Amor Mundi

What We're Reading:
Thinking

By Samantha Hill
Liane Carlson writes about thinking for The Revealer, and what happens when we lose faith in thinking as scholars. Echoing Hannah Arendt’s critique of academic thinking, and those who rank among the professional thinkers, Carlson emphasizes the communal nature of thinking as an activity that we engage in, while reflecting on the declining state of academia today.

Editing
 

By Samantha Hill
Magdalena Edwards offers a brilliant account of her experience translating Clarice By Lispector in the LA Review of Books. Navigating the unmarked side streets of publishing, Edwards walks readers through the process of translation while thinking about the gray line between editing and ideas, who gets credit for their work, and who gets thanked for devotion. 

What We're Reading
 

This week, we're reading Thomas Chatterton Williams on The Great Replacement

Authoritarianism Around the World

By Roger Berkowitz
With all the craziness going on here in the United States, it is sometimes hard to remember to pay attention to the world. But a number of essays this week remind us that the revolt against elite norms and elite institutions is a worldwide phenomenon. Siddhartha Deb writes about the decision of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party in India to revoke the special status of Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state in India.
 

An Interview with Uday Mehta

Zelda May Bas interviews Uday Mehta as part of the Hannah Arendt Center dinner and lecture series, "The Courage to Be." This video was first recorded in 2015.

Power, Violence, & Political Action

By Yasemin Sari

Power is indeed of the essence of all government, but violence is not. Violence is by nature instrumental; like all means, it always stands in need of guidance and justification through the end it pursues. And what needs justification by something else cannot be the essence of anything.

— Hannah Arendt

What We're Reading

This week, we're reading tributes to Theodor Adorno and Toni Morrison

Gaffes on the Campaign Trail

By Roger Berkowitz

Joe Biden made news with another racial gaffe when he said  “We have this notion that somehow if you’re poor, you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.” John McWhorter argues that these gaffes, while problematic, are also indicative of a paradoxical tension around black achievement. 

What We're Reading

This week we're reading Marilynne Robinson's essay, "Which Way to the City on a Hill?" in the The New York Review of Books.