Against the Grain

Against the Grain – July 2, 2014

Incarceration is commonly understood as detention in prisons and jails. Liat Ben-Moshe argues that the term’s meaning should be broadened to include confinement in places like psychiatric hospitals, mental institutions, and even nursing homes. Ben-Moshe discusses the trend toward deinstitutionalization, the position of people with disabilities in capitalist society, and what she calls the institution-industrial … Continued


Against the Grain

Against the Grain – June 23, 2014

After World War II, the US pushed the European imperial powers to abandon their colonies; it also adopted an anticolonial stance based on its democratic, anti-imperial values and principles. That’s the conventional narrative — but is it correct? Julian Go confronts the widely propagated notion of American exceptionalism and discusses the postwar rise of US global … Continued