Natalia Mehlman-Petrzela

Associate Professor of History

Email:

mehlmann@newschool.edu

Office Location:

80 Fifth Avenue

Profile:

I am a scholar, writer, teacher, and activist. As Associate Professor of History at The New School, I study the politics and culture of the modern United States and am especially fascinated by issues of gender, race, identity, and class. My first book, Classroom Wars: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern Political Culture (Oxford, 2015), explores the roots of the culture wars in American public schools, specifically amid heated battles over sexuality and bilingual education. My current book project - FIT NATION: How Americans Embraced Exercise As the Government Abandoned It - traces the rise of “fitness culture” since the 1950s, asking how and why Americans have increasingly linked fitness regimes to the pursuit of self-fulfillment even as access to affordable and free fitness has declined. These scholarly pursuits are closely linked to my activist work in schools, other community institutions, and the fitness profession.

I also believe the public benefits from more historical insights, and I am a co-host of the weekly history podcast Past Present. My writing has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, Well+Good, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Refinery29, and The Huffington Post. I’ve been featured as an expert historian in diverse media venues such as TimeOut London, Newsmax, Brian Lehrer TV, The History Channel, and The Atlantic. My work ihas been covered by many publications including The Guardian, Well+Good, Univision and Fox 5 NY. Find more about my scholarly and popular work at my website.

Degrees Held:

PhD, 2009, History, Stanford University
MA, 2004, History, Stanford University
BA, 2000, History, Columbia College 

Professional Affiliations:

Society for U.S. Intellectual History
History of Education Society
Organization of American Historians
American Historical Association

Recent Publications:

Book

Classroom Wars: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern Political Culture, Oxford University Press, 2015 (paperback 2017)


Peer-Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters

“An Intellectual History of the Gym, (Thanks, Gender!),” in Haberski, Raymond and Andrew Hartman, eds., No Things But in Ideas: United States Intellectual History, under editorial review.

“Sex, Spirituality, and the Popularization of Yoga in Modern America” [under review]

“HealthClass2.0: Crossing Boundaries Through Campus-Based Civic Engagement,” Anthropology Now, Vol. 7 No. 2

“Revisiting the Rightward Turn: Max Rafferty, Education, and Modern American Politics,” The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics, and Culture, Vol. 6, No.2.

With Sarah Manekin, “The Accountability Partnership: Writing and Surviving in the Digital Age,” in Dougherty, Jack, and Nawrotzki, Kristin, eds., Writing History in the Digital Age, University of Michigan Digital Humanities Series

“Before the Federal Bilingual Education Act: Legislation and Lived Experience,” Immigration and Education: A Special Issue of the Peabody Journal of Education, Vol.85, No.4., 406-424.

“’Sex Ed… and the Reds?’ Reconsidering the Anaheim Battle over Sex Education, 1962-1969,” History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 2, 203-232.

“A Different Kind of Women’s Movement: Group Fitness, Accidental Entrepreneurship, and the Creation of a Third Space” [IN PROGRESS]

“Unequal Cousins: The Fall of Public P.E. and the Rise of the Private Fitness Industry” [IN PROGRESS]


Selected Online Essays

• “When Wellness is a Dirty Word,” Chronicle of Higher Education (May 2016)
• “Mission High and the Educational Culture War,” Los Angeles Review of Books (April 2016)
• “The Democratic Party and the Not-So-New Family Values,” OUPBlog (June 2015)
• “Do We Need Wonder Woman?” Public Books (May 2015)
• “Petrzela on Perlstein: The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan,” H-1960s (April 2015)
• “In My Bed: Fifty Years of Sexual Violence on One College Campus,” NotchesBlog (February 2015)
• “Race, Wellness, and the Hilarity of Thug Kitchen,” Medium (October 2014)
• “There’s Someone Missing From My Facebook Pictures,” Slate, July 2014
• “Why this Lululemon Scandal is Different,” Huffington Post (November 2013)
• “Marianne Williamson for Congress: A New Age for American Politics?” Huffington Post (November 2013)
• “The Strange Gender Politics of Natural Living,” Society for U.S. Intellectual History Blog (May 2013)
• “Wellness: The Latest Frontier in the Culture Wars?” I Love You but You’re Going to Hell Blog (December 2012)
• “My Brief Teaching Career,” New York Times (June 24, 2002)

Performances And Appearances:

For a complete selection of recent performances and media appearances, please visit my media page.

Research Interests:

20th-Century U.S. history, especially of politics, society, and culture, with a focus on gender, sexuality, race, and identity. My first book project focuses on the emergence of and battles over the teaching of Spanish-bilingual and sex education during the 1960s and 1970s as a lens through which to contemporary politics. My newer work takes up a different facet of American social politics, exploring the enduring but evolving presence of self-help cultures and the pursuit of wellness in U.S. history.

Awards And Honors:

Portfolio