Faculty Research
Clemson English professor receives $60,000 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities Assistant Professor Maziyar Faridi received a $60,000 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to write a book on poetry and cinema during the Pahlavi dynasty. Faridi, of the Departments of English and Interdisciplinary Studies, was the only professor in South Carolina to be awarded a faculty fellowship by the NEH, which supports humanities projects across the country. His scholarly interests lie in the interrelationship between politics and aesthetics. The grant allows Faridi to spend a year focusing on his book project, “Rhythms of Relation: Decolonizing Identity in Iranian Modernism.” Faridi’s book focuses on the last Iranian dynasty that ruled from 1925-1979.
Esteemed scholar, professor passes away after release of 40th book H. Roger Grant, the Kathryn and Calhoun Lemon Professor in the Department of History and Geography for 27 years, passed away unexpectedly in Fall 2023. A scholar who published 40 books on American history, transportation and railroads, Grant died on November 17, 2023, exactly 11 days before he was to turn 80 years old. He had planned to retire at the end of the Fall 2023 semester. In Grant’s final days, he was celebrating two milestones: impending retirement and the publication of his 40th book. Released this summer by Indiana University Press, “Sunset Cluster: A Shortline Railroad Saga” walks readers through the five Iowa “sunset cluster” railroads that lasted less than a decade. His final work will be published posthumously in 2024, according to his family, focusing on the history of midwestern railroads.
Paul Buyer explores world music in new textbook
Pictured: Clemson University Assistant Professor Melvin Villaver
Clemson English professor’s research leads to recognition of a stop on the Underground Railroad A previously overlooked stop on the Underground Railroad has been recognized by the National Park Service thanks in part to the scholarship of Professor Susanna Ashton in the Department of English. On September 16, 2023, U.S. Representative James E. Clyburn (SC-06) joined Ashton and representatives from Audubon South Carolina and the National Park Service at Audubon’s Center and Sanctuary at Francis Beidler Forest to commemorate the designation of Four Holes Swamp as part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program. Four Holes Swamp — a blackwater tributary to the Edisto River — contains Beidler Forest, which hosts the largest stand of virgin bald cypress trees anywhere on earth and serves as a sanctuary to more than 140 species of birds. Audubon South Carolina’s effort to have the site’s historical significance recognized was sparked by Ashton’s work. Her research into the stories of enslaved people led her to identify the author of the anonymous “Recollections of Slavery by a Runaway Slave” as James Matthews of Dorchester County, South Carolina. Scan here: Endowed professor delves into the deep history of the barcode Jordan Frith, the Pearce Professor of Professional Communication at Clemson University, celebrated the release of his new book by tattooing a barcode on his left bicep. The tattoo happened to be the ISBN of his book, “Barcode,” which dives into the technology that has existed for nearly 50 years and connects billions of physical objects and digital databases. Published by Bloomsbury and part of the “Object Lessons” series, Frith’s latest book is a tight read stuffed with nuggets of barcode minutiae. The purpose of the series is to expound on the potentially mundane – think the remote control, questionnaire or egg – and develop digestible takeaways of its cultural impact for a broad audience. The book tracks the history of barcodes, which ranges from the first product scanned with an official Universal Product Code – a pack of Wrigley’s gum in 1974 – to the emergence of QR codes as a replacement for paper menus during the COVID-19 pandemic. His book has been featured on CNN, Slate and The Atlantic, among other news outlets.
In his 26th year of teaching at Clemson, Paul Buyer published his first textbook, “World Music: Diversity in Styles, Instruments and Culture,” and built an entire course cultivated with audio and visual components for a broad academic audience. The book travels to the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, India, Japan, Indonesia, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and Brazil, with a final chapter on “Playing for Change.” Written in an engaging, interactive and concise format, the book allows students to explore diverse musical styles, instruments and cultures through compelling content, musician spotlights and dozens of quality videos, audio recordings and class activities.
Reclamation: Clemson’s Hip Hop professor releases mixtape honoring the forgotten – and conjoined – Godino twins Assistant Professor Melvin Villaver scoured archives to search for any audio records of Lucio and Simplicio Godino, the formerly conjoined twins who were touring musicians. When they died days after being separated in December 1936, media coverage fixated on their anatomical anomalies while giving little attention to their profession. Villaver, who teaches courses in Audio Technology and Global Black Studies, honored the twins — and their music — with his dissertation mixtape, “Harmonic Resurgence,” which he published in February 2024. The 11-track tape clocks in with a run time of slightly under 32 minutes. Since his arrival in Fall 2023, Villaver has operated a fully equipped Hip Hop studio within the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts, providing students with a dedicated space for training in music production. (pictured on page 18)
Double Research by 2035
Double Research by 2035
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