In Conversation

Dr. Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Dr. Stephen Engle, an award-winning history professor with over 32 years of experience in teaching and writing about nineteenth-century America.This episode of In Conversation delves into Dr. Engle's new book, In Pursuit of Justice: The Life of John Albion Andrew.  Stephen and Dr. Horswell discuss John Albion's one profoundly radical idea: that all men truly are created equal. He championed lost causes, loathed America’s racial prejudices, and sought justice for the lowly, even when the fight was wholly unpopular. His story (from the 1830s through the 1860s) places slavery and abolition at the center of America’s history and affirms that a life driven by justice and conviction can be timeless.Like Lincoln, his career was a reminder of the national tragedy that ensued from standing up for such beliefs, as opposing factions shaped divergent paths toward their vision of the “more perfect Union” that the founding fathers had charted in the Constitution. Throughout his life Andrew watched as the expanding republic struggled to endure half slave and half free. He recognized that slavery was incompatible with the Christian notion of inalienable human rights (as well as free-market capitalism), yet he lived in a strident era when sectionalism was shaping questions of territorial development and challenging Americans to decide whether God or man had relegated African Americans to human chattel. Slavery’s expansion heightened the young idealist’s political awareness.When the Civil War erupted just four months into his first term, Andrew considered the conflict not only a contest to restore the Union but also to advance the progress of the human condition in America. He advocated for emancipation during the war and persuaded the Lincoln administration to allow him to raise all-black regiments to fight for the Union and thereby demonstrate African American fitness for citizenship.Andrew spent his life following Theodore Parker’s axiom. “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one,” said Parker, “my eye reaches but little ways, I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight: I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.”  Andrew saw the war as the opportunity to redefine the republic by embracing racial progress by ending slavery and bending the arm of the moral universe. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. would repeat Parker’ words more than 100 years later in seeking racial justice. Dr. Stephen Engle  has received numerous awards throughout his career including being named a Distinguished Lecturer by the Organization of American Historians, a Fulbright Scholar for a year, a Gilder Lehrman Fellow, and a Huntington Library Fellow. He has lectured extensively in the United States and Germany, has appeared in c-span's Lectures in American History, and most recently lectures for the Smithsonian Institution as a part of the Smithsonian Associates Program. He is widely published in the genre of 19th Century American, having authored numerous books, essays, articles, and reviews including the prizing-winningGathering to Save a Nation (2016) and In Pursuit of Justice: The Life of John Albion Andrew (2023). 

Dr. Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Dr. Stephen Engle, an award-winning history professor with over 32 years of experience in teaching and writing about nineteenth-century America.This episode of In Conversation delves into Dr. Engle's new book, In Pursuit of Justice: The Life of John Albion Andrew.  Stephen and Dr. Horswell discuss John Albion's one profoundly radical idea: that all men truly are created equal. He championed lost causes, loathed America’s racial prejudices, and sought justice for the lowly, even when the fight was wholly unpopular. His story (from the 1830s through the 1860s) places slavery and abolition at the center of America’s history and affirms that a life driven by justice and conviction can be timeless. Like Lincoln, his career was a reminder of the national tragedy that ensued from standing up for such beliefs, as opposing factions shaped divergent paths toward their vision of the “more perfect Union” that the founding fathers had charted in the Constitution. Throughout his life Andrew watched as the expanding republic struggled to endure half slave and half free. He recognized that slavery was incompatible with the Christian notion of inalienable human rights (as well as free-market capitalism), yet he lived in a strident era when sectionalism was shaping questions of territorial development and challenging Americans to decide whether God or man had relegated African Americans to human chattel. Slavery’s expansion heightened the young idealist’s political awareness.When the Civil War erupted just four months into his first term, Andrew considered the conflict not only a contest to restore the Union but also to advance the progress of the human condition in America. He advocated for emancipation during the war and persuaded the Lincoln administration to allow him to raise all-black regiments to fight for the Union and thereby demonstrate African American fitness for citizenship.Andrew spent his life following Theodore Parker’s axiom. “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one,” said Parker, “my eye reaches but little ways, I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight: I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.”  Andrew saw the war as the opportunity to redefine the republic by embracing racial progress by ending slavery and bending the arm of the moral universe. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. would repeat Parker’ words more than 100 years later in seeking racial justice.  Dr. Stephen Engle  has received numerous awards throughout his career including being named a Distinguished Lecturer by the Organization of American Historians, a Fulbright Scholar for a year, a Gilder Lehrman Fellow, and a Huntington Library Fellow. He has lectured extensively in the United States and Germany, has appeared in c-span's Lectures in American History, and most recently lectures for the Smithsonian Institution as a part of the Smithsonian Associates Program. He is widely published in the genre of 19th Century American, having authored numerous books, essays, articles, and reviews including the prizing-winningGathering to Save a Nation (2016) and In Pursuit of Justice: The Life of John Albion Andrew (2023). 

Dr. Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Dr. María Alejandra Aguilar Dornelles, an associate professor of Spanish at Florida Atlantic University. In this episode of In Conversation, Alejandra and Dean Horswell discuss her book,  Between Bronze and Oblivion: Heroism and African descent in Colombia, Brazil and Cuba.  They explore the unsung heroes of Black History Month (February 1st- March 1st). María Alejandra Aguilar Dornelles has a doctorate in Latin American Literature and Gender Studies from Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri. Her research, with an interdisciplinary approach, explores discourses of racial and gender differentiation, as well as politics of contestation in Latin American cultural production. She has published academic articles on poetry, narrative, and theater from Brazil, Colombia, and the Hispanic Caribbean in Latin American Research Review, Latin American Literary Review, and Afro-Hispanic Review. She participated in the edition by María Mercedes Jaramillo and Betty Osorio titled Cantos y Poems: Critical Anthology of Afro-descendant Authors from Latin America, published by the National Library of Colombia in 2020. Her article “Heroism and racial consciousness in the work of the poet Afro-Cuban Cristina Ayala” has been awarded the Harold Eugene Davis Prize awarded by the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies (MACLAS) and the Ibero-American Prize for 19th Century Academic Articles (LASA).

Dr. Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Dr. María Alejandra Aguilar Dornelles, an associate professor of Spanish at Florida Atlantic University. In this episode of In Conversation, Alejandra and Dean Horswell discuss her book,  Between Bronze and Oblivion: Heroism and African descent in Colombia, Brazil and Cuba.  They explore the unsung heroes of Black History Month (February 1st- March 1st). María Alejandra Aguilar Dornelles has a doctorate in Latin American Literature and Gender Studies from Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri. Her research, with an interdisciplinary approach, explores discourses of racial and gender differentiation, as well as politics of contestation in Latin American cultural production. She has published academic articles on poetry, narrative, and theater from Brazil, Colombia, and the Hispanic Caribbean in Latin American Research Review, Latin American Literary Review, and Afro-Hispanic Review. She participated in the edition by María Mercedes Jaramillo and Betty Osorio titled Cantos y Poems: Critical Anthology of Afro-descendant Authors from Latin America, published by the National Library of Colombia in 2020. Her article “Heroism and racial consciousness in the work of the poet Afro-Cuban Cristina Ayala” has been awarded the Harold Eugene Davis Prize awarded by the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies (MACLAS) and the Ibero-American Prize for 19th Century Academic Articles (LASA).

Dr. Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Dr. Bogdan Ștefănescu, a professor of English, a literary translator, a journalist, and a cultural diplomat.  He has taught at the University of Bucharest since the fall of communism in Romania, in 1990. Ștefănescu is a professor of English, which for him has always meant a language of freedom, as opposed to the wooden lingo of political dogma and of captive minds. For him, the key to understanding human culture and history is discourse. He loves the idea that humans are discursive animals and he feels that our lives span two interrelated universes: one is a space-time-motion continuum, the other is a speech-thought-action continuum.   He teaches literature and cultural studies from a comparative perspective. For him, true knowledge is always comparative, which means not so much comparing different things from a single perspective, as comparing different perspectives on the same thing. His recent research is concerned with the rhetoric of national identification, and with the similar way in which cultures strive to reconstruct their self-images that were traumatized by the competing Western and Soviet colonial systems. 

Dr. Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Dr. Bogdan Ștefănescu, a professor of English, a literary translator, a journalist, and a cultural diplomat.  He has taught at the University of Bucharest since the fall of communism in Romania, in 1990. Ștefănescu is a professor of English, which for him has always meant a language of freedom, as opposed to the wooden lingo of political dogma and of captive minds. For him, the key to understanding human culture and history is discourse. He loves the idea that humans are discursive animals and he feels that our lives span two interrelated universes: one is a space-time-motion continuum, the other is a speech-thought-action continuum.   He teaches literature and cultural studies from a comparative perspective. For him, true knowledge is always comparative, which means not so much comparing different things from a single perspective, as comparing different perspectives on the same thing. His recent research is concerned with the rhetoric of national identification, and with the similar way in which cultures strive to reconstruct their self-images that were traumatized by the competing Western and Soviet colonial systems. 

Dr. Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Marina Banchetti, Ph.D.,a professor of philosophy in FAU’s Department of Philosophy.  They discuss Dr. Banchetti's expertise in the philosophy of science and how humans'  perception of nature and the universe has evolved over time.We invite you to join us as we take an in-depth look at the science and history of philosophy.Professor Banchetti’s research focuses on phenomenology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science with a recent focus on the history and philosophy of chemistry.  She has recently published two books on these topics: The Chemical Philosophy of Robert Boyle: Mechanicism, Chymical Atoms, and Emergence (Oxford University Press, 2020) and From the Atom to Living Systems: A Chemical and Philosophical Journey into Modern and Contemporary Science (Oxford University Press, 2023), co-written with the Italian chemist Giovanni Villani.

Dr. Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Marina Banchetti, Ph.D.,a professor of philosophy in FAU’s Department of Philosophy.  They discuss Dr. Banchetti's expertise in the philosophy of science and how humans'  perception of nature and the universe has evolved over time.We invite you to join us as we take an in-depth look at the science and history of philosophy. Professor Banchetti’s research focuses on phenomenology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science with a recent focus on the history and philosophy of chemistry.  She has recently published two books on these topics: The Chemical Philosophy of Robert Boyle: Mechanicism, Chymical Atoms, and Emergence (Oxford University Press, 2020) and From the Atom to Living Systems: A Chemical and Philosophical Journey into Modern and Contemporary Science (Oxford University Press, 2023), co-written with the Italian chemist Giovanni Villani. 

Dean Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Ivy Ashe, Ph.D., an assistant professor of multimedia journalism at FAU’s School of Communication and Multimedia Studies. They discuss the mystique of an often overlooked yet fascinating discipline of journalism: travel journalism.  We invite you to join us as we journey to exotic destinations and experience nature’s stories told through the lens of an innovative, pioneer journalist.Ivy Ashe teaches photojournalism, multimedia journalism, and sports communication. Her areas of research focus on travel media and visual communication. Before entering academia, Ashe worked for local newspapers in Massachusetts and Hawai‘i. As a former community news reporter and photographer, she is deeply invested in research investigating journalism's role in structuring the public’s sense of place, particularly places best known as tourist or seasonal destinations. 

Dean Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Ivy Ashe, Ph.D., an assistant professor of multimedia journalism at FAU’s School of Communication and Multimedia Studies. They discuss the mystique of an often overlooked yet fascinating discipline of journalism: travel journalism.  We invite you to join us as we journey to exotic destinations and experience nature’s stories told through the lens of an innovative, pioneer journalist.Ivy Ashe teaches photojournalism, multimedia journalism, and sports communication. Her areas of research focus on travel media and visual communication. Before entering academia, Ashe worked for local newspapers in Massachusetts and Hawai‘i. As a former community news reporter and photographer, she is deeply invested in research investigating journalism's role in structuring the public’s sense of place, particularly places best known as tourist or seasonal destinations. 

Associate Dean Barclay Barrios fills in for regular host Dean Michael Horswell, and engages In Conversation with Amy Broderick, MFA, Associate Professor of Drawing and Painting in FAU's Department of Visual Arts and Art History. Professor Broderick's creative practice encompasses artmaking, art writing, teaching and mentorship. In her studio work, she uses the processes of drawing, photography and paper construction to note the specific topography of everyday life. Professor Broderick's work reveals the wonders that reside within the details, while grappling with the loss of those details in the fleetingness of time.

Associate Dean Barclay Barrios fills in for regular host Dean Michael Horswell, and engages In Conversation with Wendy Hinshaw, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Writing Programs for the English Department. Dr. Hinshaw teaches courses in rhetoric, literacy, women's literature and prison writing, with articles on representations of trauma with regard to art and writing by prisoners. She is working to bring public awareness to prisoners' writing and to help prisoners' voices be heard.

Associate Dean Barclay Barrios, fills in for regular host Dean Michael Horswell, and engages In Conversation with Marc Decker, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands/Director of Athletic Bands. Dr. Decker is an active arranger, drill writer, guest conductor and adjudicator. He has also published journal articles and presented at national conferences one a variety of subjects, including the works of various composers, teaching pedagogy and recruiting strategies for college marching bands.

Dean Michael Horswell engages In Conversation with Clevis Headley, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy. Dr. Headley specializes in Africana philosophy, critical race theory, epistemology, analytic philosophy, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mathematics. He has co-edited three books, George Yancy: A Critical Introduction (2021), Haiti and the Americas (2013), and Shifting the Geography of Reason (2007).  He is currently finishing a book manuscript titled Race, Philosophy, and Being: Working Through the Contestability of Race and Philosophy.

Dean Michael Horswell engages In Conversation with Lotus Seeley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology. Following  the #MeToo movement, Dr. Seeley discusses how gender manifests in different areas of our lives and how people balance work and life in the same place, with many working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. She is currently researching the experiences of women workers in the gig economy.

Dean Michael Horswell engages In Conversation with Ilaria Serra, Ph.D., Professor of Italian and Comparative Studies, whose areas of expertise include Italian cinema, popular song and cultural studies, as well as the history of Italian immigration. Dr. Serra also discusses her latest book, "Italia Cantata: A Culture and Language Textbook."

Dean Michael Horswell engages In Conversation with Marek Muller, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Rhetorical Studies in the Communication and Multimedia Studies Department. Dr.  Muller's specializations include rhetorical theory and criticism, critical-cultural communication studies, legal studies and critical animal studies. She is a rhetorician interested in human rights, nonhuman animal rights and the humanity/animality dialectic.  Her latest publication is "Impersonating Animals, Rhetoric, Ecofeminism and Animal Rights Law."

Dean Michael Horswell engages In Conversation with Lee Soroko, Assistant Professor of Movement at FAU's Theater and Dance Department. He is a fight director and instructor who insures the safety of actors during fight scenes on stage. In 2022, Professor Soroko will be choreographing the violence scenes for "Carmen" at the Palm Beach Opera. 

Dean Michael Horswell engages In Conversation with Stacey Balkan, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of English and Environmental Humanities at Florida Atlantic University, who has been researching how the past can predict our future. Her upcoming book, "Rogues in the Postcolony: Narrating Extraction and Itinerancy in India," includes an investigation of new extra-activist frontiers, including solar capitalism and the and the possibility of imagining life after extraction on the subcontinent and beyond.

Dean Michael Horswell engages In Conversation with Stacey Balkan, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of English and Environmental Humanities at Florida Atlantic University, who has been researching how the past can predict our future. Her upcoming book, "Rogues in the Postcolony: Narrating Extraction and Itinerancy in India," includes an investigation of new extra-activist frontiers, including solar capitalism and the and the possibility of imagining life after extraction on the subcontinent and beyond.