Dr. Kevin Kuswa, Director of Debate in the department of Rhetoric and Communication Studies, discusses “Blowback the Enemy T/here: Errors, Terrors, and the Rhetorical Agenda of WMDs”, a chapter in the recently published book, Entertaining Fear: Rhetoric and the Political Economy of Social Control. Dr. Kuswa has been teaching a class on terrorism and security since 2002, focusing on perhaps the most important social dynamic of our time, the rhetoric of fear. Kuswa’s chapter focuses on understanding the “logics and discourses through the trope of ‘blow-back,'” a phrase describing the ways a state’s aggressive military action can circle back to confront the state itself.

Dr. Mike Davison, Professor of Music, discusses his documentary film, Cuba: Rhythm in Motion.  This dynamic film captures the joy of making music in Cuba, an island that Dr. Davison has visited numerous times with his students.  The contrasting yet intertwined histories of Cuban and American music are traced and illustrated with extensive performance footage.  A DVD of Cuba: Rhythm in Motion is available in Parsons Music Library.