Latest news with #Grandin
Spectator
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
North and South America have always been interdependent
In 1797, following a written plea for troops to counter an incursion by an American Revolutionary War veteran into Louisiana, Manuel Godoy, minister to the Spanish crown, made a note in the margin: No es posible poner puertas al campo ('It is not possible to put up doors in a field'). Both literally and metaphorically, Spain could no longer defend the indefensible. In 2017, the 45th president of the United States signed an executive order to build a wall along the country's Mexican border. Its construction, for which he perversely wanted Mexico to pay, was a practical and symbolic one. The United States was turning its back on Latin America. That the relationship between the United States and its southern neighbours can be changeable is well enough known, but the depth of its complexity is perhaps not. Greg Gradin has spent an academic career investigating the tensions inherent in the 'western hemisphere', from Guatemalan history to Latin America as a proving ground for modernisation theory. In America, América, he expands on his previous work to write an original and outstanding 'new history of the New World'. The proposition he makes is unambiguous: One can't fully understand the history of English-speaking North America without also understanding the history of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking America. I mean all of it…And the reverse is true. You can't tell the story of the South without the North. Grandin sidesteps the dangers of comprehensiveness – histories of the region can often be prolix – by exploring the hemisphere's 'long history of ideological and ethical contestation'. Divided into 50 short chapters, the structure allows him to cut deftly between colourful anecdote and unfamiliar intellectual history. What emerges is a vital portrait of a New World in which, despite numerous differences, the relationship between North and South has always been symbiotic and not without a similar sense of purpose. Early on, the English took their lead from the Conquistadors. Captain John Smith saw himself as an anglicised Cortes when he sought to establish Jamestown in Virginia in 1607. Oliver Cromwell's horrific Irish campaign, which Grandin calls a 'prelude to empire', was a foretaste of what might befall the Indians and enslaved Africans of North America. The Spanish Conquest of the Americas, as one English investor stated, had 'awakened' Europe from its 'dreams', only to reveal death and destruction. Yet the nightmare of the Conquest would at least produce something extraordinary. The moral conscience of this book belongs to the Spanish Dominican priest Bartolome de las Casas (1484-1566), who, from his encounters with the Indians of the New World, declared: 'Todo linaje de los hombres es uno' ('All humanity is one'). He would become the Conquest's most vociferous critic, having seen with his own eyes the 'ocean of evil'. To this day, his universal humanism remains a guiding light for the region, especially among the social democratic left in countries such as Brazil and Uruguay. Grandin is keen to emphasise that the Spanish empire had 'yielded, by the early 1800s, to a republicanism that was both more inclusive and more activist than its counterpart in the United States'. The torch would later be carried by the Cuban poet Jose Marti, who believed the New World's diversity to be 'a wellspring of spiritual and material strength'. According to Grandin, the reason for this humanist climate can be traced back to Spanish colonialism's early moral crisis, and the fact that when independence finally arrived it was understood to include freedom from 'all forms of oppression'. The unifying hero of the sweeping narrative is Simon Bolivar. But it is Bolivar the statesman and founder of a league of nations that fascinates, not the disappointed revolutionary who 'ploughed the sea'. The enlightened objectives of the 1826 Panama Congress included publication of a manifesto that proclaimed the abolition of slavery, the ratification of the Monroe Doctrine as international law and the adoption of the Roman legal doctrine Uti possidetis, ita possideatis ('As you possess, so shall you possess'). Roman law for the most part has kept the region's borders intact, compared with Manifest Destiny and the taking of the west. No wonder sovereignty remains so highly prized. In the 20th century, Franklin D. Roosevelt's policy of the 'Good Neighbour' would become inter-American co-operation at its best. Those meetings between Thomas Jefferson and Francisco Miranda two centuries earlier, in which the seeds of Pan-Americanism were sown, had finally borne fruit. It is clear where Grandin's sympathies lie (though his discussion of the authoritarian left, especially in Venezuela and Nicaragua might have been more exacting). But with Donald Trump currently taking a Nixonian line in his dismissal of Latin Americans ('We don't need them. They need us'), this magisterial work shows that only within the context of the 'western hemisphere' – and not western Europe – can the United States be fully understood.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Temple Grandin, PhD, Visits Kessler Foundation, Discusses Employment for People on the Autism Spectrum
Kessler Foundation's efforts to increase employment among autistic youth received positively by Dr. Grandin EAST HANOVER, N.J., May 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Kessler Foundation's Center for Autism Research welcomed Dr. Temple Grandin, a renowned autistic professor, inventor, and ethologist whose life and work were portrayed in the Emmy Award-winning HBO biopic Temple Grandin, starring Claire Danes. Dr. Grandin, a global icon celebrated for her contributions to the animal industry and advocacy within the autism community, joined Helen Genova, PhD, associate director of the Center for Autism Research to delve into Kessler Foundation's initiatives aimed at increasing employment for individuals on the autism spectrum. Dr. Genova expressed deep gratitude after the visit, stating, "It is an honor to have Dr. Grandin visit us and get her feedback on our research and future ways we can serve the autism community. Having her insight as a fellow scientist, and an autistic self-advocate was so important. It was a highlight of my career as a researcher." The Center for Autism Research at Kessler Foundation has received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research to create innovative training programs for autistic youth to help them achieve their employment goals. "Speaking with Dr. Grandin about the benefits of employment for this population emphasizes how important it is to find new and creative ways to help youth find and keep jobs," Dr. Genova added. Dr. Genova and the Center for Autism Research have recently been recognized by NJBIZ as a 2025 Health Care Heroes Award Honoree for their promotion of workplace wellness by improving job skills in the autism community. Following her visit to Kessler Foundation, Dr. Grandin spoke at the nearby Mayo Performing Arts Center where she shared reflections on her formative work experiences during her youth and offered insights on how people on the autism spectrum can use their unique strengths in the workplace. Audience members included Kessler Foundation staff members. Katarina Reduzzi, research coordinator at the Center for Autism, shared her enthusiasm, remarking, "So much of what Dr. Grandin discussed – how to emphasize and cultivate the strengths and talents of autistic individuals – are in line with the work we do every day at our center." For more information on Dr. Temple Grandin, visit her website. Learn more about our Center for Autism Research as well as information about Dr. Genova's Job Interview Tool: Kessler Foundation Strength Identification and Expression. Media Contact: Michele Pignatello, MPignatello@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Kessler Foundation Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Don't ban this book
'Children will be taught to love America. Children will be taught to be patriots,' Stephen Miller said on Thursday. 'We're gonna make sure these funds are not being used to promote communist ideology.' He said that right after I'd talked to Greg Grandin, the Pulitzer-winning historian and author of , a massive new book that covers the creation of the United States and its neighbors as one big story. Alternative histories of our country have had a rough ride, recently, epitomized by that Miller quote. 'The 1619 Project,' in which the true founding was the arrival of slaves in North America, was adopted by blue state classrooms, then drummed out of red state classrooms. Grandin doesn't expect the same fate for his book, which is full of revelations, even for people with a solid understanding of the United States. The Trump administration's talk about annexing Canada, which helped Prime Minister Mark Carney win this week's election, gets covered as a wild departure from norms. So does the new right's affinity for El Salvador and the deportation of illegal immigrants here to a mega-prison there. This book, the best piece of nonfiction so far this year, corrects some of the lazy thinking about what America (the country) does and doesn't do, and clarifies what, exactly, is new about its Trump-led strategy of domination. 'During WWII, Latin Americans, and much of the world, thought they were not only fighting against Nazism but for social democracy, for social rights and social citizens. Latin Americans today, fending off the forces of darkness, still think so, still believe that if democracy is to be something more than a heraldic device, it must confront entrenched power.' This is an edited transcript of my talk with Grandin. David Weigel: How were the British colonization and the Spanish colonization of the Americas intertwined, ideologically? Greg Grandin: When I look at the Spanish conquest, I look at the moral critique that emerges out of it. The key figures are Bartolomé de las Casas, Francisco de Vitoria, and they create a formidable critique, a moral judgment against what Spain is doing. Of course, it doesn't stop the Spanish conquest in any way. But it certainly is a crisis within Catholicism that produces this debate, giving rise to the principle of human equality, questioning the right of conquest. So the Virginia Company is sitting around in 1609 in London, wondering if they should issue some proclamation to justify colonization of what will become Jamestown and then eventually Plymouth. They've read Vitoria, they've read de las Casas. They say, well, the Spaniards have been arguing about this for a century, and they can't find a coherent justification for conquest, much less slavery. Maybe it's better that we don't say anything at all. Eventually, after the Powhatan attack on Jamestown in 1622, they do claim justification — saying that they were fighting a 'just war.' But for the most part, moral evasion was the hallmark of English settlement, while, for Spanish Catholics, the dispossession of Native Americans was an ongoing moral problem. Once they're being settled, why do they head in such different directions? It's rooted in the social structures of the Spanish empire, and the ideological justifications for Spanish colonialism. The Spanish built an empire that was assumed to be universal. Catholicism was the bearer of universal history and universal wisdom. In the Americas, even as they build an empire they claimed was universal, they did so by creating an administrative system that recognized differences, and created legal redress, for different ethnic racial groups. Even as those racial groups were divided and subdivided, and new categories were created. Centuries later, independence leaders understood their break with Spain as a chance to right the wrongs of the conquest and colonialism. Now, the gap between reality and practice was something else, and we can talk about that. But that gap matters, right? It creates the conditions of what's possible. In contrast to Spanish republicans, the leaders of US independence didn't feel like they were atoning for the settlement of Plymouth. They didn't feel like they had any grievances with British colonialism, except for the grievances with King George III that they put into the Declaration of Independence. Spanish republicanism was much more capacious in its emancipationist vision. It understood enslavement not just as chattel slavery of African Americans, but of the servitude of Native Americans. In some countries, slavery persisted. In other countries, it was abolished immediately. But the idea of emancipation was built into the revolution. Simón Bolívar admired the United States, but he didn't think that the social basis of US republicanism — of restraining the state to free individual ambition — would lead to a virtuous society. So is there some historical basis for what's going on now with the United States and El Salvador — of saying, you get to take our prisoners and we'll pay for it? No, I think it's unprecedented. We could talk about different plans to export Native Americans beyond the frontier to Oklahoma and elsewhere. We could talk about Liberia. We could talk about Guantanamo, a place that can deal with the excess of people that don't fit within the legal regime or social structure of the country. But to actually make a deal with somebody who, by all accounts, is a dictator, is something else entirely. Bukele created social peace by cutting a deal with the upper echelon of the gangs. He allowed them to make money if they decreased their killings, and he said, we're going to throw your rank and file in prison. There is no precedent for working with that. The meeting with Bukele in the White House — I had never seen anything like it. The glee, the laughing, the impunity that was on display. When we interned the Japanese, we built camps and put the people in them on US soil, right? We didn't send them to Peru. Although we did get Peru to intern their own Japanese immigrants. In fact, Peru wound up sending many of their Japanese citizens the US to be interned. Right now, you see an Alberta independence movement in Canada; you have Trump talking about annexing Canada or Greenland, and re-taking the Panama canal. That's often covered as a break from American tradition: This isn't who we are. But how much of this expansionism is rooted in our histories? I do think Trump is unique. What he's doing is a reassertion of the doctrine of conquest. He's not going to get Canada. I don't know what he's going to do with Greenland. But he's signaling very clearly that he rejects the premise of the rules-based order, of cooperation and shared interests. And that premise, to a large degree, comes out of Latin America. It joins the world order as a league of nations. It's not one republic against Great Britain. It's seven republics against Spain, and they have to learn how to live with each other. They have to learn how to deal with each other. What would have stopped Argentina from looking at the United States and saying: You know what? We want the Pacific, too. Well: Chile was there. So, the weakening of the doctrine of conquest begins in Latin America, along with this sense that the international order should be organized around cooperation, not competition, and should be geared towards solving common problems. Trump is clearly saying that is no longer the premise. Maybe James K. Polk and Andrew Jackson believed some of that, but even Theodore Roosevelt was very willing to work with the international law movement to figure out a way to organize the nations of the world. We've seen the Trump administration take more control of museums and historical associations, and talk about the sort of patriotic curricula they want in schools. Do you see anything in your book that might cross with them, and get it banned? You know, I've come to the conclusion that you can say and write whatever you want about Latin America. It's not Israel. I mean, how did I become the C. Vann Woodward professor of history at Yale University? If there was some effort to get it banned, I think that would be great. It would mean some attention is finally being paid to Latin America.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Temple Grandin to speak at Missouri Beef Days
BOLIVAR, Mo. — Temple Grandin — world-renowned animal behaviorist, livestock welfare advocate, autism spokesperson, and one of USA TODAY's 2025 Women of the year — will be a special guest at the 2025 Missouri Beef Days next week in Bolivar. On Friday, May 9, Grandin will greet attendees and sign copies of her books during the Missouri Beef Days Rodeo Market, according to a press release. Additionally, on Saturday, May 10, Grandin will serve as the Grand Marshal of the Missouri Beef Days Parade, leading the procession through Bolivar in a community-wide salute to the region's agricultural roots, the release says. Grandin's pioneering work has transformed the livestock industry and broadened public awareness of autism. Bolivar Schools opens FEMA gym to the public for severe storms 'Her presence marks a major highlight of this year's festival, which honors Polk County's deep connection to beef production,' the release says. For more information, visit Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
U of I alum named USA Today Woman of the Year
CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — A University of Illinois graduate has been named USA Today's 2025 Woman of the Year. Temple Grandin graduated with a PhD from Illinois' College of ACES in 1989. She's known as an advocate for the humane treatment of livestock, a professor in animal science and a voice for neurodiversity. Rain threatens to put Central Illinois planting behind schedule In the early 1970s, Grandin studied cows in Arizona. While she faced adversity at the time, Grandin also said that her autism allows her to think primarily in pictures, which in turn helps her see what cows are seeing, and connect with how they are behaving. This helped Grandin realize that animals might be sensitive to distractions in their facilities, which can lead to injuries and losses. And, it helped her design facilities that were less threatening to livestock, transforming industry standards. U of I named emergency host of IHSA Baseball State Finals When Grandin was at the U of I, some of her research focused on how environments impact the visual cortex in animal brains. Today, Grandin still works to develop better ways to support people who are neurodivergent. Through her work over the years, Grandin challenged the world to value different perspective, and has written several books on her experiences and research. You can find some of her books here. Nearly $1 million in funding coming to expand workforce training in Sangamon County In 2010 Grandin was one of Time Magazine's most influential people in the world. In 2016, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the next year she was named to the National Women's Hall of Fame. You can read more about this year's USA Today 2025 Women of the Year honorees here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
