Modern art has always been a battleground — and the highly influential Museum of Modern Art has been partisan since its inception. Architectural historian Patricio Del Real discusses two differing political visions of modernism and modern architecture: one rooted in the left, and associated with figures such as Communist muralist Diego Rivera, and the other on the right, represented by the architect and fascist sympathizer Philip Johnson. He weighs in on MoMa’s promotion of a view of modernism in Latin America, stripped of its radical politics and racial fusions, and radiating American power and hegemony. (Encore presentation.)

Resources:

Patricio del Real, Constructing Latin America: Architecture, Politics, and Race at the Museum of Modern Art Yale University Press, 2022

The post MoMa and Cultural Imperialism in Latin America appeared first on KPFA.

Is a world of nation-states desirable? If ultranationalism is pernicious, are some forms of nationalism beneficial? Should struggles framed in terms of national liberation be lauded and supported? Nandita Sharma emphasizes the exclusions inherent in all nationalist politics, exclusions dictated by considerations of who does and does not belong to the nation. (Encore presentation.)

Nandita Sharma, Home Rule: National Sovereignty and the Separation of Natives and Migrants Duke University Press, 2020

The post The Nation, Reconsidered appeared first on KPFA.

Island nations have produced the least carbon dioxide emissions, but are paying the greatest price for global warming as they face inundation and obliteration. Yet many in wealthy continental countries know little about them or their plight. Scholar and environmental journalist Christina Gerhardt discusses the circumstances of islands surrounded by a rising sea, many made more vulnerable by economies dependent on tourism and histories of military exploitation and occupation. (Encore presentation.)

Resources:

Christina Gerhardt, Sea Change: An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean UC Press, 2023

The post Islands in a Rising Sea appeared first on KPFA.

What do neoliberal policies and institutions do to people’s ability to care well for others? According to Sarah Clark Miller, caregivers experience moral precarity and moral injury, brought on by the fact that they can’t care for loved ones in ways that are consistent with their ethical principles. (Encore presentation.)

Maurice Hamington and Michael Flower, eds., Care Ethics in the Age of Precarity University of Minnesota Press, 2021

Sarah Clark Miller, The Ethics of Need: Agency, Dignity, and Obligation Routledge, 2014

The post Caregiving in Neoliberal Times appeared first on KPFA.

Insights from two scholars who had books published in 2023: Thomas Wheatland, discussing his rereleased book about the Frankfurt School, the influential grouping of radical thinkers that included Herbert Marcuse and Walter Benjamin, and Juliet Hooker, expounding on aspects of her new book about race relations and political loss that weren’t addressed in last month’s interview.

Thomas Wheatland, The Frankfurt School in Exile University of Minnesota Press, 2023

Juliet Hooker, Black Grief/White Grievance: The Politics of Loss Princeton University Press, 2023

The post Thought-full Books appeared first on KPFA.

Advancements in science are seen as symbols of human progress, but science has frequently served deadly ends. Historian Clifford Conner discusses how scientific research in the United States is deeply enmeshed with the military, and considers the purpose of trillions of dollars of spending on the military. (Encore presentation.)

Resources:

Clifford D. Conner, The Tragedy of American Science: From Truman to Trump Haymarket Books, 2022

Science for the People

The post U.S. Science and the Military appeared first on KPFA.

Urban renewal processes and projects have wreaked havoc on many communities of color. Lindsey Dillon reveals how Black San Franciscans have responded to exclusionary forms of development and, more specifically, how Hunters Point residents worked to establish community control over how their neighborhood was redesigned and rebuilt.

Camilla Hawthorne and Jovan Scott Lewis, eds., The Black Geographic: Praxis, Resistance, Futurity Duke University Press, 2023

Lindsey Dillon, Toxic City: Redevelopment and Environmental Justice in San Francisco UC Press (forthcoming)

The post Race & Redevelopment appeared first on KPFA.

That these are intensely difficult times is stating the obvious. It’s hard to quantify the impact of social stress and political turmoil on our collective psyche, but we all know it’s real. The acclaimed Canadian physician and Marxist Gabor Maté illuminates how stress and trauma damage our lives and our bodies– making us alienated, sick, and often prone to destructive behaviors. His deeply humanistic work is featured in an award-winning documentary film.

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A new interview with Sharon Salzberg about her new book “Finding Your Way: Meditations, Thoughts, and Wisdom for Living an Authentic Life.”

The post Against the Grain – December 12, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

The rise of the far right has been one of the most alarming developments of the last few years, exercising a gravitational pull on much of American politics. Liberal critics often chalk up the appeal of the right to the irrationalism of the downtrodden. But writer Naomi Klein argues that the populist right is, in its perverse, hateful way, addressing often legitimate discontent about an unequal society. She argues that the only antidote is a renewed anticapitalist left.

The post Fund Drive Special: How the Right Shadows the Left appeared first on KPFA.