Yes, there are other cities
Black-led cooperatives, bohemian Greenwich Village, a sanctuary for women, and a fortress against Titans
“No one can afford to live in New York. Yet,” says Fran Leibowitz, “eight million people do. How do we do this? We don't know!”
This week at Public Seminar, our authors remind us that this city, and this version of it, is not the only way.
Mike Harrington reports on a network of organizations dedicated to building sustainable communities and Black political power in West Jackson, Mississippi.
Abha Deshmukh reviews the musical adaptation of Attack on Titan, a wildly popular manga that imagines humanity confined within in a triple-walled fortress—while flesh-eating Titans roam outside.
Mary Karmelek interviews Michael Inman about documenting New York’s early avant-garde in Becoming Bohemia: Greenwich Village, 1912–1923 at the New York Public Library.
And Chiara Bottici rereads medieval philosopher Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies: “I wonder if it is not necessary, as one of my students said today in class, to build cities of women just to make them visible, in the way Christine de Pizan did.”
Where the Avant-Garde Went to Grow
Michael Inman, Mary Karmelek
Michael Inman: This was really the first large-scale bohemian setting in US history, and it was rather pervasive in the press for a while. There were stories in mainstream publications about the activities of these crazy bohemians in the Village and their escapades and their questionable morals—but certainly also their experimental works.
The commercialization of the Village led to the demise of that initial wave of avant-garde bohemian activity. It set the precedent for what you see born out again and again, not only in New York but in other settings as well across the US and beyond, where you have a group of artists, writers, activists who move into an area, usually because the real estate prices are depressed and they can afford to live there. And also perhaps it’s off the radar of middle America, and they can kind of go about their artistic work or their political work quietly. But then eventually word starts getting out and other people think, I want to be a part of that as well.
Manga Colossus Goes Inflatable on Broadway
Abha Deshmukh
The musical walked a fine line between adaptation and fan service. The performance was entirely in Japanese, with supertitles displayed on both sides of the stage. It’s a thrilling, emotionally powerful experience that probably works best when viewed as an homage to the original, rather than a standalone piece. I’m sure I’m not the only fan whose teenage crush was reignited by the real-life Captain Levi, and for whom the playbill will forever remain a prized possession.
Building Black Political Power in Jackson, Mississippi
Mike Harrington
Mississippi is a place that I associate with the past—a place my family and many others like us escaped from, never to look back. Although the state has produced many whom I have drawn inspiration from, such as Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Medgar Evers, and Big K.R.I.T., I would never have thought it could show me a way to a better future. However, as it turns out, I was very wrong. One of the reasons for my change in mindset: an organization in the state capital known as Cooperation Jackson.
Christine de Pizan and Women’s Tongues
Chiara Bottici
I wonder if it is not necessary, as one of my students said today in class, to build cities of women just to make them visible, in the way Christine de Pizan did. And even more so, I wonder whether we could not use her writings, which faced the open misogyny of her time, as a magnifying glass to detect hidden misogyny of our own time.