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Papers by Mary Niall Mitchell

Journal of Southern History, Aug 1, 2006

... Page 16. man, John Hunwick, Ivor Wilks, David W. Cohen, Henry Binford, Tes-sie Liu, and the l... more ... Page 16. man, John Hunwick, Ivor Wilks, David W. Cohen, Henry Binford, Tes-sie Liu, and the late Leon Forrest. ... Indeed, one of the best things about being in Charlottes-ville was meeting Emilye Crosby; she and Kathy Connelly have my undying gratitude. ...

Journal of Southern History, Nov 1, 2007

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Mar 1, 2011

McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary is a thought-provoking book that deserves a wide reader... more McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary is a thought-provoking book that deserves a wide readership, even though most historians will ªnd its account of Western history unsatisfying. McGilchrist argues that the driving force in cultural history lies not in institutions or ideas but in the human brain-speciªcally in the struggle for supremacy between the right and left hemispheres, which have fundamentally different ways of apprehending and engaging the world. McGilchrist believes that the division of brains into specialized hemispheres became widespread among vertebrates because evolution favored species that could bring two "types of attention. .. to bear on the world." Successful individuals had "to focus attention narrowly and with precision" in order to "manipulate" the world to meet their needs for food and shelter, but they also had to be open to broader impressions of others and of the world at large: "I have a need to take account of myself as a member of my social group, to see potential allies, and beyond that to see potential mates and potential enemies. Here I may feel myself to be part of something much bigger than myself, and even existing in and through that 'something' that is bigger than myself.. .. This requires less of a willfully directed, narrowly focused attention, and more of an open, receptive, widely diffused alertness to whatever exists, with allegiances outside of the self (25). The two approaches to the world can interfere with each another. The former requires a "necessary detachment" that allows us to control and manipulate our natural and social environment, whereas the latter requires that we maintain "the broadest experience of the world as it comes to us" (22). The neural networks that facilitate these ways of paying attention to the world are located in different parts of the brain to minimize the degree to which they interfere with each other-the "attentive" network mainly in the left hemisphere and the "receptive" network in the right. Ideally, in McGilchrist's opinion, the hemispheres should work together in creative tension to facilitate survival and cultural progress, but their relationship is "inherently unstable." The left side of the brain has a tendency to try to dominate the right side. McGilchrist believes, like Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, and Martin Heidegger, that there has been since ancient times "a gradual encroachment over time of rationality on the natural territory of intuition or instinct," which in his opinion has had baleful consequences for Western civilization (244). That encroachment has reshaped the human brain, enhancing its (lefthemisphere) capacity for information gathering, manipulation, and exploitation at the expense of its (right-hemisphere) capacity for wisdom, empathy, and altruism.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 2022

This presentation offered faculty support in developing innovative course projects that teach pub... more This presentation offered faculty support in developing innovative course projects that teach public writing skills, engage students with the community, and produce creative online content for two online platforms - New Orleans Historical and ViaNolaVie

New York University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2020

The American Historical Review, Apr 1, 2016

Children and Youth during the Civil War Era, 2012

The Journal of African American History, 2018

The American Historical Review, 2016