Clark University - Clark News fall 2005
Out of the office (fall 2005)
The path to new knowledge takes faculty around the world
By Judith Jaeger
For Clark faculty, summer break doesn't necessarily mean summer vac ation. Most professors use the summer to conduct research, attend conferences and undertake other teaching opportunities. Many also travel to all parts of the globe to pursue research in the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. The following are just a few of the examples of faculty who traveled the world this summer in search of new knowledge.
Physics in France
"That's the nice thing about science. It's so international," says Physics Department Chair Christopher Landee. "There's no Japanese physics or French chemistry. You can go to a place where the language, food and culture are completely different from your own, but you're still at home in the lab."
Landee spent 12 days at the end of June conducting experiments at the Laboratoires Leon Billouin at the Center for Atomic Studies in Saclay, France. The experiments helped Landee collect new information for his work with Chemistry Department Chair Mark Turnbull on making new magnetic materials to test theoretical models. Landee and Turnbull have been working with copper compounds whose structure contains clusters of four bromines. Landee explains that when two of these bromine clusters are put next to each other, the bromines touch. This means that the magnetic moment on one copper interacts with the magnetic moment on the other copper. Landee says there are about 30 compounds in which this takes place, but the interaction can't be fully explained yet.
In Saclay, Landee sought answers through experiments that scatter neutrons off a crystal of one of these copper compounds to get a picture of where the magnetism is happening in the crystal. The goal, Landee explains, is to understand how the bond lengths and angles control the magnetic strength. The experiments revealed some startling new information regarding the two bromines in the copper compounds. He found that half the bromines in the comp ounds have nothing to do with the magnetism.
"That was a big surprise and it means we'll have to rethink what we're doing."
While the intricacies of this research may be beyond the full grasp of the nonscientist, the implications are quite easy to understand.
"All of the technology that is changing our lives is based on new materials that are stronger and lighter, and conduct electricity better," says Landee, who describes the evolution of earphones. Forty years ago, earphones were large and heavy because the magnetic materials needed to run them were large. Now, iPods are smaller than the palm of your hand and tiny earphones fit inside your ear—the result of the development of much stronger and smaller magnets. While the demand for even smaller and more powerful magnets grows—to develop more powerful computer memories, for instance—Landee says we are reaching the natural limit on the size and strength of magnetic materials currently available.
"We need a breakthrough," Landee says. "If we learn more about chemistry and magnetic structure, we're moving in the direction of the next generation of magnetic materials."
Landee and Turnbull are also working with quantum chemists in Barcelona who calculate the magnetic strength in compounds by using computers to analyze information about the structure of the compounds. Landee's and Turnbull's research highlights the international nature of science at Clark—calculations in Barcelona, experiments in France and crystals grown at Clark converging in the search for new knowledge. Landee also notes that nine of the 14 physics graduate students are international, hailing from China, Jordan, Turkey and Korea.
Semiotics in Luxembourg
Most people know what a traffic sign means, even without reading it. But how do we come to know that a red octagon means stop? That's a simple example of semi otics, explains English professor SunHee Kim Gertz, the study of how we perceive, understand and communicate through signs or symbols. In June, Gertz and psychology professor Jaan Valsiner held an interdisciplinary, international conference on semiotics at the Château Schengen in Luxembourg. The conference was supported by the Henry J. Leir Luxembourg Program-Clark University and included 10 scholars from the United States, Brazil, Germany, Denmark, Italy and India.
In her research, Gertz uses semiotics to gain a deeper understanding of medieval cultures and how literature was understood by readers of their time, as well as why literature more than eight centuries old still communicates to and attracts us.
"As a medievalist without access to living authors, nor their entire works, I find it is important to be able to piece together clues from what we have and project from what we understand in the here and now to what medieval readers and writers probably app reciated and used as touchstones for their art," she explains. "The ‘literary system'—not only the great pieces of literature but everything that allows us to understand an otherwise enigmatic piece of work—allows us to make just such assumptions. For instance, when I say, ‘I give you my heart,' you know that I'm not going to commit suicide."
Valsiner's interest in semiotics stems from his work in cultural psychology, which he describes as "a synthesis of developmental social and cross-cultural directions in psychology." According to Valsiner, psychology's focus on language and logic has led to an emphasis on the use of signs in human psychological functioning.
"It is here where the different disciplines converge in semiotics. The basic questions I ask about real people are the ones literary scholars ask about literary characters," he says.
Gertz teamed up with Valsiner in 2004 to seek a "truly interdisciplinary approach to semiotics," which came to f ruition with a conference in Luxembourg in summer 2004 titled "Enigmatic Encounters: Semiotic Theory and the Unknown," also funded by the Henry J. Leir Luxembourg Program. That first conference led to the June 2005 conference, which covered such topics as: the language of parent-child relations in India; the perception and understanding of creative endeavors, from painting to literature; the narrow separation between politics and myths; and cybercommunications. These topics strike at the very heart of semiotics—the ability to convey ideas, in all their layers and forms.
"Nowadays, semiotics is more valuable than ever," Gertz says. "Communication and the ability to read other cultures must be improved."
"And its value will grow in the future," Valsiner adds. "The psychology that has been obsessed with behavior, and later cognition, is necessarily moving toward the need to make sense of the meaningful aspects of living."
A book based on the findings fro m the conferences is currently being edited by Gertz, Valsiner and Jean-Paul Breaux, a graduate student in the English Department who attended the 2005 conference through a Henry J. Leir Student Conference Participation Award.
Political dissent in China
"Spitting in the emperor's soup" is the Chinese expression historian Paul Ropp uses to sum up his current book project about the history of political dissent in China, from very early times through the 20th century. Ropp recently spent four months in Nanjing, China, as a research fellow at the Hopkins Nanjing Center, a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Nanjing University. Each semester, the center hosts 50 international students and 50 Chinese students, all at the graduate level, and two international researchers and two Chinese researchers.
Ropp, who has focused on various aspects of Chinese history throughout his career, plans to wr ite 10 to 12 case studies of famous dissenters who criticized the Chinese government and the consequences they suffered. He hopes to show how the Chinese political system has evolved over time and yet has remained consistent when it comes to political outcry—that the ruler always has the power to punish the dissenter.
The Chinese have three ways to make their voices heard, Ropp says. One he calls the "Confucian response," an understanding that it is the individual's responsibility to criticize the government and that the ruling power has the right to punish the individual for expressing such criticism. Another is to refuse to participate.
"Talented people would refuse to work for the government, either by fleeing or finding some excuse," Ropp explains.
And then there is spitting in the emperor's soup. This is a centuries-old practice of subtle criticisms made indirectly, he says, "to get your point across without risking too much." For example, Ropp d escribes a painting of a starving horse that was meant as a commentary about China under the rule of the Mongols. Landscape paintings might include storm clouds or other composition anomalies that were also hidden commentaries on the government.
"You can't put someone in jail for painting an ugly landscape," Ropp says. He also describes a poet who gave voice to his political dissent by writing popular songs. The poet was fired from his job, but his message spread far and wide. Today, Ropp finds that political jokes and satires in China are being circulated through e-mail and cell phones. One Chinese student Ropp met recently won second prize in a writing contest at Nanjing University for his politically charged short story about a peasant who visits Tiananmen Square.
"There is room for dissent, as long as you don't criticize the communist party," Ropp says. "It suggests that there is some room for criticism in the system."
He hopes his book will highlight the value Chinese society places on political dissent and the dissenters, while revealing room for positive change in China.
"Part of the theme of this book is that dissenters are highly respected in Chinese culture," he says. "There's a deep appreciation for political dissent in China, and there's a deep appreciation for political courage. The system in China shouldn't be imprisoned by its past."
Emotional climate in Spain
With terrorism, war and other forms of violence remaining in the headlines and in the hearts and minds of people around the world, psychology professor Joe de Rivera remains focused on peace and understanding how to develop peaceful societies. De Rivera spent time in San Sebastian, Spain, this summer collecting survey data about the emotional climate of the region to learn more about how emotional climate relates to a society's culture of peace.
Emotion al climate, de Rivera explains, describes the overall temperament of a society. Are people afraid or trusting, for example. Several doctoral students in psychology have been researching emotional climate, and de Rivera has been studying the emotional climate of the United States after Sept. 11, 2001. In addition to Spain, he has been collecting data in Costa Rica, Peru, Norway and India.
With data dating back 10 years, de Rivera hopes that comparisons across these countries and across time will reveal connections between emotional climate and what the United Nations refers to as "culture of peace." The culture of peace, he says, has four dimensions: liberal development, in which people's basic needs for food, shelter, education and health care are met; equality, which is known to be linked to a society's homicide rate; the state use of violence, which includes the number of military threats made against other societies, defense spending and prison rates; and nurturan ce, which relates to such factors as education spending, how refugees are treated and how many women are in government.
"We want to see if we can get a handle on emotional climate and how it influences or is influenced by these dimensions of culture of peace," de Rivera says. It's a difficult puzzle to piece together.
"For instance, our emotional climate in the United States isn't bad, but we're terrible on state use of violence. We have a lot of people in prison," he explains. He compares this to Norway, where the prison rate is very low, and speculates that the difference in prison rates may have something to do with people's sense of security, which is a dimension of emotional climate.
In another example, de Rivera notes that as the level of trust in a society drops, people are less likely to vote. In the United States, he has also noticed a significant rise in the fear of free speech among college students recently. He believes something in the e motional climate is making students especially wary of speaking out about politics. In looking at how governments can influence emotional climate to emphasize or de-emphasize a culture of peace, de Rivera points to the U.S. government's emphasis on diversity after Sept. 11. He says the government's message that Muslim Americans are Americans helped stop what could have been a violent reaction to the World Trade Center attacks.
"The question is, how do these emotions affect what people do," de Rivera says. "There's a gap between the individual and the culture. It's one thing to be a peaceful person yourself, but how do you affect the culture?"
Shakespeare in England—of course!
For English professor and theater historian Ginger Vaughan, all the world really is a stage. That's when it comes to her latest book project. Vaughan spent 10 days in England this summer conducting research at the British Librar y in London and the Shakespeare Centre Library in Stratford-upon-Avon for a book about the performance history of "The Tempest," part of a series being published by Manchester University Press. In her history of one of Shakespeare's more widely known plays, Vaughan hopes to highlight the richness of the play, to show how it has been performed over time and the choices actors and directors have made along the way.
At the British Library, Vaughan had access to rare books and a newspaper collection from the 1700s and 1800s, in which she could read reviews of productions of "The Tempest." At the Shakespeare Centre Library, Vaughan also read reviews and studied prompt books and other materials to help her explore the many layers of the history of the play. But a play is a living, breathing piece of literature, and reading reviews and production notes from past productions can only go so far.
"There's nothing like seeing a play for yourself," says Vaughan, who saw a production of "The Tempest" at the Globe Theater while she was in London. As a theater historian, Vaughan is interested in how each age interprets the text in light of its own concerns.
For example, in the 1980s and 1990s, Vaughan says, re-writings of "The Tempest" in Africa, Australia and the Caribbean emphasized a colonial theme in how Prospero, the protagonist, takes over an island. This interpretation affected the casting and other choices made by directors and actors. Watching productions now gives her the important perspective of how the play is being interpreted today and how those interpretations influence the production. At the Globe this summer, Vaughan says the play took on a Freudian interpretation.
Watching productions of Shakespeare's plays is also valuable to Vaughan's teaching.
"The more I see of the plays, the more I can talk about them in the classroom," she says. "It opens up the text. The more examples I can give my students of how the plays are performed, the more I can open it up for them."
Much of Vaughan's research during the last 20 years has been on "The Tempest" and "Othello," plays that deal with cultural exchange and that have a central figure who represents a minority point of view. These plays reflect her abiding interest in the history of the formation of racial attitudes. This is the subject of her latest book "Performing Blackness on English Stages, 1500-1800," which examines early modern English actors' portrayal of black Africans and how those portrayals influenced the way white audiences thought about black Africans.
"The racial attitudes we have now were formed during the early modern period," Vaughan says. "I'm trying to understand how the attitudes we're trying to get rid of were formed in the first place."
|
