Author: Melissa Bridwell

A professor at UCLA has a small set of cards by the lectern. It’s a simple deck of theory cards based on David Gauntlett’s theories about media and identity, not a textbook or printed syllabus. Colleagues who have heard her talk about it claim that she described it as the best fifteen dollars she had ever spent on schooling. That remark, which was made casually at a faculty mixer last spring, has subtly taken on a life of its own. It has always been a little challenging to summarize Gauntlett’s work in a conventional lecture. His main point, that media…

American Airlines flights are currently experiencing a subtly odd phenomenon. Before taking their seats, passengers approach the cockpit door and request trading cards from the pilots. Not a snack. not coupons for upgrades. Instead of boarding gates and overhead bins, trading cards are the type you’d associate with baseball diamonds and Saturday morning garage sales. As it happens, a surprisingly large number of people genuinely desire them. As part of its celebration of its 100th anniversary, American Airlines introduced its centennial trading card program in early May. The cards showcase aircraft from the airline’s current fleet, including the A321neo, 737-800,…

Every sociology teacher is familiar with a certain moment. Around the third sentence about “relations to the means of production,” you see people’s eyes go blank as you stand in front of a classroom with a marker in hand and try to simultaneously unravel the intellectual universe of Max Weber and Karl Marx. Not antagonistic. Simply vanished. This could be the point at which the majority of students permanently decide sociology isn’t for them, which would be a real loss because the concepts themselves are truly fascinating. In many respects, Marx and Weber were social theory’s first intellectual rivals. Marx…

The Gem Mint Cards security footage has a scene that sticks in your memory. With a plastic tote in hand, a masked figure moves through broken glass and approaches the display case by walking, not running. Without hesitation. Don’t look around anxiously. only for a purpose. Rare Pokémon cards valued at between $25,000 and $30,000 disappeared from the DeLand store in less than 75 seconds, and the suspect had already left. It appeared practiced. That level of self-assurance doesn’t just appear. Additionally, it becomes clear that this was not an isolated act of desperation when you begin to piece together…

Seeing an idea that began on the periphery of academic culture be taken seriously by the institutions that previously disregarded it has a subtle satisfying quality. AltaMira Press, a reputable publisher with ties to the academic publishing industry in the United States, has recently endorsed Theory Trading Cards, which are little physical cards with summaries and portraits of significant cultural and media theorists like Michel Foucault, Stuart Hall, Bell Hooks, and Jean Baudrillard. It’s the kind of confirmation that, depending on who you ask, was either completely unexpected or long overdue. The cards themselves are not brand-new. They started on…

Holding one has an almost disarming quality. A small, glossy rectangle with the face of someone like Roland Barthes or Judith Butler, a brief biography on the back, and two or three lines summarizing the main points. Originally inspired by David Gauntlett’s theory.org.uk project in Britain, Theory Trading Cards aimed to provide students with an approachable, slightly irreverent introduction to cultural and media theorists. Nobody anticipated that they would end up as a reader for a Harvard course. Nor was it anticipated that they would create so much friction. There’s a feeling that the cards in the humanities corridor of…

Seminar rooms at American universities are experiencing something subtly peculiar. Students who used to clearly dread the reading list in theory-heavy classes are now showing up with little cardstock decks tucked next to their laptops. This isn’t exactly for a game, but it’s also not completely unrelated. The reasons why Theory Trading Cards—compact collectible cards with philosophers, critical theorists, and intellectual frameworks—have become so popular in higher education are intriguing. It’s worthwhile to consider the true nature of these cards. Each one features a thinker, such as Bell Hooks, Michel Foucault, or Judith Butler, with condensed biographical information, important ideas,…

The hallways of philosophy departments and common rooms at American universities are experiencing something genuinely bizarre. Michel Foucault was put on a trading card by someone. They provided him with statistics. And a surprisingly high proportion of highly educated individuals are unable to stop discussing it. The card, which is a part of a larger series that explains Foucault’s complex 1966 text The Order of Things, appeared through a YouTube video that managed to get past the algorithm and reach the ideal audience. It quickly spread to academic Reddit threads, Hacker News, and the kind of Twitter accounts that post…

Before you even enter, you can learn everything from the line of cars in the parking lot. Enclosed trailers occupying three spaces each, cargo vans backed up to curbs, and several men were already unloading long white boxes before the sun had fully risen. This is a sports card show that has outgrown its own image. Flipping through binders at folding tables while a guy wearing a team jersey offers you half the value of your card was once a niche pastime, but it’s now more difficult to classify. Vendors filled more than 500 tables at the recent Ohio Valley…

A little card that lists Michel Foucault’s statistics along with his “special move”—happily rejecting outdated models and creating new ones—is currently making the rounds online. It is illustrated, collectible, and somewhat ridiculous. It resembles something you might find at the bottom of a backpack, sandwiched between a rare holographic foil and a Charizard. Strangely, though, it may be contributing more to public philosophy than a dozen academic curricula put together. Major thinkers are assigned strengths, weaknesses, and signature skills through the Theory Trading Cards project. On social media, Foucault’s card has been circulating, inspiring both sincere excitement and the kind…