The Pushkin Project: Russia's Favorite Writer, Modern Evolutionary Thought, and Teaching Inner-City Youth
Autor David Betheaen Limba Engleză Paperback – 26 sep 2023
The Pushkin Project tells the story of how a Russian studies professor changes course late in his career by reeducating himself in evolutionary thought and founding a summer institute that partners with inner-city high schools to implement a new set of learning strategies for underserved youth.
These “cognitive cross-training” strategies involve introducing students from Hispanic and Black neighborhoods in the west and south sides of Chicago to the Russian culture and language, with an emphasis on poet, playwright, and novelist Alexander Pushkin. Through the lens of modern evolutionary thought, students adopt not only a new and different language and culture, but also a different sort of literary hero, one whose African heritage within the majority culture speaks to them directly. This inspiring and compelling story provides fascinating insights into Russia's national poet, brings the sciences and humanities together, and provides new directions in teaching young people from historically disadvantaged backgrounds.
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| Academic Studies Press – 26 sep 2023 | 600.55 lei 3-5 săpt. |
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9798887192024
Pagini: 260
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 14 mm
Greutate: 0.35 kg
Editura: Academic Studies Press
Colecția Academic Studies Press
Locul publicării:Boston, MA, United States
Pagini: 260
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 14 mm
Greutate: 0.35 kg
Editura: Academic Studies Press
Colecția Academic Studies Press
Locul publicării:Boston, MA, United States
Cuprins
Acknowledgements
Preface
1. Origins
2. PSI: Implementation
3. “The Shot”: Role-Playing with Loaded Pistols
4. “The Stationmaster”: Morality Meets Sexual Selection
5. The Blackamoor of Peter the Great: Identity, Creativity, Homecoming
6. “The Queen of Spades”: Risk, Reward, Gaming Life
Afterword: The Students Respond
Appendix: The PSI Questionnaire
Works Cited
Endnotes
Preface
1. Origins
2. PSI: Implementation
3. “The Shot”: Role-Playing with Loaded Pistols
4. “The Stationmaster”: Morality Meets Sexual Selection
5. The Blackamoor of Peter the Great: Identity, Creativity, Homecoming
6. “The Queen of Spades”: Risk, Reward, Gaming Life
Afterword: The Students Respond
Appendix: The PSI Questionnaire
Works Cited
Endnotes
Recenzii
“The Pushkin Project is both an inspiring memoirof Bethea’s work building an educational program for children fromunderprivileged communities and a remarkable essay on literature andevolutionary thought. At the center of it all are Bethea’s captivating readingsof Pushkin’s classic works, in the form of lesson plans that will be useful toeducators in any high school or university. Written in an engaging manner,probing deep questions of cultural history and educational philosophy, this isa book that effortlessly and gracefully appeals to multiple audiences.”
— Kevin M. F. Platt, Professor of Comparative Literature andRussian and East European Studies, The University of Pennsylvania
“A brilliant, multifaceted, and completely original bookabout how a distinguished professor of Russian literature decided to retool hispedagogy in accordance with the latest findings in evolutionary and cognitivescience to teach Russian language and literature to underserved, minority,inner-city high school students. Bethea’s generous goal was to allow them tohave the same powerful, life-altering experience he did when he learnedRussian—a language with which he had been completely unfamiliar—and discoveredthat it revealed a new world and ‘added a different gear’ to his brain. Inlight of today’s debates about ‘cultural appropriation,’ the decade-longsuccess of Bethea’s initiative is especially noteworthy because it demonstratesthe necessity of deep engagement with cultural alterity to achieve optimalpersonal growth. Part memoir, part bridge between Snow’s ‘two cultures,’ partpaean to the enduring genius of Russia’s national writer, Alexander Pushkin,this is an essential book for our times.”
— Vladimir Alexandrov, B. E. Bensinger Professor Emeritus ofSlavic Languages and Literatures, Yale University
“A fascinating account of how, in teaching Pushkin, onemight also teach students to think about citizenship, risk, evolutionaryneuroscience, and language itself. Exemplary readings of major texts areembedded in this book, which is pedagogical in multiple ways. I envy David Betheathe chance to have learned so much from students in the Pushkin Project.”
— Stephanie Sandler, Harvard University
“This book is testimony to an astonishing hybrid. On oneside Alexander Pushkin, Russia’s foundational poet of genius and an octoroon;on the other, an American professor and born teacher who devotes a decade ofhis life to making Russian culture inspirational for young people from minoritybackgrounds. Prompted by creative visions as vast as those of Charles Darwinand Iain McGilchrist, all the while urging us on with his trademark faith in‘co-evolutionary spirals’ that pit literature against despair, David Bethea, inthis very bad time for our Russian brand, has given us a moving memoir ofpoetry, sociobiology, civic conscience, and pastoral care.”
— Caryl Emerson, Princeton University
“David Bethea has combined his love of Pushkin and theRussian language with his knowledge of evolutionary biology and his deepreading in other areas to devise an educational project unlike any other. ThePushkin project is unique and is dedicated to helping Black and Brown teenagerslearn about another language, another culture, and a different way of seeingthe world. I highly recommend it.”
— Henry L. Roediger, III Professor of Psychology atWashington University in St. Louis and co-author of Make It Stick: The Scienceof Successful Learning
“Such a lucid and immersive narrative about a mostimprobable and imaginative project! I learned so much about Pushkin andinner-city culture, and the evolutionary drumbeat resonated throughout. Bravoto David Bethea, his adventurous students, and their fascinating encounterswith poetry and transcendence.”
— Ursula Goodenough, Washington University; author of TheSacred Depths of Nature: How Life Has Emerged and Evolved
“This book is the best news for the field. It mixeseye-opening readings of Pushkin through the lens of evolutionary biology withsomething that is constantly, but I dare say especially currently, much indemand: a sense of purpose. In engaging and subtle prose, Bethea tells thestory of the experience teaching Pushkin to students from Black and Browncommunities, and in doing so, reminds us that the opportunity to turn ourstudies into something meaningful—not just for us but also for the peoplearound us—is always at hand.”
— Daria Khitrova, Associate Professor of Slavic Languagesand Literatures, Harvard University
— Kevin M. F. Platt, Professor of Comparative Literature andRussian and East European Studies, The University of Pennsylvania
“A brilliant, multifaceted, and completely original bookabout how a distinguished professor of Russian literature decided to retool hispedagogy in accordance with the latest findings in evolutionary and cognitivescience to teach Russian language and literature to underserved, minority,inner-city high school students. Bethea’s generous goal was to allow them tohave the same powerful, life-altering experience he did when he learnedRussian—a language with which he had been completely unfamiliar—and discoveredthat it revealed a new world and ‘added a different gear’ to his brain. Inlight of today’s debates about ‘cultural appropriation,’ the decade-longsuccess of Bethea’s initiative is especially noteworthy because it demonstratesthe necessity of deep engagement with cultural alterity to achieve optimalpersonal growth. Part memoir, part bridge between Snow’s ‘two cultures,’ partpaean to the enduring genius of Russia’s national writer, Alexander Pushkin,this is an essential book for our times.”
— Vladimir Alexandrov, B. E. Bensinger Professor Emeritus ofSlavic Languages and Literatures, Yale University
“A fascinating account of how, in teaching Pushkin, onemight also teach students to think about citizenship, risk, evolutionaryneuroscience, and language itself. Exemplary readings of major texts areembedded in this book, which is pedagogical in multiple ways. I envy David Betheathe chance to have learned so much from students in the Pushkin Project.”
— Stephanie Sandler, Harvard University
“This book is testimony to an astonishing hybrid. On oneside Alexander Pushkin, Russia’s foundational poet of genius and an octoroon;on the other, an American professor and born teacher who devotes a decade ofhis life to making Russian culture inspirational for young people from minoritybackgrounds. Prompted by creative visions as vast as those of Charles Darwinand Iain McGilchrist, all the while urging us on with his trademark faith in‘co-evolutionary spirals’ that pit literature against despair, David Bethea, inthis very bad time for our Russian brand, has given us a moving memoir ofpoetry, sociobiology, civic conscience, and pastoral care.”
— Caryl Emerson, Princeton University
“David Bethea has combined his love of Pushkin and theRussian language with his knowledge of evolutionary biology and his deepreading in other areas to devise an educational project unlike any other. ThePushkin project is unique and is dedicated to helping Black and Brown teenagerslearn about another language, another culture, and a different way of seeingthe world. I highly recommend it.”
— Henry L. Roediger, III Professor of Psychology atWashington University in St. Louis and co-author of Make It Stick: The Scienceof Successful Learning
“Such a lucid and immersive narrative about a mostimprobable and imaginative project! I learned so much about Pushkin andinner-city culture, and the evolutionary drumbeat resonated throughout. Bravoto David Bethea, his adventurous students, and their fascinating encounterswith poetry and transcendence.”
— Ursula Goodenough, Washington University; author of TheSacred Depths of Nature: How Life Has Emerged and Evolved
“This book is the best news for the field. It mixeseye-opening readings of Pushkin through the lens of evolutionary biology withsomething that is constantly, but I dare say especially currently, much indemand: a sense of purpose. In engaging and subtle prose, Bethea tells thestory of the experience teaching Pushkin to students from Black and Browncommunities, and in doing so, reminds us that the opportunity to turn ourstudies into something meaningful—not just for us but also for the peoplearound us—is always at hand.”
— Daria Khitrova, Associate Professor of Slavic Languagesand Literatures, Harvard University