From the Editors Archives - Page 102 of 171

Blue Monday

The Sidewinder

Race, resistance, and the blues

February 12, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues." -Duke Ellington In the past week I have thought often about “The Sidewinder.” “The Sidewinder” is a famous jazz standard written by the late, great trumpeter Lee Morgan, which appeared on his 1964 album of the same name. ...

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Solidarity is Not a Liberal Value

Feminism and collective struggle

February 12, 2018 • by Bryant William Sculos

On January 20, 2018, at the end of the Pioneer Valley’s Women’s March in Northampton, Massachusetts hundreds stood gathered in front of the imposing, castle-like City Hall. We were children, women, and men, trans and non-gender conforming people. We were black, white, and brown, gay and straight. We were rich and poor ...

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GIDEST: The Facticity of the Voice

The work of Soyoung Yoon

February 11, 2018 • by GIDEST

Soyoung Yoon is Program Director and Assistant Professor of Art History & Visual Studies at Eugene Lang College and a 2017-18 Faculty Fellow at GIDEST. Her current research focuses on the re-definition of the "document" and the shift in its claims to the real from the post-WWII period to the ...

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A ‘Chef-ugee’ from Zimbabwe

Cooking Stirs New Hopes and Old Memories

February 10, 2018 • by Rosalind Tordesillas

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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Loving a Military Parade and Clapping for the Great Leader

On Post Truth Authoritarianism and Resistance

February 9, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb

Donald Trump is truly a path breaking leader, opening new horizons for the American Republic. This week, he introduced into the American public life the idea of military parade in Washington D.C. and “joked” that those who do not clap for the great leader commit treason. Both truly unprecedented “advances,” ...

Loving a Military Parade and Clapping for the Great Leader

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On Religion and Backlash

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

February 9, 2018 • by Public Seminar

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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Homeschooling, Government Shutdowns, and Tide Pods

Past Present Episode 116

February 8, 2018 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki debate the role of homeschooling in an abuse case in California, the recent government shutdown, and why people are eating Tide Pods on social media.

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Homeschooling, Government Shutdowns, and Tide Pods

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North and South Korea Unite Under a Single Flag for Games

Can the Olympics bring about peace of the Korean peninsula?

February 8, 2018 • by Rachael Miyung Joo

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 ...

North and South Korea Unite Under a Single Flag for Games

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Why We Return to Certain Books Like Clockwork

On my return to Martin Guerre

February 7, 2018 • by Claire Potter

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!" ...

Why We Return to Certain Books Like Clockwork

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Self-Limitation and Democracy

On the Ability of Society to Self-Regulate

February 7, 2018 • by Yavor Tarinski

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

January 2018 Unemployment Report for Workers Over 55

February 6, 2018 • by Teresa Ghilarducci

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 ...

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

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To the Directors of the National Museum in Krakow

An open letter

February 6, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb

This letter addressed to Andrzej Betlej and Andrzej Szczerski, the directors of the National Museum in Krakow, came across my screen on Sunday. We are publishing it here today both for what it says about the struggle against the new authoritarianism in Poland, and also because, it seems to me, it ...