LV Life

Faculty look at issues as authors

Dr. James Le Sueur, assistant professor of history, is working on a number of publications. Among his publications in progress are "The Legacy of Empire in French Popular Culture," "Selling French Culture to Gamblers in the Desert" and "Politics of Educating Muslims During the French-Algerian War." His book "Uncivil War" is under review by the University of California Press. / photo by Matt Wright
Dr. James Le Sueur, assistant professor of history, is working on a number of publications. Among his publications in progress are “The Legacy of Empire in French Popular Culture,” “Selling French Culture to Gamblers in the Desert” and “Politics of Educating Muslims During the French-Algerian War.” His book “Uncivil War” is under review by the University of California Press. / photo by Matt Wright

by Julia Carachure
Staff Writer

Assistant Professor of History James Le Sueur and Assistant Professor of Sociology Deborah Burris-Kitchen, teachers at the University of La Verne, are writing books that will be published next year.

Dr. Le Sueur’s inspiration for writing is a “desire to help people understand complex problems, explain things that happen in history. Most people don’t have the time or the patience to look at the past. It will help them understand something new, see the past as a mirror of the present,” he said.

Dr. Le Sueur’s book, titled “Uncivil War: Intellectuals, Violence, and Identity Politics During the French-Algerian War,” is under review at the University of California Press.

The book deals with the role of violence in politics in North Africa during the 1950s and 1960s as well as the relationship between North Africa and Europe. It is expected to be released next year pending the approval from the University of California Press.

He is also editing the English translation of Algerian writer Mouloud Feraoun’s “Journal, 1955-1962: Reflections on the French-Algerian War.”

Dr. Le Sueur is also editing and introducing the re-publication of the novel “July 14 Assassination” by Ben Abro, which is about a French intellectual who eventually became a Fascist and may have been involved in an assassination plot to kill the French president in the 1960s.

Dr. Le Sueur is working on editing two other books, “The Decolonization Reader” and its companion book “The Decolonization Sourcebook.” He is writing the introduction for “The Decolonization Reader.” It is expected to be published by November 2000.

Deborah Burris-Kitchen, associate professor of sociology, has taught at ULV for five years. She is writing a book titled "Short Rage," an autobiography with sociology issues tied in. She deals with subjects such as racism, classism and heightism. It is scheduled to be finished next summer. / photo by Matt Wright
Deborah Burris-Kitchen, associate professor of sociology, has taught at ULV for five years. She is writing a book titled “Short Rage,” an autobiography with sociology issues tied in. She deals with subjects such as racism, classism and heightism. It is scheduled to be finished next summer. / photo by Matt Wright

“I hope that they’re cutting-edge books, they are on the cusp of everything that is being done in the field,” said Dr. Le Sueur in regards to colonial history and decolonization. “They are coming in where the field is going. I hope to have a jump on the rest of the field.”

Dr. Burris-Kitchen has been writing since the early 1990s. She has written articles about sociology­, primarily on race­ drugs and economics.

“It is an exercise to keep my sanity,” she said in regards to writing. “It helps to voice what I feel internally.”

Last summer, she wrote an article about Pomona’s community and whether it viewed the police as racists and, in turn, if police labeled minorities as criminals.

She is writing an autobiography titled “Short Rage.” Her book deals with her personal interpretation of what it is like to be short.

“I want people to be aware of the language and jokes that are very offensive to people that are short,” she said.

In her book, Dr. Burris-Kitchen explains how she was picked on as a child, particularly during junior high school. She also talks about her dreams when she was a college student.

“I am making a shift in academics to personality. I hope that it becomes a best seller that people will read,” she said.

Julia Carachure, Editorial Director
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