Centerpiece: Spring 2014

New Faculty Associates

The following Harvard faculty accepted invitations to become WCFIA Faculty Associates in the 2014–2015 academic year:

Lawrence Bobo, W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences and Professor of African and African American Studies, Department of Sociology and Department of African and African American Studies; Chair, Department of African and African American Studies. Race; ethnicity; politics; and social inequality.

Paul Y. Chang, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology. Social and political change in South Korea; and...

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Of Note

Former Fellow Appointed to Alphinat Board of Directors

Former Fellow (1986–1987) Marcel Côté has been appointed to the Alphinat board of directors. Côté is a strategic advisor at KPMG Canada. For thirty-five years, he has led the Secor Group, one of Canada’s largest management consulting firms, until it merged with KPMG Canada in 2012. Alphinat provides software that simplifies, accelerates, and improves interactions with all business constituents. It was awarded the IBM Top Star award for best e-government solution among entries from 189 countries and was...

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New Books

His Hiding Place Is Darkness: A Hindu-Catholic Theopoetics of Divine Absence

By Francis X. Clooney, S.J.

Image of Book CoverFrancis Clooney’s latest work of comparative theology seeks a way beyond today’s religious and interreligious uncertainty by pairing a fresh reading of the...

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Political Survival and the Modern African Prince

By Brett L. Carter

The Two Africas

The Third Wave of democracy reached Africa in January 1989 when throngs of Benin students protested the government’s failure to disburse scholarships. Five years later, with the Cold War over and food prices soaring, Africa’s autocrats bowed to popular demands for reform. Some fell, others survived. But virtually all were subjected to nominally democratic institutions: term limits, parliaments, and regular multiparty elections. African politics in the decades since has been a contest between autocrats...

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Spring 2014, Volume 28 Number 2

Image of Cover of Spring 2014 CenterpieceThe spring 2014 issue of Centerpiece introduces newly appointed Center Director Michèle Lamont in the feature interview “In Conversation with….” The issue's second feature, “Political Survival and the Modern African Prince” by Brett L. Carter, focuses on African politics after the Third Wave of democracy and the struggle between autocrats and democratic institutions. In addition, "Polyglot"  is a tribute to the internationalism of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies written by departing Executive Officer, Laurence H. Winnie. Also highlighted are recent Center news and activities, undergraduate and graduate student updates, and new Faculty Associates.... Read more about Spring 2014, Volume 28 Number 2