March 2018 Archives

The age of human rights has been kindest to the rich. Even as state violations of political rights garnered unprecedented attention due to human rights campaigns, a commitment to material equality disappeared. In its place, market fundamentalism has emerged as the dominant force in national and global economies. In Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World, Professor Moyn analyzes how and why we chose to make human rights our highest ideals while simultaneously neglecting the demands of a broader social and economic justice.

In a pioneering history of rights stretching back to the Bible, Not Enough charts how twentieth-century welfare states, concerned about both abject poverty and soaring wealth, resolved to fulfill their citizens’ most basic needs without forgetting to contain how much the rich could tower over the rest. In the wake of two world wars and the collapse of empires, new states tried to take welfare beyond its original European and American homelands and went so far as to challenge inequality on a global scale. But their plans were foiled as a neoliberal faith in markets triumphed instead.

Moyn places the career of the human rights movement in relation to this disturbing shift from the egalitarian politics of yesterday to the neoliberal globalization of today. Exploring why the rise of human rights has occurred alongside enduring and exploding inequality, and why activists came to seek remedies for indigence without challenging wealth, Not Enough calls for more ambitious ideals and movements to achieve a humane and equitable world.

The Book Talk takes place on March 27th in the Lecture Hall at Sterling Memorial Library at 4:30pm. Coffee and cookies will be provided before the talk at 4:00pm.

Read more about the Professor Moyn's new book:

Professor Moyn's New Book on Human Rights in an Unequal World

Join us on March 8, 2018, 2-3 PM in the Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall, for a Yale Day of Data Spring Series talk by linguist Stephanie Fielding. Fielding's algorithmic work allows for the reconstruction of a language with a slim set of words. 

When Stephanie Fielding started her study of the Mohegan language, she found that the primary sources for the language were diaries written in Mohegan by the aunt of her grandfather's grandfather, Fidelia Fielding. The language was simple and sparse. What was there gave her a basis to work from, but the vocabulary was impossible to use for conversations. Luckily, the Mohegans' cousins to the north, the Wampanoag, have a huge corpus of work which includes The Holy Bible, translated by John Eliot and his informants. 

During Fielding's time at MIT under the tutelage of Norvin Richards, she learned how to make an algorithm to turn a Wampanoag word into an authentic Mohegan word. More recently, she found notes written by Mohegan Medicine Woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon in Delaware using an orthography invented by anthropologist Frank Speck, whom Gladys worked with for many years. These pages have many names of plants and their medicinal uses in this Delaware script. Fielding's latest task is to make an algorithm that will turn these Delaware words into authentic Mohegan words.

Thursday, March 8, 2018, 2-3 PM Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall Refreshments will be provided and all are welcome to attend. 

This event is part of the Yale Day of Data Spring Series, sponsored by the Yale University Library.

A trial for a Chinese language database, Minguo tu shu shu ju ku 民国图书数据库, has been set up for Yale University users from now to April 1, 2018. The database has been added to the Library’s Chinese studies research guide. Since the access is controlled by Yale IP ranges, you have to login Yale VPN first to get access from off-campus locations. User’s guide is available.

Produced by the National Library of China Press, the database contains about 150,000 titles (more than 28,590,000 pages) of Chinese books published between 1911 and 1949. The subjects include not only humanities and social sciences, but also technology, natural and medical sciences. Many titles included in these databases are not available anywhere in the world.

Please feel free to contact Michael Meng, Librarian for Chinese Studies, if you have any questions about the trial.

A trial for a Chinese language database, Zhonghua zai zao shan ben shu ju ku 中华再造善本数据库, has been set up for Yale University users from now to April 1, 2018. The database has been added to the Library’s Chinese studies research guide. Since the access is controlled by Yale IP ranges, you have to login Yale VPN first to get access from off-campus locations. User’s guide is available.

Produced by the National Library of China Press, the database contains 1,312 titles (more than 700,000 pages) of Chinese rare books from some finest collections at the National Library of China. Many titles included in these databases are not available anywhere in the world. Search options include title, author, edition, summary and seal. 

Please feel free to contact Michael Meng, Librarian for Chinese Studies, if you have any questions about the trial.

The age of human rights has been kindest to the rich. Even as state violations of political rights garnered unprecedented attention due to human rights campaigns, a commitment to material equality disappeared. In its place, market fundamentalism has emerged as the dominant force in national and global economies. In Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World, Samuel Moyn analyzes how and why we chose to make human rights our highest ideals while simultaneously neglecting the demands of a broader social and economic justice.

In a pioneering history of rights stretching back to the Bible, Not Enough charts how twentieth-century welfare states, concerned about both abject poverty and soaring wealth, resolved to fulfill their citizens’ most basic needs without forgetting to contain how much the rich could tower over the rest. In the wake of two world wars and the collapse of empires, new states tried to take welfare beyond its original European and American homelands and went so far as to challenge inequality on a global scale. But their plans were foiled as a neoliberal faith in markets triumphed instead.

Moyn places the career of the human rights movement in relation to this disturbing shift from the egalitarian politics of yesterday to the neoliberal globalization of today. Exploring why the rise of human rights has occurred alongside enduring and exploding inequality, and why activists came to seek remedies for indigence without challenging wealth, Not Enough calls for more ambitious ideals and movements to achieve a humane and equitable world.

Professor Samuel Moyn will speak about his new book on March 27th in Sterling Memorial Library at 4:30-5:30PM. Coffee and cookies will be provided before the talk at 4:00pm.