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Professor of Africana Studies Heather Merrill published an article titled “In Other Wor(l)ds: Situated Intersectionality in Italy” in her co-edited volume Spaces of Danger: Culture and Power in the Everyday. The volume is part of the series “Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation” published by the University of Georgia Press.

An essay published in The Chronicle of Higher Education titled “What Black Campus Activists Can Learn From the Freedom Summer of 1964” by Professors of Africana Studies and Heather Merrill and Donald Carter  compared transformational strategies employed by students in 1964 with those pursued by students today. In the Feb. 1 commentary, the authors noted that the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee that led the Mississippi Summer Project was built through patience and compassion.

Professor of Africana Studies Heather Merrill is co-editor of Spaces of Danger: Culture and Power in the Everyday with Lisa M. Hoffman (University of Washington-Tacoma). The book, a collection of essays published by University of Georgia Press, is part of its Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation series.

In the wake of the recent terror attacks in Paris, ‘the refugee question’ has received redoubled interest from the international community. However, this global refugee crisis is in no way a new phenomenon, and has its roots far outside of the Middle East. To clarify the current state of duress, Professor of Economics Erol Balkan, Henry Platt Bristol Professor of International Affairs Alan Cafruny and Professor of Africana Studies Heather Merrill held a panel discussion on Nov. 17 for an overflowing Red Pit of students, faculty and community members.

Four Hamilton professors will debate the global refugee crisis in a panel discussion on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m., in the Red Pit, Kirner-Johnson Building. The panel is sponsored by the Government Department and is free and open to the public.

Hamilton College Dean of Faculty Patrick Reynolds announced the promotion of four Hamilton faculty members to the rank of professor. Brian Collett, physics; Heather Merrill, Africana studies; Cheryl Morgan, French; and Lisa Trivedi, history, were promoted effective Oct. 3.

When Njideka Ofoleta ’16 studied abroad in Spain last semester, she noticed something about the population in her neighborhood. She lived in an area with a high immigrant population, and although she saw many African men in public and in the media, she saw few African women. She realized that African women were rarely discussed, and she “wanted to delve deeper into that rarely-covered realm.” With a grant from the Emerson Foundation, Ofoleta has spent time in Morocco, Spain, and the United States to research African women immigrating into Spain.

The age-old adage of “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” appears to be playing itself out yet again in Europe. From the return of “the German question,” to civil unrest in the former USSR, or the resurgence of political scapegoating and economic disarray, current conditions are raising concern from the global community. On April 2 the Government Department hosted a roundtable panel of four Hamilton faculty members to address key elements of the continent’s contemporary crisis.

Hamilton will host a faculty panel discussion, “Europe in Crisis,” on Thursday, April 2, at 7 p.m., in the Fillius Events Barn. The discussion is free and open to the public.

Associate Professor and Chair of Africana Studies Heather Merrill published an article in Acme: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies. The article is titled "Post-Colonial Borderlands: Black Life-Worlds and Relational Place in Turin, Italy" (Volume 13 (2) 2014).