The Miami University Libraries, Humanities Center and the Howe Center for Writing Excellence celebrated recently-published Miami faculty members on Nov. 6
King Library held “New Books at Miami,” where a section of the library was donated to published faculty authors. The authors brought copies of their work, as well as provided “micro-talks” describing their inspiration, dedication and publishing experiences.
“New Books at Miami” recognized eight Miami authors: Elena Jackson Albarran, Rodney Coates, Steven Conn, Daniele Fioretti, Emily Legg, Rosemary Pennington, Damon Scott and Pepper Stetler.
Humanities and social sciences librarian Mark Dahlquist hosted the event, introducing each author and providing context for their celebrated works.
During the event, Coates spoke about his work “Critical Race and the Search for Truth” and his three-year writing process.
“I always find it interesting what motivates us to do what we do,” Coates said. “Why we write what we write and what events in our lives have shaped what we do.”
Coates questioned what happens when we only study one version of the truth. He described how his published work considers both points of view, liberal and conservative, regarding systemic racism, specifically during the 18th century. His book was published in September of 2024.
Conn also talked about his book “The Lies of the Land,” which took eight years.
“This book is what happens when a guy who really considers himself an urban historian decides to look at a lot of corn fields and swinging fields instead,” Conn said. “I was on Al Jazeera Television talking about the urban-rural divide, feeling a little bit like a fraud because I didn’t actually know anything about rural America. I made a promise to myself that I would go back and try to write a book that confronted rural history.”
In his book, Conn discusses the endless crisis that rural America gets presented as in the press. The book discusses the ecologies of rural places, specifically environmental, social, economic and political factors. Conn published his book in October of 2023.
Pennington described her dedication toward her project titled “Pop Islam: Seeing American Muslims in Popular Media.” Pennington said this topic began as a fun interest and not as a study of focus.
“After 9/11 there was an upsurge of anti-Muslim sentiment that people attempted to course correct for,” Pennington said. “I was really interested in what emerged from this course correction. In the book, I am looking at media that are designed for a broad American audience. I was looking at these texts that are not meant for Muslim audiences and thinking about the stories that Americans were consuming of them being told.”
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Pennington posed the question of who gets to be identified as things while authentic Muslims end up being defined by other people. The book follows a variety of different narratives attempting to define Muslim Americans and how those narratives reinforce false stereotypes about the community. Her book was published in April of 2024.
A reception followed the series of talks in the Howe Center for Writing Excellence.
olivasid@miamioh.edu
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