Liberal Studies

Comics studies scholars engaging comparative mythology tend to limit critical approaches to superhero fiction and classical and religious texts. Even the popular argument that superheroes are a “modern mythology” typically does not venture outside these limitations. Tolkien’s legendarium, Lovecraft’s mythos, Tennyson’s revisions to Arthurian myth, and Blake’s mythology don’t quite fit the creative models that prevailing criticism considers in comparative studies.

Finding Our Place in Nature argues that Aristotelian philosophy provides a much needed ethical foundation for the environmental sciences and for our daily commitment to practices of sustainability. Shearman challenges previously held interpretations of Aristotle’s value to the grounding of environmental ethics. He demonstrates that Aristotelian philosophy is a valuable and under-appreciated resource for any student-citizen who requires ethically persuasive reasons—both for pursuing environmental science in the first place and for grounding our social practices as citizens.

Unfinished Stories presents a parallel study of the lives and narrative photography of Hansel Mieth (1909–1998) and Marion Palfi (1907–1978). Mieth was the second woman staff photographer employed by Life magazine. Palfi’s photo of Henry Street Settlement kids was the first cover of Ebony magazine. German born émigrés who never met, they constructed remarkably similar photo narratives of unseen America.

Using ground-breaking advances in printing technology and a bold approach to graphic design, the RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press presents Colleagues, a visually stunning collection of portraits by John Retallack with a companion poem, “Enter the Eyes” by Anne C. Coon. The interplay of images and words, introduced by a conversation between Retallack and Coon, challenges the viewer’s understanding of the art, aesthetics, and dynamics of portraiture.