A ‘Chef-ugee’ from Zimbabwe

Cooking Stirs New Hopes and Old Memories

Every now and then the woman in the apron clinks her water glass with a fork to cut through the conversation, and all eyes at the table turn to her. “Please don’t think there’s any question that is uncomfortable,” she says. “It is my duty to explain to someone who doesn’t ...
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A ‘Chef-ugee’ from Zimbabwe

On Religion and Backlash

Theda Skocpol on Popular and Elite Roots of Republican Extremism in the U.S.

The Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life presents the Populism and Religion lecture series from Theda Skocpol (Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University). Note from Jean Cohen, project organizer: Everyone seems to be writing on populism these days, which is unsurprising given the global rise of populist movements, parties, ...
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On Religion and Backlash

North and South Korea Unite Under a Single Flag for Games

Can the Olympics bring about peace of the Korean peninsula?

On January 17, 2018, just three weeks before the start of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, North Korea and South Korea announced that the North would participate in this year’s Olympics. The two states will enter the opening ceremonies together under the Korea Unification flag, engage in joint training sessions, and ...
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North and South Korea Unite Under a Single Flag for Games

Why We Return to Certain Books Like Clockwork

On my return to Martin Guerre

When people ask me what I am teaching this semester, I bury the lede. I first describe my exciting, five-section strong introduction to Internet studies. Then there is the big reveal: "I am also teaching a core course in our history graduate program," I continue, "with a super-sexy title: Historical Methods!" ...
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Why We Return to Certain Books Like Clockwork

Self-Limitation and Democracy

On the Ability of Society to Self-Regulate

[F]or the impulse of mere appetite is slavery, while obedience to a self-prescribed law is liberty. Jean-Jacques Rousseau[1] The philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis has often been credited with saying that "democracy is the regime of self-limitation." [2] But since for him the only true democratic form is direct democracy, this claim might seem a bit ...
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Self-Limitation and Democracy

Top 5 Cities Where Older Workers’ Wages Fell and Younger Workers’ Wages Soared

January 2018 Unemployment Report for Workers Over 55

President Trump in his State of the Union address highlighted the country's falling unemployment and rising wages. This morning's Bureau of Labor Statistics' report of an unemployment rate of 3.0% for workers age 55 and older for the month of January, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from December, does not contradict ...
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Top 5 Cities Where Older Workers’ Wages Fell and Younger Workers’ Wages Soared

Burning Man’s Experimental Dreampolitics

Does the iconic festival suggest a new way forward?

When the era of master narratives recedes and well-trodden Enlightenment principles cease to be relevant, progressives should issue the challenge to come up with an alternative thinking. It is quite a challenge today to bring about new reasoning when the distinguishing feature of our current condition is distrust and skepticism ...
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Burning Man’s Experimental Dreampolitics

Blue Monday: Monday Morning Blues

An introduction to my new column

Readers of Public Seminar will know that in the past couple of years I have become a regular and indeed somewhat relentless contributor of political essays on the dangers of Trumpism and the challenges to liberal democracy. I have greatly enjoyed working with the PS staff, and have been especially happy to collaborate with ...
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Blue Monday: Monday Morning Blues