Against the Grain

Migrant Day Labor in Neoliberal Times

What happens when poor immigrants seek work on urban street corners? What interpersonal and structural forces affect their vulnerability to harm? Paul Apostolidis considers the plight of migrant day laborers in the U.S. in light of their own words, of the dynamics of state violence directed at Palestinians, and of the nature of precarious bodily existence … Continued


Political decolonization was one of the signal events of the twentieth century, but according to Michael Denning, it was prefigured by the decolonization of the ear. The cultural historian discusses the moment in the late 1920s when insurgent sounds swept the globe, spurring resistance to empire, and shaping the place of music in our lives … Continued