Based on five years of ethnographic research, Allison Pugh offers a humanistic response to the rise of AI, one that probes the profound meaning of human connection, reckons with the challenges of seeing and being seen, and reimagines what we know of ourselves and others in light of the automation challenge. 

Allison Pugh is a professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. She writes about how people forge connections and find meaning and dignity at work and at home. In her latest book The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World (2024), Pugh develops the concept of “connective labor,” the collaborative work of emotional recognition. This includes three key components—empathetic listening, emotion management, and the act of “witnessing,” in which one individual reflects what they have seen and heard. Drawing on years of interview and observational data, Pugh shows how in sectors like education, healthcare, and therapy, this work is increasingly systemized—a process that she argues makes it ripe for eventual mechanization. In the face of teacher shortages and hype around “chatbot therapists,” Pugh makes a case for connective labor’s value to society and the potential consequences for inequality should it become a scarce commodity.

"Re-imagining the Other/Ourselves: Finding the Human in the Age of AI"

Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. She leads projects on solidarity and social movements at the Building Movement Project. Deepa talks about her social change ecosystem framework which includes ten roles that many people play in the service of social change values. And she talks about her children's picture book "We Are the Builders!"

Deepa Iyer: https://www.deepaiyer.com

Research Notes:
Neil O'Brian, assistant professor of Political Science at the UO, discusses his new book "The Roots of Polarization: From the Radical Realignment to the Culture Wars" which was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2024. 

Neil O'Brian: https://neilobrian.com
Eric Schickler: https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/eric-schickler
Daniel Schlozman: https://www.danielschlozman.net
Christina Wolbrecht: https://christinawolbrecht.com

UO Today: Deepa Iyer and Research Notes with Neil O'Brian

Salvador Herrera is an assistant professor of Latinx Literature and Cultural Production in the Department of English at the University of Oregon. He discusses his work exploring transborder aesthetics providing Tanya Aguiñiga's "Metabolizing the Border" project as an example. He also talks about the classes he teaches and the value of UO's pursuit of becoming a Hispanic-serving Institution.

Research Notes:
Devin Grammon and Sergio Loza talk about their recently published book "Aquí se habla: Centering the Local and Personal in Spanish Language Education" co-edited with Adam Schwartz and Dalia Magaña. 

Devin is an assistant professor of Spanish Sociolinguistics. Sergio is an assistant professor of Spanish Linguistics and the director of the Spanish Heritage Language Program. Both are in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Oregon. 

They will participate in a book release talk on Wednesday, May 21, 2025 at 4 p.m. in the Centro Cultural César Chávez at Oregon State University.

Dalia Magaña's book: https://ohiostatepress.org/books/titles/9780814214817.html 

Adam Schwartz's: book: https://www.multilingual-matters.com/page/detail/?k=9781800416901 

Article by Devin Grammon: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6sd7h1ts

UO Today: Salvador Herrera and Research Notes with Devin Grammon and Sergio Loza

William Hatungimana is an assistant professor of Global Studies in the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages at the University of Oregon. He discusses his work on immigration and African-China relations. He also talks about the classes he teaches ie: "International Cooperation and Conflict" and "Transnational Migration."

Research Notes-ICYMI
Kemi Balogun is an associate professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Sociology, and director of African Studies at the University of Oregon. She discusses her book "Beauty Diplomacy: Embodying an Emerging Nation" published in 2020. The book takes a look inside the world of Nigerian beauty contests to see how they are transformed into contested vehicles for promoting complex ideas about gender and power, ethnicity and belonging, and a rapidly changing articulation of Nigerian nationhood.

UO Today: William Hatungimana and Research Notes with Kemi Balogun

Ryan Tucker Jones, History, and 2024–25 OHC Faculty Research Fellow.   

This interdisciplinary global history integrates the newest, exciting advances in whale science to reinterpret the last 500 years of human-cetacean relations. In the past decades, satellite tagging, drone footage, DNA analysis, and long-term behavioral studies have revealed whale lives in unprecedented detail. The newest cetacean science not only reveals ways that whales experienced this history, but also casts new light on the crucial global stories of colonization, industrialization, and the creation of a modern, interconnected world.

"Sperm Whales and Polynesians: The Diasporic Worlds of Hawaiian Whaler John Bull and His Prey"

In an era of increased isolation where civic deserts, disinformation, and technological dependence separate us from one another, how can we reimagine our capacity for deeper connection and sustainable collaboration in our current reality? Deepa Iyer, a social justice advocate, leads an exploration of the pathways that strengthen ecosystems for social change in this talk.

Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. Her work is rooted in Asian American, South Asian, Muslim, and Arab communities where she spent fifteen years in policy advocacy and coalition building in the wake of the September 11th attacks and ensuing backlash. Currently, Deepa leads projects on solidarity and social movements at the Building Movement Project, a national nonprofit organization that catalyzes social change through research, strategic partnerships, and resources for movements and nonprofits.

"Re-imagine: Our Social Change Ecosystems"

Poet Henri Cole is author of eleven collections of poetry and a memoir. His latest collection, The Other Love, is forthcoming in summer 2025. 

He and Leah discuss his sonnets and his approach the form. He reads two poems from the collection Gravity and Center: Selected Sonnets 1994–2022.

On April 17th, 2025, Cole gave a reading as a guest of the UO’s Creative Writing Program. 

UO Today: Henri Cole, poet

Courtney M. Cox, assistant professor of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies, talks about her newly-published book "Double Crossover: Gender, Media, and Politics in Global Basketball."

In the book, Cox follows athletes, coaches, journalists, and advocates of women’s basketball as they pursue careers within the sport. Despite all attempts to contain them or prevent forward momentum, they circumvent expectations and open new possibilities within and outside of the game. Throughout the book, Cox explores the intersection of race and gender against the backdrop of the WNBA, NCAA, and other leagues within the United States and around the world.  Blending interviews and participant observation with content analysis, she charts how athletes and advocates of women’s basketball illuminate new forms of navigating the global sports-media complex.

cox"Double Crossover: Gender, Media, and Politics in Global Basketball"

Leah Middlebrook, assistant professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, and director of the Oregon Humanities Center talks about her new book "Amphion: Lyre, Poetry, and Politics in Modernity."

Research Notes:
Lowell Bowditch, professor and department head of Classics, discusses her recent book "Roman Love Elegy and the Eros of Empire."

Book talk with Leah Middlebrook and Research Notes with Lowell Bowditch

Emily Moore is the Instruction and Outreach Archivist, and Mahala Ruddell is the Lead Processing Archivist in Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Oregon. They discuss their work and the value of UO's collections. They also talk about some of the curious things they have come across in the archives.
• uoregon.edu/special-collections
• uoregon.aviaryplatform.com
• oregondigital.org

Research Notes:
Abigail Fine, assistant professor of Musicology in the UO's School of Music and Dance, talks about her new book "The Composer Embalmed: Relic Culture from Piety to Kitsch" which was published by the University of Chicago Press in June 2025. She also offers other titles to explore relic culture.
• "The Author's Effects: On Writer's House Museums" by Nicola J. Watson
• "Relics of Death in Victorian Literature and Culture" by Deborah Lutz
• "Cranioklepty" by Colin Dickey
• "The Hummingbird Cabinet: A Rare and Curious History of Romantic Collectors" by Judith Pascoe

UO Today: UO archivists Emily Moore and Mahala Ruddell and Research Notes with Abigail Fine

The Oregon Humanities Center is the sole interdisciplinary umbrella organization for the humanities at the University of Oregon.  We encourage scholars to articulate their ideas in language that is accessible both to scholars in other fields and to the general public.  The OHC sponsors a wide array of free public programs designed to provide a forum for discussion of and reflection on important issues.

UO Today: Deepa Iyer and Research Notes with Neil O'Brian

Oregon Humanities Center

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