Hyphen Object Lessons Pardis Mahdavi Ian Bogost Series Editor by Pardis Mahdavi, Ian Bogost (series Editor), Christopher Schaberg (series Editor) 9781501373923, 1501373927 instant download after payment.

To hyphenate or not to hyphenate has been a central point of controversy since before the imprinting of the first Gutenberg Bible. And yet, the hyphen has persisted, bringing & bridging new words & concepts. Hyphen follows the story of the hyphen from antiquity - "Hyphen” is derived from an ancient Greek word meaning “to tie together” - to the present, but also uncovers the politics of the hyphen & the role it plays in creating identities. 

The journey of this humble piece of connective punctuation reveals the quiet power of an orthographic concept to speak to the travails of hyphenated individuals all over the world. Hyphen is ultimately a compelling story about the powerful ways that language & identity intertwine. Mahdavi — herself a hyphenated Iranian-American — weaves in her own experiences struggling to find a sense of self amidst feelings of betwixt & between. Through stories of the author & three other individuals, Hyphen collectively considers how to navigate, articulate, & empower new identities.

“The Object Lessons project, edited by game theory legend Ian Bogost & cultural studies academic Christopher Schaberg, commissions short essays & small, beautiful books about everyday objects from shipping containers to toast. The Atlantic hosts a collection of ‘mini object-lessons’. . . . More substantive is Bloomsbury’s collection of small, gorgeously designed books that delve into their subjects in much more depth.” — Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing 

Pardis Mahdavi is Dean of Social Sciences in The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences & a Professor in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State Univ. She is a non-ficti