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Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning (Jossey-Bass, 2012) introduces a new way to think about higher education, learning and technology. José Bowen, dean of SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, recognizes the profound change that technology brings to education, but believes “naked” face-to-face contact between faculty and students is more impactful, and a better value, for higher education. He offers practical advice for faculty and administrators on how to engage students with new technology while restructuring classes into more active learning environments. Available at online booksellers. |
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American citizenship goes beyond the official naturalization process. Caroline Brettell, cultural anthropologist at Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, with Deborah Reed-Danahay, examined sociocultural spaces in Indian and Vietnamese immigrant communities in the Dallas-Arlington-Fort Worth, Texas area for the book Civic Engagements: The Citizenship Practices of Indian and Vietnamese Immigrants (Stanford University Press, 2011). The University Distinguished Professor, and director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, describes how religious and ethnic organizations provide places for refugees and immigrants to develop their own ways of expressing their American citizenship through daily living and honing civic and leadership skills, such as meetings, festivals or banquets. These experiences contribute to the future political potential of these immigrant populations. Available at online booksellers. |
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In the richly illustrated Alexander to Constantine: Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, Volume III (Yale University Press, 2012), Mark A. Chancey, religious studies professor in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, with Eric M. Meyers, draws on recent, groundbreaking archaeological research to re-narrate the history of ancient Palestine. The book spans from the conquest of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BCE until the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine in the fourth century CE. It synthesizes archaeological evidence with ancient literary sources, including the Bible, to offer a sustained overview of the tumultuous intellectual and religious changes that impacted world’s history during the Greco-Roman period. Available at online booksellers. |
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Becoming White Clay: A History and Archaeology of Jicarilla Apache Enclavement (University of Utah Press, 2012) by B. Sunday Eiselt, anthropology professor in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, tells the story of one of the longest-enduring and most successful nomadic enclaves in North America. For nearly 200 years the Jicarilla Apache of New Mexico thrived among the Pueblo and Spanish settlements after their expulsion from the Plains. Critical to their success was their ability to extend key aspects of Plains-Pueblo exchange to Indian and mixed-blood communities on the fringes of colonial rule. More than other nomadic tribes, the Jicarilla played an enormous role in holding together the social fabric of New Mexican villages after the fall of the Spanish Empire. Available at online booksellers. |
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In Into the Desert: Reflections on the Gulf War, Jeffrey A. Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at SMU, brings together a team of distinguished experts and policy specialists to explore the still-unfolding ramifications of the Gulf War. Engel features analysis from Michael Gordon of The New York Times, Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Sir Lawrence Freeman, foreign policy advisor to Tony Blair, and Shibley Telhami, Middle East specialist. Available at online booksellers. |
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Pull up a chair and gather round, y’all, says SMU Public Information Officer Denise Gee in her newest culinary tome Sweet on Texas: Lovable Confections from the Lone Star State (Chronicle Books, 2012). With one part, each, baking advice and kitchen gossip Gee sweet talks readers/bakers through a four-region Lone Star State dessert tour – East Texas, the Hill Country, the Panhandle and South Texas – with such recipes as Big Red Granita, Strong Coffee Custard, Good Ol’ Texas Sheetcake and swap-worthy Cran-Pistachio Cookies. Available at online booksellers. |
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Dennis Ippolito’s book Deficits, Debt and the New Politics of Tax Policy (Cambridge University Press, December 2012) explains the relationship between federal tax policy and other components of the budget. The Eugene McElvaney Chair of Political Science and professor in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences traces the partisan battle over budget policy that began in the 1960s, triggering the disconnect between taxes and spending that has plagued the budget ever since. Available at online booksellers. |
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Greek myths inform a vast source of forms, symbols and narratives for Western visual and literary traditions. The richly illustrated Greek Myth and Western Art: The Presence of the Past (Cambridge University Press, 2012) examines the legacy of Greek mythology in Western art from the classical era to the present. Written by the late Karl Kilinski II, an archeologist and art historian at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, the work traces the story of key mythological figures and motifs from ancient Greece through the modern era and shows the range and variety of which individual myths, motifs, and characters have been treated throughout the history of the visual arts in the West. Available at online booksellers. |
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When the One You Love is Gone (Abingdon press, 2012) by Rebekah Miles, professor of ethics and practical theology at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, is a guide for moving through grief after losing a loved one. Miles reminds us that though we never fully get over the loss, God is at work in us turning the loss and pain into hope and renewal. Available at online booksellers. |
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At the end of the 16th century and at the turn of the first Islamic millennium, the powerful Mughal emperor Akbar declared himself the most sacred being on earth, the holiest of all saints and above the distinctions of religion. He styled himself as the messiah reborn, and the Mughal emperor was not alone in doing so. In The Millennial Sovereign: Sacred Kingship and Sainthood in Islam (Columbia University Press, 2012), A. Azfar Moin, professor in the William P. Clements Department of History in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, explores why Muslim sovereigns in this period imitated the exalted nature of Sufi saints. He shows how the charismatic pull of sainthood (wilayat)—rather than the draw of religious law (sharia) or holy war (jihad)—inspired a new style of sovereignty in Islam. Available at online booksellers. |
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At its peak in the 12th and 13th centuries, the so-called Spanish Reconquest transformed the societies of the Iberian Peninsula. Among the most vivid signs of this change were the innovative images developed by Christians to depict the subjugated Muslims and Jews within their expanded kingdoms. Art of Estrangement (Penn State Press, 2012), by Pamela Patton, art history professor in SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, traces the transformation of Iberia’s Jews in the visual culture of Spain’s Christian-ruled kingdoms. Patton’s work scrutinizes a wide range of works—from luxury manuscripts and cloister sculptures to household ceramics and scribal doodles—to show how imported and local motifs combined to articulate and reinforce the efforts of Spain’s Christian communities to renegotiate their relationships with a vibrant Jewish minority. Available at online booksellers. |
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From the age of temperance to the Civil Rights movement, churches have been central to important social movements. Occupy Religion: Theology of the Multitude (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2012) by Joerg Rieger, Wendland-Cook Professor of Constructive Theology at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, with Kwok Pui Lan, considers the growing role of religion in the Occupy Movement and asks provocative questions about how people of faith can work for social justice. Available at online booksellers. |
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With more than 20 years of combined research experience, Barbara Palmer and Dennis Simon, SMU's Altshuler Distinguished Professor of Political Science, go beyond conventional wisdom as they explore the reasons behind the continuing underrepresentation of women in Congress in Women & Congressional Elections: A Century of Change (Tower Center for Political Studies, 2012). They explain how the “rules of the game” — together with an important cluster of demographic characteristics that can make a district more or less “women friendly” — have shaped opportunities for female candidates across a century of U.S. history. Available through online booksellers. |
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Twentieth century federal policy toward American Indians sought to extinguish native culture –until the 1960s, when a loose coalition of hippies, civil rights advocates, Black Panthers, unions, Mexican-Americans, Quakers and other Christians and celebrities joined with Red Power activists to fight for Native American rights. In Hippies, Indians, and the Fight for Red Power (Oxford University Press, 2012) Sherry L. Smith, University Distinguished Professor of History in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, offers a vivid account of this remarkable story when the counterculture was drawn to the Indian cause. Smith explains how the Indians knew political change would not come without help, which they found among the hodge-podge of dissatisfied Americans who rallied to the Indians’ campaign for treaty rights, tribal power, sovereignty, self-determination and protection of reservations as cultural homelands. The coalition was ephemeral but significant, leading to political reforms that strengthened Indian sovereignty. Available at online booksellers. |
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Shelette Stewart, associate director of business development for Executive Education in SMU’s Cox School of Business, has written Revelations in Business: Connecting Your Business Plan with God’s Purpose and Plan for Your Life (Tate Publishing, 2012). Stewart’s eight-step divine business planning approach combines Christian beliefs with core business principles. Available at online booksellers. |
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Ceran St. Vrain: American Frontier Entrepreneur (Sunstone Press, 2012) by Ronald K. Wetherington, professor of anthropology in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, tells about a trapper/trader turned merchant who became an emerging capitalist in the flour industry of New Mexico and Colorado. St. Vrain represents an iconic image of the industrious and self-reliant western pioneer of the 19th century, and he helped guide the southwest from a barter economy to a post-military commercial society on the road to statehood. Available at online booksellers. |