History Archives - Page 30 of 78

Democracy

The People’s Vote That Ended Communism

Lessons from Poland on the role of elections

June 8, 2019 • by Jim Bjork

On June 4th, 1989, Polish voters went to the polls to elect new members to the national legislature. The election was designed to produce a managed, incremental modification of the Communist regime’s four-decade-long rule. Only a third of seats in the lower house (the Sejm) were contested, and the newly ...

Education

A Case of Contesting Visions

Academic freedom at The New School

June 7, 2019 • by Wendy Scheir

According to a report by Vice President Al Landa, who was called to the scene, the disruptors continued “to hoot and holler accusations and epithets” at Gideonse and were “on the verge of doing something physical.” The grad students’ account of the incident does not indicate an intention to do anything physical, but otherwise ...

Uncategorized

Representation, Currency, and Generation Z

How the Tubman $20 Bill Became a New Front in the American Culture Wars

June 5, 2019 • by Sari Rosenberg

Although they are digitally-native Generation Z teens, my students think that it matters who we see on something as ubiquitous as our money. Even though they spend a lot of their time online, they still feel passionate about adding diversity to the historical figures that grace our paper money. The ...

Feature

Student Loans, Fur Bans, and TWA

Past Present Episode 181

May 28, 2019 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss billionaire Robert F. Smith’s historic gift to the Morehouse College class of 2019, a proposed fur ban in New York City, and the opening of a chic new hotel in the TWA terminal. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s ...

Feature

Enveloped in Suspicion

Physical mail is becoming obsolete as communication moves online

May 25, 2019 • by Judith Donath

Envelopes are one of those banal objects of everyday life we seldom think much about. They are, however, an ancient -- and at one time controversial -- privacy technology. Envelopes render their contents secret. Today, once sealed inside a simple paper envelope, all kinds of messages -- bills, birthday greetings, college ...

Feature

Sex Strike, David McCullough, and Doris Day

Past Present Episode 180

May 21, 2019 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Neil, Natalia, and Niki discuss a proposed “sex strike,” historian David McCullough’s new book, and the life and legacy of Doris Day. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Actor and activist Alyssa Milano this week suggested that women withhold sex from men until women achieve ...

Sex Strike, David McCullough, and Doris Day

Education

A Secret Invasion

The University in Exile and conspiracy theories

May 20, 2019 • by Andrew Woods

Conspiracy theories offer alternative explanations for shocking historical events and sweeping cultural changes. They simplify complex socio-political factors and processes into seductive narratives of Good versus Evil. They are the opium of those who believe that they are on the wrong side of history, yet imagine that God is on ...

Feature

Prohibitions on Legal Abortion Are Not New

The Anti-Abortion Movement Has a Long History of Criminalizing Healthcare Providers

May 17, 2019 • by Lauren Gutterman

On Wednesday, May 15, 2019 Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed legislation that prohibits abortion in nearly all cases. This new law could punish doctors who perform abortions with up to ninety-nine years in prison. Doctors convicted of performing abortions will be categorized as Class A felons joining the ranks of those convicted ...

Prohibitions on Legal Abortion Are Not New

Education

Dynamic Symmetry: A Mathematical Structure in New School History

While Orozco’s murals now speak of the past, students at Parsons today continue to learn about the Modular sequence in architecture and other courses.

May 15, 2019 • by Jennifer Wilson

In his autobiography, José Clemente Orozco described his murals at the New School for Social Research as an opportunity to investigate the “geometric-aesthetic principles of the investigator Jay Hambidge.” Hambidge, an aspiring writer, was the inventor and proselytizer of a newly-popular compositional theory, Dynamic Symmetry. Orozco learned of Hambidge’s ideas through his ...

Dynamic Symmetry: A Mathematical Structure in New School History

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Electability, Caster Semenya, and Rachel Held Evans

Past Present Episode 179

May 14, 2019 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia discuss the concept of “electability,” the gender policing of South African runner Caster Semenya, and the legacy of Christian writer Rachel Held Evans. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: With over 20 Democratic candidates in the running, “ electability” is ...

Electability, Caster Semenya, and Rachel Held Evans

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Trump’s Emergency Is Part Of A Theatrical Tradition — And Congress Plays A Starring Role

In America, emergencies are normal. Whether they are real or not doesn’t seem to matter.

May 10, 2019 • by Ian Zuckerman

We in the United States are living under a state of emergency. But that’s nothing new. President Trump recently declared an emergency on the U.S./Mexico border, explaining that this was the quickest way to access funds for border wall construction that Congress had refused to appropriate. Some weeks later, Congress passed a ...

Trump’s Emergency Is Part Of A Theatrical Tradition — And Congress Plays A Starring Role

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Left Melancholy, Neoliberalism, and the Investee Condition

An interview with Michel Feher, author of Rated Agency: Investee Politics in a Speculative Age

May 10, 2019 • by Michel Feher

Public Seminar (PS): What motivated you to write Rated Agency? Michel Feher (MF): Well, three motivations probably. The first one, which is the longer one, comes from reading many years ago Foucault’s lectures on neoliberalism and then thinking through that from the Foucauldian perspective but also realizing soon that these lectures were delivered ...