High Theory

High Theory

episodes

High Theory is a produced and edited by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu, two tired academics trying to save critique from itself, along with two amazing collaborators, Júlia Irion Martins and Nathan Kim. In this podcast, we get high on the substance of theory, and we try to explain difficult ideas from the academy with irreverence. You can learn more about us on our website, or find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Close Reading

March 2, 2024

Close Reading

Jonathan Kramnick

In this episode of High Theory, Jonathan Kramnick talks about Close Reading. Contrary to the name, it is less a form of slow or focused reading than a…

Criticism

February 15, 2024

Criticism

Matt Seybold

In this episode of High Theory, Matt Seybold tells us about Criticism, the glue that holds the bricks of culture together. Cultural critics are a nece…

Teaching

January 12, 2024

Teaching

Ramsés Martínez Barquero, Abigail Cowan et al.

In this special episode of High Theory, Ramsés Martínez Barquero and Abigail Cowan interview their graduate student colleagues about teaching. They tu…

Plot

January 4, 2024

Plot

Pardis Dabashi

In this episode of High Theory, Pardis Dabashi tells us about plot. A plot consists of a change with stakes that establish norms. This seemingly simpl…

Nature-Study: A Discussion with John Linstrom

December 29, 2023

Nature-Study

John Linstrom

In this episode, John Linstrom tells us about Nature-Study, an educational movement that began in the rural classrooms of American Progressive Era. It…

Sisterhood

December 16, 2023

Sisterhood

Katherine Turk

In this episode of High Theory, Katherine Turk tells us about Sisterhood, a familial metaphor used to evoke gendered solidarity in women’s movement of…

Self Help

December 7, 2023

Self Help

Angela Hume

In this episode of High Theory, Angela Hume tells us about Self Help, not the neoliberal strategy of self-actualization through consumer choices, but …

Plagiarism

November 28, 2023

Plagiarism

Geoffrey Sanborn
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In this episode of High Theory, Geoffrey Sanborn tells us about Plagiarism. A concept emerged with the idea of originality, plagiarism challenges some…

Economic Enchantments

November 22, 2023

Economic Enchantments

Anat Rosenberg

Anat Rosenberg, Kristof Smeyers, and Astrid Van den Bossche discuss the fresh historiographies of capitalism offered by studies of enchantment and mag…

Plantationocene: A Discussion with Neil Safier

November 17, 2023

Plantationocene

Neil Safier

In this episode of High Theory, Neil Safier talks with us about the Plantationocene, a geological epoch that traces the effects of climate change to t…

Decolonizing Praxis

October 23, 2023

Decolonizing Praxis

Erin R. Pineda
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In this episode of High Theory, Erin Pineda talks about decolonizing praxis. Black American activists in the 1950s and 1960s used strategies of civil …

Txt

October 13, 2023

Txt

Matthew Kirschenbaum

In this episode of High Theory, Matthew Kirschenbaum talks about txt, or text. Not texting, or textbooks, but text as a form of data that is feeding l…

Visibility

October 6, 2023

Visibility

Margaret Galvan
Hosted by Saronik Bosu
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In this episode of High Theory, Margaret Galvan talks about the queer politics of Visibility. In her work the activist practices of representation tak…

Polyphony

August 24, 2023

Polyphony

Brian Fairley
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In this episode of High Theory, Brian Fairley tells us about Polyphony, a concept from music that describes multiple melodic lines sounding at once. T…

Horses

August 7, 2023

Horses

In our new summer series of “Sillies,” Saronik and Kim ask each other how simple things will achieve the grandiose task of saving the world. In this e…

Bombay Talkies

July 20, 2023

Bombay Talkies

Debashree Mukherjee
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Debashree Mukherjee talks about the pioneering film studio founded in 1934 in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai) by Himansu Rai and Devika Rani. Its cast…

Wirsching: Bombay Talkies B-Side

July 20, 2023

Wirschig

Debashree Mukherjee
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In this episode of High Theory, we continue our conversation with Debashree Mukherjee about the pioneering film studio Bombay Talkies, founded in 1934…

Shortage

July 7, 2023

Shortage

Eram Alam
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In this episode of High Theory, Eram Alam talks with us about shortage. A political tool, rather than a natural lack, the concept of a shortage change…

Queer Mysticism

June 29, 2023

Queer Mysticism

Jamie Staples
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We close Pride Month of 2023 with Jamie Staples talking about queer mysticism. This includes instances in medieval Christianity where an embodied and…

The Environmental Unconscious

June 20, 2023

The Environmental Unconscious

Steven Swarbrick

Steven Swarbrick talks about poetic engagement with nature in the work of early modern poets ​​Edmund Spenser, Walter Ralegh, Andrew Marvell, and John…