Jonathon Catlin
@joncatlin.bsky.social
Intellectual history, German & Jewish studies, climate catastrophe | Postdoc at the University of Rochester Humanities Center | PhD from Princeton | Edits @jhideas.bsky.social | Rochester • NYC • Berlin 🏳️🌈
https://rochester.academia.edu/JonathonCatlin
https://rochester.academia.edu/JonathonCatlin
Pinned
Jonathon Catlin
@joncatlin.bsky.social
· Nov 25
The special issue of New German Critique on "German Memory Politics at a Crossroads," which I co-edited with Andreas Huyssen and the late Anson Rabinbach, is finally starting to look real! It will be out in February 2026.
ngc.arts.cornell.edu/forthcoming....
ngc.arts.cornell.edu/forthcoming....
Reposted by Jonathon Catlin
From the NYT today, 2 charts on the brokenness of American politics:
December 27, 2025 at 3:11 PM
From the NYT today, 2 charts on the brokenness of American politics:
Thrilled to see this out!
December 27, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Thrilled to see this out!
In which Habermas "regards the Frankfurt School tradition as 'more alive' in the US than in Germany."
My Habermas review for the FT www.ft.com/content/9f89... Jürgen Habermas: Germany’s political and cultural phenomenon
Jürgen Habermas: Germany’s political and cultural phenomenon
Two new books bring fresh insights into the philosopher who has towered over seven decades of German public life
www.ft.com
December 24, 2025 at 6:26 PM
In which Habermas "regards the Frankfurt School tradition as 'more alive' in the US than in Germany."
Do I start my nephew’s teen existential crisis off early by giving him this for Christmas?
December 23, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Do I start my nephew’s teen existential crisis off early by giving him this for Christmas?
In @thediasporist.bsky.social, @dirkmoses.bsky.social asks whether Holocaust memory has run its course: "If anyone has killed belief in Holocaust memory, it is Western political classes whose misuse of it to justify an undeniable evil have destroyed its currency."
thediasporist.de/is-holocaust...
thediasporist.de/is-holocaust...
Is Holocaust Memory Over? – the Diasporist
How the German political and media classes have hollowed out the lessons of history
thediasporist.de
December 23, 2025 at 4:22 PM
In @thediasporist.bsky.social, @dirkmoses.bsky.social asks whether Holocaust memory has run its course: "If anyone has killed belief in Holocaust memory, it is Western political classes whose misuse of it to justify an undeniable evil have destroyed its currency."
thediasporist.de/is-holocaust...
thediasporist.de/is-holocaust...
Reposted by Jonathon Catlin
Senator Bernie Sanders will administer the oath of office to New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani during his public swearing-in ceremony at City Hall on January 1. trib.al/ylTzosO
December 22, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Senator Bernie Sanders will administer the oath of office to New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani during his public swearing-in ceremony at City Hall on January 1. trib.al/ylTzosO
Grateful for this gift from my wonderful colleague Lisa Cerami! She saw me use this New Yorker illustration in a presentation on my catastrophe project a few weeks ago and decided to blow it up into matching posters for our offices.
December 22, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Grateful for this gift from my wonderful colleague Lisa Cerami! She saw me use this New Yorker illustration in a presentation on my catastrophe project a few weeks ago and decided to blow it up into matching posters for our offices.
In the latest piece I edited for our @jhideas.bsky.social Blog forum on political economy & intellectual history, Alec Israeli looks to "the historical intertwining of ideas and commodities" by reading Marx together with reports on the iron industry in the 19th c. US
www.jhiblog.org/2025/12/22/m...
www.jhiblog.org/2025/12/22/m...
Mind, Matter, and the Question of Materialist Intellectual History
by Alec Israeli
This think piece is part of a JHI Blog forum, “The Return of Political Economy in Intellectual History.”
www.jhiblog.org
December 22, 2025 at 6:24 PM
In the latest piece I edited for our @jhideas.bsky.social Blog forum on political economy & intellectual history, Alec Israeli looks to "the historical intertwining of ideas and commodities" by reading Marx together with reports on the iron industry in the 19th c. US
www.jhiblog.org/2025/12/22/m...
www.jhiblog.org/2025/12/22/m...
Those seeking to blame the global rise in antisemitism and despicable attack at Bondi Beach on the “genocide libel” of Palestine solidarity should first look to the dangerous conflation and co-optation of Judaism with Israel’s militarism and genocidal campaign by the Zionist right.
December 19, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Those seeking to blame the global rise in antisemitism and despicable attack at Bondi Beach on the “genocide libel” of Palestine solidarity should first look to the dangerous conflation and co-optation of Judaism with Israel’s militarism and genocidal campaign by the Zionist right.
In a new piece I helped edit in our JHI forum on intellectual history and political economy, @lottelist.bsky.social complicates Koselleck’s rosy view of liberal economist Adam Smith as “sober” and free from the ideological blinders of utopian continental progressive philosophies of history
In a new piece for the JHI Forum on political economy, Lotte Liste critically situates Reinhart Koselleck's concept of the Sattelzeit with Adam Smith's philosophy of history. @lottelist.bsky.social
Economy and History in the Sattelzeit: On Adam Smith’s Alleged Sobriety
by Lotte List
This think piece is part of a JHI Blog forum: “The Return of Political Economy in Intellectual History.”
web.sas.upenn.edu
December 18, 2025 at 12:49 AM
In a new piece I helped edit in our JHI forum on intellectual history and political economy, @lottelist.bsky.social complicates Koselleck’s rosy view of liberal economist Adam Smith as “sober” and free from the ideological blinders of utopian continental progressive philosophies of history
Reposted by Jonathon Catlin
Part II of this interview about Federico Marcon’s new book covers its relation to the recent “Fascism Debate," debts to Frankfurt School critical theory and other forms of historical semantics, impact on the conceptual historian's craft, and more. @joncatlin.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social
The Disadvantages of “Fascism” for Life: An Interview with Federico Marcon (Part II)
by Jonathon Catlin
www.jhiblog.org
December 1, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Part II of this interview about Federico Marcon’s new book covers its relation to the recent “Fascism Debate," debts to Frankfurt School critical theory and other forms of historical semantics, impact on the conceptual historian's craft, and more. @joncatlin.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social
I've arrived in DC for the @jewishstudies.bsky.social conference to speak on the breakdown of Holocaust memory after October 7 into universalist and particularist strands on the panel "Modern Jewish Thought in Question: Typologies, Legacies, and Political Stakes." Friends, say hello! #AJS2025
December 14, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I've arrived in DC for the @jewishstudies.bsky.social conference to speak on the breakdown of Holocaust memory after October 7 into universalist and particularist strands on the panel "Modern Jewish Thought in Question: Typologies, Legacies, and Political Stakes." Friends, say hello! #AJS2025
“With memory culture routinely used to justify genocide abroad and securitization at home – and a climate in which explicit dissent from Germany’s policy dogmas triggers cancellations or even police interventions – they described a society sliding into a kind of intellectual paralysis.”
December 11, 2025 at 3:09 PM
“With memory culture routinely used to justify genocide abroad and securitization at home – and a climate in which explicit dissent from Germany’s policy dogmas triggers cancellations or even police interventions – they described a society sliding into a kind of intellectual paralysis.”
Reposted by Jonathon Catlin
Since we’re on the topic of tearing down buildings, I got the author copies of my book (!!). Real in the world December 2
TL;DR: Detroiters have a lot to teach us about how material conditions reproduce white supremacy w/o racist people and policies. Tearing things down isn’t a clean slate
TL;DR: Detroiters have a lot to teach us about how material conditions reproduce white supremacy w/o racist people and policies. Tearing things down isn’t a clean slate
October 23, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Since we’re on the topic of tearing down buildings, I got the author copies of my book (!!). Real in the world December 2
TL;DR: Detroiters have a lot to teach us about how material conditions reproduce white supremacy w/o racist people and policies. Tearing things down isn’t a clean slate
TL;DR: Detroiters have a lot to teach us about how material conditions reproduce white supremacy w/o racist people and policies. Tearing things down isn’t a clean slate
Reposted by Jonathon Catlin
Thinking of my New School friends whose programs have been closed (~30 of them), whose PhD programs have been indefinitely halted, and who are now receiving invitations to resign + accept severance payments — with the threat of 🪓 if not enough folks take the offer. A ✨-if-imperfect place ruined 😥
December 4, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Thinking of my New School friends whose programs have been closed (~30 of them), whose PhD programs have been indefinitely halted, and who are now receiving invitations to resign + accept severance payments — with the threat of 🪓 if not enough folks take the offer. A ✨-if-imperfect place ruined 😥
What is living and what is dead in the work of Hannah Arendt? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/b...
Hannah Arendt Is Not Your Icon
www.nytimes.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:55 PM
What is living and what is dead in the work of Hannah Arendt? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/b...
Hannah Arendt died on this day 50 years ago. A few years back I turned the invitation to review the major exhibition on her life and work at the Deutsches Historisches Museum into a long reflection on her career and legacy. I hope it still holds up! literaturwissenschaft-berlin.de/hannah-arend...
Hannah Arendt and the Twentieth Century - Jonathon Catlin - LiB
An exhibition at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin explores Hannah Arendt's transnational career, her thoughts on topics such as feminism and colonialism, and her many close friendships.
literaturwissenschaft-berlin.de
December 4, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Hannah Arendt died on this day 50 years ago. A few years back I turned the invitation to review the major exhibition on her life and work at the Deutsches Historisches Museum into a long reflection on her career and legacy. I hope it still holds up! literaturwissenschaft-berlin.de/hannah-arend...
Two truths and a lie!
December 2, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Two truths and a lie!
Glad to be part of this symposium honoring the life and work of my Doktorvater Anson Rabinbach next week at NYU!
as.nyu.edu/research-cen...
as.nyu.edu/research-cen...
December 2, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Glad to be part of this symposium honoring the life and work of my Doktorvater Anson Rabinbach next week at NYU!
as.nyu.edu/research-cen...
as.nyu.edu/research-cen...
In part 2 of my interview with Federico Marcon, he explains how the use of a generic concept of fascism obscures the way “Italian Fascism and German National Socialism grew within and developed into regimes that remained largely parasitical upon the preexisting institutions of liberal democracy.”
Part II of this interview about Federico Marcon’s new book covers its relation to the recent “Fascism Debate," debts to Frankfurt School critical theory and other forms of historical semantics, impact on the conceptual historian's craft, and more. @joncatlin.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social
The Disadvantages of “Fascism” for Life: An Interview with Federico Marcon (Part II)
by Jonathon Catlin
www.jhiblog.org
December 1, 2025 at 7:18 PM
In part 2 of my interview with Federico Marcon, he explains how the use of a generic concept of fascism obscures the way “Italian Fascism and German National Socialism grew within and developed into regimes that remained largely parasitical upon the preexisting institutions of liberal democracy.”
Grateful for late capitalism
November 27, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Grateful for late capitalism
Thanksgiving proofs 🤗 🦃 👨🏻🏫
November 27, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Thanksgiving proofs 🤗 🦃 👨🏻🏫
Reposted by Jonathon Catlin
Part 1 of a recent interview with my thoughts on the authoritarian turn in contemporary Germany - Staatsräson, the repression of pro-Palestine protests and the overall undermining of democracy
🎙️ In our new podcast, @robin-c.bsky.social examines the threat of far-right on German politics and discusses the country’s broader protest culture.
🎧 Listen to it now:
👉 tinyurl.com/mvhsdrk7
🎧 Listen to it now:
👉 tinyurl.com/mvhsdrk7
November 26, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Part 1 of a recent interview with my thoughts on the authoritarian turn in contemporary Germany - Staatsräson, the repression of pro-Palestine protests and the overall undermining of democracy
Reposted by Jonathon Catlin
Today on the blog, Jon Catlin interviews Federico Marcon on his latest book, "Fascism: History of a Word," which uses semiotics to chart fascism’s changing political and heuristic meanings from its invention in Italy in 1919 to the present.
@joncatlin.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social
@joncatlin.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social
The Disadvantages of “Fascism” for Life: An Interview with Federico Marcon (Part I)
by Jonathon Catlin
www.jhiblog.org
November 26, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Today on the blog, Jon Catlin interviews Federico Marcon on his latest book, "Fascism: History of a Word," which uses semiotics to chart fascism’s changing political and heuristic meanings from its invention in Italy in 1919 to the present.
@joncatlin.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social
@joncatlin.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social
Reposted by Jonathon Catlin
‘Germany has become a laboratory for the criminalisation of solidarity with Palestine, testing how far it can go in suppressing free speech, banning protest, and bending the constitutional framework until it is almost unrecognisable.’
new report @tninstitute.bsky.social
www.tni.org/en/publicati...
new report @tninstitute.bsky.social
www.tni.org/en/publicati...
Solidarity under Siege | Transnational Institute
Since 7 October 2023, Germany’s unabating support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza is mirrored by a sweeping crackdown on Palestine solidarity at home. This report unpacks how over decades, authorities h...
www.tni.org
November 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
‘Germany has become a laboratory for the criminalisation of solidarity with Palestine, testing how far it can go in suppressing free speech, banning protest, and bending the constitutional framework until it is almost unrecognisable.’
new report @tninstitute.bsky.social
www.tni.org/en/publicati...
new report @tninstitute.bsky.social
www.tni.org/en/publicati...