Claire Potter

Claire Potter
Contributing Editor at Public Seminar, and Emeritus Professor of History at the New School for Social Research
Announcements

Until We Meet Again

Public Seminar suspends publication until the conclusion of the part-time faculty strike at The New School

November 16, 2022 • by and
Public Seminar has suspended publication as of November 16, 2022, until The New School and the part-time faculty union have arrived at a new contract, allowing our part-time colleagues to return to work. We will not be accepting pitches, or answering queries, until further notice....

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Until We Meet Again
Feminism

Our Bodies, Ourselves, Online

Historian and activist Saniya Lee Ghanoui explains how a feminist classic entered the twenty-first century

October 27, 2022 • by and
When we started, we knew we needed experts from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Women and gender-expansive people from different races brought their own perspectives, personal and expert, and that would help us address racial health disparities. ...

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Our Bodies, Ourselves, Online
Religion

Why Christianity and the Fate of American Democracy Are Intertwined

An interview with intellectual historian David Hollinger

September 26, 2022 • by and
We're now confronted with a remarkable paradox. Our increasingly secular society is saddled with increasingly religious politics. Religion is ever-more prominent in Supreme Court decisions and in the statements that candidates for political office make. Politics are not only more religious, they are more Christian. ...

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Why Christianity and the Fate of American Democracy Are Intertwined
Politics

The Elusive Latino Voter

History reconsidered

September 22, 2022 • by
One place to understand how Republicans have stumbled when it comes to Latino voters is the attempt by the Reagan administration to simultaneously declare an end to racism in 1980—mission accomplished!—and woo Latinos as a racial group because they presented as religious and more socially conservative. Yet, as White House ...
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The Elusive Latino Voter
Climate & Ecology

Why We Need to Care About Animal Ethics in a Time When Humans Suffer Too

Alice Crary and Lori Gruen share their “critical animal theory” in a conversation with Public Seminar

September 14, 2022 • by , and
The division between “humans” and “animals” is not a natural division, but a conceptual one that privileges humans over animals, and not even all humans. This divide operates in a way that justifies the oppression of animals and humans thought to be “closer” to animals, which has often meant women, ...
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Why We Need to Care About Animal Ethics in a Time When Humans Suffer Too
Sports

Even If She Never Hits Another Ball, Serena Williams Is the GOAT

A conversation with historian Tera Hunter about the greatest woman ever to play the game of tennis—what she overcame, and where she is going—and why Serena’s legacy is intertwined with sister Venus

August 15, 2022 • by
Racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, classism, etc. are all an unfortunate part of sports, which are a reflection of all that transpires in the rest of society. Some sports are worse than others, however. Tennis is an elite country club game that has been reluctant to open up to plebeians—all of ...
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Even If She Never Hits Another Ball, Serena Williams Is the GOAT
Activism

Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Thou Shalt Not Lie

These anti-abortion activists lure clients in by posing as medical facilities—but local ordinances can force them to tell the truth or close

July 11, 2022 • by
As important is the sense of despair many liberals and progressives feel when we throw our collective weight behind gambits and activism that are unlikely to yield tangible success. But here’s another idea. What if we all looked at how we could support reproductive rights in our own communities—and not ...
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Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Thou Shalt Not Lie
Sex & Gender

How Fetal Politics Stole Americans’ Reproductive Rights

An interview with Jennifer Holland about the origins and ethics of the anti-abortion movement

June 25, 2022 • by and
I interviewed Jennifer Holland, L.R. Brammer Jr. Presidential Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma about her book, Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement (UC press, 2020). Holland describes the evolution of what she calls “fetal politics”—a political mov...

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How Fetal Politics Stole Americans’ Reproductive Rights
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