New Books
L&L Associate Professor David M. Grant has co-edited (with Jennifer Clary-Lemon) Decolonial Conversations in Posthuman and New Material Rhetorics (Ohio State University Press). This collection brings together emerging and established voices at the nexus of new materialist and decolonial rhetorics to advance a new direction for rhetorical scholarship on materiality. In part a response to those seeking answers about the relevance of new material and posthuman thought to cultural rhetorics, this collection initiates bold conversations at the pressure points between nature and culture, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, knowing and being, and across culturally different ontologies. It thus relies on a tapestry of both accepted and marginalized discourses in order to respond to frustrations of erasure and otherness prevalent in the fields of rhetoric, writing, and communication—and offers solutions to move these fields forward. With diverse contributions, including compelling pieces from leading Indigenous scholars, these essays draw from political, cultural, and natural life to present innovative projects that consider material rhetorics, our planet, and human beings as necessarily interwoven and multiple.
Aravae is the first title in a projected fantasy trilogy published by recent L&L English-Teaching graduate, Ashley Webb. Aravae and her brother Rin have never led easy lives. For years, they’ve lived as servants in the kingdom of Elanway, hated for the magic they inherited at birth. Both long to leave Elanway and find a place where their magic is accepted, but Aravae is certain they will never get the chance. She is proved wrong when a mysterious wizard named Velec breaks into a secret vault, intending to steal a powerful magical artifact. When Aravae and Rin confront him, Velec offers to show them the greater world of Dunovar. It seems too good to be true—and it is. Dunovar is on the brink of war, increasingly twisted and tainted with Black Magic. People in every kingdom are suffering, and things are only getting worse. Determined to help, Aravae and Rin join Velec on his quest to free his home kingdom of Anotria from the tyrannical rule of King Meyren. Along the way, Aravae learns a series of increasingly dangerous secrets about herself, her companions, and Dunovar itself.
L&L English M.A. alum, Jennifer Corrigan, has an essay in the recent Feminist Press collection, It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror edited by Joe Vallese, a volume that Publishers Weekly calls, "a brilliant display of expert criticism, wry humor, and original thinking." PW also singles out Corrigan's contribution, "Three Men on a Boat," as "a convincing case for Jaws as a queer film ('Is there really anything gayer than three men on a boat?')." Other contributors include Carmen Maria Machado, Bruce Owens Grimm, Zefyr Lisowki, Richard Scott Larson and Sarah Fonseca.
Ukrainians in Michigan by Paul M. Hedeen and L&L TESOL MA alum Maryna Hedeen documents the history of Ukrainian immigrants in Michigan and their American descendants, examining both the choices people made and the social forces that impelled their decisions to migrate and to make new homes in the state. Michigan’s Ukrainians came in four waves, each unique in time and character, beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing in the twenty-first. Detroit attracted many of them with the opportunities it offered in its booming automobile industry. Yet others put down roots in cities and towns across the state. Wherever they settled, they established churches and community centers and continued to practice the customs of their homeland. Many Ukrainian Americans have made significant contributions to Michigan and the United States, including those who are showcased in this book. This comprehensive text also highlights cultural practices and traditional foods cherished by community members.