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Home > Academics > College of Liberal Arts, Education, & Sciences > Liberal Arts Programs > Political Science > Faculty and Staff > Barry Seldes
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Barry Seldes

Professor
  • Email Address: seldes@rider.edu
  • Phone: (609) 896-5268
  • Office: Fine Arts 270
  • Mailing Address: 2083 Lawrence Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648

Dr. Seldes teaches Political Theory, Freedom and Authority, European politics, Politics of the Global Economy, and American Political Thought. He also teaches a course on New York in the American Studies Department, and Musical Expression and Political Culture, and Cultural Politics for the Baccalaureate Honors Program.  He has published an monograph on the history of US political-economic policy in Handbook on Public Administration, an essay on the Soviet avant garde appeared in For the Voice, jointly published by the British Library and by the MIT Press; his essay on Kafka and Wittgenstein was published in Legacy of European Ideas; his essay on Jewish mysticism appeared  in a Dutch anthology, Islam en Joden in de Wereld van de Islam; review articles published on various websites and for the Austrian History Yearbook and The Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography; his article on the European Union’s military force is about to be published in the forthcoming book, New Europe at the Crossroads. He lectured a number of times at the Jewish Historic Museum in Amsterdam on Spinoza. He is currently finishing a book provisionally entitled Leonard Bernstein: Survival and Triumph in Cold War America. His current projects include studies of the work of the critic Susan Sontag.

Education

  • 1971 Ph.D Rutgers University.
  • 1964 M.A. City University of New York.
  • 1961 B.A.  City College of New York.

Ph.D Dissertation

  • “Social Cleavages and Electoral Behavior: The Case of Republican Spain.” (1971)

M.A. Thesis

  • “The New York State Feinberg Law: An Administrative and Constitutional Analysis.” (1964).

Research Positions

  • 1983 Member, Rider Institute for Policy Research, 1983-85.
  • 1973 Consultant and Lecturer to anti-poverty study group, Montclair Library System, Montclair, NJ, 1973.
  • 1971 Consultant to New Jersey Country and Municipal Study Commission, Trenton, NJ 1971-1972.
  • 1966 Researcher and Interviewer, Analysis of the NJ Constitutional Convention, Bureau of Government Research, Rutgers University, 1966.
  • 1965 Administrative Intern, Office of the Township Manager, Franklin Township, NJ., 1965.
  • 1964 Social Case Worker, New York City Department of Welfare, 1963-64.
  • 1962 Researcher and Interviewer, Manhattan Bail Project, VERA Foundation, New York City, 1962.

Awards, Fellowships and Scholarships

  • 2006 Summer Research Grant, Rider University.
  • 2004 Research Sabbatical, Rider University, Spring.
  • 2003 Summer Research Grant, Rider University.
  • 1999 Summer Research Grant, Rider University.
  • 1996 Summer Research Grant, Rider University.
  • 1995 Inducted into the Honor Key Society, Rider University, 1995.
  • 1994 Summer Research Grant, Rider University.
  • 1992 Summer Research Grant, Rider University.
  • 1989 Charles and Mary Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.
  • 1984 Research Sabbatical, Rider University, Spring.
  • 1980 Summer Research Grant, Rider University.
  • 1967 University Fellowship, Rutgers University, 1967-1968.
  • 1964 Research Assistantship, Rutgers University, 1964-65.
  • 1964 Tuition Scholarship, MA Program, City University of New York.
  • 1956 New York State Regents Scholarship, 1956-1960.

Academic Positions

  • 1988-2003 Director, Rider University Baccalaureate Honors Program.
  • 1990-1993 Lecturer:  Amsterdam (Netherlands) Summer University.
  • 1986-1987 Field Faculty Advisor in Graduate (M.A.) Program, Vermont College.
  • 1985-present  Professor, Political Science and American Studies.
  • 1974-1985  Curriculum Consultant and Evaluator, Thomas Edison State College.
  • 1972-1985  Associate Professor, Political Science and American Studies, 1972-1985.
  • 1968 Assistant Professor, Political Science and American Studies.
  • 1967 Rutgers University: Instructor.
  • 1967-1968 Rutgers University: Teaching Assistant and Adjunct instructor.

Book in Progress

  • Leonard Bernstein: Survival and Triumph in Cold War America.

Papers and Manuscripts

  • The EU Military Policy and the Question of Militarization,” in Ursula Beitter, editor, New Europe at the Crossroads. New York: Peter Lang, forthcoming.
  • "Sensibilities for the New Man: Politics, Poetics and Graphics in Mayakovsky and Lissitzky's ‘But You?’" In: For the Voice: Facsimile and Anthology.  Patricia Railing, ed. (London and Cambridge: British Library and MIT Press, October, 2000.
  • Review of Nicholas Till, Mozart and the Enlightenment: Truth, Virtue and Beauty in Mozart's Operas (New York and London: W.W. Norton, 1992), in The Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography, James Springer Borck, General Editor. American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, 1998)
  • Review of Nancy Cartwright, J. Cat, L. Fleck and T.E. Uebel, Otto Neurath: Philosophy Between Science and Politics. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), The Austrian History Yearbook, 29, (1998)
  • “Constructing Memories: A Moderator’s Ruminations on ‘Memories and  Legacies: Constructions and Reconstructions of Twentieth Century  European Thought.   Memory, History and Critique: European Identity at The Millennium. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference of the   International Society for the Study of European Ideas, at the University of Humanist Studies,  Utrecht, The Netherlands, August 19-24, 1996   [CDROM], Editors: Frank Brinkhuis and Sascha  Talmor, ISSEI/University for Humanist Studies, Utrecht, ISBN 90-73022-11-8.
  • "Running Against the Boundaries: Franz Kafka and Ludwig    Wittgenstein." with S. Terwee. European Legacies I, 4, 1997, 1408-1413.
  • "Language, Logic and Culture." An Essay for a Forum on the Republication of A. Janik and S. Toulmin, Wittgenstein's Vienna. in H-NET REVIEWS (Electronic, Refereed Journal, REVIEWS@H-NET.msu.edu), January 22, 1997.
  • "Sjabbetai Zewi, messianisme en kabbala" in Islam en Joden in de Wereld van de Islam. eds. Julie-Marthe Cohen and Irene W. Zwiep (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Bulaaq, Joods Historisch Museum, 1995), 81-95.
  • Review of Robert Rotenberg, Landscape and Power in Vienna (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), in H-NET REVIEWS (Electronic, Refereed Journal, REVIEWS@H-NET.msu.edu), December, 1995.
  • Review Essay, "American Photography and the American Dream" by James Guimond, Perspectief (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), 43, February, 1992, 71-74.
  • Interview. "Professor Barry Seldes Sees Spinoza As The First Social Psychologist." By Tamarah Benima. Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad (Amsterdam): 2 August 1991.
  • "How I was Arrested at the Museum of Modern Art." (A fictional Freudian case study dealing with commodification and violence in contemporary life.) Kelsey Review, 1991, 53-58.
  • U.S. Economic Policy, 1865-Present: An Essay in Political Economy. In J. Rabin, B. Hildreth and G. Miller, eds. Handbook on Public Administration. (New York: Marcel Dekker, 1989), 883-963.
  • Dutch Economic Policy and Planning in the 1980's. A Monograph of 102 pages. Lawrenceville:  Rider Institute for Policy Research, 1983.
  • "Reification and Bourgeois Scholarship," Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies Newsletter, III, 4 (November 1975), 97-98.
  • Reviewer, Library Journal (about 20 reviews), 1971-75.
  • "Henry Wallace and the Farmers' Fight for a New Deal: 1920-1934."Journal of Social Studies (City College of New York), Spring, 43-63.

Lectures, Conference Papers and Panels

  • “The EU Military Policy and the Question of Militarization,” A Paper  delivered at the Conference on New Europe at the Crossroads) from July 25-27, 2005, at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland.
  • “Johannes Brahms in Vienna: Politics and Culture,” A Lecture Given at the Inauguration of the Westminster Choir College Brahms Festival  Johannes Brahms: His World and His Music. October 21, 2004
  • “Globalization and Its Discontents: Immigration and Identity in Contemporary  Spanish Film” (With Linda Materna): at the International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities Conference  held in August, 2003 at the University of the Aegean on the island of Rhodes, Greece.
  • "Leonard Bernstein: From Blacklist to Podium." Conference on Crisis in Liberalism: New York in the 1950s. Herbert Lehman Collection, Columbia University, 6 April 2001.
  • "Kiss and Caress: Manuel Puig's Spider Woman -- Film and Novel." Northeast Modern  Language Association Meeting, Hartford, Connecticut, 29 March 2001.
  • Panel Chair and Organizer, “Cultural Expression in Post-Authoritarian European Nations,”  Congress of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, Bergen, Norway, 14-18 August 2000.
  • Panel Chair and Organizer, “Cultural Expression in Post-Authoritarian European Nations,”  Congress of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, Bergen, Norway, 14-18 August 2000.
  • "Bernstein and Adorno."  A Paper delivered at the Conference on The New Europe at the Crossroads, July 4-8, 1999, Berlin, Germany.
  • "Beyond the Third Dimension: The Effect of Cinematic Representation upon Lorca's House of Bernarda Alba and Blood Wedding." Panel on Spanish Theater and Film, Northeast Modern Language Association Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, April, 1999
  • Panel Chair and Organizer, “Cultural Expression in Post-Authoritarian European Nations,”  Fourth Biannual Austrian Convention on Contemporary History at Graz, Austria, May 27-29, 1999
  • “Commodification, Depoliticization and Art: Recent Spanish Literature and Film.”  With Linda Materna. A paper read at the Second Crossroads  Conference, Tampere, Finland, June 28-July 1, 1998
  • Dramaturg’s “Introductory Lecture” to each of  the performances of Marc  Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock. January 31, February 1, 7,  8 and 9, 1997. Princeton Unitarian Church.
  • Panel Chair and Organizer. "Literature and the Holocaust." Northeast Modern Language. Association Meeting, Philadelphia, PA. April 8-9, 1997.
  • "The Persistence of Mahler: Culture, Politics and Epistemological Crisis."  Conference concerning The New Europe at the  Crossroads. St. Johns University, York, England, August 3 -7, 1997.
  • Brecht’s and Weill’s Aesthetic, The New Deal,  and Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock,”   A Dramaturgic  Essay read on the occasion of the production of The Cradle Will Rock by the Pocquelin Players, Princeton, New Jersey, January 23, 1997.
  • "Miguel de Unamuno: Tragic Spinozist." A paper delivered at the panel on Nineteenth Century Spanish Literature, Northeast Modern Language Association Meeting in Montreal, Canada,  19-20 April, 1996.
  • "Globalism in Today's World." Presented at Student Leadership Conference, Preparing for Our Future: Leadership in the 21st Century. Sponsored by Rider University and American Re-Insurance.  American Re- Insurance Company, Forrestal Village, Princeton, N.J. November 9, 1996
  • Lecture. "On D.E. Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners,"   Congregation Brothers of Israel, Trenton, N.J., November 13, 1996.
  • Panel Chair "From Rationality to Chaos: Representations of Social Reality Lecture: "Habsburg Imperial Cultural Politics during the Biedermeier  Period," The Schubert Festival, Westminster Choir College, Rider University, Princeton, New Jersey, July 17, 1995.
  • Lecture: "Honor: A Linguistic History from Indo-European Roots through Jeffersonian America. Rider University Honor Key Society Induction Lecture, April 26, 1995.
  • Panel Chair. "Music and Literature." Northeast Modern Language Association Meeting, Boston, MA. March 31-April 1, 1995.
  • "Vienna 1900/New York 1990 -- Gustav Mahler/Leonard Bernstein." A paper presented at Culture and Identity: City/Nation/World: 2nd Theory, Culture and Society Conference, Berlin, Germany, 12 August 1995.
  • Referee for History of European Ideas, June, 1994, article on "Schopenhauer and Tolstoy." Author anonymous.
  • Moderator/Commentator: Session on "Views about the Holocaust in the Region of the former German Democratic Republic."  13th Annual Conference on the Holocaust. Millersville University, Millersville, PA. "Holocaust Denial." April 25, 1994.
  • Lecture. "Isaac Bashevish Singer's Baruch Spinoza: On Singer's The Spinoza of Market Street.'" Presented at Congregation Brothers of Israel Synagogue, Trenton, N.J., April 20, 1994.
  • Panel Chair. Session on "Memory and Denial" at the 4th Annual  Scholars Conference on the Holocaust and the German Church Struggle;  The Third Biennial Conference on Christianity and the   Holocaust.  "The Holocaust: Progress and Prognosis, 1934-1994."  March 7, 1994.
  • "From Wunderhorn to Kindertotenlieder and Das Lied von der Erde: Gustav Mahler and the Cultural Politics of the Viennese fin-de-siécle. A paper presented at the Panel on Literature and Music, Northeast Modern Language Association Meeting in Pittsburgh, 8-9 April, 1994
  • "Running Against the Boundaries: Franz Kafka and Ludwig Wittgenstein." A paper written with S.J.S. Terwee, Unit of Experimental and Theoretical Psychology, University of Leiden, presented at the Fourth Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas: The European Legacy: Toward New Paradigms. Karl-Franzens-Universität, Graz, Austria, 26 August 1994.
  • Lecture. "Sabbatai Sevi: 17th Century Charismatic Messiah." accompanying A Museum Exhibition: Jews of Islam: An Historical Encounter, presented at the Jewish Historical Museum of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 23, 1993.
  • Lecture. "Sabbatai Sevi: 17th Century Charismatic Messiah." at the Amsterdam Summer University, Course on "Jews of Islam: An Historic Encounter" given at the Jewish Historical Museum of Amsterdam, August 19, 1993.
  • Lecture. "From Wunderhorn to Kindertotenlieder and Das Lied von der Erde: Gustav Mahler and the Cultural Politics of the Viennese fin-de-siécle. Delivered to the Graduate Seminar on Voice, Westminster Choir College, 20 April 1993.
  • Baruch Spinoza: The Inner Life of the Political Philosopher. (A  book in progress)  Chapters already in draft include: Mystical Amsterdam: Sephardic Jewry, Renaissance Neo-Platonism and the Messianic Kabbalah (1992); Spanish Honor and the Cartesian Order of Things: Spinoza's Mind and his Library (1992); A Freudian's Spinoza: Baruch's Unconscious Fantasy and his Dream of 1663 (1994); The Ethics: Fantasy and Ecstasy (1991).
  • Film  Script: SPINOZA.  A documentary developed with B. Brunner, Viewpoint,  Amsterdam.
  • Lecture. "Studying Spinoza" Philosophy Honors Society, Phi Sigma Tau. April 2, 1992
  • Lecture. "Studying Spinoza" Philosophy Honors Society, Phi Sigma Tau. April 2, 1992
  • Lectures on "Spinoza, Jews and Politics" the Amsterdam (Netherlands) Summer University, Jewish Historical Museum, July 23, 1990, August 5, August 19, 1992.
  • Lecture. "Honor and the Order of Things: Spinoza's Mind and his Library." Rider College Chapel Series: "People Who Made a Difference," October 15, 1992.
  • "Sensibilities for the New Man: Mayakovsky's and Lissitzky's 'And You?'" Presented at the Third International Conference, European Integration and the European Mind, Panel on Art and Literature, 24-29 August 1992, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
  • Lecture. "An Unconscious Fantasy in the Life  of Baruch De Spinoza," Lecture “Spinoza`s autobiographical fragment at the beginning of his early Emendations of the Intellect with material regarding the eternity of the mind, beginning with the Scholium to Proposition 20 of Part V of the Ethics” Presented at the Antiquariaat Spinoza, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. August 11, 1991.
  • "Lissitzky's Ideographic Reading of Mayakovsky's 'And Could You?' (2nd revision) Northeast Modern Language Association, Toronto, Canada, April 8, 1990
  • Lecture. "The Erotic Spectacle: Robert Mapplethorpe's Photographs, The Uncovering of Male Power Phantasies and the New Censorship" -- BHP Colloquium, Rider College, November 20, 1990.
  • Lecture. "Image/Text -- Modernism/Postmodernism. A critical reading of photographs of Phillipe Halsmann, Victor Burgin and Barbara Kruger presented to a Rider faculty study group, February, 1990.
  • Lecture. "On Interdisciplinarity." Symposium on Politics of    Discipline Formation in the Context of the Cold War and the Present Period. Rider Baccalaureate Program, 1989
  • "Lissitzky's Ideographic Reading of Mayakovsky's 'And Could You?  (revised) Ursinus College, Collegetown, PA, March 1989
  • Lecture. "Interdisciplinary Honors Teaching." National Collegiate Honors Council Annual Meeting at Las Vegas, Nevada, October, 1988
  • “Lissitzky's Ideographic Reading of Mayakovsky's 'And Could You?' Foundations of Political Theory Panel 10, American Political Science Association Meeting, Chicago, September 3, 1987
  • Lecture. "Vienna 1900," Rider Baccalaureate Program, October 14, 1986
  • "Power and Policy in Belgium and the Netherlands: 1970`s to the Present." With Paulette Kurzer. A paper presented at the panel on Comparative Politics in Northern Europe, Northeast Political Science Association Meeting, Philadelphia, November 15, 1985.
  • The State and the Development of Capitalism: Europe and the United States from Early Modern Times to the Present. Book manuscript, 1984
  • "Dutch Economic Policy and Planning in the 1980's". A paper presented at the panel on Economic Policy Making in Western Europe, Northeast Political Science Association Meeting, Philadelphia, November 19, 1983.
  • Lecture. "Industrialization and the Social Expenditure Cuts: After Reaganomics." Peace Fair, George School, Newtown, PA, April 30, 1983
  • Lecture. "The Political Economy of the Baroque." Rider Baccalaureate Honors Colloquium, October 8, 1982.
  • Lecture. "The Reagan Cuts." Trenton State College, April 30, 1982, and at the George School, Newtown, PA, May 1, 1982.
  • Lecture. "Reaganomics." Rider Political Economy Society, Fall, 1981
  • "Metaphors of the State in the 17th Century: On the Language of Political Culture During the Transition to Capitalism." Colloquium on the Liberal Arts and Sciences, Rider College, April, 1980.
  • "Toward a Theory of State and Law in Capitalism: A Preliminary Conjecture." Political Science Department Colloquium, Rider College, March 13, 1980
  • "From Cartesian Dichotomies to Cultural Solidarities" and "On the   Possibility of Recasting Marxian Categories." Papers circulated and discussed by Rider and Trenton State College Political Economy   Scholars Study Group, March and April, 1979.
  • Lecture. "Against Historicity: The Impoverishment of Diachronic Time in the Social Sciences and Philosophy." Rider Philosophy Department Faculty Colloquium, 1978.
  • "Reading Smith: Structure and Substructure in Adam Smith`s Wealth of Nations." A paper read at a Bicentennial Celebration of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, sponsored by the Department of Economics, Rider College, November 18, 1976.
  • "Historicity, Dialectic and Structural Determination of State and Classes: Toward a Critique of the Althusserian Problematic with Special Emphasis on the work of Nicos Poulantzas," A paper presented at a panel on Structuralism, American Sociological Association, New York City, September 1, 1976.
  • "Proletarianization and the De-reification of Class Consciousness." A paper presented at a panel on Problems of Marxism, New Jersey Political Science Association Conference, Montclair College, Montclair, NJ, 1976
  • Panel Chair. Problems of Marxism, New Jersey Political Science Association Conference, Montclair College, Montclair, NJ, 1976.
  • "Rationality, Satraps, Sultans and Czars: Cohering and Fragmenting Politics and the Executive Branch." A paper presented to the American Studies Sub-Regional Conference, Rider College, February, 1974
  • "Social Cleavages and Polarization in the 1933 and 1936 Spanish Cortes Elections." A paper presented to the Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies, Washington, D.C., April 8, 1973.
  • "The Logic of Political-Scientific Explanation: A Critique of Post-Behavioralism." A Paper presented at the Political Science Forum, Kean State College, Union, NJ, 1973.
  • "A Study of the Governance and Structure of New Jersey Special Districts and Autonomous Agencies" New Jersey County and Municipal Study Commission, Trenton, 1972.
  • "The State of the Structuralists' State: A Review Essay of G. Therborn`s What Does the Ruling Class Do When it Rules: State Apparatuses and State Power under Feudalism, Capitalism and Socialism," (unpublished) 1968.
  • "Tax Exemption in the New Jersey Central City: An Historical Study." Rutgers Urban Studies Center, New Brunswick, NJ, 1965.

University and Professional Service

  • Member, Film Studies Minor Committee, 2006
  • Director, Rider Baccalaureate Program, 1988-2003
  • Member, Presidential Search Committee, Rider College, 1989-1990.
  • Member, Rider College Core Committee, 1986-1991
  • Member, Race-Class-Gender Curriculum Study Committee, 1988-1989
  • Participant, Writing Across the Curriculum Program, 1988-89.
  • Member, Team for Evaluating Social Science Courses and Programs at Catherine Gibbs Business School, Montclair, NJ, for Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, NJ, 1983.
  • Chair Rider Promotion and Tenure Committee, 1982-84.
  • Chair, Rider Credit Union Nominating Committee, 1982.
  • Chair, Rider School of Liberal Arts and Sciences Academic Policy Committee, 1981-82.
  • Member, Baccalaureate Honors Council, 1981-present
  • Member, Academic Vice President’s Committee on Allocation of Library Carrels
  • Member, Rider School of Liberal Arts and Sciences Academic Policy Committee, 1980-81
  • Member, Rider School of Liberal Arts and Science Search Committee for an Associate Dean, 1979.
  • Member, New Jersey Political Science Association, 1975-1979.
  • Chairman, Rider School of Liberal Arts and Sciences Academic Policy Committee, 1975-76.
  • Member, Rider College Academic Policy Committee, 1974-75.
  • Member, Rider School of Liberal Arts and Sciences Academic Policy Committee, 1974-75.
  • Member, Rider Academic Theme Committee 1972.
  • Secretary, Faculty Association and Senate, 1971-72.
  • Member, Rider Curriculum Committee, 1971-72.
  • Chairman, Cultural Affairs Committee, 1970-71.

American Association of University Professors

  • Recipient: John Long Lifetime Achievement Award: Rider University Chapter AAUP.
  • Member, Nominating Committee, New Jersey American Association of University Professors, 1995/96.
  • Member by election, AAUP National Council (New Jersey) 1991-1994.
  • Member, National AAUP Nominating Committee, 1988 and 1989.
  • Member, National AAUP Resolutions Committee, 1987.
  • Chair, Rider AAUP Nominating Committee, 1985-1995
  • Member by election, AAUP National Council, District VII (New Jersey,  Delaware, Maryland and Virginia), 1984-87