Dr. Dubs’ Summer Reading List
One of my favorite memories of summer is spending hours reading in a hammock under Southern pines. Now I take advantage of the slower pace of summer to recharge through the written word at work. Cornell’s campus has many a beautiful spot where I can while away a few hours dipping into books that have been sitting on my desk all term. I may choose the A.D. White Library, fondly known as the Harry Potter library. Or find a spot overlooking Beebe Lake. Or just retreat to a huddle room in the Engaged Cornell Hub. Regardless of where I end up, these four books are on my reading list.
As the role of higher education in America continues to be debated, I find it useful to return to the reasons why I choose the work I do. I believe in higher education’s mission to provide space for creating communities, developing engaged global citizens and dialoging across difference. I know that community and civic engagement can support broader institutional missions focused on cultural and social change. That’s why I look forward to a re-read with my office colleagues of John Saltmarsh and Matthew Hartley’s classic book To Serve A Larger Purpose. With its clear articulation of democratic engagement and the argument that this should be held as a north star for strategic decisions about community engagement, it will provide common language and moments of deep reflection for us to chew on together.
Dr. Cynthia Enloe was a mentor and formative teacher in my undergraduate career, role modeling pedagogical practices that I continue to employ in the classroom, helping me formulate a methodology of curiosity that I still use and an understanding that social constructs are never “natural.” She also pushed me to dig deeper and think more critically about my social activism and feminism. Thus, when she writes a book that responds to the “blatant forms of racialized sexism, gendered misogyny and masculinized privilege” that have shown up over the past few years in society and politics, I pay attention. Her point is that the old-fashioned term of patriarchy has new resonance in today’s world, precisely because it existed before the 2016 election and because it will likely exist in the future. So, we need to “think hard,” as she would say, about the insidious and systemic dynamics that perpetuate it. The chapters explore examples of the ways that women and feminist allies push back against patriarchy, from pink pussy hats to Syrian women’s involvement in peace talks. Enloe is a clear and accessible writer and I am so excited for her newest book, The Big Push: Exposing and Challenging the Persistence of Patriarchy.
Cornell is a big, complex place with social, political and cultural norms and practices that must be navigated to continue to embed community engagement into the curriculum and co-curriculum. And culture change is hard. Therefore, I am always on the lookout for frameworks that help me better understand the process of change. I am hoping Knowledge for Social Change: Bacon, Dewey, and the Revolutionary Transformation of Research Universities in the Twenty-First Century will provide an historical analysis to help me make sense of the systems and culture that I experience while working to implement change at a research university. I trust Lee Benson, Ira Harkavy, Matthew Hartley, Rita Hodges, Frances Johnston, John Puckett and Joann Weeks to always provide lucid commentary and speak from experience. And, they had me at “Bacon” “Dewey” and “Revolutionary Transformation.”
Not-a-newsflash: the topic of race in America is complicated. As a Yankee-living Southerner, I am drawn to Southern writers who take this reality on through their fiction and non-fiction. One of the best authors doing that right now is Jesmyn Ward.Her books speak to me: about people I grew up with, about people who were invisible where I grew up, and about how I can better understand that dynamic as an adult. It is not easy work, but as a card-carrying Bitter Southerner,it is necessary work for my personal and professional growth.
I have already dipped in to The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race and I know that I will have to give myself time to process and reflect on the collected essays. These strong voices propel me along my path of relearning about my own positionality and privilege as a white woman. It’s absolutely essential, and always a bit painful, but I plan on working through it all summer.
What will you be reading this summer?
