Against the Grain – December 3, 2013
According to an article co-written by U.C. Irvine professor Susan Coutin, deportation not only removes “unwanted” others, but also in a sense transforms de facto US citizens into de facto stateless persons.

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Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is produced and hosted by Sasha Lilley.
According to an article co-written by U.C. Irvine professor Susan Coutin, deportation not only removes “unwanted” others, but also in a sense transforms de facto US citizens into de facto stateless persons.
The ideas and strategies of W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and Booker T. Washington may have differed, but each played a key role in the pan-Africanist project. Jeannette Eileen Jones explains.
Many death penalty abolitionists assert that life without the possibility of parole is a better and fairer alternative to capital sentencing. But Jessica Henry takes issue with what she calls the “unjustified and almost commonplace imposition” of life-without-parole sentences. Also, Tony Platt discusses efforts to repatriate Native American remains that were excavated over a period … Continued
Tony Platt recounts the shocking history of the looting and collecting of Native American remains, and James Miller discusses the infamous case of the so-called Scottsboro Boys.
It’s an argument widely accepted within, and forcefully promoted by, feminist and queer circles: Gender and sexuality are socially constructed; they are the product of only socialization and social norms. Julia Serano believes this crucially ignores the role played by biology. She forwards what she calls a holistic model of gender and sexuality.
Does the postwar rise of US global power conform to the widely propagated notion of American exceptionalism? Not according to Julian Go.
Sean Andrews explains the role of copyright in efforts by digital capitalists to exploit the cultural commons.
UC Berkeley historian Waldo Martin has co-authored, with Joshua Bloom, the ambitious new volume Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party.
Shari’a has become a politically loaded term, but what does it mean, exactly? And what does Islamic law actually prescribe? Islawmix scholars Mohammad Fadel and Lena Salaymeh share their expertise.
Anne Tamar-Mattis on children born with intersex conditions, a new German law, and a landmark lawsuit.