Black History Month 2025

2025 Black History MonthFebruary marks the start of Black History Month, a perfect time to celebrate the cultural and artistic impact of African American writers. Check out our list of novels and poetry by both acclaimed and budding Black authors for you to explore!

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New Library Guide for Iberian Literatures

Iberian Literatures

Today, we are launching a new library research guide for Iberian Literatures & Criticism. The new guide will improve navigation and discovery in UC Berkeley’s vast literature collection in Romance languages, mostly found in a classification commonly known as the PQs. Over the course of the past year, we have critically reviewed the former guides, weeded outdated resources, and replaced them with more current content with links to digital resources when available.

This literary research guide, like the others for Italian and French & Francophone literatures launched last year, is now benefiting from the LibGuides platform, which makes it much easier to revise than the former PDFs. The guide is structured by sections for article databases, general guides and literary histories, reference tools, poetry, theater & performance, and literary periods. In addition to literature in Spanish and Portuguese, it also includes less commonly taught literatures and languages such as Catalan, Galician, Basque, Arabic, Ladino, and more. There is also a new section for Luso-African and Hispano-African literature.

The online guide also interfaces seamlessly with related guides published by the UC Berkeley Library. For example, on the home page, there is a prominent link to the online list of recently acquired publications on the general Spanish & Portuguese guide, making it even easier to stay current on new books in all of the call number ranges.

Because the guides are much easier to update, they encourage user interaction and invite community suggestions for inclusion (or deletion).

When you have time, please take a look at this new resource and let us know what you think.

Claude Potts, Romance Languages Librarian
Cameron Flynn, RLL Doctoral Candidate


PhiloBiblon 2025 n. 1 (enero): Final de una época

La semana pasada colgué las versiones últimas y finales de BETABITECA BITAGAP en la web de PhiloBiblon de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Desde este momento no habrá más cambios en los datos presentados allí. Dentro de unos meses, un PhiloBiblon nuevo y renovado aparecerá en FactGrid:PhiloBiblon en la universidad alemana de Jena, donde compartirá espacio virtual con otros cuarenta proyectos históricos, desde los estudios cuneiformes hasta la época nazi en Alemania.

Es el final de un largo periplo que empezó en 1975 con el proyecto Dictionary of the Old Spanish Language de la University of Wisconsin, encabezado por Lloyd Kasten, con quien había estudiado yo ecdótica unos diez años antes. Fue el primer proyecto de humanidades digitales en el ámbito hispanico. Kasten fue secundado por su joven colega John Nitti, el arquitecto del entorno informático del proyecto. Para garantizar la autenticidad del corpus de español antiguo, se necesitaba un repertorio de manuscritos españoles escritos antes de 1501. Tal repertorio no existió y pusieron a ayudantes de investigación a vaciar dos obras, el Catálogo de los manuscritos castellanos de la Real Biblioteca de El Escorial, del benemérito, y martirizado, padre Julián Zarco Cuevas; y la Bibliografía de la literatura hispánica del igualmente benemérito José Simón Díaz. Identificaron 966 obras y Kasten y Nitti imprimieron el resultado como Bibliography of Old Spanish Texts en 1975. Siguió una segunda edición en 1977, con 1869 fichas. Al año siguiente yo me encontraba en la Hispanic Society, redactando su catálogo de manuscritos medievales y enviando adiciones y correcciones a BOOST. En 1981 Kasten y Nitti me ofrecieron la dirección de BOOST como proyecto autónomo, y lo demás, como dicen, es historia.

Pronto tuve un colaborador, un jovencísimo Ángel Gómez Moreno (UCM), que acababa de pasar un año de estudios de posgrado en Wisconsin. Al volver a España se lanzó con entusiasmo a la tarea de repasar los ficheros y catálogos (en papel, por supuesto), de la BNE, la Biblioteca de Palacio, la RAE y la RAH, siempre en busca de nuevos manuscritos para BOOST. En los años 80 estudiantes de carrera y posgrado sirvieron como ayudantes de investigación, primero María Morrás (UPF), y en los 90 Ángela Moll Dexeus y Antonio Cortijo (UC Santa Barbara), durante su paso por las aulas de Berkeley.  Ya desde 1993 BOOST era BETA, la Bibliografía Española de Textos Antiguos en CD-ROM y en la red en 1997. En 2000 Ángel me mandó como becario por dos años a Óscar Perea Rodríguez; y desde entonces Óscar ha sido mi mano derecha en el proyecto, organizando los seminarios de PhiloBiblon, primero en San Millán de la Cogolla y luego en Madrid. Más recientemente ha trabajado como ayudante en Berkeley Heather Bamford (George Washington University), mientras que, en España, en la UCM, Álvaro Bustos ha participado en varias campañas de investigación conmigo y ha reclutado nuevos miembros del equipo de BETA.

Kasten y Nitti fueron responsables también de la Bibliography of Old Catalan Texts (BOOCT, 1985), base de datos gemela a BOOST, compilada por Beatrice Concheff (†), antigua alumna de la University of Wisconsin y que, en aquel tiempo, ejercía como profesora de inglés en una escuela de lenguas de Barcelona. Era una aficionada a la literatura catalana, pero no era experta en ella en términos académicos; por ello, la inmensa mayoría de sus citas a obras y manuscritos medievales provenía de fuentes secundarias. Y además, en el año de 1989, por desgracia, Concheff se encontraba con una salud muy delicada y era consciente de que no podría dedicarse a la compilación de una segunda edición de BOOCT.

En una de las sesiones de trabajo del congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas de Barcelona de 1989, mi amigo Francisco Marcos Marín me presentó a Vicenç Beltrán. Expuesto el caso a Vicenç, vio inmediatamente la importancia de seguir adelante con BOOCT. En seguida Vicenç embarcó en el proyecto a su jovencísima alumna, doctoranda en aquel entonces, Gemma Avenoza i Vera (†). Fue Gemma la que enseguida quedó al cargo del mismo. Era ya una codicóloga consumada, como se puede comprobar en su tesis doctoral, Repertori dels manuscrits en llengües romàniques conservats a biblioteques barcelonines. Además, Gemma era de los escasos expertos en filología de la época que sabía manejar un ordenador, habilidad absolutamente necesaria para trabajar con PhiloBiblon. Ambos, Gemma y Vicenç, romanistas al estilo antiguo y expertos no sólo en las literaturas medievales ibéricas, sino también en las de Francia e Italia, comprobaron la utilidad del (entonces recién bautizado) PhiloBiblon,  pues podría facilitar la tarea de catalogación y descripción de los textos y testimonios del corpus de literatura medieval ibérica en lenguas castellana, catalana, portuguesa y gallego-portuguesa.

A los pocos meses de ese primer encuentro en Barcelona, en el otoño de 1989 Gemma ya pudo visitarme en Berkeley para adentrarse en el arcano mundo de PhiloBiblon y encargarse, junto con Vicenç, de BOOCT, que pronto cambiaría su nombre en BITECA (Bibliografia de Textos Catalans Antics), de forma paralela a BETA. Desde entonces hasta su demasiado temprana muerte en 2021, Gemma fue la mano directriz de BITECA, pronto secundada por Lourdes Soriano, alumna tanto de Gemma como de Vicenç. Durante casi 20 años, pues, Gemma, Lourdes y yo estuvimos en contacto constante. Las dos supieron atraer a más de medio centenar de colaboradores y ayudantes de investigacíon. Los miembros actuales del equipo de BITECA son Joan Mahiques Climent (Universitat Jaume I),  Joan M. Perujo  (Universitat d’Alacant), Helena Rovira Cerdà (Universidad de Murcia), Glòria Sabaté (Universitat de Barcelona) y Ferran Triadó Sales, (Universitat de Barcelona), todos ellos alumnos o antiguos alumnos de Gemma y Lourdes.

Ya por la misma época, en 1988, entablé discusiones con mi querido colega y vis-à-vis (literalmente) en el departamento de español y portugués de Berkeley, Arthur Askins, sobre la posibilidad de crear una base de datos paralalela a BOOST y BOOCT. Se llamaría Bibliography of Old Portuguese Texts (BOOPT) y formaría un nuevo tomo en la “Bibliographic Series” de la Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies. Pero ya la época de publicación en papel había pasado. Con una subvención de la Sociedad Estatal del Quinto Centenario, BETA, BITECA y el recien bautizado BITAP (Bibliografia de Textos Antigos Portugueses) saldría en disco CD-ROM en 1993. Más tarde, el nombre BITAP se cambiaría en BITAGAP (Bibliografia de Textos Antigos Galegos e Portugueses).

Arthur había sido testigo ocular de mis investigaciones con BOOST desde 1981 y se había dado cuenta de la utilidad de las bases de datos en sus propias investigaciones sobre la biblioteca de Fernando Colón. Estaba intrigado, pero se dio cuenta desde el principio que esto tendría que ser un proyecto de equipo. Reclutó a sus amigos y antiguos compañeros de estudios de Berkeley, Harvey Sharrer (†), profesor en la University of California, Santa Bárbara,  y Martha E. Schaffer, en aquel entonces profesora la University of Chicago y actualmente en la University of San Francisco.

Iniciados sus viajes de investigación anuales en Portugal, muy pronto los tres persuadieron a Aida Fernanda Dias (†), profesora de la Universidade de Coimbra, que se uniera al equipo. Luego, comenzando en 2008, se incorporaron Pedro Pinto (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), con su olfato extraordinario para encontrar manuscritos de interés, Cristina Sobral (Universidade de Lisboa), Filipe Alves Moreira (Universidade do Porto, actualmente Universidade Aberta), Maria de Lurdes Rosa (Universidade Nova de Lisboa),  Ricardo Pichel Gotérrez (Universidade de Santiago y actualmente Universidad de Educación a Distancia), Mariña  Arbor (Universidade de Santiago y Diana Fontão (Universidade de Porto / Universidad de Salamanca).

Como en los casos de BETA y BITECA, el equipo de BITAGAP ha contado con al menos una centena de buenos colaboradores, entre estudiantes y colegas del mundo entero.

PhiloBiblon no sólo ha sido creación de las personas mencionadas aquí, sino de todos aquellos colegas que nos han escrito pidiendo u ofreciendo información sobre tal o cual texto, manuscrito o persona. Por y para ellos hemos dedicado tanto esfuerzo durante más de cuarenta años, el mismo esfuerzo precisamente que todos los miembros del equipo vamos a continuar haciendo en esta nueva etapa que se abre ante nosotros.

Charles B. Faulhaber
University of California, Berkeley

Referencias:

Faulhaber, Charles B., PhiloBiblon, pasado, presente, futuro: Historia de un proyecto de investigación, San Millán de la Cogolla: Congreso Internacional. Códices literarios españoles (Edad media) 2007-11-29

_____, PhiloBiblon: Pasado y futuro, (Incipit 29 2009: pp. 191-200)

_____, PhiloBiblon, Information Technology, and Medieval Spanish Literature: A Balance Sheet, Bern: Humanitats a la Xarxa: Món Medieval – Humanities on the Web: The Medieval World 2014: pp. 15-43

_____, PhiloBiblon and the Semantic Web. Notes for a Future History, València: La Literatura Medieval Hispánica en la Imprenta (1475-1600) 2016: pp. 75-93

____. Harvey L. Sharrer (1940-2024). PhiloBiblon blog 2024-10-10

Dias, Aida Fernanda, Arthur Lee-Francis Askins, Harvey L. Sharrer, A ‘Bibliografia de Textos Antigos Galegos e Portugueses’ na Internet, Lisboa: Revista Portuguesa de História do Livro 1 n. 2 1998: pp. 173-80)

Martín Molares, Mónica PhiloBiblon 2020 n. 1 (febrero): Crónica del V Seminario Internacional PhiloBiblon-BNE-UCM (Madrid, junio de 2019), (PhiloBiblon Blog 2020-02-28)

Perea Rodríguez, Óscar, y Charles B. Faulhaber, Esbozos sobre la evolución y el futuro de un pionero de las humanidades digitales hispánicas: el proyecto de PhiloBiblon, Revista Digital Universitaria 18 n. 1 2017

Schaffer, Martha E. Homenagem a Aida Fernanda Dias oferecida pelos seus colegas de Philobiblon, eHumanista 31 2015: pp. i-v, 1-275) 

Sharrer, Harvey L., BITAGAP (Bibliografia de Textos Antigos Galegos e Portugueses): um armazém da memória histórica, Madrid: (Tenh’eu que mi fez el i mui gran ben. Estudos sobre cultura escrita medieval dedicados a Harvey L. Sharrer 2022: pp. 39-67)

_____, A BITAGAP no seu 30o aniversário: a expansão de dados e expectativas para o futuro, Berlin: O Medievalismo no século XXI 2020: pp. 157-68) 

_____, The BITAGAP project since 1988 – Expansion of the corpus of texts and important discoveries, Bern: Humanitats a la Xarxa: Món Medieval – Humanities on the Web: The Medieval World 2014: pp. 169-83


Art as Resistance

Check out these, and other books that explore and represent the use of art as social and political resistance, currently on display in the Art History/Classics Library.

Elizabeth Catlett                                                 How to Design a Revolution                            LaToya Ruby Frazier

Propagandopolis                                          Resist! The Art of Resistance                                             Showing Resistance


Library event: Que vlo-ve? and Le Mot

Que vlo-ve ?
Various issues of the third series of Que vlo-ve ?

In these austere times where both financial resources and shelving space are limited, it has become a rare occasion when we are able to pursue full-runs of older periodicals. However, the recent acquisition of these two—one from France and the other from Belgium—in more or less the same time period has sparked the idea of hosting a hands-on journal presentation for those interested in interacting with the journals before the issues are processed, cataloged, bound, and stored in their distinct library locations.

Que vlo-ve?: bulletin de l’Association internationale des amis de Guillaume Apollinaire was published from January 1973 to 2004. Centered on the work of the celebrated 20th century French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist and art critic of Polish descent, its intention was not to duplicate articles published in the annual Guillaume Apollinaire series by Lettres Modernes. Instead, it was meant to welcome articles that could not easily find a place, news of the association and of the museum as well as news that members of the scholarly society wished to disseminate internationally.

Le Mot
Issue number 20 (July 1, 1915) of Le Mot

Le Mot (1914-1915)

Sardonic and visually rich, this wartime French literary and artistic journal published by Jean Cocteau and Paul Iribe, was characterized by a restrained modernism and a fiercely nationalistic, anti-German perspective. Le Mot (The Word) was a wartime sequel to François Bernouard’s Schéhérazade: Album Mensuel d’Oeuvres Inédites d’Art et de Littérature (1909-11). Its primary purpose was to establish an entirely French artistic style and taste—anti-bourgeois and uninfluenced by German modernism.

Reports of the brutal treatment of noncombatants (such as mass executions that included women, small children, and the elderly) and damage to towns and cultural centers shocked the public, leading to a characterization, particularly within France, of the German soldiers as destructive and uncivilized “huns” particularly within wartime propaganda. The bi-monthly periodical included cover designs by not only Iribe and Cocteau but also Sem, Raoul Dufy, Léon Bakst, André Lhote, Albert Gleizes, and Pierre-Emile Legrain. Cocteau signed his drawings as Jim, the name of his dog. In August 1914, when war was declared with Germany, he was twenty-five years old. Like many patriotic young Frenchmen, Cocteau tried to enlist but was turned down because of his health. Looking for other ways to serve his country and the war effort, he collaborated with Iribe to launch Le Mot. As a teenager, Iribe drew illustrations for the popular caricature journal L’Assiette au Beurre (The Butter Plate), which ran from 1902 to 1912. He also freelanced for Le Témoin, Rire, Sourire and other periodicals and was enthusiastic about starting a satirical journal of his own.

Please join us for an interactive show and tell with special guest Willard Bohn, alumnus of the Department of French and Professor Emeritus of French and Comparative Literature at Illinois State University.

Thursday, February 6
4-5:30 pm
223 Doe Library (accessible through south end of the Heyns Reading Room)

No rsvp required.

—-
Claude H. Potts (he/him)
Librarian for Romance Language Collections


New Publication from Art History Faculty Todd Olson

Ribera's Repititions

Check out Professor Todd Olson’s newest publication, Ribera’s Repetitions: Paper and Canvas in Seventeenth-Century Spanish Naples

“Todd Olson carefully considers the diverse contexts for Ribera’s artistic practice, such as empire-building, materiality, and myth, and thus assesses the complexity of Ribera’s creativity through the lenses of repetition, rotation, and experimentation. This novel, interdisciplinary study reexamines the originality of Ribera’s praxis as engaged in a visual culture shaped by science, history, and belief in early modern Naples.”

“Much more than a mere study on Jusepe de Ribera, Olson’s book is an essay on materiality, technique, and their meanings; on imperial circulation and its discontents; and on knowledge, memory, and loss. This piece of cultural history, never losing touch with the artworks and their visual particularities, is beautifully written and at times moving, reminding us of the potentialities of art history as a literary and philosophical genre.”

-From Penn State University Press

 


2024 Speculative Fiction Read and Enjoyed

Some of you know that I (Bee, the Lit Librarian) read heavily in speculative fiction. For our mutual enjoyed, I’ve compiled a list of some of my colleagues and my favorite 2024 reads in the genre. Please note that most of these books are from 2024, but a few were published earlier. Please note that this list is far from comprehensive.

Here they are!

 


Nuclear Complexity and Oral History: Brianna Iswono’s Undergraduate Research, Fall 2024

a young woman smiling
Brianna Iswono at UC Berkeley, 2024.

by Brianna Iswono

Brianna Iswono is a third-year undergraduate student at UC Berkeley majoring in chemical engineering. Throughout the Fall 2024 semester, Brianna worked with Roger Eardley-Pryor of the Oral History Center to earn academic credits through Berkeley’s Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP). URAP provides opportunities for undergraduates to work closely with Berkeley scholars on cutting edge research projects for which Berkeley is world-renowned.  In this post, Brianna reflects on her research about nuclear power as it appeared in the Oral History Center archives.

As a chemical engineering student at UC Berkeley, my coursework only briefly touches on topics of nuclear power and energy. I wanted to learn more and my curiosity deepened as I saw more and more headlines about nuclear energy in news articles and social media. To dive deeper, in the fall of 2024 I joined Berkeley’s URAP (Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program) under the mentorship of historian Roger Eardley-Pryor at the Oral History Center, where I analyzed various oral histories and technical reports about nuclear energy. Through this experience, what I discovered was not only a stronger interest in nuclear power, but a field marked by polarizing perspectives and profound complexity—one where simple answers do not exist. 

A man in a suit and tie holding a smoking pipe
William E. Siri, environmentalist and biophysicist, 1964

Nuclear power stands as one of the most reliable carbon-free energy sources available today. Unlike fossil fuels, it produces no carbon dioxide during electricity generation, which makes nuclear power a critical tool in the fight against climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Given the growing urgency for energy facilities to reduce their overall emissions, nuclear power offers a viable option for large-scale, reliable energy production. As former Sierra Club president, mountaineer, biophysicist, and Berkeley Lab energy analyst William E. Siri noted in his oral history in the late 1970s, “Coal is a very dirty fuel… That leaves nuclear as one clean energy source until solar and other energy sources are fully developed.” Today, solar and wind are more developed, but the energy they generate drops when the sun sets or when winds cease. By providing steady, continuous power, nuclear energy complements intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar, ensuring grid stability. This reliability reduces the need for fossil fuel-based backup systems and thus helps mitigate climate change.

a smiling man with white hair
David Brower, environmental activist and first executive director of the Sierra Club (undated).

However, nuclear power is not without its environmental challenges. The construction and operation of plants can disrupt local ecosystems, particularly since they are often built in rural areas rich in biodiversity and ecological value. Habitat disruption, deforestation, and the high demand for water used in reactor cooling all remain significant concerns. The presence of nuclear plants places an increased strain on local water resources, particularly in underserved regions already facing water scarcity. In the first of his two archived oral history interviews, David Brower, the former executive director of the Sierra Club, the nation’s largest environmental organization, explained about the Club’s consideration of nuclear power, “You certainly haven’t helped the poor by degrading the environment, the working place, by not getting into the battles to protect them from the chemicals that they’re exposed to.”

a smiling young man wearing glasses and a suit and tie
Laurence I. Moss, nuclear engineer and former Sierra Club president, 1973.

Also, the visual impact of large nuclear facilities can dramatically alter the character of scenic areas. At least in California, public opposition was fueled historically by concern that industrial structures for nuclear power detracts from the natural beauty and environment of rural areas, making them appear stark and out of place. Laurence I. Moss, former Sierra Club president and nuclear engineer, worked directly on construction of nuclear reactors. Moss shared in his oral history, “In my mind it was always a location issue. That was not the right place to put a nuclear power plant, or any industrial facility. I would not want to put a residential development there, anything that would alter the natural environment for the worse.” Moss’s perspective highlights the tension between technological advancement and environmental preservation, underscoring the importance of careful site selection to balance progress with respect for natural landscapes.

an older man seated and wearing a baseball cap
Professor Thomas H. Pigford, founding chair of UC Berkeley’s Department of Nuclear Engineering, 2001.

Another major challenge, and perhaps the most pressing, is the management of nuclear waste. Nuclear reactors generate long-lived radioactive waste that requires secure, long-term storage, and even the most advanced waste repositories carry the risk of leakage or contamination over the thousands of years that spent nuclear fuel remains toxic. Efforts to manage nuclear waste have included ambitious ideas such as deep-sea disposal or even launching the waste into the sun. However, these approaches fail to fully eliminate the risk of leakage, especially given the exceptionally long timescales over which the waste must remain secure, and they often introduce additional challenges. As Thomas H. Pigford, the founding chair of UC Berkeley’s Department of Nuclear Engineering, explained in his oral history from the late 1990s,“Another more attractive approach is to shoot the radioactive waste into the sun, which would require concentrating it to reduce the weight. And that’s where it belongs, because the sun is so radioactive. But there, the technical challenge or problem is the abort rate of missiles, of space vessels, and so when consulting the people in NASA, we concluded that that was just untenable.” Such unresolved issues remain a central concern for environmental advocates, highlighting the ongoing tension between the potential of nuclear power as a clean energy source and the ecological risks it poses.

Economically, nuclear power presents both opportunities and challenges. Once operational, nuclear reactors have relatively low fuel and operating costs compared to many other energy sources. Uranium, the main fuel used, is highly energy-dense, requiring only small amounts to generate large quantities of energy. This efficiency makes nuclear power a cost-effective solution to meet large-scale energy demands, providing a reliable supply of energy at a lower long-term cost while still delivering the high output needed to sustain industrial and societal needs. After working directly with the economic analysis of nuclear plant construction in the 1960s, Moss shared, “we were able to show that other alternatives, specifically a nuclear power alternative, built in those years could provide power at lower cost than the dams.” Nuclear power also has an extensive reach that goes far beyond reactors, influencing a wide range of industries and technologies. The advancements and expertise gained through working with radiation and the advanced technologies required for waste facilities have helped with the development of new medical technologies used to measure radiation. Professor Pigford was directly involved in establishing the nuclear engineering curriculum at Berkeley and saw its expansion into related medical technologies. In his oral history, Pigford shared “Yes, well, there are plenty of jobs in waste disposal. And they are emphasizing more and more the interaction with the bioengineering program, which, as you probably know, is a new push on the campus. There’s a new department, and they’ve even gone into the field of tomography, which is doing scans on the brain and on the rest of the body. These involve nuclear reactions and so the development of instrumentation for that, techniques of sensing the nuclear radiations and interpreting them, is occupying more and more time.” Pigford’s insight highlights how nuclear engineering graduates have the opportunity to apply their expertise to innovations in health-related technologies, such as medical imaging.

a young woman wearing a face mask holding a handmade sign
Environmental activist in Seoul, Korea, at a rally marking the 12th anniversary in 2023 of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster (photograph by Ahn Young-joon of Associated Press).

Yet, a major economic challenge of nuclear power is the huge initial investment needed to build a plant. Designing, constructing, and meeting regulatory standards for a single nuclear plant can cost billions of dollars. While the long-term operating costs are lower, the upfront costs to begin production are much higher than those of other energy sources.This creates a significant barrier, particularly for developing countries that may also lack the technical expertise or regulatory infrastructure needed to operate plants safely. In his oral history, Siri captured the economic trade-off and complexity of nuclear power. Siri noted, “The more countries that have nuclear power plants, particularly the less advanced countries, the more likelihood there will be of meltdowns, simply because many such countries don’t have the technical base on which to maintain such an industry.” For these countries, nuclear power offers a chance to advance economically, but it also comes with the greater risk of catastrophic failure.

an older man wearing a tie
Roy Woodall, Australian geologist (undated).

On the global stage, nuclear technology carries a sense of prestige. Non-nuclear nations often see other nations with advanced nuclear developments as leaders in innovation, which enhances their national pride and elevates their international status. The high demand for uranium to fuel nuclear reactors has led various countries to form alliances or joint ventures, employing any means necessary to secure a share of the advancements in nuclear technology. Roy Woodall, an Australian geologist known for his contributions to the mining and exploration industries, directly engaged with the mining sector to meet the growing global demand for uranium. In his oral history from the early 2000s, Woodall shared, “There was quite a lot of interest from other overseas companies in looking for uranium in Australia, so we formed a joint venture to look for conglomerate-type uranium deposits in Northern Western Australia.” His experience highlights the global scramble for uranium resources, reflecting how the race for nuclear technology has spurred both national and international collaboration. 

a seated man with white hair
Michael R. Peevey, an energy entrepreneur and regulator (undated).

However, the social risks associated with nuclear power are significant. Public fear of radiation exposure, which can lead to various health risks, has been intensified by past large-scale nuclear accidents like Fukushima and Three Mile Island, along with the media frenzy surrounding them. When reflecting on nuclear concerns during his oral history in 2019, Michael R. Peevey, a UC Berkeley alumnus, former electric utility executive, and previous president of the California Public Utilities Commission, recalled “But we had Chernobyl in Russia, which was a disaster; it’s a lingering disaster today.” Such concern has resulted in widespread resistance to the construction of new nuclear reactors and calls to shutdown existing ones. Grassroots movements and anti-nuclear campaigns have further fueled this opposition, creating a broad social aversion to nuclear power.

a young man crouching by three fish he caught using a fly rod
David Pesonen, attorney and environmentalist, 1963.

David E. Pesonen is a UC Berkeley alumnus, attorney, and environmental activist best known for his leadership role in the battle to defeat a PG&E nuclear power plant at Bodega Bay in the early 1960s. In his oral history recorded in the late 1990s, Pesonen explained his motivation for spreading the anti-nuclear power agenda. “Mainly because of the waste disposal problem. I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t know that anybody does. And also because I think the design of the generation of plants that we are involved with is inherently unsafe.” Despite the advanced safety features of modern plants, the widespread fear and skepticism continue to challenge the nuclear industry, highlighting the complex intersection of technological progress, environmental concerns, and public perception.

After conducting this oral history research and diving into the different aspects of nuclear power, I have come to realize that this field is inherently complex. I am still unsure where I stand in these debates, but one thing is clear: nuclear energy shouldn’t be dismissed outright. A recent LA Times article notes that, as energy-demanding technologies like AI continue developing rapidly, the demand for energy will only increase and all carbon-free options must be considered, especially in light of climate change. At the same time, we cannot ignore the risks that nuclear power poses. I think that the best approach is to carefully consider all non-fossil energy sources, such as nuclear or renewable, to make informed choices. Nuclear power is neither entirely good nor entirely bad; it is a complex and multifaceted technology with the potential for significant benefits and serious risks. Attitudes will likely continue to shift back and forth, but embracing the complexities of nuclear power is important to making wise decisions about its future role in meeting global energy needs. Reflecting on my semester of oral history research, I am grateful to have taken this URAP opportunity, as it gave me valuable insight and a new understanding of nuclear power that I always hoped to explore. Nuclear power is a complicated yet astonishing field, and I hope others can be informed on it to formulate their own stance on how to create a greener future. 

Works Cited: 

Siri, William E. “William E. Siri: Reflections on the Sierra Club, the Environment, and Mountaineering, 1950s-1970s.” Interview by Ann Lage in 1975, 1976 and 1977. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1979.

Brower, David. “David Brower: Environmental Activist, Publicist, and Prophet.” Interview by Susan Schrepfer in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1980.

Moss, Laurance I. “Laurance I. Moss: Sierra Club President, 1973-1974, Nuclear Engineer: Energy and Environmental Policy.” Interview by Ann Lage in 1992. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2014.

Pigford, Thomas H. “Thomas H. Pigford: Building the Fields of Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Waste Management, 1950-1999.” Interview by Carl Wilmsen in 1999. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2001.

Woodall, Roy. “Roy Woodall: Australian Geologist, 1953 to 1995: Success in Exploration for Gold, Nickel, Copper, Uranium, and Petroleum.” Interview by Eleanor Swent in 2004. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2006. 

Peevey, Michael R, “Michael R. Peevey: An Entrepreneur in Business, Energy, Labor, and Politics” conducted by Roger Eardley-Pryor in 2019, Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2019.

Pesonen, David E. “Attorney and activist for the environment, 1962-1992 :opposing nuclear power at Bodega Bay and Point Arena, managing California forests and East Bay regional parks” Interviews conducted by Ann Lage, 1991 & 1992. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1996.

Haggerty, Noah. “Has Nuclear Power Entered a New Era of Acceptance Amid Global Warming?” Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2024. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-11-18/a-new-generation-finds-promise-in-nuclear-energy.

ABOUT THE ORAL HISTORY CENTER

The Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library preserves voices of people from all walks of life, with varying political perspectives, national origins, and ethnic backgrounds. We are committed to open access and our oral histories and interpretive materials are available online at no cost to scholars and the public. You can find our oral histories from the search feature on our home page. Search by name, keyword, and several other criteria. Sign up for our monthly newsletter  featuring think pieces, new releases, podcasts, Q&As, and everything oral history. Access the most recent articles from our home page or go straight to our blog home.

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Oral History Center if you’d like to see more work like this conducted and made freely available online. As a soft-money research unit of The Bancroft Library, the Oral History Center must raise outside funding to cover its operational costs for conducting, processing, and preserving its oral history work, including the salaries of its interviewers and staff, which are not covered by the university. You can give online, or contact us at ohc@berkeley.edu for more information about our funding needs for present and future projects.


The Bias of Notability in Wikipedia

Let’s chat about Wikipedia as a source of general information. For many people, Wikipedia is a first stop to check on information about who’s who, genre overviews, lists of books, and more. In theory, as a place to find the “sum of all human knowledge” (Wikipedia: About), it should be a good place to get an overview of what’s out there to know. Yet, using Wikipedia’s coverage leads to a skewed understanding of what’s available. Instead of being a reliable source for all human knowledge, Wikipedia’s policies means it reproduces institutionalized biases related to gender, community groups, and other categories of identity and knowledge. Furthermore, those policies mean that the platform’s biases are very difficult to address despite Wikipedia’s calls for public contributions and claims to desire to be an unbiased source of information.

What do I mean by that?

Bluntly, I mean that Wikipedia’s coverage privileges white, male, English-speaking people in positions of power (Wikipedia: Gender Bias; Racial Bias). I personally think that having editors, having some checks, are incredibly important. There needs to be some level of standard, but there are problems with how the standards for things like notability are enforced.

But why?

The issue is partly one of Wikipedia’s focus on “Notability” (Wikipedia: Notability). Wikipedia’s guidelines claim that not everything needs an article. To be included within Wikipedia, contributing authors are expected to provide information that is “worthy” of notice. Yet, worth is a value judgement. So, who’s judging that worth and on what criteria?

The answer is that Wikipedia has an excellent team of employees and volunteer editors who are predominantly white men. Most humans are predominantly interested in things that, in some way or another, represent themselves (Hall ed., Representation, UC Library Search). Those white men with their particular interests then evaluate worth based on criteria of things like how many people have written about someone. Given historic inequalities and continued social bias, men in positions of power are more likely to be written about than other groups. Those “worthy of notice” end up being men.

Take, for example, the problem of a diplomat’s wife Varvara Dukhovskaia. For a person like this princess, we have a woman whose job is partly predicated on her husband’s, but she was part of his team (if you allow) and an essential part of the job. Particularly in a past when women were denied access to most official positions, women performed labor analogous to a man’s without the official acknowledgement. A diplomat’s wife, for example, was expected to host events, make connections, and spread good will for the state they represented … which was precisely what many diplomats were hired to do. The woman, however, was not socially or legally considered a diplomat in and of themselves – they were often the “wife,” “daughter,” or “mother.”

In this case, Varvara Dukhovskaia was an influential presence, known as a “first lady of Siberia.” She spearheaded efforts to establish schools, was part of problems with discussions of Russian government and nationalism, and wrote about her efforts. Dukhovskaia’s autobiography (on Project Gutenberg) has been translated into English but the majority of scholarship about her is in other languages (English language scholarship includes Katya Hokanson’s A Woman’s Empire: Russian Women and Imperial Expansion in Asia on JSTOR).

So, we have a highly influential woman in a position of power about whom multiple scholars have written. Yet, while Wikipedia has an article about her husband (Wikipedia), Wikipedia’s editors refused to publish an entry about her because writing a travel narrative is not notable.

This example is hardly the only one of its kind. There are multiple examples one could refer to about how Wikipedia’s editors refused an article because the person, the idea, the movement, the book, wasn’t important enough … but the problem was circular. The idea wasn’t “important” because of institutional bias, which meant it didn’t spread, which in turn meant Wikipedia didn’t value it.

For students and scholars in the humanities, that means Wikipedia isn’t necessarily a great place to find information about the people, the books, the media, the ideas, the groups, that they study. And, not only does the current content skew toward institutionalized forms of discrimination, but that imbalance is difficult to address because Wikipedia actively turns down material that could address some of those problems.

So what to do?

What can we currently do to address some of these considerations? One of the ways to increase notability is to scour scholarship for references to the different people/ideas that are important to include. Another way is to begin writing about the people, ideas, and things that are missing in related articles. For example, including a paragraph in the husband’s Wikipedia article about the person raises their “Notability” and leads toward Wikipedia’s viewing the person, the book, the event as worthy of having individual entries.

To get some experience with how to do this, join us for UC’s I Love Data Week’s Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon on Feb. 10! You can find out more about it on our guide.


Exhibit: “The Book as Art” up until February 28, 2025

The Book as Art showcases a selection of artists’ books from the collections of the Art History/Classics and Environmental Design libraries. The selected items span several decades and include artists’ books from Ed Ruscha, Sol LeWitt, Kiki Smith, Jenny Holzer, and many more.

The exhibit will be up in the Bernice Layne Brown Gallery in Doe Library until February 28, 2025.

Curated by: Nina Bayley, Lynn Cunningham, Abby Scheel

See the Library events calendar for more information

book as art flyer

Lewitt case

ruscha case