Photograph by the author. BY ANNIKA HINZEAssistant professor of political science at Fordham University Identity is an incredibly complex concept. Each and every one of us is shaped by a myriad of different identities—individual and personal identities, such as the sports and foods that we like, and group identities, which can be related to different … More Space, identity, and Turkish Berlin
Victor Gruen’s Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota, was the first fully indoor shopping mall in the world. Photo credit: Bobak Ha’Eri via Creative Commons. BY DAVID SMILEYGraduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University In 1958, the Architectural League of New York held a photographic exhibit of new street furniture. Today, such an … More How the suburban U.S. shopping mall reimagined the city and undergirded architectural modernization
Penny A. Petersen is author of Minneapolis Madams, the surprising and riveting account of the Minneapolis red-light district in the late nineteenth century and the powerful madams who ran it. In their heyday Minneapolis brothels constituted a substantial economic and political force in the city. Penny digs deep into city archives, newspapers, and other sources … More Vignettes: 19th-century brothels and the lost history of prostitution on the Minneapolis riverfront.
Author Kathleen Nolan has studied what really happens when police patrol school hallways. Images from Creative Commons. BY KATHLEEN NOLANPrinceton University lecturer <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073741899 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal … More More guns in schools? An ethnographer’s perspective.
Street scene near Galleria Umberto, a public shopping gallery in Naples, southern Italy. Here, author Jason Pine discusses the city’s neomelodica music scene that makes celebrities out of young singers—and the politics of gaining such fame. BY JASON PINEAssistant professor of anthropology and media, society, and the arts at Purchase College, State University of New … More Counterfeit capitalism and the neomelodica scene in Naples
BY JOHN (JAY) ARENAAssistant professor of sociology at the City University of New York’s College of Staten Island Uncle Lionel with the Treme Brass Band. “Uncle Lionel” Batiste, the legendary bass drummer and iconic figure of New Orleans music and culture, died on July 8th at the age of 80. Uncle Lionel — whose image … More New Orleans’s "Uncle Lionel" Batiste: Feted in death, evicted after Katrina.
Heard of Phone Booth Libraries? They’ve been popping up around NYC thanks to the work of architect John Locke. Across the world, libraries struggling with dwindling budgets are finding creative ways to engage their communities. Image source. BY SHANNON MATTERNAssistant professor at The New School It was only a decade ago that America’s public libraries … More How do libraries keep up with their communities as their work changes with the times?
The Occupy San Francisco movement in full swing. Jessica Ellen Sewell recalls how just a century ago, women were using spaces elsewhere in the city to campaign for women’s suffrage. BY JESSICA ELLEN SEWELLMember of the School of Social Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey As I was leading a walking … More Occupy Wall Street: A reminder of how radical spatial politics have changed.
A Zurn plumbing pamphlet features men planning for 194X. An exhibit at MoMA has chosen to tackle the ways in which the post-9/11 era might mirror 194X in terms of architectural revolution. (Image from A New Era of Building is Only Marking Time, Erie, Penn., J.A. Zurn Manufacturing Company, 1944.) BY ANDREW SHANKENAssistant professor of … More 194X and 9/11: Are the repercussions really that easy to compare?
As zero-tolerance discipline policies have been instituted at high schools across the country, police officers are employed with increasing frequency to enforce behavior codes and maintain order, primarily at poorly performing, racially segregated urban schools. Actions that may once have sent students to the detention hall or resulted in their suspension may now introduce them … More Schools vs. Prisons: How zero-tolerance and other punitive disciplinary policies are hurting students
