​​​​​College of Humanities and Social Sciences News Archive:
2020 - 2021​

he shared experiences of surviving through troubled times has connected people from all walks of life, and it has only been within the past few months that many have been able to catch their breaths. The new book “There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love,” spotlights the visceral responses to the events of 2020 and 2021 (in particular the tragedy surrounding the late George Floyd) through essays and poems from a collection of writers, including the University of Houston-Downtown's Daniel Peña.

Peña, UHD Assistant Professor of English, contributed the essay “Letter from Houston: Let These Protests Shine a Light on America.” He was among the thousands of Houstonians (and UHD Community members) who took to the streets of Downtown Houston to protest violence against people of color following the death of Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Read more about Dr. Peña's contribution.

Associate Professor Jonathan Chism and Assistant Professor Darius Benton contribute to NBC new article about Trump's influence on Critical Races studies in schools. Read the NBC article.

The winning poem in the 2020 International Poetry Competition “A Spell for Becoming Lace” was written by the University of Houston-Downtown's very own Dr. Robin Davidson, Professor Emeritus of English. Winners were recently announced, and Davidson’s first place work will be published in an upcoming edition of the journal. 
“A Spell for Becoming Lace” was applauded by competition judge and poet Lee Ann Roripaugh as “a poem that sings a song of acquiescence and resistance, of dissolution and perdurability in the face of natural disaster.

”A Spell for Becoming Lace” was written last year as Davidson, like most Americans, found herself homebound during the pandemic. While COVID-19 put the brakes on many activities across the nation, artists like Davidson remained particularly productive.
Read more about Dr. Davidson's award.

Dr. Kristin Anderson, Professor of Psychology, has published her third book, Enraged, Rattled, and Wronged: Entitlement's Response to Social Progress. This timely, Oxford University Press publication argues that entitlement is a persistent impediment to social progress. The book endeavors to confront psychological entitlement in its many forms or related attributes -- such as narcissism -- to expose the ugly truths at the heart of this phenomenon. It addresses questions such as: What happens to entitled people when they feel pushed aside? How does their inflated sense of deservingness make them vulnerable to manipulation by the demagogues who use them, blinding them to the negative outcomes that are often paradoxical? What are they willing to tear down as they scramble to keep their grip on the status and power they believe are rightfully theirs? How has entitled resentment played out historically, and how do these events lend themselves to both the predictable and unpredictable manifestations of power grabs that we see now? This historically informed book sheds important insights into our present political landscape in America. Order Dr. Anderson's book from Oxford University Press

This publication features essays by Black and Africana scholactivists from disciplines such as history, literature, education, religion, and psychology, this text accentuates the expansion of critical race theory beyond legal studies. It posits that scholar-activism or scholactivism, a firm commitment to liberation and social justice, is a central thread that unifies critical race studies scholars across disciplines. Co-edited by CHSS professors: Dr. Jonathan Chism, Dr. Stacie Craft DeFreitas, Dr. Vida Robertson, and Dr. David Ryden. Available April 2021.  Preorder from rowman.com.

Interim Associate Dean, Dr. Stacie DeFreit​as earns "2021 Most Promising New Textbook" Award from Textbook and Academic Authors Association (TAA). Dr. DeFreitas' publication is one of nine textbooks received Textbook Excellence Awards, and ten textbooks received Most Promising New Textbook Awards. See the full listing on the TAA site. 

Daniel Peña, Assistant Professor of English, describes in the latest issue of the New York Times Magazine the therapeutic virtues of cycling. He writes, "Pedaling felt like a celebration of kinetic energy, of blood, cartilage and bone. A reminder that my body was still healthy and functioning despite the pandemic." When not riding his bike or publishing fiction, Mr. Pena teaches a range of courses in Creative Writing at UHD. Read Dr. Peña's New York Times Article, The Joys of Biking at Night.

CHSS Assistant Dean, Crystal Guillory has been named Humanities Education and Association Research (HERA). Cultural Divides: Bridging Gaps and Making Connections" will be held this week March 4-6, 2021. More on HERA conference

Psychology Today declares Dr. Peter Li's new book offers very unique, timely, and much-needed perspectives. "In the last three decades, animal cruelty in China has attracted much international attention. Several factors may have contributed to this growing attention on the well-being of nonhuman individuals in China. First, it is China's openness to the outside world." - Dr. Peter Li. 

Read Dr. Li's the interview with Psychology Today's Mark Bekoff.
Animal Welfare in China book.

Her article “How Variations in Behavior and Phenotype Affect In-Group Stereotyping and Belonging Among African American Adolescents and Emerging Adults” featured insights gained from research conducted among 40 Black high school students and 42 Black college students. “This paper looks at how Black people who vary in typicality, in both their behavior and phenotype, ... are perceived by others within their in-group,” said Wilson, Assistant Professor of Psychology and a Fellow in UHD’s Center for Critical Race Studies. Read more about Dr. Wilson's publication.

Dr. Katharine Jager's new book, "“Vernacular Aesthetics in the Later Middle Ages: Politics, Performativity, and Reception From Literature to Music,” was recently published by Palgrave Macmillan for its New Middle Ages Series. Even though it’s her first book, over the years Jager’s poems and essays have appeared in various volumes, anthologies and journals. Per the publisher’s website, the book “explores the formal composition, public performance, and popular reception of vernacular poetry, music and prose within late medieval French and English cultures through a collection of essays…” Read more about Dr. Jager's publication.

Dr. Robin Davidson recently completed a translation of a book of poems by Polish poet, Ewa Lipska, Dear Ms. Schubert (Princeton University Press Lockert Library of Poetry Translation).  Dear Ms. Schubert was listed in a recent issue of The New York Times as recommended reading in the “At Home” section under “Read Beyond Your Borders”. Read the New York Times Review. Davidson, an esteemed poet herself, has again collaborated with poet Ewa Elżbieta Nowakowska to translate a recent collection of Lipska’s poems for a new book, “Dear Ms. Schubert” (Princeton University Press). Davidson and Nowakowska have translated Lipska’s series of poetic postcards sent to the title character Ms. Schubert from an enigmatic Mr. Schmetterling (or “Mr. Butterfly”). Read more about Dr. Davidson and "Dear Mrs. Schubert".