Sam Haselby
Sam is a historian of early America with a particular interest in religion and politics. He was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and has been a faculty member at the American University of Beirut, the American University in Cairo and at Columbia University in New York City. He was a Senior Executive Producer at Al Jazeera America and is the author of The Origins of American Religious Nationalism (paperback, 2016). @samhaselby
Edited by Sam Haselby
Progress and the future
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We need the toolkit of utopian thinking, now more than ever
Many dismiss utopian ideas. But imagining a better world is a vital political skill for tackling today’s challenges
by Caitlin Rajan
Social history
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How the law soothed broken hearts in 19th-century America
What does a deep dive into the transcripts of historical seduction trials reveal about how we account for hurt feelings?
by Jinal Dadiya
Technology and media
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Why deepfakes pose less of a threat than many predict
Applying Descartes’ sceptical puzzle to deepfake videos reveals the challenge they present is one that we can rise to
by Keith Raymond Harris
Work and vocation
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The ways Sugar Babies navigate two roles: lover and employee
‘Sugaring’ involves the commodification of romance – presenting a puzzle of love, labour and autonomy for those involved
by Brynn Valentine
Parenting and families
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Why are tiger parents willing to trade love for success?
Growing up under tiger parenting, I’ve seen that pushing a child to succeed often fails – and isn’t worth the emotional cost
by Louis Li
Community
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Does embracing local customs help immigrants feel at home?
Moving from Belgrade to Toronto, learning the social ‘rules’ fostered my sense of belonging. But there’s an important caveat
by Ljiljana Radenović
Eating disorders
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Learning to cook taught me that self-care isn’t selfish
In healing my relationship with food and cooking, I saw how caring for myself was the first step toward caring for others
by Céline Leboeuf
History of psychology and psychiatry
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In psychoanalysis, nostalgia was a sickness. It needn’t be
Nostalgia was, in Freud’s day, an illness steeped in the past. Today, it can be a joyful emotion that reframes the future
by Agnes Arnold-Forster
Gender
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There is nothing new about gender fluidity and nonconformity
From Mesopotamia and ancient Greece to precolonial India and medieval London, gender has always been more than a binary
by Chris Wheatley
Communication and language
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Censoring offensive language threatens our freedom to think
The modern obsession with textual purity stems from a misapplication of the philosophies of Wittgenstein and Derrida
by Paul Ham
Play
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The achievement society is burning us out, we need more play
This is about more than a self-help switch – it will take structural changes to reject capitalism’s productivity obsession
by Alec Stubbs
Thinkers and theories
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How the feminist philosopher Helene Stöcker canonised Nietzsche
Despite Nietzsche’s reputation for misogyny, his work inspired a leading women’s rights activist of the early 20th century
by Lydia Moland