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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

A New Season of Filling Station: A Faculty Research Presentation Series


Filling Station: A Faculty Research Presentation Series is embarking on a new season of presentations. Please continue to support the series by attending one or more of these events:

Nayda Pares-Kane, Interim Dean of Liberal Arts (Academic Field: Sociology): Friday, February 26, 2016, 12-12:50, 8-200

“My doctoral studies began in the fall of 2004 and ended with my dissertation defense on December 10, 2014. I received a PhD in American Studies from University of Buffalo’s Department of Transnational Studies. My dissertation title is Los Flamboyanes:  The Politics of Barrio Public Housing in Rochester, NY, 1964-1975. The study traces the national and local political context surrounding the development of Los Flamboyanes, a housing project built by and for the Puerto Rican community of Rochester, NY during the Great Society era. How did Puerto Rican neighborhood residents understand the contexts of segregation and public housing policy when they advocated for Los Flamboyanes? By examining the origins of this development, I explore the structural forces in both socioeconomic and political terms that defined and shaped the use of residential space in this particular neighborhood. More importantly, it situates Rochester in the larger national context and historical analysis of the race and class politics of segregation and public housing. My dissertation enriches the history of Puerto Ricans, by employing the use of archival material and oral history. Through oral histories I examine why and how the community advocated for this particular residential space within the local and national politics of public housing at a time when public housing was on the decline. The oral histories reveal a complex understanding of the development of Los Flamboyanes and are essential to this historiography. For community leaders, the housing project was a victory in political recognition and self-determination. For residents, the housing project provided affordable housing and a home with a connection to culture, language, and a viable community network.” 

Robert Muhlnickel, MCC Honors Program Coordinator (Academic Field: Philosophy): Friday, March 11, 2016; 12-12:50, 8-200

“Understanding Moral Tragedy: Parental Duties, Brain Drain, and Awarding Scholarships”

“Sometimes we face situations in which all available alternatives involve doing serious moral wrong and we cannot avoid choosing. Philosophers call this a moral tragedy. Philosophers used the idea of moral tragedy to help understand cross-border moral problems: war, climate change, and the unjust global economic order resulting in dire poverty. Successful moral tragedy arguments must show that in some situation a person faces alternative duties of similar strength, with serious consequences, and that there is great uncertainty which alternative is morally better. In this talk I compare three situations to help us reflect on the idea of moral tragedy: a mother perjuring herself in court to protect her young daughter; developing nations whose talented citizens immigrate to wealthy nations, thereby preventing the developing nation from effectively alleviating its citizens’ poverty; and an impoverished village in a developing country that limits the choices of college scholarship winners in order to improve prospects of the entire village.”

Angel Andreu, Institutional Research (Academic Field: Mathematics): Friday, April 29, 2016, 12-12:50, 8-200

“This lecture will explore what makes magic, from the mythologies that provide the underlying premises to the human psyche that supports the idea of magical thinking. It will address how this ancient art has both weaved itself into human culture and become a metaphorical mirror of human desires.”

All Filling Station events are open to the entire college community.

Tony Leuzzi
English/Philosophy
01/27/2016