Welcome to our weekly roundup of news from university presses! Once again, there is a lot to share this week from our fellow academic publishing houses and much to learn on What SUP at the social university presses. This week, we found conversations on Beyoncé, the NYPD, and the legacies of colonialism. What did you read this week?
University of California Press analyzes the arrival of an unapologetically Black Beyoncé and the rejection in her song ‘Formation’ of a monolithic Blackness. Premiering during Black History Month 2016, “Formation” reminds us of the wide array of cultures, cuisines, colors, and controversies that exist within modern black America.
New York University Press reports on the struggle to reform the NYPD and its use of Stop and Frisk policies. One of the reasons they cite is that police reform is a long and complex process as it targets the very core of a profession that is very resistant to change.
The University of North Carolina Press examines Black History Month as a community-building engagement with the past. The use of the Internet—especially Twitter—to construct communal engagements represents the utilization of new forums to present information to black publics.
Stanford University talks about disentangling and analyzing the legacies of colonialism. Many nations, from Nigeria to Burma to Malaysia, are still confronting the legacies of European colonialism, but we are only beginning to understand these legacies, and how they may or may not explain contemporary violence between ethnic groups.
Oxford University Press highlights W.E.B. Du Bois and his endeavors with literature of upheaval. Du Bois saw in science fiction a genre that was ready-made for exploring the consequences, and the possibilities, of a massive and irrevocable upheaval of racist society.
Columbia University Press features a chapter on the story behind “Spotlight”, the movie that won the Oscar for Best Picture last Sunday. The reporters faced a tremendous number of challenges in confronting the Catholic Church.
Fashion or Function?