Departments Department of Languages Literatures and Cultures

The Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison was the keynote speaker at a 2013 event honoring the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that was sponsored by the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project of the Northeastern University School of Law in collaboration with the Northeastern University Humanities Center. Photo by Mary Knox Merrill/Northeastern University

Toni Morrison ‘has done for the modern novel what Shakespeare did for theater’

When world-renowned author Toni Morrison visited Northeastern University’s Boston campus in 2013, she told the audience that the quiet force of goodness—a force often overlooked—was more powerful than violence or hatred. The Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist died on Monday, Aug. 5, leaving behind whole generations that were inspired by her work—a legacy of goodness.

by Molly Callahan August 6, 2019

Sari Altschuler, an assistant professor of English at Northeastern who has been awarded a Wellesley fellowship, will take a year off to work on a new book that examines the experiences of disability in the early United States. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

She’s studying the experiences of disability in the early United States

Northeastern professor Sari Altschuler, supported by a fellowship from Wellesley College’s Newhouse Center for the Humanities, will conduct research for her new book, which will examine how people with disabilities came to understand the world through their impairment.

by Khalida Sarwari April 23, 2019

Faculty Expert

Shakir Mustafa

Teaching Professor of Arabic

Photo of Fidel Castro: Marcelo Montecino/Flickr

Fidel Castro’s death, his legacy, and what is next for US-Cuban relations

Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary and controversial global figure who defied the U.S. for decades, died Friday. “Castro is one of the towering figures of the Modern Era,” said professor José Buscaglia, a pioneer in study abroad programs by American institutions to Cuba. Here, Buscaglia and political science expert William Crotty reflect on Castro’s life and legacy.

by Greg St. Martin November 28, 2016

3Qs: As Obama’s visit begins, what’s next for US and Cuba?

José Buscaglia, professor and chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, has just returned from Havana as part of a Northeastern delegation that explored several potential academic and research partnerships in Cuba. Here, he examines President Obama’s trip there, which began Sunday, and how normalized relations may impact the two countries going forward.

by Greg St. Martin March 21, 2016

What Ebola and HIV/AIDS can teach us about the Zika virus pandemic

Assistant professor Richard Wamai, an expert on HIV/AIDS and neglected tropical diseases, provides much-needed perspective on why the Zika virus has struck so fiercely and the public health measures that could halt it.

by Thea Singer February 17, 2016

3Qs: What using the name ‘Daesh,’ rather than ‘ISIS’ or ‘ISIL,’ really means

Three faculty members—Jonathan Kaufman, director of the School of Journalism, Shakir Mustafa, teaching professor of Arabic, and Heather Littlefield, associate teaching professor in linguistics—explain the differences among the names ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh and why they matter.

by Thea Singer November 24, 2015