More Noted Things
Asian History Carnival #12 is up at Frog in a Well/China!
Stephen Moss,"From Achilles to Zeus," Guardian, 16 March, assays what Hollywood can teach you about the classics. Hat tip.
Eric Muller,"Uncle Leo's Medals," Is That Legal, 17 March, reports on the UNC law professor's search for surviving evidence of the lives of relatives lost in the Holocaust. In an archive, Muller finds medals his great uncle, Leopold Müller, had received for service in World War I.
Patricia Cohen,"Communist Party USA Gives Its History to N.Y.U.," NY Times, 20 March, announces that the CP USA has donated its papers, 12,000 cartons of documents, to NYU. It will take years to accession the whole collection.
Laura Sinagra,"Can I Get an Amen?" NY Times, 18 March, reviews Gayle F. Wald's Shout, Sister, Shout! The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe. See also: Luker,"Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Crossin' Over," Cliopatria, 25 June.
David Ehrenstein,"Obama the ‘Magic Negro'," LA Times, 19 March, argues that the Senator is the dark super-hero who suddenly appears, to meet the needs of white folk. Derek Catsam nominates the piece for worst. column. of. the. year."... what the fuck ..." is Ehrenstein talking about?
Finally, Reuters reports that China's Renmin University has fired its dean of political sciences after he vented about problems in Chinese higher education on his blog."Universities have become an officialdom ... The over-intervention and manipulation of academia by power definitely fetters its growth," Zhang Ming is quoted as saying."How is China's academia doing now? Does anybody overseas read papers written by Chinese scholars? Plagiarism and theft are rampant ... Obedient kids are being taught to be minions." Zhang will apparently continue to hold his faculty position and be allowed to teach.