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This essay, written by members and friends of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD)—the Palestine solidarity group founded at Columbia in November 2023—brings forth an analysis of our movement. We begin by describing the steps that led to CUAD's formation, and then its historical continuity with Columbia's legacy of student activism. We discuss our approach to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, the research that informs our demands, and two of our methods for accomplishing them: an encampment and building occupation. By contextualizing ourselves in Columbia's student protest history, we hope to explain the lessons we have learned about the content and form of struggle. By explaining our demands, we hope to focus attention to our points of unity, often overlooked or misunderstood, even by our supporters. Finally, by describing our own experience of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and Hind's Hall occupation, we hope to situate the protests for which most readers know us in our own political, strategic, and practical framework. We analyze our movement through the principal lens of anti-imperialism, while situating ourselves in the context of the US imperialist core, from which we remain auxiliary to the liberation movement in Palestine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper addresses petrography, geochemistry and Ar‐Ar geochronology of a significant number of mafic dykes from the Paleo‐ to Neoarchean Bundelkhand Craton in central India. The majority of the dykes are NW‐SE oriented (with a few NE‐SW and ENE‐WSW) with tholeiitic, sub‐alkaline and basalt to basaltic andesite composition. The trace element geochemistry of these dykes indicates an island arc setting during emplacement. The Ar‐Ar mineral dating (plagioclase) of three representative dykes reveals an emplacement age between 1.53 and 1.46 Ga. This finding and earlier reports (2.1–1.73 Ga) point to sustained mafic magmatism throughout the Bundelkhand Craton in a preferred structural orientation between 2.1 and 1.46 Ga. Mafic magmatism was episodic and can be linked to the perpetual subduction accretion processes between the central Indian Archean continents during the development of the Columbia supercontinent. The mafic dykes were emplaced at 45° to the maximum compression direction (E‐W), that is, along the line of no finite longitudinal strain. This time equivalent widespread NW‐SE and NE‐SW trending mafic dyke system is also relatable along the adjacent continents (Singhbhum, Bastar) and thus opened up a new paradigm for the dyke's emplacement across the Indian cratons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • New U-Pb dating of Gwalior Sills 1719 ± 7 Ma. • Additional paleomagnetic data from Gwalior Sills. • North India South India blocks separated by Gotosindhu Ocean. • North India blocks equatorial position in the Columbia Supercontinent. We present an updated paleomagnetic pole from the Gwalior Sills in the Bundelkhand craton within the Northern India Block (NIB). Geochronological results from baddeleyite grains from one of the sills yielded an age of 1719 ± 7 Ma which together with a previously published age indicates the emplacement of sills between 1712 and 1756 Ma (∼1730 Ma). The paleomagnetic pole calculated from additional sites in this study, combined with previous studies, falls at 13.5°N, 173.7°E (A95 = 3.6°, K = 98) indicating near equatorial latitudes for northern India. Limestone sampled a few meters above the contact with the sill exhibits similar directions consistent with having been baked by the sill. The pole does not resemble any younger poles from Peninsular India and receives a reliability score of R = 5. Dykes in the Singhbhum craton are slightly older (1765 Ma) and indicate low paleolatitudes for the Southern Indian Block (SIB). Although the Gwalior and Singhbhum poles data indicate low latitudes for both the NIB and SIB, they are statistically different and indicate that a rotation of at least 65° is required to bring the poles into accord. We propose that the NIB and SIB were in proximity but were separated by an ocean basin. We propose the name Gotosindhu ('Ancient Sea') for the body of water separating the NIB and SIB. We also review previous models for the assembly of the Columbia supercontinent during this time and critically examine the position of the NIB/SIB in those reconstructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the recent introduction of Great Brooks seminars in Europe, stemming from North American collegial tradition, we aim to examine the program that led to their inception: the General Honors at Columbia, a course designed to restore the comprehensive nature of undergraduate education by exposing students to the most significant works in the world of letters. After providing a brief historical context, we delve into its organization, method and implementation, drawing from the memoirs of its architect, John Erskine, and his closest collaborators. Thereafter, we explore the theoretical foundations upon which Erskine, under the influence of George E. Woodberry, built the conception of literature and teaching underlying these seminars. Lastly, in order to assess critically the General Honors, we trace its projection on subsequent programs, analyzing some of their variations - such as adaptation to popular education or integration with instruction of the arts of language - as efforts to achieve two ideals essential to its educational philosophy: the democratization of culture and the growth of intellectual powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The education of Bhimrao Ambedkar is a vital part of his complex story. His experience at institutions like Columbia University with its progressive cast of academics helped him see how scholarship and activism can matter in the battle against caste oppression. His thought—and life—would have been radically different had he exclusively attended British institutions of higher education. But how did he end up in America, the imperfect land of freedom and democracy? Why did he choose Columbia University when so many other Indian students chose educational institutions in the British Empire? This study examines the question of Ambedkar’s education and proposes some answers to these questions by starting with his relationship to an important early sponsor, the Gaekwad of Baroda. By tracing the engagement of Sayajirao Gaekwad III with the West, we can see the connections this ruler felt between Columbia University, America, and freedom. By placing the Gaekwad’s story next to Ambedkar’s—and alongside Ambedkar’s nuanced lifelong engagement with one of his most prominent professors, John Dewey—we can reveal new connections between the American experience and what Ambedkar called “a spirit of rebelliousness.” Both Ambedkar and the Gaekwad wanted an education that enshrined the right sort of rebellious freedom from oppressive external authority. This intelligent mediation of education resides in the unstable middle ground between a conservative complacency with a tradition’s customs and a radical upturning of all that is through revolution. Ambedkar, like his pragmatist teacher John Dewey, wanted a sense of education that was reflective and reconstructive.

This is a film review of Petro (2023), directed by Sean Mattison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This communication reports the results of geochemical investigations and detrital zircon geochronology of metasediments of the Khammam Schist Belt that occur at the trijunction of the Eastern Dharwar Craton–Bastar Craton–Eastern Ghats Belt. Biotite (XMg = 0.46–0.52) and muscovite (Si atom per formula unit (apfu) of 11 O = 3.08–3.17) with alkali-feldspar constitute the mineralogy of studied samples. The Ti content in biotite yields a mean temperature of 652 °C (1σ = 10 °C), and biotite–muscovite pairs yield an average pressure of 0.46 GPa (1σ = 0.06 GPa). Fe-Ti oxides and zircon occur as accessory phases. The Al2O3 exhibits a positive correlation with K2O and TiO2, which implies that mica and biotite control the major element abundances of studied samples. These samples indicate negative Sr and positive Th anomalies in a Post Archean Australian Shale (PASS) normalised spider diagram. Also, these samples show a nearly horizontal trend with (La/Yb) PASS varying between 0.56 and 1.92 with a negative to slightly positive Eu anomaly (Eu/Eu* = 1.20, 1σ = 0.38). LA-ICPMS analysis of detrital zircon grains (number of analyses = 100 from two samples) yields 207Pb/206Pb ages range from 1500 to 2600 Ma. The zircons grains with weighted average ages between 2500 Ma, 2400 Ma, 2200 Ma, 2000 Ma, 1900 and 1800 Ma exhibit magmatic and high-temperature deformation features. The 1604 Ma old zircons exhibit homogeneous domains and overgrowths over older zircons, implying metamorphic origin. The Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA = 66 to 77), Chemical Index of Weathering (CIW = 73 to 95), and Plagioclase Index of Alteration (PIA = 81 to 91) values indicate moderate to intense weathering of the source area. Source and tectonic discrimination plots imply a felsic source and active tectonic setting. Accordingly, 1900–1800 Ma old magmatic zircons in the current samples constrain the maximum depositional age for the Khammam Schist Belt. Compared with the detrital zircon geochronology of the North China Craton and East Antarctica, the current samples exhibit peaks at circa 2500 Ma, 2400 Ma, 2200 Ma, 2000 Ma, 1900–1800 Ma, and 1600 Ma, implying Khammam Schist Belt as part of the South India Cratonic Block shares similar geological history with North China Craton and East Antarctica. Our study suggests that North China Craton and East Antarctica were connected with the South Indian Cratonic Block during the Columbia assembly.

Geochemical and geochronological data from the Pinguicula Group and unit PR1 of the lower Fifteenmile Group (Yukon, Canada) provide information on sediment provenance and timing of break-up of supercontinent Columbia and seaway development on Laurentia's northwestern margin. The older unit PR1, in the Coal Creek inlier, has a near-unimodal detrital zircon population with an age of 1499 ± 3 Ma. The Pinguicula Group detrital zircon data, in the Wernecke and Hart River inliers, display a polymodal detrital zircon population with a maximum age of <1322 ± 23 Ma. Using detrital zircon signatures, Sm–Nd isotopic data, and C-isotopic signatures, lithostratigraphic correlations between the Pinguicula Group in the Wernecke and Hart River inliers are confirmed, whereas the Pinguicula Group and unit PR1 are no longer considered correlative. The zircon population in unit PR1 requires a proximal source, but sources of this age are not known in western Laurentia. Based on detrital zircon and Sm–Nd data, sediment in unit PR1 was derived from the Mt. Isa inlier in northeastern Australia sometime after 1460 Ma. Unit PR1 correlates with older Mesoproterozoic successions, including the Belt-Purcell, that were deposited during break-up of supercontinent Columbia, and contain sediment from Australia and the Mawson continent. Mesoproterozoic successions deposited after 1.45 Ga, including the Missoula Group, lack North American Magmatic Gap (NAMG)-aged zircon and instead record sediment provenance from southern Laurentia, as north Australia and the Mawson continent rifted from Laurentia's western margin. The Pinguicula Group has few NAMG-aged grains that were probably recycled from older Mesoproterozoic basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author provides a capsule sketch of important collectors and collections of Slavic & East European library materials obtained by Cornell and Columbia University libraries in the years leading up to the Second World War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The proposal of Columbia Supercontinent reaches 20 years of age. • Statistical methods developed to test reconstructions. • SAMBA model appears valid from 1.78 to 1.50 Ga only. The proposal that a Paleo-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent, Columbia, preceded the existence of Rodinia was forwarded in 2002. A similar proposal that same year provided a detailed discussion of 2.1–1.8 Ga orogenic belts distributed throughout the globe thought to represent the assembly of Columbia. In the 20 years that followed, evidence in favor of Columbia has grown but its exact configuration and geometrical relationships between various cratons remains elusive. One of several challenges in reconstructing Columbia is the paucity of high-quality paleomagnetic data. Progress is slow, but steady, in this realm as it requires painstaking field and laboratory work to generate a new pole. Despite large gaps in the database, we have generated testable models of Columbia. Unfortunately, there are seldom coeval poles from many continents and reconstructions represent small time-slices in Columbia's lifespan. In this contribution, we review the history of the Columbia hypothesis, evidence mounted in support of the idea and status of the model. We present a statistical method to evaluate goodness of fit in paleomagnetically based reconstructions where data are separated in both time and space. Baltica and Amazonia are often linked together with eastern Laurentia to form a long-lived accretionary orogenic margin of Columbia. This so-called SAMBA model was originally posited as a one billion year long (1.8–0.8 Ga) fixture in both Columbia and Rodinia. Paleomagnetic data are supportive of this connection from ∼ 1.75–1.5 Ga, but not during younger times. We also test a recent model of Columbia based on the highest quality paleomagnetic poles available at that time. Our analysis reveals numerous discrepancies between data and models that will need to be addressed as work towards reconstructing Columbia continues unabated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to provide a biographical sketch of the late Hans L. Zetterberg and a historical background to a translation of an essay based on a lecture given by Zetterberg in Stockholm in 1995. In it, he recounts his time at the Department of Sociology at Columbia University in the years 1953–1964. This essay is full of insights into an inspiring and formative period for Zetterberg in the United States, particularly in the stimulating milieu that was Columbia, at this time the center of American sociology led by Robert K. Merton and Paul Lazarsfeld. In the introduction to this translated essay, I give a brief overview of the establishment of sociology as a discipline in Sweden, and the transfer of knowledge between the United States and Sweden (and Europe, more broadly), embodied in Hans Zetterberg. In the post-WWII years, American sociology, which had a strong positivistic imprint, played an important role in shaping the beginnings of Swedish sociology. However, the transfer of knowledge went both ways, with Zetterberg, a semi-central and often neglected figure, being both a significant contributor to sociology at Columbia in its period of greatest prominence, and in his native Sweden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the origins of the way of life known as an amphibian culture on the Colombian Atlantic coast, its expression in forms of mixed subsistence associated with the indigenous tradition around the use of aquatic ecosystems and especially in the river navigation of the lower Magdalena. For this purpose, we have used documents and primary sources such as chronicles of the Indies, files from the General Archive of the Indies in Seville (AGI), archaeological field research, and compilations of historical documents on the Caribbean coast made by historians. We note that pre-Hispanic navigation was widely spread in this area since, besides the hostile terrestrial roads, nature offered fluvial paths, representing a travel alternative with significant advantages in different areas. This produced an eventual use and appropriation of this knowledge by the European colonizers of the XVI century, as in an environment where the ships and the knowledge of the western world did not seem to be enough, the canoes together with the indigenous labor force were more useful than the European ships, with disastrous consequences for a way of life that, nevertheless, still survives nowadays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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