must adopt.
Willem Klooster, associate professor of history, published “Revolutions in the Atlantic World” (New York University Press) in June. The book highlights several central themes in the field of Atlantic history, from the concept of European empire and the murky position it occupied between Old and New World to slavery and diasporas. Klooster explores which mechanisms of successful popular mobilization could be observed, and what roles did blacks and Indians play?
Mark Miller, director of Clark’s Law & Society Program, released “The View of the Courts from the Hill: Interactions between Congress and the Federal Judiciary” (University of Virginia Press) in June. Miller’s book explores the interactions and relationship between the U.S. Congress and federal courts using a “governance as dialogue” approach, which argues that constitutional interpretation in the United States is a continuous and complex conversation among all the institutions of government. Miller interviewed numerous key players specifically for this book, including members of Congress, federal judges, congressional staff, employees of the judicial branch, lobbyists and others with an interest in the courts.
Valerie Sperling, associate professor of government and international relations, published “Altered States: The Globalization of Accountability” (Cambridge University Press) in May. The book explores whether globalization is good for democracy or whether it has made our governing institutions less accountable to citizens.