Essays

Race

White Women are Not My People

“White women” is a demographic category — not a political group

July 31, 2019 • by
I recently got asked to sign a public letter in which I was supposed to pledge “as a white woman” that now that I had watched Ava DuVernay’s film series “When They See Us,” I would object to Linda Fairstein (who oversaw the prosecution of the Central Park Five as ...
Read More
Placeholder
Democracy

For Democracy / Against Cynicism

On Trump, McConnell, Pelosi and Company

July 31, 2019 • by
“I believe the single most pressing challenge facing American society today is widespread public cynicism.” With these words, I opened my book The Cynical Society, published in 1991. I was deeply concerned by the interaction between the cynicism of politicians, on the one hand, and the cynicism of the media ...
Read More
Placeholder

Law’s Relation to Political Power in China: A Backward Transition

China’s continuing struggle over the rule of law is far from over.

July 31, 2019 • by
Attempting to assess the state of law and government in any nation is hazardous, since reality is usually messy and contradictory, and surely this is the situation in contemporary China. We must be fully aware that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) -- an increasingly oppressive Marxist-Leninist dictatorship -- denies ...
Read More
Placeholder

What Happens When Laws Enforce the Sabbath?

Albeit unknowingly, Israelis today echo the position of early American evangelicals when it comes to protecting the day of rest.

July 30, 2019 • by
The Old Testament says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.” No singular Sabbath day is universal. Generally, Christians ...
Read More
Placeholder

Anthropocene and Negative Anthropology

Return of Man

July 29, 2019 • by
In contrast to the natural sciences, the question of official adoption plays virtually no role in the humanities, which have taken up the concept of the Anthropocene with relish. Its attraction lies in its omnicompetent radiance: Not only a geochronological coinage, it implies an ontology, a theory of history, and ...
Read More
Placeholder

It Was Never About The Buses

Personal And Political Reflections On “Forced Busing”

July 27, 2019 • by
One of my earliest recollections dates back to the fall of 1964, in my 6th grade class at St. Matthias Elementary School. The nun who taught the class had us research that year’s presidential election, and each of us had to decide which of the major party candidates – Johnson ...
Read More
Placeholder

Why They Marched

A walk through suffrage history

July 26, 2019 • by
For far too long, the history of how American women won the right to vote has been told as the tale of a few iconic leaders, all white and native-born. In Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote Susan Ware uncovered a much broader ...
Read More
Placeholder

Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism

An interview with Banu Subramaniam

July 26, 2019 • by
Her critique is genealogical in nature. It consists in an attempt to show how modern Hindu nationalism is being constructed through a tactic she calls “archaic modernity” -- a phrase coined to capture the way that the ancient religious civilization of India is being read as prefiguring modern scientific techniques ...
Read More
Placeholder

Walking Through Suffrage History

An interview with Susan Ware

July 25, 2019 • by and
--- Elaine S. Abelson [ESA]: Susan, this walk-through suffrage history has been fascinating for me. I teach the history of American women and thought I knew this history. Turns out I knew only ‘the highlights.’ Many of your stories surprised me for two reasons. First was the depth of your research ...
Read More
Placeholder

The New Trail of Tears

How climate change is forcing the relocation of species, including our own

July 25, 2019 • by
In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, designed to appropriate to the United States lands occupied by aboriginal Americans. The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, but the army under Commander in Chief Andrew Jackson acted anyway. Now a lightning rod for condemnation of the expropriation of indigenous property, Jackson ...
Read More
Placeholder

Gaming the System

How games create social change

July 24, 2019 • by
Not only do these games exist, but they’re also a lot more fun than the daily anxieties of the political moment. Budgetball, The Evolution of Trust and Casual Games for Protesters, respectively -- are examples of games that help us make sense of politics and political action -- they’re “serious games,” or ...
Read More
Placeholder

Democrats, Get Your Story Straight!

Democrats have to master their storytelling techniques to counteract Trump

July 24, 2019 • by
It is still early to predict which Democratic hopeful will emerge as the front-runner, even after the first debate. The media is framing the campaigns as a horse-race. But the race to 2020 is not a race, but rather a marathon. More often than not, debates are to confirm what ...
Read More
Placeholder

Newsletter

Free to subscribe. No spam.
Delivered by Substack.

Connect With Us

Instagram
Bluesky
Facebook
Twitter
Copyright © 2014–2026 The Editorial Board of Public Seminar, All Rights Reserved.