BMS faculty member Jaleh Mansoor has just published Universal Prostitution and Modernist Abstraction: A Counterhistory (Duke University Press, 2025), a work that offers a fresh take on modernist art history by bringing it into conversation with Marxist theory. Drawing on Marx’s notion of prostitution as a metaphor for modern labour, Mansoor examines how avant-garde artists understood and resisted the economic forces shaping their world and time. Already receiving strong praise from leading scholars worldwide, Dr. Mansoor’s work is a great example of the rigorous, boundary-crossing research happening in the BMS faculty. For students curious about the intersections of art, identity and critical theory, this is well worth exploring.
Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Jaleh Mansoor’s New Book
June 25, 2026
