Three College professors were awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship Monday to further their research projects. History Prof. Alon Confino is studying Nazi Germany's perspective on Jews, Environmental Science Prof. Paolo D'Odorico will study the impact of globalization of water resources on societal and environmental resilience, and Anthropology Prof. Kath Weston is studying the 2008 financial crisis and the metaphor made by economists and policymakers comparing the economy to an ailing patient.
For its 87th annual competition for the United States and Canada, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation awarded 180 fellowships from a group of nearly 3,000 applicants. The range of scholars, artists and scientists were selected on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise.
"To have three Guggenheim Fellows from the College this year is a great honor," College Dean Meredith Woo said in an email. "Their scholarship and range of expertise is outstanding; and the recognition for [Confino], [Weston] and [D'Odorico] is well deserved."
Confino's said his study, "A World Without Jews: Nazi Germany, Representations of the Past, and the Holocaust," traces Germany's historical imagination, emotions and desires from 1933 to 1945, which he argues made the Nazi empire and the persecution and extermination of the Jews both conceivable and possible.
"I propose a shift in perspective," Confino said. Instead of looking at what the Germans did or did not know about the Holocaust and the emphasis on Auschwitz, Confino focuses on the Third Reich and "how Germans came to conceive of the idea of a Germany without Jews: how they came, from 1933 onward, to imagine this world, internalize it [and] make it part of their own vision of the present and future, at times even when they were opposed to Nazi policies."
Confino will use the fellowship to take a year off from teaching and devote the time to writing the book based on his research. He hopes to write the book in a way which makes it available to the public as well as scholars. "I hope it will reach a wider audience interested in issues of the holocaust, genocide, Jewish German history and of human rights in the 20th century," Confino said.\nHe added the Guggenheim Fellowship "helps tremendously because it is wonderful recognition by my colleagues."
D'Odorico said in an email that he will use the fellowship to look into a field of research he has not yet investigated: the impact of humans on the global water cycle. He previously studied the effect of massive amounts of food traded globally, which makes societies less reliant on locally available water resources. "International trade implies a virtual transfer of water resources from areas of food production to importing regions," he said.
While this globalization may present malnourishment and famine in the short-term, D'Odorico said the long-term effects "remain poorly investigated." He now will investigate "how in the long run the globalization of water resources may reduce the societal resilience with respect to water limitations," such as water shortage or drought. D'Ordorico said water and food are connected because most water is used to produce food, rather than for actual drinking purposes. "The water crisis is not the crisis of a thirsty world but of a hungry world," he said.
The Guggenheim Fellowship is an opportunity for D'Odorico to research in an area which is a cross between many different fields. "It would be hard to find a funding agency that would support this research," he said.
Weston's previous work includes "Traveling Light: on the Road with America's Poor," a book for which she traveled on buses and talked to passengers about the meaning of being poor in the world's wealthiest country. Weston will use the fellowship to develop her cultural critique of the 2008 financial crisis, studying the way people used phrases such as "lifeblood" and "cash tranfusions" to talk about the economy.
Next year, Weston will travel to England to pursue her research and will be a visiting professor at Cambridge University. In the fall of 2012, she will take a year's leave with the support of the Guggenheim Fellowship and the University.
Read More
D.C. baseball legend Ryan Zimmerman to deliver keynote Valedictory address
By Xander Tilock | 10 hours agoFamously nicknamed “Mr. National” for his many contributions to the Washington, D.C. franchise, Zimmerman is considered one of the most successful alumni in Virginia baseball history.
Administrators and faculty paint conflicting pictures of May 4 encampment clearing
By Cecilia Mould and Finn Trainer | 4 days agoThe details contested between the town halls included the clarity of the University’s tent policy and the presence of suspicious individuals at the encampment.
Faculty Senate calls for an external review of May 4 clearing of encampment
By Priya Kommu | 4 days agoSenators had questions about the lack of direct communication between University administrators and the students and faculty present at the encampment.
