Author Archives: mdilwort

Author Archives: mdilwort

Fair Trade

Fair Trade

We hear a lot in the news today about ‘fair trade’ deals.  What they are, whether they were good deals or not, how they’ve benefited or not benefited the country.  Implicit in this thinking is that the principle of free trade – the unrestricted ability to market goods around the world, without fear of tariffs or protectionism – is an unambiguous benefit for all participants.  The near-unanimity, across the political spectrum, includes major economic theorists like Milton Friedman and Paul Krugman (although Krugman has begun to have doubts in recent years), and goes all the way back to Adam Smith.  And within this kind of open environment, many consumers have embraced fair trade – a willingness to pay above-market costs … Continued
Social Work Resources

Social Work Resources

March is National Social Work Month, a time to celebrate how much our nation’s almost 700,000 social workers do to empower, strengthen, and heal millions of people in our society.  This year’s theme is ‘Elevate Social Work’, and so this is a great opportunity to learn about how much heavy lifting social workers do.  IU East’s Social Work program, in particular, has been on the forefront of this outreach, graduating many IU East students who stay local and benefit our community. While many resources are online – such as the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, first drafted in 1960 and a model for many other organizations who serve vulnerable people – the library offers a wealth of … Continued
Faculty Scholarship Celebration: Library Resources that support Faculty Research

Faculty Scholarship Celebration: Library Resources that support Faculty Research

The IU East Campus Library is here to support students in pursuit of academic success and faculty engaged in teaching and research. We provide databases and ebooks that can assist both students and faculty with their research. Inspired by the faculty who will be presenting at the 2nd Annual Faculty Scholarship Celebration on Friday, March 22nd  we wanted to share selected databases available through the library, that support these topics. Denise Bullock presents “The (Un)Becoming Body: Management of Body/Gender/Identity for Trans, Gender Queer, and Gender Fluid Individuals.” On topics related to gender and gender identity, check out the databases GenderWatch or Gender: Identity and Social Change. GenderWatch is a repository of important historical perspectives on the evolution of the women’s … Continued
Tales from the Comics Database: A Brief Look at EC Comics

Tales from the Comics Database: A Brief Look at EC Comics

“It’s a bird!  It’s a plane!  No!  It’s Superman!”  While Superman is among the very first successful comic book characters, period, and the earliest comic book superhero, many important comics came in his wake.  A market whose art and ideas were dominated by immigrants and their children, women and religious minorities, comic books were conceived by and for an audience left out of what might be termed “high culture.”  The success of Superman, and other comic titles like New Fun, All-American Comics and others, led to a thriving comic market, where up to 15 million comic books were purchased by Americans every single week by 1941. Indiana University East boasts a large digital database of comic books, the Underground and … Continued
Awareness and Action for Social Justice

Awareness and Action for Social Justice

Social justice is a concept of fairness between the individual and society. It can be explicit or implicit. It includes issues of economics (e.g., distribution of wealth), health (e.g., availability of affordable health care), educational opportunities, gender equality, freedom from persecution based on sexual orientation, and more. One may ask, “Well, what can I do to help alleviate social injustice? I’m only one person.” There are many individuals who have had positive impacts for societal change; perhaps some of them can be inspirational for one to take action in one’s own way. The library has a number of biography tools for you to use, such as Biography in Context, which offers biographical materials and essays on activists ranging from early … Continued