PROFESSORS IN PRINT The year 2020 was unconventional for many reasons. Though the professional lives of AUP faculty members went through immense changes, one thing stayed consistent: academics published the hard-earned results of their research. Here, we highlight three publications from across the University, works that tackle questions of international criminal justice, the exploitation of truth, and Renaissance plague literature. Each work highlights the commitment of AUP’s faculty to asking questions of international importance in a way that resonates with a global liberal arts worldview and contributes to interdisciplinary academic discourse. AUP faculty members Sharon Weill and Kerstin Carlson, both of the Department of History and Politics, along with Kim Thuy Seelinger from Washington University in St. Louis, contributed as editors to The President on Trial: Prosecuting Hissène Habré, published by Oxford University Press. The preface is written by Denis Mukwege, corecipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018. 14
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Part one of the book presents the trial and its impact using a novel structure of first-person accounts from 26 direct actors, including politicians, judges, lawyers, victims, donors, clerks and others. The second section then presents academic analyses from leading experts on international criminal justice. The publication provides unique insight into the construction and process of the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal, while also proposing an innovative method for conducting research on law courts. It will be a helpful resource for anyone teaching empirical legal studies, comparative law, or international law and institutions. Matthew Fraser is an associate professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Culture. His book, In Truth: A History of Lies from Ancient Rome to Modern America, was published by Prometheus Books last spring. The work offers a sweeping examination of the philosophical, religious and cultural underpinnings of beliefs and attitudes regarding what is true and false. Fraser’s analysis begins in Ancient Rome by considering how myths, legends and superstitions framed perceptions of truth and how they were used
