Joshua May and the Search for Philosophical Nuance
In his teaching and his research, philosopher Joshua May reminds us that binary, all-or-nothing arguments often rest on false dichotomies.
“Kapow!” It’s Time for Cross Reference
This month’s crossword puzzle features an onomatopoeic opener!
Dear Deirdre: The Japanese American Agony Aunt
Using the nom de plume Deirdre, California-born writer Mary “Mollie” Oyama Mittwer offered advice on changing gender roles and cross-ethnic relationships.
Going Through TSA While Trans
The TSA’s Secure Flight Program, instituted in 2009, makes gender into an object of state surveillance.
Talking with Machines: Computer Programming as Language
The proliferation of different types of computing machines in the 1950s enabled—or perhaps forced—the creation of programming languages.
French Canadians in the New England Woods
Immigrants from Quebec held a distinct position in an American labor landscape in which experts viewed different “races” as being suited to different kinds of work.
Thomas Jefferson: A Vote for Cutting Off Your Nose
To reduce Virginia’s use of the death penalty, Thomas Jefferson proposed using permanent disfigurement as a punishment for rape, polygamy, and sodomy.
The Chinese Movie Theater in Shanghai’s “No Man’s Land”
The Isis Theater of pre-war Shanghai occupied a unique space as a Chinese-run cinema in an international “contact zone.”
Nuclear France’s Empire of the Bomb
The first French nuclear bomb test took place in the Sahara in 1960 in the midst of the Algerian War, but French history doesn’t connect the two events.