2.19
Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
Copyright expiration releases works to the world
Works from 1923 have entered the public domain after a 20-year extension on copyright protections. The Penn Libraries is digitizing unique works to share.
How gospel music gave birth to rock and soul
Capping a 16-month project funded by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, WXPN will debut a four-part radio documentary on Feb. 4, sharing the stories of the early beginnings and influence of gospel music.
How the appliance boom moved more women into the workforce
A new book from economist Jeremy Greenwood looks at the effects of technological progress on home life.
Procrastinating on climate change
Joseph Kable, Baird Term Professor of Psychology, studies how people make (or don’t make) decisions. He calls the circumstances around climate change a “perfect storm of features” that’s leading us to not act.
Expert voices 2019: Why cities?
Housing the majority of the global population, cities have come to define and shape the overarching challenges of the 21st century. The speed and scale of their development is unprecedented, raising complex questions about how to address the changes they bring to communities around the world.
Can a critic who becomes a believer sway others? The case of genetically modified foods
A study from researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center shows that a conversion message, when a strong advocate for one side of a controversial issue in science publicly announces that they now believe the opposite, can influence public attitudes toward genetically modified foods.
‘Lost world, lost lives, and the displacement of a culture’
Hundreds of books looted by the Nazis during World War II sit on the shelves of the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, a window into a different time in history and individuals we may have otherwise never known.
Designing with resilience to prepare for a changing world
Urban designers joined with architects, engineers, city planners, sociologists, and other experts to share strategies for adapting to rising sea levels, fiercer storms, and sinking shorelines, coinciding with the launch of the Certificate in Urban Resilience at the School of Design.
On Japan trip, students learn to savor the moment
Nine students spent a week in Japan though a Penn Biden Center program. After a whirlwind tour that included a visit to Hiroshima and a home stay, students say the experience was life-changing.
Through comics, profs draw path to visual literacy
In Making Comics, an English course for undergraduates, students learn the theory of comic books while working with others to make them—all in the name of visual literacy.
In the News
NextCity.org
Philly applies a ‘light touch’ to get dollars flowing for middle-income homes
Vincent Reina of the School of Design discussed Philadelphia’s new Workforce Housing Credit Enhancement program, which guarantees loans to small and mid-size developers building income-restricted projects. The enhancement “is a nice way of releasing pressure on the housing market,” says Reina.
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Miami Herald
Sex and violence were pumped up to “Americanize” Jane the Virgin, study finds
A new study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that “Jane the Virgin,” like many other English-language adaptations of telenovelas, was augmented to feature more sex and violence than the original version in order to appeal to American audiences. These changes “could in turn adversely affect its adolescent Hispanic audiences,” wrote the report’s co-authors, Darien Perez Ryan and Patrick E. Jamieson.
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Forbes
What the Middle Ages can teach us about Star Wars’ ancient Jedi texts
The Schoenberg Institute was highlighted for its series of weekly videos in which the Libraries’ Dot Porter discusses parallels between fictional texts in the Star Wars universe and medieval manuscripts.
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The New Yorker
Does democracy need truth?: A conversation with the historian Sophia Rosenfeld
The School of Arts and Sciences’ Sophia Rosenfeld was interviewed about her new book, “Democracy and Truth: A Short History.” Addressing the rise of social media, Rosenfeld said, “we don’t have many tools, most of us, for distinguishing between legitimate stories and illegitimate ones, or we don’t care that much. The end result is a world of truth and falsehood all circulating, undifferentiated, globally.”
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The New York Times
Overlooked no more: Forough Farrokhzad, Iranian poet who broke barriers of sex and society
The School of Arts and Sciences’ Fatemeh Shams memorialized the late Iranian poet, Forough Farrokhzad. “She always had one eye back on tradition, and one eye toward the future,” said Shams.
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