What Do We Even Want From One Another?

Anxiety, Permeation and Identity in the Age of a Slowly Imploding Liberalism

In a time identified by the breakdown of fantasy, xenophobic malaise, and the salve of identity politics, philosopher Luce deLire and psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster take us to the limits of 'the self.' They muse on anxiety's collectivizing forces, the political instrumentalization of unsolvably fractured identities, and their permeation. They suggest ...
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What Do We Even Want From One Another?

Tempest Tossed

‘César’s Choice’: The conditions and decisions facing reunited immigrant families–a conversation with Prof. Lauren Gilbert

Alex Aleinikoff speaks with St.Thomas University of Law, Professor Lauren Gilbert, on the detention of re-united immigrant families and the difficult choices they face:  should they return to their home countries together, should the parent return and child stay in the U.S., or should the family remain in ICE detention to pursue ...
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The Destruction of Empathy, Part Two

On the political situation in Spain

Below is Part Two of an article originally published on the Spanish blog El Diario. It was translated to English for Public Seminar by Liz Mason-Deese. The Mandate of Masculinity According to Rita Segato, the first expression of the pedagogy of cruelty is sexist violence. Predatory capitalism establishes a battlefield on the ...
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The Destruction of Empathy, Part Two

What Do Latin Americans Do When They Do Religion?

From Destination to Journey

Economic development, democratic governments, and a growing middle class have changed the spiritual realm in Latin America. Once dominated by Catholicism, today’s Latin Americans are migrating from one religion to another as they look for meaning and engage with superhuman powers. While there are many studies of the changing nature ...
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What Do Latin Americans Do When They Do Religion?

Beyond #MeToo

Female agency as heroine in The Tale

This article was originally published in the Philosophical Salon of the Los Angeles Review of Books. The author served as a consultant to Jennifer Fox's film "The Tale." This piece joins other related pieces published on Public Seminar, including an interview with the filmmaker, a psychoanalytic approach to understanding childhood ...
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Beyond #MeToo

A12 Episode 1

The Summer of Hate

In this episode, Niki investigates "How the people of Charlottesville responded to months of white supremacist organizing and violence in the city".
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A12 Episode 1

The Destruction of Empathy, Part One

On the political situation in Spain

This article, originally published in Spanish at the blog El Diario, is part one of two. It was translated to English for Public Seminar by Liz Mason-Deese. Is it possible to read the current socio-historical political moment in Spain not only as a dispute between different groups for power, but as a ...
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The Destruction of Empathy, Part One

In Defense of Civility

Why protest and respect can go together

The hostile words and actions recently directed at Trump officials have provoked much debate. Perhaps the most famous example is the refusal of the Lexington, Virginia Red Hen restaurant to serve Sarah Huckabee Sanders – a refusal many on the Left argued was justified. Jessica Valenti, for example, has written “that when ...
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In Defense of Civility

Omarosa

Past Present Bonus Episode 6

In this episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia discuss the release of Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the White House, a new book by former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: ·         Former White House Staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman has released a book about her time ...
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Omarosa

Populism as the Political

An excerpt from Ritchie Savage’s latest book

In the following, you can read an excerpt from The New School alumni Ritchie Savage’s recent book Populist Discourse in Venezuela and the United States: American Unexceptionalism and Political Identity Formation preceded by a Q&A with the author. *** Q&A with the Author Public Seminar (PS): What made you decide to write a book ...
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Populism as the Political

Flash: The Making of Weegee The Famous

An excerpt from Christopher Bonanos’ latest book

Let’s talk about that name first. Or, rather, those three names. Usher Fellig was a greenhorn, a hungry shtetl child from eastern Europe who spoke no English. When he came through Ellis Island in 1909, at ten years old, he reinvented himself, as so many immigrants do. In his first years ...
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Flash: The Making of Weegee The Famous