Race, Reparations and the Search for Our Molecular Soul
When scientists first mapped the human genome in 2000, public figures celebrated the milestone in…
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Can You Become Un-Autistic?
You could read this as a straightforward narrative of medical recovery. Or you could read…
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Talking Salsa with Douglas Hofstadter, Enigmatic Author of Gödel, Escher, Bach
The cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter is well known for his pioneering work on artificial intelligence,…
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“Split at the Root”: Adrienne Rich and (Religious) Identity
Rich’s approach to her religious identity was of a piece with her approach to every aspect of her identity. For Rich, any identity worth achieving involved struggle and resistance—be it national identity (“a patriot is one who wrestles for the / soul of her country / as she wrestles for her own being”), gender identity (“A thinking woman sleeps with monsters. / The beak that grips her, she becomes.”), or the committed poet’s identity (“She cannot teach the end of bonds; but she can refuse to justify, accord with, ignore their existence”).
Read MoreLiving Between Worlds: Muslim, American, Five Percenter
Michael Muhammad Knight is living in that liminal space, not crossing thresholds of belonging and closing the door. He walks back and forth, and the text conveys that sense of unsettledness. Intentionally or not, Knight forces the reader to think about how we define ourselves and how much agency we actually have in that process.
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Looking For Answers at the Oscars: A Guide to This Year’s Contenders
The top films for 2010—especially those up for this Sunday’s awards—leave most of the species-specific questions behind. Instead this year’s crop reflects anxieties (as well as promises) about who we are and who we might be becoming in and as humans, in our own skins—never mind the “prawns” or “Na’vi.” Questions provoked by this year’s films include those concerning the nature of our selves in connection and collision with our families, our larger social institutional entanglements, and our own bodies. The other key theme, effecting each of the others, had to do with the ways new media technology is inserting itself into our intimate lives, and changing our identities, both public and private.
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Growing Up Cult: A Memoir of Life with Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy wanted to win a Nobel prize, and to be more famous than the Dalai Lama or the Pope. Jayanti Tamm writes a book about what happens when a good guru goes bad.
Read MoreEntitled And Enraged
The American Dream, the American identity, and their broken promises.
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“You’ve Never Met a Muslim”
Four New York Muslims take the anniversary of 9/11 to reflect on piety and patriotism, on sharing classrooms and rituals of community life, on the courage and goodness of New Yorkers, and on the horrific event that has shaped a generation of American Muslim life.
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Gandhi, his Grandson, Israel, and the Jews
Gandhi’s grandson says that Israel promotes a “culture of violence”: Shalom Goldman tells the little-known backstory.
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