UW Notebook

December 11, 2023

New faculty books: Story and comic collection, Washington state fossils, colonial roots of intersex medicine

Three new faculty books from the University of Washington cover wide-ranging topics: life in the Rio Grande Valley, fossils of Washington state and the colonial roots of contemporary intersex medicine. UW News talked with the authors to learn more.

Collection highlights life in Rio Grande Valley

“Puro Pinche True Fictions” is a collection of short stories and comics from José Alaniz, professor of Slavic languages and literature at the UW. The works are mostly set in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexico border, where Alaniz grew up as a second-generation Mexican American.

“I wanted to come up with a collection that would speak to that area,” Alaniz said. “There is Chicano literature, and there’s even literature from the valley, but it’s just not very well known. I really wanted to highlight that part of my life and material that’s been influenced by it.”

Some of the collection is autobiographical, while other pieces are fiction. Alaniz also combined stories he created years ago with newer works.

“It runs the gamut in terms of genre,” Alaniz said. “What I’m trying to do is create a sort of hybrid text where some of the same stories get repeated in the prose section and the comic section. They speak to each other. It destabalizes what we mean by memory.”

A story told in comic form is typically perceived as funny or irreverent, Alaniz said. The same story told through text is often taken more seriously, even if the narrative hasn’t changed.

“Puro Pinche True Fictions,” published in September by Flowersong Press, opens with “Genoveva,” which features Alaniz’s paternal grandfather. Much of the text was taken from interviews that Alaniz conducted with him.

“A lot of what he says is in the kind of Spanish that was spoken on the border by people from his generation that weren’t educated,” Alaniz said. “I don’t translate much of it, partly to honor what made him, him. To translate him would alter that. Hopefully, people from the valley or people who speak that kind of Spanish will feel seen and heard.”

Another story, “Tamales,” is a science fiction piece about a migrant family traveling to Mars for work in the year 2063. Their rocket ship crash lands and many of the migrants are killed. The piece is a nod to science fiction author Ray Bradbury, who often wrote about Mars. But it also tells the story of Alaniz’s maternal grandparents crossing the border and their relationship with their son, Alaniz’s uncle. Much of the dialogue is taken verbatim from Alaniz’s grandparents, whom he recorded before they died.

“This collection is a gift for the people of the Rio Grande Valley,” Alaniz said. “It’s not a gift that they will always like, because it’s not a romanticized version. There’s trauma. It’s not all roses. But I hope they recognize a voice that comes from that place, which still means a lot to me. I like to think I haven’t forgotten where I came from.”

“Puro Pinche True Fictions” is Alaniz’s second publication this year. In March, he released “The Compleat Moscow Calling.” Alaniz first published the comic strip “Moscow Calling” in the 1990s while working in Russia as a journalist. It was featured in the English-language newspaper The Moscow Tribune. The new collection completes the strip’s storyline as a graphic novella and adds new material, including a short story about the war in Ukraine.

For more information, contact Alaniz at jos23@uw.edu.

Uncovering the fossils of Washington state

Washington state is home to more than half-billion years of natural history. In “Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales: Fossils of Washington State,” Elizabeth A. Nesbitt and David B. Williams dive into this rich history to tell the stories of 24 fossils found in the state.

“I’ve been a paleontologist for a very long time. I started working at the University of Washington in 1992, and through all these years I have met so many people,” said Nesbitt, former curator of paleontology at the Burke Museum. “They were all very interested in fossils from Washington. Many of them asked if they could read more and there is no book. So, I realized I had to write a book.”

Nesbitt collaborated with Williams, an independent science writer, for four years to bring these stories to the public.

“He’s published a number of really exciting books, and I love the way he writes,” Nesbitt said. “When I started writing my book, I realized it was a bit boring. Although the topics were great, I’m just not a general science writer. I write academic papers, and so I asked David if he was interested in collaborating and bringing the book to life. He was, and I was thrilled with that.”

The book doesn’t just tell the story of fossils in the state. It’s also about the field of paleontology and those who work behind the scenes to bring fossils to light.

“It is about Washington, but it is not all the fossils in Washington. This is a selection of the ones that I found people were interested in, the ones that have interesting stories behind them,” Nesbitt said. “It’s also a book about the people who found the fossils and the people who worked on the fossils.

“It’s a book about how paleontology has changed and how the science has changed in the last 50 years. It’s become much more technological, much more comparative and much more integrated into the other science fields. Hopefully I’ve got all of that into the book.”

For more information, contact Nesbitt at nesbittlizanne@gmail.com.

Examining colonial roots of intersex medicine

In “Envisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African Medicine,” recently published by Duke University Press, Amanda Swarr examines how colonialism and scientific racism are inherent to contemporary intersex medicine.

Swarr developed the book from research she started as a graduate student in the 1990s when she first came across the claim that intersex was more common among Black people than white people. As she investigated the falsity, Swarr met Sally Gross, the founder of Intersex South Africa, the first intersex organization on the African continent. When Gross died in 2014, Swarr set out to finish the book as a tribute to the work of Gross and other activists.

While Swarr initially thought the false claim stemmed from 1970s literature, she soon discovered the roots stretched back to the 1600s when colonizers arrived in what is now known as South Africa.

“I found echoes and traces of this claim throughout history,” said Swarr, associate professor of gender, women and sexuality studies. “The ways that intersex was racialized was striking to me. I think it’s manifested in a lot of ways, over time and in how race and gender manifest in bodies that are pathologized. You see this in museum representations and in film. There is strong historical resonance.”

The topic is currently most often discussed through the treatment of intersex athletes. Swarr opens the book by writing about Caster Semenya, a South African middle-distance runner who has won two Olympic gold medals and three world championships in the 800-meter event. Semenya faces continual allegations that her body is “too masculine” for women’s sports.

Semenya was subjected to examinations of her reproductive organs and evaluations of her chromosomes and hormones. The International Olympic Organizing Committee has prohibited her from competing unless she has surgery or pharmaceutically alters her natural testosterone levels, a decision she continues to fight.

“My book offers a perspective on the ways that racism and discrimination against those in the Global South are an integral part of the conversation,” Swarr said. “We can’t talk about contemporary sex testing without talking about colonialism and racism.”

The book also highlights the growth of the African intersex social movement, particularly with the expansion of social media. Swarr said there is now more of an opportunity to create community and rally for intersex justice with and for intersex people who might have otherwise been isolated.

“They’ve created educational online videos and hashtag campaigns to support folks who’ve been targeted, like Caster Semenya and others who have experienced violence,” Swarr said. “Their ability to share their strategies and reach out to change the hearts and minds of everyday people and to influence legislation and doctors’ protocols has been impressive. It helps to disrupt the idea that social movements are more advanced in the Global North.”

Swarr is donating all author royalties from the book to Intersex South Africa. The book can also be accessed for free.

For more information, contact Swarr at aswarr@uw.edu.

Tag(s): Amanda Swarr • Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture • College of Arts & Sciences • College of the Environment • Department of Earth and Space Sciences • Department of Slavic Languages and Literature • Elizabeth Nesbitt • Jose Alaniz • Select Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies

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