African American and African Studies at UC Davis Launches New Series on Black Global Issues

The UC Davis Department of African American and African Studies is launching a new speaker series to introduce the campus and larger community to new research in global Black studies. The series will bring in scholars from around the country. Titled “New Directions in Black Studies,” the free talk will be held in 3201 Hart Hall at noon. Register for the talks.

The Universality of Song: Humans Can Recognize a Song’s Intent Regardless of Language

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that there is an association between how songs sound and their place in our emotional lives. Sourcing songs from across the globe, Manvir Singh and his fellow researchers found that people from different types of societies can successfully identify a song’s type by how it sounds, regardless of the language of its words.

Testimonios of Care

Testimonios of Care Feminist Latina/x and Chicana/x Perspectives on Caregiving Praxis is the first English-language collection of Latina/x caregiving testimonios. It gives voice to those who often are voiceless in histories of caregiving and is guided by Chicana and Latina feminist principles.

Freedom to Win

Freedom to Win tells the story of the underdog Czech hockey team that bested the Soviet team in 1969. The Czech team beat the Soviets twice in world championship matches that took place seven months after the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring reform movement. A classic David & Goliath tale, complete with colorful heroes, cold-hearted villains, and nail-biting games—with the hockey rink serving as an arena for a nation’s resistance.

Reclaiming Language, Revitalizing Culture

Professor Inés Hernández-Ávila, a distinguished poet, translator and artist, has gained international recognition for her scholarship on the cultural and linguistic revitalization movements of Indigenous people. With support from the Public Impact Research Initiative, Hernández-Ávila organized a historic Niimiipuu/Nez Perce delegation to Chiapas, Mexico, in August 2021 to engage with Mayan writers, artists and community activists.

Aaron Copland in Latin America: Music and Cultural Politics

Carol Hess examines composer and conductor Aaron Copland's U.S. government-sponsored tours of Latin America between 1941 and 1963 in Aaron Copland in Latin America . Based on interviews with eyewitnesses, previously untapped Latin American press accounts and Copland’s diaries inform this in-depth examination of the composer’s approach to cultural diplomacy. 

Archaic Instruments in Modern West Java: Bamboo Murmurs

Archaic Instruments in Modern West Java: Bamboo , by Henry Spilller, professor of music, explores how residents of Bandung, Indonesia, have re-adopted bamboo musical instruments to forge bridges between traditional and modern values, including musical environmentalism, heavy metal music and cultural authenticity. Henry Spiller is an ethnomusicologist whose research focuses on Sundanese music and dance from West Java, Indonesia.