"History is nothing if not a collection of antecedents, one leading to the next": Michael Schumacher on the 1968 election and the war for America’s soul.

August 15, 2018

BY MICHAEL SCHUMACHERExcerpt from The Contest: The 1968 Election and the War for America’s Soul***** A political campaign is a dehumanizing rite. Its only purpose is power, and tends to bring out the worst in men. Repetition, exhaustion, anxiety, and pressure must be endured cheerfully. Instincts have to be disguised. Sleep and privacy are elusive. … More "History is nothing if not a collection of antecedents, one leading to the next": Michael Schumacher on the 1968 election and the war for America’s soul.

Jack Zipes: "Fairy tales evolve and spread in strange ways."

August 3, 2018

BY JACK ZIPESUniversity of Minnesota I first came across Pyotr Yershov’s fairy-tale poem, The Little Humpbacked Horse, when I was preparing my fairy-tale postcards for publication in my book Tales of Wonder. Among the Russian postcards in my collection, I kept finding cards illustrating The Little Humpbacked Horse by different gifted artists, often with short texts … More Jack Zipes: "Fairy tales evolve and spread in strange ways."

Wildflowers Series #5: "All of it magical."

August 3, 2018

Churchill Greywacke and Mountain Avens at Cape Merryin Churchill, Manitoba. All photography by Kelly Povo. BY PHYLLIS ROOT AND KELLY POVO When we signed up for a class about subarctic wildflowers at the Northern Studies Centre in Churchill, Manitoba, we decided to drive rather than fly to Winnipeg where we would catch the plane to … More Wildflowers Series #5: "All of it magical."

2018: The Year of Haptics? (Part II of II)

July 25, 2018

David ParisiAssociate Professor of Emerging Media, College of Charleston——-Preceded by Part I.——- Historicizing Haptic Hype Also in 2018, amidst the billowing excitement over the latest wave of haptic devices and the growing anticipation for Ready Player One, I published Archaeologies of Touch: Interfacing with Haptics from Electricity to Computing, where I explicitly attempt to provide … More 2018: The Year of Haptics? (Part II of II)

2018: The Year of Haptics? (Part I of II)

July 25, 2018

David ParisiAssociate Professor of Emerging Media, College of Charleston Based on popular press accounts, 2018 has been the year when haptics technology finally hit it big: by featuring haptics tech prominently in its depiction of a fully embodied virtual reality, Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One—an adaption of Ernst Cline’s 2011 novel of the same title—sparked … More 2018: The Year of Haptics? (Part I of II)

Patricia Ticineto Clough: Why the cyborg can no longer be a figure of either politics or ontology.

July 19, 2018

BY PATRICIA TICINETO CLOUGHProfessor of sociology and women’s studies at the Graduate Center and Queens College, City University of New York Following the publication of The User Unconscious, I had the occasion to revisit Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” and found myself challenged to articulate the relevant differences between what is proposed in The User Unconscious … More Patricia Ticineto Clough: Why the cyborg can no longer be a figure of either politics or ontology.

On constitutive contradictions, LGBT citizenship, and the church.

July 13, 2018

In May 2018, students in Prof. Lorena Muñoz’s University of Minnesota graduate seminar “GWSS 8620: Geographies of Sexualities and Race: Economies, (Im)Migrations, and Borders” read and discussed David K. Seitz’s book, A House of Prayer for All People: Contesting Citizenship in a Queer Church. Prof. Muñoz’s seminar taught first monographs to help demystify the transition from … More On constitutive contradictions, LGBT citizenship, and the church.

Children. Before. Borders.

July 3, 2018

BY JOHN HULTGRENBennington College Academics are typically tasked with giving complex accounts of complex situations. We specialize in stories of nuance, where power operates with such subtlety that its movement through the social body requires explaining and unmasking. Simple explanations are to be suspect, as are prescriptions for immediate action. There are moments, however, when … More Children. Before. Borders.

On David Wojnarowicz, politics, and gestures.

July 3, 2018

BY LISA DIEDRICHProfessor of women’s and gender studies, State University of New York at Stony Brook Next week, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York will launch a major exhibition of the work of David Wojnarowicz, “History Keeps Me Awake at Night.” It notes that Wojnarowicz was “queer and HIV-positive” and an “impassioned … More On David Wojnarowicz, politics, and gestures.