Podcast appearances and mentions of Lilly J Goren

Political theorist Lori Marso has been intrigued by filmmaker Chantal Ackerman for many years and has integrated Ackerman's work into her courses at Union College and into her writings and scholarship as well. So it is no surprise that Feminism and the Cinema of Experience (Duke UP, 2024) is both an academic and a personal journey into Ackerman's work but also the ways in which Ackerman's work and similar kinds of artistry have made their way into our imaginations and our cinematic spaces. In Feminism and the Cinema of Experience Marso uses both Ackerman's cinematic work and the written work of Simone de Beauvoir to frame a variety of approaches to thinking about feminism and contemporary film. As Marso explains, Ackerman's work attends to and notices women's experiences, often with the kinds of cinematography that are used to explore these experiences in ways that make audiences a bit uncomfortable. Part of the thrust of Marso's analysis is interrogating what it means to “feel like a feminist.” This is an important component to the discussion in Feminism and the Cinema of Experience since this feeling may be a space where we are puzzled by what we actually do feel and we need to accept that we are alright sitting with that discomfort and with that inconclusive affect. Feminism and the Cinema of Experience explores the ways that cinema and film shift our senses, through what we see, hear, and the focus of our thinking. Film is also a profoundly emotional experience, especially if we are in a theater with others or viewing it in a community. The discussions that we have with others about what we have seen and experienced are political—this is a form of political engagement and a kind of democratic engagement. Marso provides the reader with different genres and categories that help us think about films within the broader framework at hand. And within these sections, many more contemporary films are put into conversation with Ackerman's work. Finally, Marso wrote an epilogue of a kind that brings Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie into the discussion as well. This is an important and thoughtful examination of contemporary cinema—but it is also a valuable analysis of feminism and feminist thought as we see it all around us, but particularly in narrative form on the silver screen. Feminism and the Cinema of Experience is fascinating, engaging, and opens doors to new and different ways of thinking and seeing and experiencing. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political theorist Lori Marso has been intrigued by filmmaker Chantal Ackerman for many years and has integrated Ackerman's work into her courses at Union College and into her writings and scholarship as well. So it is no surprise that Feminism and the Cinema of Experience (Duke UP, 2024) is both an academic and a personal journey into Ackerman's work but also the ways in which Ackerman's work and similar kinds of artistry have made their way into our imaginations and our cinematic spaces. In Feminism and the Cinema of Experience Marso uses both Ackerman's cinematic work and the written work of Simone de Beauvoir to frame a variety of approaches to thinking about feminism and contemporary film. As Marso explains, Ackerman's work attends to and notices women's experiences, often with the kinds of cinematography that are used to explore these experiences in ways that make audiences a bit uncomfortable. Part of the thrust of Marso's analysis is interrogating what it means to “feel like a feminist.” This is an important component to the discussion in Feminism and the Cinema of Experience since this feeling may be a space where we are puzzled by what we actually do feel and we need to accept that we are alright sitting with that discomfort and with that inconclusive affect. Feminism and the Cinema of Experience explores the ways that cinema and film shift our senses, through what we see, hear, and the focus of our thinking. Film is also a profoundly emotional experience, especially if we are in a theater with others or viewing it in a community. The discussions that we have with others about what we have seen and experienced are political—this is a form of political engagement and a kind of democratic engagement. Marso provides the reader with different genres and categories that help us think about films within the broader framework at hand. And within these sections, many more contemporary films are put into conversation with Ackerman's work. Finally, Marso wrote an epilogue of a kind that brings Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie into the discussion as well. This is an important and thoughtful examination of contemporary cinema—but it is also a valuable analysis of feminism and feminist thought as we see it all around us, but particularly in narrative form on the silver screen. Feminism and the Cinema of Experience is fascinating, engaging, and opens doors to new and different ways of thinking and seeing and experiencing. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

Political theorist Lori Marso has been intrigued by filmmaker Chantal Ackerman for many years and has integrated Ackerman's work into her courses at Union College and into her writings and scholarship as well. So it is no surprise that Feminism and the Cinema of Experience (Duke UP, 2024) is both an academic and a personal journey into Ackerman's work but also the ways in which Ackerman's work and similar kinds of artistry have made their way into our imaginations and our cinematic spaces. In Feminism and the Cinema of Experience Marso uses both Ackerman's cinematic work and the written work of Simone de Beauvoir to frame a variety of approaches to thinking about feminism and contemporary film. As Marso explains, Ackerman's work attends to and notices women's experiences, often with the kinds of cinematography that are used to explore these experiences in ways that make audiences a bit uncomfortable. Part of the thrust of Marso's analysis is interrogating what it means to “feel like a feminist.” This is an important component to the discussion in Feminism and the Cinema of Experience since this feeling may be a space where we are puzzled by what we actually do feel and we need to accept that we are alright sitting with that discomfort and with that inconclusive affect. Feminism and the Cinema of Experience explores the ways that cinema and film shift our senses, through what we see, hear, and the focus of our thinking. Film is also a profoundly emotional experience, especially if we are in a theater with others or viewing it in a community. The discussions that we have with others about what we have seen and experienced are political—this is a form of political engagement and a kind of democratic engagement. Marso provides the reader with different genres and categories that help us think about films within the broader framework at hand. And within these sections, many more contemporary films are put into conversation with Ackerman's work. Finally, Marso wrote an epilogue of a kind that brings Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie into the discussion as well. This is an important and thoughtful examination of contemporary cinema—but it is also a valuable analysis of feminism and feminist thought as we see it all around us, but particularly in narrative form on the silver screen. Feminism and the Cinema of Experience is fascinating, engaging, and opens doors to new and different ways of thinking and seeing and experiencing. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/film

Political theorist Lori Marso has been intrigued by filmmaker Chantal Ackerman for many years and has integrated Ackerman's work into her courses at Union College and into her writings and scholarship as well. So it is no surprise that Feminism and the Cinema of Experience (Duke UP, 2024) is both an academic and a personal journey into Ackerman's work but also the ways in which Ackerman's work and similar kinds of artistry have made their way into our imaginations and our cinematic spaces. In Feminism and the Cinema of Experience Marso uses both Ackerman's cinematic work and the written work of Simone de Beauvoir to frame a variety of approaches to thinking about feminism and contemporary film. As Marso explains, Ackerman's work attends to and notices women's experiences, often with the kinds of cinematography that are used to explore these experiences in ways that make audiences a bit uncomfortable. Part of the thrust of Marso's analysis is interrogating what it means to “feel like a feminist.” This is an important component to the discussion in Feminism and the Cinema of Experience since this feeling may be a space where we are puzzled by what we actually do feel and we need to accept that we are alright sitting with that discomfort and with that inconclusive affect. Feminism and the Cinema of Experience explores the ways that cinema and film shift our senses, through what we see, hear, and the focus of our thinking. Film is also a profoundly emotional experience, especially if we are in a theater with others or viewing it in a community. The discussions that we have with others about what we have seen and experienced are political—this is a form of political engagement and a kind of democratic engagement. Marso provides the reader with different genres and categories that help us think about films within the broader framework at hand. And within these sections, many more contemporary films are put into conversation with Ackerman's work. Finally, Marso wrote an epilogue of a kind that brings Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie into the discussion as well. This is an important and thoughtful examination of contemporary cinema—but it is also a valuable analysis of feminism and feminist thought as we see it all around us, but particularly in narrative form on the silver screen. Feminism and the Cinema of Experience is fascinating, engaging, and opens doors to new and different ways of thinking and seeing and experiencing. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Political theorist Lori Marso has been intrigued by filmmaker Chantal Ackerman for many years and has integrated Ackerman's work into her courses at Union College and into her writings and scholarship as well. So it is no surprise that Feminism and the Cinema of Experience (Duke UP, 2024) is both an academic and a personal journey into Ackerman's work but also the ways in which Ackerman's work and similar kinds of artistry have made their way into our imaginations and our cinematic spaces. In Feminism and the Cinema of Experience Marso uses both Ackerman's cinematic work and the written work of Simone de Beauvoir to frame a variety of approaches to thinking about feminism and contemporary film. As Marso explains, Ackerman's work attends to and notices women's experiences, often with the kinds of cinematography that are used to explore these experiences in ways that make audiences a bit uncomfortable. Part of the thrust of Marso's analysis is interrogating what it means to “feel like a feminist.” This is an important component to the discussion in Feminism and the Cinema of Experience since this feeling may be a space where we are puzzled by what we actually do feel and we need to accept that we are alright sitting with that discomfort and with that inconclusive affect. Feminism and the Cinema of Experience explores the ways that cinema and film shift our senses, through what we see, hear, and the focus of our thinking. Film is also a profoundly emotional experience, especially if we are in a theater with others or viewing it in a community. The discussions that we have with others about what we have seen and experienced are political—this is a form of political engagement and a kind of democratic engagement. Marso provides the reader with different genres and categories that help us think about films within the broader framework at hand. And within these sections, many more contemporary films are put into conversation with Ackerman's work. Finally, Marso wrote an epilogue of a kind that brings Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie into the discussion as well. This is an important and thoughtful examination of contemporary cinema—but it is also a valuable analysis of feminism and feminist thought as we see it all around us, but particularly in narrative form on the silver screen. Feminism and the Cinema of Experience is fascinating, engaging, and opens doors to new and different ways of thinking and seeing and experiencing. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices and Dynamics (Routledge, 2025) is an excellent edited volume exploring the various ways in which governments and constitutional structures operate in the spaces that are not necessarily articulated in law, edict, or formal documents. This is not a text about the folks who gathered together in 1787 in Philadelphia, or even those who wrote new constitutional structures after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Conventions means the rules that govern the interactions between political actors and the governments they inhabit. In many ways, this refers to the kinds of norms that have grown up around different parts of the systems of government. The strength and endurance of those rules or norms can change over time and in response to crises or dynamic changes. Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices, and Dynamics explores these thick and thin dimensions of the governing structures from a comparative perspective, taking up Anglo and American systems in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The book also examines the cases of Hungary and Czechia (the Czech Republic), two post-Cold War systems; and finally, also, China. In considering these constitutional conventions, we can think of them as structures or engagement that is not enforced by the courts, since these are not, per se, written constitutional laws. In long standing liberal democracies, there is an inclination towards adhering to conventions. But when these conventions are under strain, how they work, or maintain “regular order” becomes a critical test within the established governmental systems. Constitutional Conventions provides another dimension of significant interest in the discussion of how China works within these kinds of conventions within the process in which political individuals come up through the governmental and party systems and move into leadership roles. The comparative case study of Hungary and Czechia indicates that even in somewhat similar structures, the conventions and norms are not always the same. Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices, and Dynamics is an important analysis of the ways in which governmental structures work beyond what is written or built as the official system. The discussions cover theoretical, practical, and comparative dimensions of our understandings of the processes and functions of governments. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or send her missives at Bluesky @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices and Dynamics (Routledge, 2025) is an excellent edited volume exploring the various ways in which governments and constitutional structures operate in the spaces that are not necessarily articulated in law, edict, or formal documents. This is not a text about the folks who gathered together in 1787 in Philadelphia, or even those who wrote new constitutional structures after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Conventions means the rules that govern the interactions between political actors and the governments they inhabit. In many ways, this refers to the kinds of norms that have grown up around different parts of the systems of government. The strength and endurance of those rules or norms can change over time and in response to crises or dynamic changes. Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices, and Dynamics explores these thick and thin dimensions of the governing structures from a comparative perspective, taking up Anglo and American systems in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The book also examines the cases of Hungary and Czechia (the Czech Republic), two post-Cold War systems; and finally, also, China. In considering these constitutional conventions, we can think of them as structures or engagement that is not enforced by the courts, since these are not, per se, written constitutional laws. In long standing liberal democracies, there is an inclination towards adhering to conventions. But when these conventions are under strain, how they work, or maintain “regular order” becomes a critical test within the established governmental systems. Constitutional Conventions provides another dimension of significant interest in the discussion of how China works within these kinds of conventions within the process in which political individuals come up through the governmental and party systems and move into leadership roles. The comparative case study of Hungary and Czechia indicates that even in somewhat similar structures, the conventions and norms are not always the same. Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices, and Dynamics is an important analysis of the ways in which governmental structures work beyond what is written or built as the official system. The discussions cover theoretical, practical, and comparative dimensions of our understandings of the processes and functions of governments. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or send her missives at Bluesky @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices and Dynamics (Routledge, 2025) is an excellent edited volume exploring the various ways in which governments and constitutional structures operate in the spaces that are not necessarily articulated in law, edict, or formal documents. This is not a text about the folks who gathered together in 1787 in Philadelphia, or even those who wrote new constitutional structures after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Conventions means the rules that govern the interactions between political actors and the governments they inhabit. In many ways, this refers to the kinds of norms that have grown up around different parts of the systems of government. The strength and endurance of those rules or norms can change over time and in response to crises or dynamic changes. Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices, and Dynamics explores these thick and thin dimensions of the governing structures from a comparative perspective, taking up Anglo and American systems in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The book also examines the cases of Hungary and Czechia (the Czech Republic), two post-Cold War systems; and finally, also, China. In considering these constitutional conventions, we can think of them as structures or engagement that is not enforced by the courts, since these are not, per se, written constitutional laws. In long standing liberal democracies, there is an inclination towards adhering to conventions. But when these conventions are under strain, how they work, or maintain “regular order” becomes a critical test within the established governmental systems. Constitutional Conventions provides another dimension of significant interest in the discussion of how China works within these kinds of conventions within the process in which political individuals come up through the governmental and party systems and move into leadership roles. The comparative case study of Hungary and Czechia indicates that even in somewhat similar structures, the conventions and norms are not always the same. Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices, and Dynamics is an important analysis of the ways in which governmental structures work beyond what is written or built as the official system. The discussions cover theoretical, practical, and comparative dimensions of our understandings of the processes and functions of governments. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or send her missives at Bluesky @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices and Dynamics (Routledge, 2025) is an excellent edited volume exploring the various ways in which governments and constitutional structures operate in the spaces that are not necessarily articulated in law, edict, or formal documents. This is not a text about the folks who gathered together in 1787 in Philadelphia, or even those who wrote new constitutional structures after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Conventions means the rules that govern the interactions between political actors and the governments they inhabit. In many ways, this refers to the kinds of norms that have grown up around different parts of the systems of government. The strength and endurance of those rules or norms can change over time and in response to crises or dynamic changes. Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices, and Dynamics explores these thick and thin dimensions of the governing structures from a comparative perspective, taking up Anglo and American systems in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The book also examines the cases of Hungary and Czechia (the Czech Republic), two post-Cold War systems; and finally, also, China. In considering these constitutional conventions, we can think of them as structures or engagement that is not enforced by the courts, since these are not, per se, written constitutional laws. In long standing liberal democracies, there is an inclination towards adhering to conventions. But when these conventions are under strain, how they work, or maintain “regular order” becomes a critical test within the established governmental systems. Constitutional Conventions provides another dimension of significant interest in the discussion of how China works within these kinds of conventions within the process in which political individuals come up through the governmental and party systems and move into leadership roles. The comparative case study of Hungary and Czechia indicates that even in somewhat similar structures, the conventions and norms are not always the same. Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices, and Dynamics is an important analysis of the ways in which governmental structures work beyond what is written or built as the official system. The discussions cover theoretical, practical, and comparative dimensions of our understandings of the processes and functions of governments. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or send her missives at Bluesky @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices and Dynamics (Routledge, 2025) is an excellent edited volume exploring the various ways in which governments and constitutional structures operate in the spaces that are not necessarily articulated in law, edict, or formal documents. This is not a text about the folks who gathered together in 1787 in Philadelphia, or even those who wrote new constitutional structures after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Conventions means the rules that govern the interactions between political actors and the governments they inhabit. In many ways, this refers to the kinds of norms that have grown up around different parts of the systems of government. The strength and endurance of those rules or norms can change over time and in response to crises or dynamic changes. Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices, and Dynamics explores these thick and thin dimensions of the governing structures from a comparative perspective, taking up Anglo and American systems in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The book also examines the cases of Hungary and Czechia (the Czech Republic), two post-Cold War systems; and finally, also, China. In considering these constitutional conventions, we can think of them as structures or engagement that is not enforced by the courts, since these are not, per se, written constitutional laws. In long standing liberal democracies, there is an inclination towards adhering to conventions. But when these conventions are under strain, how they work, or maintain “regular order” becomes a critical test within the established governmental systems. Constitutional Conventions provides another dimension of significant interest in the discussion of how China works within these kinds of conventions within the process in which political individuals come up through the governmental and party systems and move into leadership roles. The comparative case study of Hungary and Czechia indicates that even in somewhat similar structures, the conventions and norms are not always the same. Constitutional Conventions: Theories, Practices, and Dynamics is an important analysis of the ways in which governmental structures work beyond what is written or built as the official system. The discussions cover theoretical, practical, and comparative dimensions of our understandings of the processes and functions of governments. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or send her missives at Bluesky @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law

Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time of Crisis takes on the idea and terminology of freedom, examining our understanding of this concept and our relationship to the word itself as well as what it means to society, culture, and politics. Randy Laist and Brian A. Dixon, two scholars who often explore popular culture to better understand the society and politics all around us, have brought their admirable skills to Figures of Freedom, where they have assembled a broad array of contributors exploring freedom in a host of different venues and artifacts. The thrust of the book is to examine representations of freedom in the early 21st century, and the authors look at this evolving nature of freedom in popular culture 21st century texts, where they trace this shifting discourse across time and geography. Broad questions are at the heart of Figures of Freedom: who gets to be free? What is freedom? How does freedom work or play out in different situations and settings? Is freedom itself an archaic idea in the face of rising dictatorships and authoritarian governments, where voices of freedom are being silenced? Freedom is often a concept and term that one understands from an individualistic perspective—my freedom is constrained by governmental actions or limited by societal norms or protected by the Bill of Rights. Liberty, which is often connected to freedom, especially in American discourse, is considered by these authors as more communal, and as part of a delicate balance within the U.S. constitutional system, but the advocacy for individual freedom has eclipsed liberty in the 21st century. Laist and Dixon frame their book by examining some of the facets of freedom, which may be ugly (Elizabeth Anker's conception in her 2022 book), or masculinized (Linda Zerilli's idea in her 2005 book), or colonial (Mimi Thi Nguyen thoughts in her 2012 book), or otherwise characterized by some quality constraining some dimensions of freedom. The contributing authors take up many of these concepts and use them to explore these ideas within a variety of narrative popular culture artifacts from the first part of the 21st century. These include, but are not limited to, Matthew Weiner's television series Mad Men, Don DeLillo's Zero K, Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, Ta-Nehisi Coate's Between the World and Me, Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad, Pixar's Toy Story films, Sam Esmail's television series Mr. Robot, and many more. Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time on Crisis wrestles with what it means to be free and how we, as citizens, consume this idea through many of our cultural artifacts. At times, we may feel free but are, in fact, limited by unseen or unknown political, cultural, or societal constraints. Laist and Dixon compel us to consider our own understanding of freedom, particular in context of the idea of liberty, and how these ideas are shaped and shifted by the world around us, especially in the ways we see freedom represented within film and literary narratives. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). Email her at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky: @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time of Crisis takes on the idea and terminology of freedom, examining our understanding of this concept and our relationship to the word itself as well as what it means to society, culture, and politics. Randy Laist and Brian A. Dixon, two scholars who often explore popular culture to better understand the society and politics all around us, have brought their admirable skills to Figures of Freedom, where they have assembled a broad array of contributors exploring freedom in a host of different venues and artifacts. The thrust of the book is to examine representations of freedom in the early 21st century, and the authors look at this evolving nature of freedom in popular culture 21st century texts, where they trace this shifting discourse across time and geography. Broad questions are at the heart of Figures of Freedom: who gets to be free? What is freedom? How does freedom work or play out in different situations and settings? Is freedom itself an archaic idea in the face of rising dictatorships and authoritarian governments, where voices of freedom are being silenced? Freedom is often a concept and term that one understands from an individualistic perspective—my freedom is constrained by governmental actions or limited by societal norms or protected by the Bill of Rights. Liberty, which is often connected to freedom, especially in American discourse, is considered by these authors as more communal, and as part of a delicate balance within the U.S. constitutional system, but the advocacy for individual freedom has eclipsed liberty in the 21st century. Laist and Dixon frame their book by examining some of the facets of freedom, which may be ugly (Elizabeth Anker's conception in her 2022 book), or masculinized (Linda Zerilli's idea in her 2005 book), or colonial (Mimi Thi Nguyen thoughts in her 2012 book), or otherwise characterized by some quality constraining some dimensions of freedom. The contributing authors take up many of these concepts and use them to explore these ideas within a variety of narrative popular culture artifacts from the first part of the 21st century. These include, but are not limited to, Matthew Weiner's television series Mad Men, Don DeLillo's Zero K, Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, Ta-Nehisi Coate's Between the World and Me, Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad, Pixar's Toy Story films, Sam Esmail's television series Mr. Robot, and many more. Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time on Crisis wrestles with what it means to be free and how we, as citizens, consume this idea through many of our cultural artifacts. At times, we may feel free but are, in fact, limited by unseen or unknown political, cultural, or societal constraints. Laist and Dixon compel us to consider our own understanding of freedom, particular in context of the idea of liberty, and how these ideas are shaped and shifted by the world around us, especially in the ways we see freedom represented within film and literary narratives. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). Email her at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky: @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time of Crisis takes on the idea and terminology of freedom, examining our understanding of this concept and our relationship to the word itself as well as what it means to society, culture, and politics. Randy Laist and Brian A. Dixon, two scholars who often explore popular culture to better understand the society and politics all around us, have brought their admirable skills to Figures of Freedom, where they have assembled a broad array of contributors exploring freedom in a host of different venues and artifacts. The thrust of the book is to examine representations of freedom in the early 21st century, and the authors look at this evolving nature of freedom in popular culture 21st century texts, where they trace this shifting discourse across time and geography. Broad questions are at the heart of Figures of Freedom: who gets to be free? What is freedom? How does freedom work or play out in different situations and settings? Is freedom itself an archaic idea in the face of rising dictatorships and authoritarian governments, where voices of freedom are being silenced? Freedom is often a concept and term that one understands from an individualistic perspective—my freedom is constrained by governmental actions or limited by societal norms or protected by the Bill of Rights. Liberty, which is often connected to freedom, especially in American discourse, is considered by these authors as more communal, and as part of a delicate balance within the U.S. constitutional system, but the advocacy for individual freedom has eclipsed liberty in the 21st century. Laist and Dixon frame their book by examining some of the facets of freedom, which may be ugly (Elizabeth Anker's conception in her 2022 book), or masculinized (Linda Zerilli's idea in her 2005 book), or colonial (Mimi Thi Nguyen thoughts in her 2012 book), or otherwise characterized by some quality constraining some dimensions of freedom. The contributing authors take up many of these concepts and use them to explore these ideas within a variety of narrative popular culture artifacts from the first part of the 21st century. These include, but are not limited to, Matthew Weiner's television series Mad Men, Don DeLillo's Zero K, Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, Ta-Nehisi Coate's Between the World and Me, Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad, Pixar's Toy Story films, Sam Esmail's television series Mr. Robot, and many more. Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time on Crisis wrestles with what it means to be free and how we, as citizens, consume this idea through many of our cultural artifacts. At times, we may feel free but are, in fact, limited by unseen or unknown political, cultural, or societal constraints. Laist and Dixon compel us to consider our own understanding of freedom, particular in context of the idea of liberty, and how these ideas are shaped and shifted by the world around us, especially in the ways we see freedom represented within film and literary narratives. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). Email her at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky: @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time of Crisis takes on the idea and terminology of freedom, examining our understanding of this concept and our relationship to the word itself as well as what it means to society, culture, and politics. Randy Laist and Brian A. Dixon, two scholars who often explore popular culture to better understand the society and politics all around us, have brought their admirable skills to Figures of Freedom, where they have assembled a broad array of contributors exploring freedom in a host of different venues and artifacts. The thrust of the book is to examine representations of freedom in the early 21st century, and the authors look at this evolving nature of freedom in popular culture 21st century texts, where they trace this shifting discourse across time and geography. Broad questions are at the heart of Figures of Freedom: who gets to be free? What is freedom? How does freedom work or play out in different situations and settings? Is freedom itself an archaic idea in the face of rising dictatorships and authoritarian governments, where voices of freedom are being silenced? Freedom is often a concept and term that one understands from an individualistic perspective—my freedom is constrained by governmental actions or limited by societal norms or protected by the Bill of Rights. Liberty, which is often connected to freedom, especially in American discourse, is considered by these authors as more communal, and as part of a delicate balance within the U.S. constitutional system, but the advocacy for individual freedom has eclipsed liberty in the 21st century. Laist and Dixon frame their book by examining some of the facets of freedom, which may be ugly (Elizabeth Anker's conception in her 2022 book), or masculinized (Linda Zerilli's idea in her 2005 book), or colonial (Mimi Thi Nguyen thoughts in her 2012 book), or otherwise characterized by some quality constraining some dimensions of freedom. The contributing authors take up many of these concepts and use them to explore these ideas within a variety of narrative popular culture artifacts from the first part of the 21st century. These include, but are not limited to, Matthew Weiner's television series Mad Men, Don DeLillo's Zero K, Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, Ta-Nehisi Coate's Between the World and Me, Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad, Pixar's Toy Story films, Sam Esmail's television series Mr. Robot, and many more. Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time on Crisis wrestles with what it means to be free and how we, as citizens, consume this idea through many of our cultural artifacts. At times, we may feel free but are, in fact, limited by unseen or unknown political, cultural, or societal constraints. Laist and Dixon compel us to consider our own understanding of freedom, particular in context of the idea of liberty, and how these ideas are shaped and shifted by the world around us, especially in the ways we see freedom represented within film and literary narratives. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). Email her at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky: @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time of Crisis takes on the idea and terminology of freedom, examining our understanding of this concept and our relationship to the word itself as well as what it means to society, culture, and politics. Randy Laist and Brian A. Dixon, two scholars who often explore popular culture to better understand the society and politics all around us, have brought their admirable skills to Figures of Freedom, where they have assembled a broad array of contributors exploring freedom in a host of different venues and artifacts. The thrust of the book is to examine representations of freedom in the early 21st century, and the authors look at this evolving nature of freedom in popular culture 21st century texts, where they trace this shifting discourse across time and geography. Broad questions are at the heart of Figures of Freedom: who gets to be free? What is freedom? How does freedom work or play out in different situations and settings? Is freedom itself an archaic idea in the face of rising dictatorships and authoritarian governments, where voices of freedom are being silenced? Freedom is often a concept and term that one understands from an individualistic perspective—my freedom is constrained by governmental actions or limited by societal norms or protected by the Bill of Rights. Liberty, which is often connected to freedom, especially in American discourse, is considered by these authors as more communal, and as part of a delicate balance within the U.S. constitutional system, but the advocacy for individual freedom has eclipsed liberty in the 21st century. Laist and Dixon frame their book by examining some of the facets of freedom, which may be ugly (Elizabeth Anker's conception in her 2022 book), or masculinized (Linda Zerilli's idea in her 2005 book), or colonial (Mimi Thi Nguyen thoughts in her 2012 book), or otherwise characterized by some quality constraining some dimensions of freedom. The contributing authors take up many of these concepts and use them to explore these ideas within a variety of narrative popular culture artifacts from the first part of the 21st century. These include, but are not limited to, Matthew Weiner's television series Mad Men, Don DeLillo's Zero K, Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, Ta-Nehisi Coate's Between the World and Me, Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad, Pixar's Toy Story films, Sam Esmail's television series Mr. Robot, and many more. Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time on Crisis wrestles with what it means to be free and how we, as citizens, consume this idea through many of our cultural artifacts. At times, we may feel free but are, in fact, limited by unseen or unknown political, cultural, or societal constraints. Laist and Dixon compel us to consider our own understanding of freedom, particular in context of the idea of liberty, and how these ideas are shaped and shifted by the world around us, especially in the ways we see freedom represented within film and literary narratives. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). Email her at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky: @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time of Crisis takes on the idea and terminology of freedom, examining our understanding of this concept and our relationship to the word itself as well as what it means to society, culture, and politics. Randy Laist and Brian A. Dixon, two scholars who often explore popular culture to better understand the society and politics all around us, have brought their admirable skills to Figures of Freedom, where they have assembled a broad array of contributors exploring freedom in a host of different venues and artifacts. The thrust of the book is to examine representations of freedom in the early 21st century, and the authors look at this evolving nature of freedom in popular culture 21st century texts, where they trace this shifting discourse across time and geography. Broad questions are at the heart of Figures of Freedom: who gets to be free? What is freedom? How does freedom work or play out in different situations and settings? Is freedom itself an archaic idea in the face of rising dictatorships and authoritarian governments, where voices of freedom are being silenced? Freedom is often a concept and term that one understands from an individualistic perspective—my freedom is constrained by governmental actions or limited by societal norms or protected by the Bill of Rights. Liberty, which is often connected to freedom, especially in American discourse, is considered by these authors as more communal, and as part of a delicate balance within the U.S. constitutional system, but the advocacy for individual freedom has eclipsed liberty in the 21st century. Laist and Dixon frame their book by examining some of the facets of freedom, which may be ugly (Elizabeth Anker's conception in her 2022 book), or masculinized (Linda Zerilli's idea in her 2005 book), or colonial (Mimi Thi Nguyen thoughts in her 2012 book), or otherwise characterized by some quality constraining some dimensions of freedom. The contributing authors take up many of these concepts and use them to explore these ideas within a variety of narrative popular culture artifacts from the first part of the 21st century. These include, but are not limited to, Matthew Weiner's television series Mad Men, Don DeLillo's Zero K, Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, Ta-Nehisi Coate's Between the World and Me, Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad, Pixar's Toy Story films, Sam Esmail's television series Mr. Robot, and many more. Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time on Crisis wrestles with what it means to be free and how we, as citizens, consume this idea through many of our cultural artifacts. At times, we may feel free but are, in fact, limited by unseen or unknown political, cultural, or societal constraints. Laist and Dixon compel us to consider our own understanding of freedom, particular in context of the idea of liberty, and how these ideas are shaped and shifted by the world around us, especially in the ways we see freedom represented within film and literary narratives. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). Email her at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky: @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time of Crisis takes on the idea and terminology of freedom, examining our understanding of this concept and our relationship to the word itself as well as what it means to society, culture, and politics. Randy Laist and Brian A. Dixon, two scholars who often explore popular culture to better understand the society and politics all around us, have brought their admirable skills to Figures of Freedom, where they have assembled a broad array of contributors exploring freedom in a host of different venues and artifacts. The thrust of the book is to examine representations of freedom in the early 21st century, and the authors look at this evolving nature of freedom in popular culture 21st century texts, where they trace this shifting discourse across time and geography. Broad questions are at the heart of Figures of Freedom: who gets to be free? What is freedom? How does freedom work or play out in different situations and settings? Is freedom itself an archaic idea in the face of rising dictatorships and authoritarian governments, where voices of freedom are being silenced? Freedom is often a concept and term that one understands from an individualistic perspective—my freedom is constrained by governmental actions or limited by societal norms or protected by the Bill of Rights. Liberty, which is often connected to freedom, especially in American discourse, is considered by these authors as more communal, and as part of a delicate balance within the U.S. constitutional system, but the advocacy for individual freedom has eclipsed liberty in the 21st century. Laist and Dixon frame their book by examining some of the facets of freedom, which may be ugly (Elizabeth Anker's conception in her 2022 book), or masculinized (Linda Zerilli's idea in her 2005 book), or colonial (Mimi Thi Nguyen thoughts in her 2012 book), or otherwise characterized by some quality constraining some dimensions of freedom. The contributing authors take up many of these concepts and use them to explore these ideas within a variety of narrative popular culture artifacts from the first part of the 21st century. These include, but are not limited to, Matthew Weiner's television series Mad Men, Don DeLillo's Zero K, Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, Ta-Nehisi Coate's Between the World and Me, Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad, Pixar's Toy Story films, Sam Esmail's television series Mr. Robot, and many more. Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time on Crisis wrestles with what it means to be free and how we, as citizens, consume this idea through many of our cultural artifacts. At times, we may feel free but are, in fact, limited by unseen or unknown political, cultural, or societal constraints. Laist and Dixon compel us to consider our own understanding of freedom, particular in context of the idea of liberty, and how these ideas are shaped and shifted by the world around us, especially in the ways we see freedom represented within film and literary narratives. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). Email her at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky: @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/popular-culture

Political Theorist Fernanda Gallo (Homerton College, University of Cambridge) has a fascinating new book, Hegel and Italian Political Thought: The Practice of Ideas, 1832-1900 (Cambridge UP, 2024), about how Georg Hegel's philosophical thought made its way to Italy and how it was integrated into the various schools of thought within Italy. This is a fascinating exploration of the history of ideas, especially more recent thinking, tracing not only the ideas themselves, but the ways in which they were adapted by different theorists and cultural approaches. Gallo provides the reader with deep historical insights alongside the explication of complex theoretical understandings, noting how ideas travel across language, time, geography, and cultures. Gallo's project here is to weave together history, politics, and ideas more fully to understand ideas in different spaces, providing a transnational perspective of Hegel's thinking and how it evolved in other places, with other thinkers. Italy often finds itself the “forgotten stepchild” in political theory, even though it sits at the intersection of the global North and South, as well as the global East and global West, where ideas from different parts of the world intertwine with each other. The physical space where Italy is located provides this connectivity not only between geographical regions and ideas, but it is also where goods are exchanged alongside intellectual ideas. One of the key lines of interrogation in Hegel and Italian Political Thought is how Hegelian ideas were put into practice in different parts of Italy and what those ideas looked like in practice. For Italy, given the regional distinctions and the seven different states within the peninsula in the early 1800s, Hegel's ideas contributed to a variety of paths towards nation and state building. Gallo examines the ways in which many of the Italian intellectuals during this period were also politicians involved in their respective states, and many of them looked towards Hegel's considerations, mixing them with Italian culture, to rethink how Italy should be structured to function as a modern nation-state, or an array of states within the nation. Gallo and I have a great conversation about the interweaving of Hegel with Italian political thought. We also discuss the rise of the mafia in southern Italy during this period, and how this is connected to these broader ideas of the state's monopoly on violence, issues of freedom and liberty, and how power and power vacuums contribute to the form of the state. This is a lively discussion of the history of ideas, the particular dimensions of Italy and Italian political thought and praxis, Hegel's concepts that apply to the state, and what we can learn from how all of these components were woven together during the 19th century in the Mediterranean. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky @gorenlj.bsky.social. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Political Theorist Fernanda Gallo (Homerton College, University of Cambridge) has a fascinating new book, Hegel and Italian Political Thought: The Practice of Ideas, 1832-1900 (Cambridge UP, 2024), about how Georg Hegel's philosophical thought made its way to Italy and how it was integrated into the various schools of thought within Italy. This is a fascinating exploration of the history of ideas, especially more recent thinking, tracing not only the ideas themselves, but the ways in which they were adapted by different theorists and cultural approaches. Gallo provides the reader with deep historical insights alongside the explication of complex theoretical understandings, noting how ideas travel across language, time, geography, and cultures. Gallo's project here is to weave together history, politics, and ideas more fully to understand ideas in different spaces, providing a transnational perspective of Hegel's thinking and how it evolved in other places, with other thinkers. Italy often finds itself the “forgotten stepchild” in political theory, even though it sits at the intersection of the global North and South, as well as the global East and global West, where ideas from different parts of the world intertwine with each other. The physical space where Italy is located provides this connectivity not only between geographical regions and ideas, but it is also where goods are exchanged alongside intellectual ideas. One of the key lines of interrogation in Hegel and Italian Political Thought is how Hegelian ideas were put into practice in different parts of Italy and what those ideas looked like in practice. For Italy, given the regional distinctions and the seven different states within the peninsula in the early 1800s, Hegel's ideas contributed to a variety of paths towards nation and state building. Gallo examines the ways in which many of the Italian intellectuals during this period were also politicians involved in their respective states, and many of them looked towards Hegel's considerations, mixing them with Italian culture, to rethink how Italy should be structured to function as a modern nation-state, or an array of states within the nation. Gallo and I have a great conversation about the interweaving of Hegel with Italian political thought. We also discuss the rise of the mafia in southern Italy during this period, and how this is connected to these broader ideas of the state's monopoly on violence, issues of freedom and liberty, and how power and power vacuums contribute to the form of the state. This is a lively discussion of the history of ideas, the particular dimensions of Italy and Italian political thought and praxis, Hegel's concepts that apply to the state, and what we can learn from how all of these components were woven together during the 19th century in the Mediterranean. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky @gorenlj.bsky.social.

Political Theorist Fernanda Gallo (Homerton College, University of Cambridge) has a fascinating new book, Hegel and Italian Political Thought: The Practice of Ideas, 1832-1900 (Cambridge UP, 2024), about how Georg Hegel's philosophical thought made its way to Italy and how it was integrated into the various schools of thought within Italy. This is a fascinating exploration of the history of ideas, especially more recent thinking, tracing not only the ideas themselves, but the ways in which they were adapted by different theorists and cultural approaches. Gallo provides the reader with deep historical insights alongside the explication of complex theoretical understandings, noting how ideas travel across language, time, geography, and cultures. Gallo's project here is to weave together history, politics, and ideas more fully to understand ideas in different spaces, providing a transnational perspective of Hegel's thinking and how it evolved in other places, with other thinkers. Italy often finds itself the “forgotten stepchild” in political theory, even though it sits at the intersection of the global North and South, as well as the global East and global West, where ideas from different parts of the world intertwine with each other. The physical space where Italy is located provides this connectivity not only between geographical regions and ideas, but it is also where goods are exchanged alongside intellectual ideas. One of the key lines of interrogation in Hegel and Italian Political Thought is how Hegelian ideas were put into practice in different parts of Italy and what those ideas looked like in practice. For Italy, given the regional distinctions and the seven different states within the peninsula in the early 1800s, Hegel's ideas contributed to a variety of paths towards nation and state building. Gallo examines the ways in which many of the Italian intellectuals during this period were also politicians involved in their respective states, and many of them looked towards Hegel's considerations, mixing them with Italian culture, to rethink how Italy should be structured to function as a modern nation-state, or an array of states within the nation. Gallo and I have a great conversation about the interweaving of Hegel with Italian political thought. We also discuss the rise of the mafia in southern Italy during this period, and how this is connected to these broader ideas of the state's monopoly on violence, issues of freedom and liberty, and how power and power vacuums contribute to the form of the state. This is a lively discussion of the history of ideas, the particular dimensions of Italy and Italian political thought and praxis, Hegel's concepts that apply to the state, and what we can learn from how all of these components were woven together during the 19th century in the Mediterranean. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky @gorenlj.bsky.social. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Political Theorist Fernanda Gallo (Homerton College, University of Cambridge) has a fascinating new book, Hegel and Italian Political Thought: The Practice of Ideas, 1832-1900 (Cambridge UP, 2024), about how Georg Hegel's philosophical thought made its way to Italy and how it was integrated into the various schools of thought within Italy. This is a fascinating exploration of the history of ideas, especially more recent thinking, tracing not only the ideas themselves, but the ways in which they were adapted by different theorists and cultural approaches. Gallo provides the reader with deep historical insights alongside the explication of complex theoretical understandings, noting how ideas travel across language, time, geography, and cultures. Gallo's project here is to weave together history, politics, and ideas more fully to understand ideas in different spaces, providing a transnational perspective of Hegel's thinking and how it evolved in other places, with other thinkers. Italy often finds itself the “forgotten stepchild” in political theory, even though it sits at the intersection of the global North and South, as well as the global East and global West, where ideas from different parts of the world intertwine with each other. The physical space where Italy is located provides this connectivity not only between geographical regions and ideas, but it is also where goods are exchanged alongside intellectual ideas. One of the key lines of interrogation in Hegel and Italian Political Thought is how Hegelian ideas were put into practice in different parts of Italy and what those ideas looked like in practice. For Italy, given the regional distinctions and the seven different states within the peninsula in the early 1800s, Hegel's ideas contributed to a variety of paths towards nation and state building. Gallo examines the ways in which many of the Italian intellectuals during this period were also politicians involved in their respective states, and many of them looked towards Hegel's considerations, mixing them with Italian culture, to rethink how Italy should be structured to function as a modern nation-state, or an array of states within the nation. Gallo and I have a great conversation about the interweaving of Hegel with Italian political thought. We also discuss the rise of the mafia in southern Italy during this period, and how this is connected to these broader ideas of the state's monopoly on violence, issues of freedom and liberty, and how power and power vacuums contribute to the form of the state. This is a lively discussion of the history of ideas, the particular dimensions of Italy and Italian political thought and praxis, Hegel's concepts that apply to the state, and what we can learn from how all of these components were woven together during the 19th century in the Mediterranean. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky @gorenlj.bsky.social. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Political Theorist Fernanda Gallo (Homerton College, University of Cambridge) has a fascinating new book, Hegel and Italian Political Thought: The Practice of Ideas, 1832-1900 (Cambridge UP, 2024), about how Georg Hegel's philosophical thought made its way to Italy and how it was integrated into the various schools of thought within Italy. This is a fascinating exploration of the history of ideas, especially more recent thinking, tracing not only the ideas themselves, but the ways in which they were adapted by different theorists and cultural approaches. Gallo provides the reader with deep historical insights alongside the explication of complex theoretical understandings, noting how ideas travel across language, time, geography, and cultures. Gallo's project here is to weave together history, politics, and ideas more fully to understand ideas in different spaces, providing a transnational perspective of Hegel's thinking and how it evolved in other places, with other thinkers. Italy often finds itself the “forgotten stepchild” in political theory, even though it sits at the intersection of the global North and South, as well as the global East and global West, where ideas from different parts of the world intertwine with each other. The physical space where Italy is located provides this connectivity not only between geographical regions and ideas, but it is also where goods are exchanged alongside intellectual ideas. One of the key lines of interrogation in Hegel and Italian Political Thought is how Hegelian ideas were put into practice in different parts of Italy and what those ideas looked like in practice. For Italy, given the regional distinctions and the seven different states within the peninsula in the early 1800s, Hegel's ideas contributed to a variety of paths towards nation and state building. Gallo examines the ways in which many of the Italian intellectuals during this period were also politicians involved in their respective states, and many of them looked towards Hegel's considerations, mixing them with Italian culture, to rethink how Italy should be structured to function as a modern nation-state, or an array of states within the nation. Gallo and I have a great conversation about the interweaving of Hegel with Italian political thought. We also discuss the rise of the mafia in southern Italy during this period, and how this is connected to these broader ideas of the state's monopoly on violence, issues of freedom and liberty, and how power and power vacuums contribute to the form of the state. This is a lively discussion of the history of ideas, the particular dimensions of Italy and Italian political thought and praxis, Hegel's concepts that apply to the state, and what we can learn from how all of these components were woven together during the 19th century in the Mediterranean. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky @gorenlj.bsky.social. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/german-studies

Political Theorist Fernanda Gallo (Homerton College, University of Cambridge) has a fascinating new book, Hegel and Italian Political Thought: The Practice of Ideas, 1832-1900 (Cambridge UP, 2024), about how Georg Hegel's philosophical thought made its way to Italy and how it was integrated into the various schools of thought within Italy. This is a fascinating exploration of the history of ideas, especially more recent thinking, tracing not only the ideas themselves, but the ways in which they were adapted by different theorists and cultural approaches. Gallo provides the reader with deep historical insights alongside the explication of complex theoretical understandings, noting how ideas travel across language, time, geography, and cultures. Gallo's project here is to weave together history, politics, and ideas more fully to understand ideas in different spaces, providing a transnational perspective of Hegel's thinking and how it evolved in other places, with other thinkers. Italy often finds itself the “forgotten stepchild” in political theory, even though it sits at the intersection of the global North and South, as well as the global East and global West, where ideas from different parts of the world intertwine with each other. The physical space where Italy is located provides this connectivity not only between geographical regions and ideas, but it is also where goods are exchanged alongside intellectual ideas. One of the key lines of interrogation in Hegel and Italian Political Thought is how Hegelian ideas were put into practice in different parts of Italy and what those ideas looked like in practice. For Italy, given the regional distinctions and the seven different states within the peninsula in the early 1800s, Hegel's ideas contributed to a variety of paths towards nation and state building. Gallo examines the ways in which many of the Italian intellectuals during this period were also politicians involved in their respective states, and many of them looked towards Hegel's considerations, mixing them with Italian culture, to rethink how Italy should be structured to function as a modern nation-state, or an array of states within the nation. Gallo and I have a great conversation about the interweaving of Hegel with Italian political thought. We also discuss the rise of the mafia in southern Italy during this period, and how this is connected to these broader ideas of the state's monopoly on violence, issues of freedom and liberty, and how power and power vacuums contribute to the form of the state. This is a lively discussion of the history of ideas, the particular dimensions of Italy and Italian political thought and praxis, Hegel's concepts that apply to the state, and what we can learn from how all of these components were woven together during the 19th century in the Mediterranean. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky @gorenlj.bsky.social. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

Political Theorist Fernanda Gallo (Homerton College, University of Cambridge) has a fascinating new book, Hegel and Italian Political Thought: The Practice of Ideas, 1832-1900 (Cambridge UP, 2024), about how Georg Hegel's philosophical thought made its way to Italy and how it was integrated into the various schools of thought within Italy. This is a fascinating exploration of the history of ideas, especially more recent thinking, tracing not only the ideas themselves, but the ways in which they were adapted by different theorists and cultural approaches. Gallo provides the reader with deep historical insights alongside the explication of complex theoretical understandings, noting how ideas travel across language, time, geography, and cultures. Gallo's project here is to weave together history, politics, and ideas more fully to understand ideas in different spaces, providing a transnational perspective of Hegel's thinking and how it evolved in other places, with other thinkers. Italy often finds itself the “forgotten stepchild” in political theory, even though it sits at the intersection of the global North and South, as well as the global East and global West, where ideas from different parts of the world intertwine with each other. The physical space where Italy is located provides this connectivity not only between geographical regions and ideas, but it is also where goods are exchanged alongside intellectual ideas. One of the key lines of interrogation in Hegel and Italian Political Thought is how Hegelian ideas were put into practice in different parts of Italy and what those ideas looked like in practice. For Italy, given the regional distinctions and the seven different states within the peninsula in the early 1800s, Hegel's ideas contributed to a variety of paths towards nation and state building. Gallo examines the ways in which many of the Italian intellectuals during this period were also politicians involved in their respective states, and many of them looked towards Hegel's considerations, mixing them with Italian culture, to rethink how Italy should be structured to function as a modern nation-state, or an array of states within the nation. Gallo and I have a great conversation about the interweaving of Hegel with Italian political thought. We also discuss the rise of the mafia in southern Italy during this period, and how this is connected to these broader ideas of the state's monopoly on violence, issues of freedom and liberty, and how power and power vacuums contribute to the form of the state. This is a lively discussion of the history of ideas, the particular dimensions of Italy and Italian political thought and praxis, Hegel's concepts that apply to the state, and what we can learn from how all of these components were woven together during the 19th century in the Mediterranean. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or find her at Bluesky @gorenlj.bsky.social. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/italian-studies

A coalition of educators and allies has come together to push back against a variety of different kinds of attacks on higher education and students at colleges and universities, particularly in the United States. This group is driven by the belief that a democracy is only as strong as its commitments to academic freedom, intellectual integrity, human diversity, and individual dignity. The impetus among this particular group of academics and staff members is to make sure that students at all the campuses, in all the programs at those campuses across the United States are supported and free to engage in their chosen courses of study. The various ways in which this mission is being attacked or undermined, with the slashing of grants, attempts to control curriculum, freezing of campus free speech, snatching of students off the streets, and threats to the bottom line all contribute to destabilizing the educational paths of students, and the ability of the faculty and the staff to provide students with the education, research opportunities, and higher education experiences they are seeking at these institutions. I am joined on this installment of PostScript by three members of an organic group of educators—across disciplines—who came together in the early days of the new Trump Administration to try to figure out how to best support students at different institutions. One of the results of this collaboration among academics and educators across disciplines, institutions, and parts of the country, was to craft a letter directed at university administrators, governmental entities, and the public, explaining the value and import of education, especially in a democracy, and the need for a diversity of voices and contributors to that enterprise. I discuss the origin of the group, the genesis of the letter (which is available to sign here), and the deep concerns among those who work in higher education in the United States with Alison Gash, Daniel Laurison, and Nathan Lents. Alison Gash is Professor of Political Science and Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Oregon. Daniel Laurison is Associate Professor of Sociology at Swarthmore College, the former Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Sociology, and a 2021-2023 Carnegie Fellow. Nathan Lents is Professor of Biology at John Jay College, Links: We are Higher Ed Letter: Speaking Out for Democracy and US Higher Education We are Higher Ed Website: https://www.wearehighered.org/ Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

A coalition of educators and allies has come together to push back against a variety of different kinds of attacks on higher education and students at colleges and universities, particularly in the United States. This group is driven by the belief that a democracy is only as strong as its commitments to academic freedom, intellectual integrity, human diversity, and individual dignity. The impetus among this particular group of academics and staff members is to make sure that students at all the campuses, in all the programs at those campuses across the United States are supported and free to engage in their chosen courses of study. The various ways in which this mission is being attacked or undermined, with the slashing of grants, attempts to control curriculum, freezing of campus free speech, snatching of students off the streets, and threats to the bottom line all contribute to destabilizing the educational paths of students, and the ability of the faculty and the staff to provide students with the education, research opportunities, and higher education experiences they are seeking at these institutions. I am joined on this installment of PostScript by three members of an organic group of educators—across disciplines—who came together in the early days of the new Trump Administration to try to figure out how to best support students at different institutions. One of the results of this collaboration among academics and educators across disciplines, institutions, and parts of the country, was to craft a letter directed at university administrators, governmental entities, and the public, explaining the value and import of education, especially in a democracy, and the need for a diversity of voices and contributors to that enterprise. I discuss the origin of the group, the genesis of the letter (which is available to sign here), and the deep concerns among those who work in higher education in the United States with Alison Gash, Daniel Laurison, and Nathan Lents. Alison Gash is Professor of Political Science and Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Oregon. Daniel Laurison is Associate Professor of Sociology at Swarthmore College, the former Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Sociology, and a 2021-2023 Carnegie Fellow. Nathan Lents is Professor of Biology at John Jay College, Links: We are Higher Ed Letter: Speaking Out for Democracy and US Higher Education We are Higher Ed Website: https://www.wearehighered.org/ Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A coalition of educators and allies has come together to push back against a variety of different kinds of attacks on higher education and students at colleges and universities, particularly in the United States. This group is driven by the belief that a democracy is only as strong as its commitments to academic freedom, intellectual integrity, human diversity, and individual dignity. The impetus among this particular group of academics and staff members is to make sure that students at all the campuses, in all the programs at those campuses across the United States are supported and free to engage in their chosen courses of study. The various ways in which this mission is being attacked or undermined, with the slashing of grants, attempts to control curriculum, freezing of campus free speech, snatching of students off the streets, and threats to the bottom line all contribute to destabilizing the educational paths of students, and the ability of the faculty and the staff to provide students with the education, research opportunities, and higher education experiences they are seeking at these institutions. I am joined on this installment of PostScript by three members of an organic group of educators—across disciplines—who came together in the early days of the new Trump Administration to try to figure out how to best support students at different institutions. One of the results of this collaboration among academics and educators across disciplines, institutions, and parts of the country, was to craft a letter directed at university administrators, governmental entities, and the public, explaining the value and import of education, especially in a democracy, and the need for a diversity of voices and contributors to that enterprise. I discuss the origin of the group, the genesis of the letter (which is available to sign here), and the deep concerns among those who work in higher education in the United States with Alison Gash, Daniel Laurison, and Nathan Lents. Alison Gash is Professor of Political Science and Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Oregon. Daniel Laurison is Associate Professor of Sociology at Swarthmore College, the former Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Sociology, and a 2021-2023 Carnegie Fellow. Nathan Lents is Professor of Biology at John Jay College, Links: We are Higher Ed Letter: Speaking Out for Democracy and US Higher Education We are Higher Ed Website: https://www.wearehighered.org/ Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

A coalition of educators and allies has come together to push back against a variety of different kinds of attacks on higher education and students at colleges and universities, particularly in the United States. This group is driven by the belief that a democracy is only as strong as its commitments to academic freedom, intellectual integrity, human diversity, and individual dignity. The impetus among this particular group of academics and staff members is to make sure that students at all the campuses, in all the programs at those campuses across the United States are supported and free to engage in their chosen courses of study. The various ways in which this mission is being attacked or undermined, with the slashing of grants, attempts to control curriculum, freezing of campus free speech, snatching of students off the streets, and threats to the bottom line all contribute to destabilizing the educational paths of students, and the ability of the faculty and the staff to provide students with the education, research opportunities, and higher education experiences they are seeking at these institutions. I am joined on this installment of PostScript by three members of an organic group of educators—across disciplines—who came together in the early days of the new Trump Administration to try to figure out how to best support students at different institutions. One of the results of this collaboration among academics and educators across disciplines, institutions, and parts of the country, was to craft a letter directed at university administrators, governmental entities, and the public, explaining the value and import of education, especially in a democracy, and the need for a diversity of voices and contributors to that enterprise. I discuss the origin of the group, the genesis of the letter (which is available to sign here), and the deep concerns among those who work in higher education in the United States with Alison Gash, Daniel Laurison, and Nathan Lents. Alison Gash is Professor of Political Science and Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Oregon. Daniel Laurison is Associate Professor of Sociology at Swarthmore College, the former Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Sociology, and a 2021-2023 Carnegie Fellow. Nathan Lents is Professor of Biology at John Jay College, Links: We are Higher Ed Letter: Speaking Out for Democracy and US Higher Education We are Higher Ed Website: https://www.wearehighered.org/ Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

A coalition of educators and allies has come together to push back against a variety of different kinds of attacks on higher education and students at colleges and universities, particularly in the United States. This group is driven by the belief that a democracy is only as strong as its commitments to academic freedom, intellectual integrity, human diversity, and individual dignity. The impetus among this particular group of academics and staff members is to make sure that students at all the campuses, in all the programs at those campuses across the United States are supported and free to engage in their chosen courses of study. The various ways in which this mission is being attacked or undermined, with the slashing of grants, attempts to control curriculum, freezing of campus free speech, snatching of students off the streets, and threats to the bottom line all contribute to destabilizing the educational paths of students, and the ability of the faculty and the staff to provide students with the education, research opportunities, and higher education experiences they are seeking at these institutions. I am joined on this installment of PostScript by three members of an organic group of educators—across disciplines—who came together in the early days of the new Trump Administration to try to figure out how to best support students at different institutions. One of the results of this collaboration among academics and educators across disciplines, institutions, and parts of the country, was to craft a letter directed at university administrators, governmental entities, and the public, explaining the value and import of education, especially in a democracy, and the need for a diversity of voices and contributors to that enterprise. I discuss the origin of the group, the genesis of the letter (which is available to sign here), and the deep concerns among those who work in higher education in the United States with Alison Gash, Daniel Laurison, and Nathan Lents. Alison Gash is Professor of Political Science and Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Oregon. Daniel Laurison is Associate Professor of Sociology at Swarthmore College, the former Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Sociology, and a 2021-2023 Carnegie Fellow. Nathan Lents is Professor of Biology at John Jay College, Links: We are Higher Ed Letter: Speaking Out for Democracy and US Higher Education We are Higher Ed Website: https://www.wearehighered.org/ Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marilyn Nissim-Sabat and Neil Roberts have edited a new collection of essays, Creolizing Hannah Arendt. This edited volume dives into Hannah Arendt's thinking while also pushing the understanding and ways that Arendt has influenced political theory, philosophy, and politics. The idea of “creolizing,” especially philosophic or theoretical work, is to explore a thinker's work from more pluralistic perspectives, often pushing the ideas and their analysis beyond the northern and western position in which that work was generally created. Arendt's work, which comes to us in a number of forms, was written in the context of the Holocaust and the world before and after that trauma. The contributing authors to Creolizing Hannah Arendt build on Arendt's considerations and analysis, taking and applying her work to other situations, to determine what we can learn in a distinct situation or in context of other theoretical frameworks. Creolizing is an engagement where two or more elements come into discourse with each other, rethinking the ways those in western political thought are positioned, or see the world. This process questions, on some level, the entire notion of the “canon” and the design of borders that hem in thinking, or disciplinary lines. Creolizing Hannah Arendt is a sophisticated collection of essays that brings forth Hannah Arendt's thinking about freedom and individuals while also integrating other theorists who have interpreted Arendt's work over the last century. Arendt focused some of her early work on the notion of being an outsider, of having a kind of double consciousness (for her, it was her Jewish identity in Europe during the Holocaust and afterwards in the United States.) But double consciousness was originally posited as an understanding and perspective by W.E.B. Dubois and Sylvia Wynter in their work, specifically the experience of African Americans, and that Paget Henry analyzes in the chapter “Sylvia Wynter, Political Philosophy, and the Creolization of Hannah Arendt.” Thus, putting these ideas in conversation with each other is an example of creolization, and an example of the kind of analysis in this edited volume. This is a fascinating book, opening up spheres of thinking not just about Arendt, but about so many other important theorists. And putting these ideas into conversation with each other. Creolizing Hannah Arendt does not intend to proselytize on behalf of Hannah Arendt, as Nissim-Sabat and Roberts note in our conversation, but to truly interact act with Arendt's thinking and her ideas about freedom and unfreedom, double consciousness, revolution, and the concept of humanity. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Marilyn Nissim-Sabat and Neil Roberts have edited a new collection of essays, Creolizing Hannah Arendt. This edited volume dives into Hannah Arendt's thinking while also pushing the understanding and ways that Arendt has influenced political theory, philosophy, and politics. The idea of “creolizing,” especially philosophic or theoretical work, is to explore a thinker's work from more pluralistic perspectives, often pushing the ideas and their analysis beyond the northern and western position in which that work was generally created. Arendt's work, which comes to us in a number of forms, was written in the context of the Holocaust and the world before and after that trauma. The contributing authors to Creolizing Hannah Arendt build on Arendt's considerations and analysis, taking and applying her work to other situations, to determine what we can learn in a distinct situation or in context of other theoretical frameworks. Creolizing is an engagement where two or more elements come into discourse with each other, rethinking the ways those in western political thought are positioned, or see the world. This process questions, on some level, the entire notion of the “canon” and the design of borders that hem in thinking, or disciplinary lines. Creolizing Hannah Arendt is a sophisticated collection of essays that brings forth Hannah Arendt's thinking about freedom and individuals while also integrating other theorists who have interpreted Arendt's work over the last century. Arendt focused some of her early work on the notion of being an outsider, of having a kind of double consciousness (for her, it was her Jewish identity in Europe during the Holocaust and afterwards in the United States.) But double consciousness was originally posited as an understanding and perspective by W.E.B. Dubois and Sylvia Wynter in their work, specifically the experience of African Americans, and that Paget Henry analyzes in the chapter “Sylvia Wynter, Political Philosophy, and the Creolization of Hannah Arendt.” Thus, putting these ideas in conversation with each other is an example of creolization, and an example of the kind of analysis in this edited volume. This is a fascinating book, opening up spheres of thinking not just about Arendt, but about so many other important theorists. And putting these ideas into conversation with each other. Creolizing Hannah Arendt does not intend to proselytize on behalf of Hannah Arendt, as Nissim-Sabat and Roberts note in our conversation, but to truly interact act with Arendt's thinking and her ideas about freedom and unfreedom, double consciousness, revolution, and the concept of humanity. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Marilyn Nissim-Sabat and Neil Roberts have edited a new collection of essays, Creolizing Hannah Arendt. This edited volume dives into Hannah Arendt's thinking while also pushing the understanding and ways that Arendt has influenced political theory, philosophy, and politics. The idea of “creolizing,” especially philosophic or theoretical work, is to explore a thinker's work from more pluralistic perspectives, often pushing the ideas and their analysis beyond the northern and western position in which that work was generally created. Arendt's work, which comes to us in a number of forms, was written in the context of the Holocaust and the world before and after that trauma. The contributing authors to Creolizing Hannah Arendt build on Arendt's considerations and analysis, taking and applying her work to other situations, to determine what we can learn in a distinct situation or in context of other theoretical frameworks. Creolizing is an engagement where two or more elements come into discourse with each other, rethinking the ways those in western political thought are positioned, or see the world. This process questions, on some level, the entire notion of the “canon” and the design of borders that hem in thinking, or disciplinary lines. Creolizing Hannah Arendt is a sophisticated collection of essays that brings forth Hannah Arendt's thinking about freedom and individuals while also integrating other theorists who have interpreted Arendt's work over the last century. Arendt focused some of her early work on the notion of being an outsider, of having a kind of double consciousness (for her, it was her Jewish identity in Europe during the Holocaust and afterwards in the United States.) But double consciousness was originally posited as an understanding and perspective by W.E.B. Dubois and Sylvia Wynter in their work, specifically the experience of African Americans, and that Paget Henry analyzes in the chapter “Sylvia Wynter, Political Philosophy, and the Creolization of Hannah Arendt.” Thus, putting these ideas in conversation with each other is an example of creolization, and an example of the kind of analysis in this edited volume. This is a fascinating book, opening up spheres of thinking not just about Arendt, but about so many other important theorists. And putting these ideas into conversation with each other. Creolizing Hannah Arendt does not intend to proselytize on behalf of Hannah Arendt, as Nissim-Sabat and Roberts note in our conversation, but to truly interact act with Arendt's thinking and her ideas about freedom and unfreedom, double consciousness, revolution, and the concept of humanity. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Political Scientists Lauren C. Bell, Allison Rank, and Carah Ong Whaley have a new edited volume, Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). This book has four separate sections that guide the reader through different dimensions of teaching civic engagement and the many aspects of this important pedagogical capacity that often falls on the shoulders of political science faculty at universities and colleges in the United States. In our discussion we cover the idea of civic engagement itself as an approach that many of us integrate into our courses in a variety of ways. Civic Pedagogies focuses on this complex topic first through a number of chapters that dive into the theory behind civic engagement and how to think about this concept as a dimension of or the entirety of a college course. The next section of the book takes up a variety of different practical approaches to embedding civic learning into courses. The last two sections of the book explore the challenges and benefits of civically engaged pedagogies and, finally, assessment of civically engaged pedagogies. This is a thorough and thoughtful book with an impressive array of contributing authors all thinking about not only the importance of civically engaged pedagogies, but also the unique dimensions of this kind of pedagogy. The three editors explain, in our conversation, different points of importances that were fleshed out by the many contributors and their thinking about how best to embed this vital component of education within a democracy. Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics has so many different perspectives that it provides a rich array of options for most educators who want or need to integrate civic pedagogies into their classrooms. In our discussion, we also explore the value of being able to engage on public topics and political questions in a civil manner—both in the classroom itself and then, as students move into their lives beyond college, as members of their communities. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Political Scientists Lauren C. Bell, Allison Rank, and Carah Ong Whaley have a new edited volume, Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). This book has four separate sections that guide the reader through different dimensions of teaching civic engagement and the many aspects of this important pedagogical capacity that often falls on the shoulders of political science faculty at universities and colleges in the United States. In our discussion we cover the idea of civic engagement itself as an approach that many of us integrate into our courses in a variety of ways. Civic Pedagogies focuses on this complex topic first through a number of chapters that dive into the theory behind civic engagement and how to think about this concept as a dimension of or the entirety of a college course. The next section of the book takes up a variety of different practical approaches to embedding civic learning into courses. The last two sections of the book explore the challenges and benefits of civically engaged pedagogies and, finally, assessment of civically engaged pedagogies. This is a thorough and thoughtful book with an impressive array of contributing authors all thinking about not only the importance of civically engaged pedagogies, but also the unique dimensions of this kind of pedagogy. The three editors explain, in our conversation, different points of importances that were fleshed out by the many contributors and their thinking about how best to embed this vital component of education within a democracy. Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics has so many different perspectives that it provides a rich array of options for most educators who want or need to integrate civic pedagogies into their classrooms. In our discussion, we also explore the value of being able to engage on public topics and political questions in a civil manner—both in the classroom itself and then, as students move into their lives beyond college, as members of their communities. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Political Scientists Lauren C. Bell, Allison Rank, and Carah Ong Whaley have a new edited volume, Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). This book has four separate sections that guide the reader through different dimensions of teaching civic engagement and the many aspects of this important pedagogical capacity that often falls on the shoulders of political science faculty at universities and colleges in the United States. In our discussion we cover the idea of civic engagement itself as an approach that many of us integrate into our courses in a variety of ways. Civic Pedagogies focuses on this complex topic first through a number of chapters that dive into the theory behind civic engagement and how to think about this concept as a dimension of or the entirety of a college course. The next section of the book takes up a variety of different practical approaches to embedding civic learning into courses. The last two sections of the book explore the challenges and benefits of civically engaged pedagogies and, finally, assessment of civically engaged pedagogies. This is a thorough and thoughtful book with an impressive array of contributing authors all thinking about not only the importance of civically engaged pedagogies, but also the unique dimensions of this kind of pedagogy. The three editors explain, in our conversation, different points of importances that were fleshed out by the many contributors and their thinking about how best to embed this vital component of education within a democracy. Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics has so many different perspectives that it provides a rich array of options for most educators who want or need to integrate civic pedagogies into their classrooms. In our discussion, we also explore the value of being able to engage on public topics and political questions in a civil manner—both in the classroom itself and then, as students move into their lives beyond college, as members of their communities. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Political Scientists Lauren C. Bell, Allison Rank, and Carah Ong Whaley have a new edited volume, Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). This book has four separate sections that guide the reader through different dimensions of teaching civic engagement and the many aspects of this important pedagogical capacity that often falls on the shoulders of political science faculty at universities and colleges in the United States. In our discussion we cover the idea of civic engagement itself as an approach that many of us integrate into our courses in a variety of ways. Civic Pedagogies focuses on this complex topic first through a number of chapters that dive into the theory behind civic engagement and how to think about this concept as a dimension of or the entirety of a college course. The next section of the book takes up a variety of different practical approaches to embedding civic learning into courses. The last two sections of the book explore the challenges and benefits of civically engaged pedagogies and, finally, assessment of civically engaged pedagogies. This is a thorough and thoughtful book with an impressive array of contributing authors all thinking about not only the importance of civically engaged pedagogies, but also the unique dimensions of this kind of pedagogy. The three editors explain, in our conversation, different points of importances that were fleshed out by the many contributors and their thinking about how best to embed this vital component of education within a democracy. Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics has so many different perspectives that it provides a rich array of options for most educators who want or need to integrate civic pedagogies into their classrooms. In our discussion, we also explore the value of being able to engage on public topics and political questions in a civil manner—both in the classroom itself and then, as students move into their lives beyond college, as members of their communities. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/public-policy

Political Scientists Lauren C. Bell, Allison Rank, and Carah Ong Whaley have a new edited volume, Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). This book has four separate sections that guide the reader through different dimensions of teaching civic engagement and the many aspects of this important pedagogical capacity that often falls on the shoulders of political science faculty at universities and colleges in the United States. In our discussion we cover the idea of civic engagement itself as an approach that many of us integrate into our courses in a variety of ways. Civic Pedagogies focuses on this complex topic first through a number of chapters that dive into the theory behind civic engagement and how to think about this concept as a dimension of or the entirety of a college course. The next section of the book takes up a variety of different practical approaches to embedding civic learning into courses. The last two sections of the book explore the challenges and benefits of civically engaged pedagogies and, finally, assessment of civically engaged pedagogies. This is a thorough and thoughtful book with an impressive array of contributing authors all thinking about not only the importance of civically engaged pedagogies, but also the unique dimensions of this kind of pedagogy. The three editors explain, in our conversation, different points of importances that were fleshed out by the many contributors and their thinking about how best to embed this vital component of education within a democracy. Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics has so many different perspectives that it provides a rich array of options for most educators who want or need to integrate civic pedagogies into their classrooms. In our discussion, we also explore the value of being able to engage on public topics and political questions in a civil manner—both in the classroom itself and then, as students move into their lives beyond college, as members of their communities. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

Political Scientists Lauren C. Bell, Allison Rank, and Carah Ong Whaley have a new edited volume, Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). This book has four separate sections that guide the reader through different dimensions of teaching civic engagement and the many aspects of this important pedagogical capacity that often falls on the shoulders of political science faculty at universities and colleges in the United States. In our discussion we cover the idea of civic engagement itself as an approach that many of us integrate into our courses in a variety of ways. Civic Pedagogies focuses on this complex topic first through a number of chapters that dive into the theory behind civic engagement and how to think about this concept as a dimension of or the entirety of a college course. The next section of the book takes up a variety of different practical approaches to embedding civic learning into courses. The last two sections of the book explore the challenges and benefits of civically engaged pedagogies and, finally, assessment of civically engaged pedagogies. This is a thorough and thoughtful book with an impressive array of contributing authors all thinking about not only the importance of civically engaged pedagogies, but also the unique dimensions of this kind of pedagogy. The three editors explain, in our conversation, different points of importances that were fleshed out by the many contributors and their thinking about how best to embed this vital component of education within a democracy. Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics has so many different perspectives that it provides a rich array of options for most educators who want or need to integrate civic pedagogies into their classrooms. In our discussion, we also explore the value of being able to engage on public topics and political questions in a civil manner—both in the classroom itself and then, as students move into their lives beyond college, as members of their communities. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political Scientists Lauren C. Bell, Allison Rank, and Carah Ong Whaley have a new edited volume, Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). This book has four separate sections that guide the reader through different dimensions of teaching civic engagement and the many aspects of this important pedagogical capacity that often falls on the shoulders of political science faculty at universities and colleges in the United States. In our discussion we cover the idea of civic engagement itself as an approach that many of us integrate into our courses in a variety of ways. Civic Pedagogies focuses on this complex topic first through a number of chapters that dive into the theory behind civic engagement and how to think about this concept as a dimension of or the entirety of a college course. The next section of the book takes up a variety of different practical approaches to embedding civic learning into courses. The last two sections of the book explore the challenges and benefits of civically engaged pedagogies and, finally, assessment of civically engaged pedagogies. This is a thorough and thoughtful book with an impressive array of contributing authors all thinking about not only the importance of civically engaged pedagogies, but also the unique dimensions of this kind of pedagogy. The three editors explain, in our conversation, different points of importances that were fleshed out by the many contributors and their thinking about how best to embed this vital component of education within a democracy. Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics has so many different perspectives that it provides a rich array of options for most educators who want or need to integrate civic pedagogies into their classrooms. In our discussion, we also explore the value of being able to engage on public topics and political questions in a civil manner—both in the classroom itself and then, as students move into their lives beyond college, as members of their communities. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political Theorist Davide Panagia (UCLA) has two new books out focusing on the broader themes and ideas of film, aesthetics, and political theory. Sentimental Empiricism: Politics, Philosophy, and Criticism in Postwar France (Fordham University Press) interrogates French history and educational traditions from the Revolution through the postwar period and analyzes the cultural, social, political, and educational parameters that created the space for the French postwar political thinkers. In Sentimental Empiricism, Panagia explores the many directions of critical thought by Jean Wahl, Simone de Beauvoir, Gilbert Simondon, Gilles Deleuze, and Michel Foucault and how these theorists were pushing against, in many ways, the teleological structure as defined by Aristotle two millennia ago. This contrast in thinking is the heart of the book, helping the reader to consider distinctions between the more fixed classical ideas and a contemporary consideration of dispositionality and revisability. The research and broader historical sketch in Sentimental Empiricism leads to the thrust of Intermedialities: Political Theory and Cinematic Experience (Northwestern UP, 2024). In Intermedialities (Northwestern UP, 2024), Panagia continues to explore this concept of the revisability of our understanding of the world, and turns the specific focus to film. Film itself, as a medium and as a conveyor of ideas, is rarely at the center of discussions of politics and power. And yet this is the exact place where humans (audiences) can see movement, which is what we are always observing around us to contribute to how we essentially make sense of the world. Intermedialities compels the intertwining of political theory and the theory of film, with encounters between contemporary aesthetic theorists like Stanley Cavell, Gilles Deleuze, Miriam Hansen, and Jean-Luc Godard and more traditional modern thinkers like David Hume, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Gilbert Simondon. Intermedialities should be of particular interest to political theorists and political scientists since it posits the importance of understanding and thinking about the life and world around us and how we are all connected to taking in this life as movement. The medium of film, which provides us with concepts, images, imaginaries, and perceptions, contributes to so much of our memory and imagination, but is often dismissed as not “real” politics. Panagia and the theorists with whom he is thinking help to tease out the very political nature of the projection of moving images. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Political Theorist Davide Panagia (UCLA) has two new books out focusing on the broader themes and ideas of film, aesthetics, and political theory. Sentimental Empiricism: Politics, Philosophy, and Criticism in Postwar France (Fordham University Press) interrogates French history and educational traditions from the Revolution through the postwar period and analyzes the cultural, social, political, and educational parameters that created the space for the French postwar political thinkers. In Sentimental Empiricism, Panagia explores the many directions of critical thought by Jean Wahl, Simone de Beauvoir, Gilbert Simondon, Gilles Deleuze, and Michel Foucault and how these theorists were pushing against, in many ways, the teleological structure as defined by Aristotle two millennia ago. This contrast in thinking is the heart of the book, helping the reader to consider distinctions between the more fixed classical ideas and a contemporary consideration of dispositionality and revisability. The research and broader historical sketch in Sentimental Empiricism leads to the thrust of Intermedialities: Political Theory and Cinematic Experience (Northwestern UP, 2024). In Intermedialities (Northwestern UP, 2024), Panagia continues to explore this concept of the revisability of our understanding of the world, and turns the specific focus to film. Film itself, as a medium and as a conveyor of ideas, is rarely at the center of discussions of politics and power. And yet this is the exact place where humans (audiences) can see movement, which is what we are always observing around us to contribute to how we essentially make sense of the world. Intermedialities compels the intertwining of political theory and the theory of film, with encounters between contemporary aesthetic theorists like Stanley Cavell, Gilles Deleuze, Miriam Hansen, and Jean-Luc Godard and more traditional modern thinkers like David Hume, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Gilbert Simondon. Intermedialities should be of particular interest to political theorists and political scientists since it posits the importance of understanding and thinking about the life and world around us and how we are all connected to taking in this life as movement. The medium of film, which provides us with concepts, images, imaginaries, and perceptions, contributes to so much of our memory and imagination, but is often dismissed as not “real” politics. Panagia and the theorists with whom he is thinking help to tease out the very political nature of the projection of moving images. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Political Theorist Davide Panagia (UCLA) has two new books out focusing on the broader themes and ideas of film, aesthetics, and political theory. Sentimental Empiricism: Politics, Philosophy, and Criticism in Postwar France (Fordham University Press) interrogates French history and educational traditions from the Revolution through the postwar period and analyzes the cultural, social, political, and educational parameters that created the space for the French postwar political thinkers. In Sentimental Empiricism, Panagia explores the many directions of critical thought by Jean Wahl, Simone de Beauvoir, Gilbert Simondon, Gilles Deleuze, and Michel Foucault and how these theorists were pushing against, in many ways, the teleological structure as defined by Aristotle two millennia ago. This contrast in thinking is the heart of the book, helping the reader to consider distinctions between the more fixed classical ideas and a contemporary consideration of dispositionality and revisability. The research and broader historical sketch in Sentimental Empiricism leads to the thrust of Intermedialities: Political Theory and Cinematic Experience (Northwestern UP, 2024). In Intermedialities (Northwestern UP, 2024), Panagia continues to explore this concept of the revisability of our understanding of the world, and turns the specific focus to film. Film itself, as a medium and as a conveyor of ideas, is rarely at the center of discussions of politics and power. And yet this is the exact place where humans (audiences) can see movement, which is what we are always observing around us to contribute to how we essentially make sense of the world. Intermedialities compels the intertwining of political theory and the theory of film, with encounters between contemporary aesthetic theorists like Stanley Cavell, Gilles Deleuze, Miriam Hansen, and Jean-Luc Godard and more traditional modern thinkers like David Hume, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Gilbert Simondon. Intermedialities should be of particular interest to political theorists and political scientists since it posits the importance of understanding and thinking about the life and world around us and how we are all connected to taking in this life as movement. The medium of film, which provides us with concepts, images, imaginaries, and perceptions, contributes to so much of our memory and imagination, but is often dismissed as not “real” politics. Panagia and the theorists with whom he is thinking help to tease out the very political nature of the projection of moving images. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/film

Political Theorist Davide Panagia (UCLA) has two new books out focusing on the broader themes and ideas of film, aesthetics, and political theory. Sentimental Empiricism: Politics, Philosophy, and Criticism in Postwar France (Fordham University Press) interrogates French history and educational traditions from the Revolution through the postwar period and analyzes the cultural, social, political, and educational parameters that created the space for the French postwar political thinkers. In Sentimental Empiricism, Panagia explores the many directions of critical thought by Jean Wahl, Simone de Beauvoir, Gilbert Simondon, Gilles Deleuze, and Michel Foucault and how these theorists were pushing against, in many ways, the teleological structure as defined by Aristotle two millennia ago. This contrast in thinking is the heart of the book, helping the reader to consider distinctions between the more fixed classical ideas and a contemporary consideration of dispositionality and revisability. The research and broader historical sketch in Sentimental Empiricism leads to the thrust of Intermedialities: Political Theory and Cinematic Experience (Northwestern UP, 2024). In Intermedialities (Northwestern UP, 2024), Panagia continues to explore this concept of the revisability of our understanding of the world, and turns the specific focus to film. Film itself, as a medium and as a conveyor of ideas, is rarely at the center of discussions of politics and power. And yet this is the exact place where humans (audiences) can see movement, which is what we are always observing around us to contribute to how we essentially make sense of the world. Intermedialities compels the intertwining of political theory and the theory of film, with encounters between contemporary aesthetic theorists like Stanley Cavell, Gilles Deleuze, Miriam Hansen, and Jean-Luc Godard and more traditional modern thinkers like David Hume, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Gilbert Simondon. Intermedialities should be of particular interest to political theorists and political scientists since it posits the importance of understanding and thinking about the life and world around us and how we are all connected to taking in this life as movement. The medium of film, which provides us with concepts, images, imaginaries, and perceptions, contributes to so much of our memory and imagination, but is often dismissed as not “real” politics. Panagia and the theorists with whom he is thinking help to tease out the very political nature of the projection of moving images. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

Political Theorist Davide Panagia (UCLA) has two new books out focusing on the broader themes and ideas of film, aesthetics, and political theory. Sentimental Empiricism: Politics, Philosophy, and Criticism in Postwar France (Fordham University Press) interrogates French history and educational traditions from the Revolution through the postwar period and analyzes the cultural, social, political, and educational parameters that created the space for the French postwar political thinkers. In Sentimental Empiricism, Panagia explores the many directions of critical thought by Jean Wahl, Simone de Beauvoir, Gilbert Simondon, Gilles Deleuze, and Michel Foucault and how these theorists were pushing against, in many ways, the teleological structure as defined by Aristotle two millennia ago. This contrast in thinking is the heart of the book, helping the reader to consider distinctions between the more fixed classical ideas and a contemporary consideration of dispositionality and revisability. The research and broader historical sketch in Sentimental Empiricism leads to the thrust of Intermedialities: Political Theory and Cinematic Experience (Northwestern UP, 2024). In Intermedialities (Northwestern UP, 2024), Panagia continues to explore this concept of the revisability of our understanding of the world, and turns the specific focus to film. Film itself, as a medium and as a conveyor of ideas, is rarely at the center of discussions of politics and power. And yet this is the exact place where humans (audiences) can see movement, which is what we are always observing around us to contribute to how we essentially make sense of the world. Intermedialities compels the intertwining of political theory and the theory of film, with encounters between contemporary aesthetic theorists like Stanley Cavell, Gilles Deleuze, Miriam Hansen, and Jean-Luc Godard and more traditional modern thinkers like David Hume, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Gilbert Simondon. Intermedialities should be of particular interest to political theorists and political scientists since it posits the importance of understanding and thinking about the life and world around us and how we are all connected to taking in this life as movement. The medium of film, which provides us with concepts, images, imaginaries, and perceptions, contributes to so much of our memory and imagination, but is often dismissed as not “real” politics. Panagia and the theorists with whom he is thinking help to tease out the very political nature of the projection of moving images. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Political Theorist Davide Panagia (UCLA) has two new books out focusing on the broader themes and ideas of film, aesthetics, and political theory. Sentimental Empiricism: Politics, Philosophy, and Criticism in Postwar France (Fordham University Press) interrogates French history and educational traditions from the Revolution through the postwar period and analyzes the cultural, social, political, and educational parameters that created the space for the French postwar political thinkers. In Sentimental Empiricism, Panagia explores the many directions of critical thought by Jean Wahl, Simone de Beauvoir, Gilbert Simondon, Gilles Deleuze, and Michel Foucault and how these theorists were pushing against, in many ways, the teleological structure as defined by Aristotle two millennia ago. This contrast in thinking is the heart of the book, helping the reader to consider distinctions between the more fixed classical ideas and a contemporary consideration of dispositionality and revisability. The research and broader historical sketch in Sentimental Empiricism leads to the thrust of Intermedialities: Political Theory and Cinematic Experience (Northwestern UP, 2024). In Intermedialities (Northwestern UP, 2024), Panagia continues to explore this concept of the revisability of our understanding of the world, and turns the specific focus to film. Film itself, as a medium and as a conveyor of ideas, is rarely at the center of discussions of politics and power. And yet this is the exact place where humans (audiences) can see movement, which is what we are always observing around us to contribute to how we essentially make sense of the world. Intermedialities compels the intertwining of political theory and the theory of film, with encounters between contemporary aesthetic theorists like Stanley Cavell, Gilles Deleuze, Miriam Hansen, and Jean-Luc Godard and more traditional modern thinkers like David Hume, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Gilbert Simondon. Intermedialities should be of particular interest to political theorists and political scientists since it posits the importance of understanding and thinking about the life and world around us and how we are all connected to taking in this life as movement. The medium of film, which provides us with concepts, images, imaginaries, and perceptions, contributes to so much of our memory and imagination, but is often dismissed as not “real” politics. Panagia and the theorists with whom he is thinking help to tease out the very political nature of the projection of moving images. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), Email her comments at lgoren@carrollu.edu or tweet to @gorenlj. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/french-studies

Political Theorist B.J. (Bernard J.) Dobski has a new book focusing on Mark Twain's final published novel, Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc. As Dobski notes in his work and in our conversation, this is one of the more obscure texts by Twain, but Twain considered it his best work. Dobski's book is a close reading of Twain's Joan of Arc and an analysis of how this particular work, focusing on Joan of Arc's life through the narration of Sieur Louis De Conte (Joan's childhood friend and her secretary during her military undertakings), is part of Twain's larger efforts to understand the turn towards modernity, and all that entails. Mark Twain's Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity is part of series at Palgrave/MacMillan focusing on recovering political philosophy, and this book fits into that series particularly well. Mark Twain had a lifelong fascination with Joan of Arc. Twain's Joan serves, in the novel, as a kind of path out of the Middle Ages, and, in this way, is being positioned as a Machiavellian “princess”— embodying a political science more effectively than can the Church at the time. Dobski's interpretation explores the ways in which Joan of Arc, according to Twain, refounded and reformed France, taking many of Machiavelli's teachings into account. Another dimension of Twain's Joan of Arc is seen in context of the “historical maid” Joan of Arc and how both renderings are positioning a woman serving in a man's role. Dobski explains the controversy over Joan's attire—wearing men's clothing as a woman, which was one of the charges brought against her—and how these laws were designed to foreground the Church's teaching on modesty and decency and a means to regulate sexual ethics. This also reflects the maleness of Christ, which is not incidental to preserving the moral teachings that are rooted in the distinction between the sexes. But Joan is very much a woman in a man's world, and her success in the man's world challenges the Church's basis for these distinctions between female and male. Many of these entanglements are the focus of Twain's novel, and thus of Dobski's analysis of Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc. Ultimately, Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity digs into overarching and universal concerns, including the theological-philosophical conundrum, the claim of divine right by monarchs, and how to live a good life. B.J. Dobski skillfully follows Twain's curvy path through Joan of Arc's life and reputation to unpack Twain's own thinking about these perennial questions. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Political Theorist B.J. (Bernard J.) Dobski has a new book focusing on Mark Twain's final published novel, Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc. As Dobski notes in his work and in our conversation, this is one of the more obscure texts by Twain, but Twain considered it his best work. Dobski's book is a close reading of Twain's Joan of Arc and an analysis of how this particular work, focusing on Joan of Arc's life through the narration of Sieur Louis De Conte (Joan's childhood friend and her secretary during her military undertakings), is part of Twain's larger efforts to understand the turn towards modernity, and all that entails. Mark Twain's Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity is part of series at Palgrave/MacMillan focusing on recovering political philosophy, and this book fits into that series particularly well. Mark Twain had a lifelong fascination with Joan of Arc. Twain's Joan serves, in the novel, as a kind of path out of the Middle Ages, and, in this way, is being positioned as a Machiavellian “princess”— embodying a political science more effectively than can the Church at the time. Dobski's interpretation explores the ways in which Joan of Arc, according to Twain, refounded and reformed France, taking many of Machiavelli's teachings into account. Another dimension of Twain's Joan of Arc is seen in context of the “historical maid” Joan of Arc and how both renderings are positioning a woman serving in a man's role. Dobski explains the controversy over Joan's attire—wearing men's clothing as a woman, which was one of the charges brought against her—and how these laws were designed to foreground the Church's teaching on modesty and decency and a means to regulate sexual ethics. This also reflects the maleness of Christ, which is not incidental to preserving the moral teachings that are rooted in the distinction between the sexes. But Joan is very much a woman in a man's world, and her success in the man's world challenges the Church's basis for these distinctions between female and male. Many of these entanglements are the focus of Twain's novel, and thus of Dobski's analysis of Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc. Ultimately, Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity digs into overarching and universal concerns, including the theological-philosophical conundrum, the claim of divine right by monarchs, and how to live a good life. B.J. Dobski skillfully follows Twain's curvy path through Joan of Arc's life and reputation to unpack Twain's own thinking about these perennial questions. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Political Theorist B.J. (Bernard J.) Dobski has a new book focusing on Mark Twain's final published novel, Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc. As Dobski notes in his work and in our conversation, this is one of the more obscure texts by Twain, but Twain considered it his best work. Dobski's book is a close reading of Twain's Joan of Arc and an analysis of how this particular work, focusing on Joan of Arc's life through the narration of Sieur Louis De Conte (Joan's childhood friend and her secretary during her military undertakings), is part of Twain's larger efforts to understand the turn towards modernity, and all that entails. Mark Twain's Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity is part of series at Palgrave/MacMillan focusing on recovering political philosophy, and this book fits into that series particularly well. Mark Twain had a lifelong fascination with Joan of Arc. Twain's Joan serves, in the novel, as a kind of path out of the Middle Ages, and, in this way, is being positioned as a Machiavellian “princess”— embodying a political science more effectively than can the Church at the time. Dobski's interpretation explores the ways in which Joan of Arc, according to Twain, refounded and reformed France, taking many of Machiavelli's teachings into account. Another dimension of Twain's Joan of Arc is seen in context of the “historical maid” Joan of Arc and how both renderings are positioning a woman serving in a man's role. Dobski explains the controversy over Joan's attire—wearing men's clothing as a woman, which was one of the charges brought against her—and how these laws were designed to foreground the Church's teaching on modesty and decency and a means to regulate sexual ethics. This also reflects the maleness of Christ, which is not incidental to preserving the moral teachings that are rooted in the distinction between the sexes. But Joan is very much a woman in a man's world, and her success in the man's world challenges the Church's basis for these distinctions between female and male. Many of these entanglements are the focus of Twain's novel, and thus of Dobski's analysis of Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc. Ultimately, Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity digs into overarching and universal concerns, including the theological-philosophical conundrum, the claim of divine right by monarchs, and how to live a good life. B.J. Dobski skillfully follows Twain's curvy path through Joan of Arc's life and reputation to unpack Twain's own thinking about these perennial questions. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Political Theorist B.J. (Bernard J.) Dobski has a new book focusing on Mark Twain's final published novel, Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc. As Dobski notes in his work and in our conversation, this is one of the more obscure texts by Twain, but Twain considered it his best work. Dobski's book is a close reading of Twain's Joan of Arc and an analysis of how this particular work, focusing on Joan of Arc's life through the narration of Sieur Louis De Conte (Joan's childhood friend and her secretary during her military undertakings), is part of Twain's larger efforts to understand the turn towards modernity, and all that entails. Mark Twain's Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity is part of series at Palgrave/MacMillan focusing on recovering political philosophy, and this book fits into that series particularly well. Mark Twain had a lifelong fascination with Joan of Arc. Twain's Joan serves, in the novel, as a kind of path out of the Middle Ages, and, in this way, is being positioned as a Machiavellian “princess”— embodying a political science more effectively than can the Church at the time. Dobski's interpretation explores the ways in which Joan of Arc, according to Twain, refounded and reformed France, taking many of Machiavelli's teachings into account. Another dimension of Twain's Joan of Arc is seen in context of the “historical maid” Joan of Arc and how both renderings are positioning a woman serving in a man's role. Dobski explains the controversy over Joan's attire—wearing men's clothing as a woman, which was one of the charges brought against her—and how these laws were designed to foreground the Church's teaching on modesty and decency and a means to regulate sexual ethics. This also reflects the maleness of Christ, which is not incidental to preserving the moral teachings that are rooted in the distinction between the sexes. But Joan is very much a woman in a man's world, and her success in the man's world challenges the Church's basis for these distinctions between female and male. Many of these entanglements are the focus of Twain's novel, and thus of Dobski's analysis of Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc. Ultimately, Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity digs into overarching and universal concerns, including the theological-philosophical conundrum, the claim of divine right by monarchs, and how to live a good life. B.J. Dobski skillfully follows Twain's curvy path through Joan of Arc's life and reputation to unpack Twain's own thinking about these perennial questions. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Political Theorist B.J. (Bernard J.) Dobski has a new book focusing on Mark Twain's final published novel, Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc. As Dobski notes in his work and in our conversation, this is one of the more obscure texts by Twain, but Twain considered it his best work. Dobski's book is a close reading of Twain's Joan of Arc and an analysis of how this particular work, focusing on Joan of Arc's life through the narration of Sieur Louis De Conte (Joan's childhood friend and her secretary during her military undertakings), is part of Twain's larger efforts to understand the turn towards modernity, and all that entails. Mark Twain's Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity is part of series at Palgrave/MacMillan focusing on recovering political philosophy, and this book fits into that series particularly well. Mark Twain had a lifelong fascination with Joan of Arc. Twain's Joan serves, in the novel, as a kind of path out of the Middle Ages, and, in this way, is being positioned as a Machiavellian “princess”— embodying a political science more effectively than can the Church at the time. Dobski's interpretation explores the ways in which Joan of Arc, according to Twain, refounded and reformed France, taking many of Machiavelli's teachings into account. Another dimension of Twain's Joan of Arc is seen in context of the “historical maid” Joan of Arc and how both renderings are positioning a woman serving in a man's role. Dobski explains the controversy over Joan's attire—wearing men's clothing as a woman, which was one of the charges brought against her—and how these laws were designed to foreground the Church's teaching on modesty and decency and a means to regulate sexual ethics. This also reflects the maleness of Christ, which is not incidental to preserving the moral teachings that are rooted in the distinction between the sexes. But Joan is very much a woman in a man's world, and her success in the man's world challenges the Church's basis for these distinctions between female and male. Many of these entanglements are the focus of Twain's novel, and thus of Dobski's analysis of Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc. Ultimately, Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity digs into overarching and universal concerns, including the theological-philosophical conundrum, the claim of divine right by monarchs, and how to live a good life. B.J. Dobski skillfully follows Twain's curvy path through Joan of Arc's life and reputation to unpack Twain's own thinking about these perennial questions. Lilly J. Goren is a professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-host of the New Books in Political Science channel at the New Books Network. She is co-editor of The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (University Press of Kansas, 2022), as well as co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). She can be reached @gorenlj.bsky.social Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies