Peoples & Things

Peoples & Things

episodes

Peoples & Things is a podcast in which host Lee Vinsel interviews scholars, practitioners, and activists about human life with technology.

Xaq Frohlich on the History of Food Labeling

March 18, 2024

Xaq Frohlich on the History of Food Labeling

Xaq Frohlich
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Peoples & Things host Lee Vinsel talks with Xaq Frolich, Associate Professor of History at Auburn University, about his new book, From Label to Table:…

Zachary Loeb on the History of the End of the World

March 11, 2024

Zachary Loeb on the History of the End of the World

Zachary Loeb
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Are you into the end of the world? Well, have we got the guest for you. In this episode, Peoples & Things host Lee Vinsel interviews Zachary Loeb, ass…

Robert Charette on Researching the Material World

March 4, 2024

Robert Charette on Researching the Material World

Robert Charette
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

In this episode, Peoples & Thing host Lee Vinsel interviews engineer, businessman, consultant, author, contributing editor at IEEE Magazine, and forme…

The Taste of Water: A Conversation with Christy Spackman

February 27, 2024

The Taste of Water

Christy Spackman
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

After WAY too long a hiatus, Peoples & Things is back! GET EXCITED!! In this episode, host Lee Vinsel interviews Christy Spackman, Assistant Professor…

Oil Beach - How Toxic Infrastructure Threatens Life: A Conversation with Christina Dunbar-Hester

October 9, 2023

Oil Beach - How Toxic Infrastructure Threatens Life

Christina Dunbar-Hester
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Christina Dunbar-Hester, professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, talks about her recen…

Twenty Years After “The New Economy”: A Conversation with Doug Henwood

October 2, 2023

Twenty Years After “The New Economy”

Doug Henwood
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Economic journalist and broadcaster Doug Henwood revisits his 2003 book, After the New Economy (New Press), with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. “T…

Forty Years of Technology Studies: A Conversation with Steve Barley

September 18, 2023

Forty Years of Technology Studies

Steve Barley
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Stephen Barley, professor emeritus at both Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, talks about the long arc of his forty-…

Race and Electrical Infrastructure in the Jim Crow South

September 11, 2023

Race and Electrical Infrastructure in the Jim Crow South

Conor Harrison
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Conor Harrison, Associate Professor of Geography and the School of Earth, Ocean, and Environment at the University of South Carolina, talks about his …

The Ideology of Entrepreneurship: A Conversation with Robert Eberhart

August 28, 2023

The Ideology of Entrepreneurship

Robert N. Eberhart
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Robert Eberhart, Associate Professor of Management and Faculty Director of International Business at the University of San Diego, talks about his work…

Outside the Box: The History and Future of Globalization

August 21, 2023

Outside the Box

Marc Levinson
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Economist, historian, and author Marc Levinson talks about his book, Outside the Box: How Globalization Changed from Moving Stuff to Spreading Ideas (…

How Uber Disrupted Washington, D.C.: A Conversation with Katie Wells and Kafui Attoh

August 14, 2023

How Uber Disrupted Washington, D.C.

Katie Wells and Kafui Attoh
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Katie Wells, a Postdoctoral Fritz Fellow with Georgetown University's Tech and Society Initiative, and Kafui Attoh, Associate Professor of Urban Studi…

Driving While Black - African Americans and the Automobile: A Conversation with Gretchen Sorin

August 7, 2023

Driving While Black - African Americans and the Automobile

Gretchen Sorin
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Gretchen Sorin, Director and Distinguished Professor of the Cooperstown Graduate Program at the State University of New York - Oneonta, talks about he…

Powering American Farms: A Conversation with Richard Hirsh

July 31, 2023

Powering American Farms

Richard F. Hirsh
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Richard Hirsh, Professor of History at Virginia Tech, talks about his book, Powering American Farms: The Overlooked Origins of Rural Electrification (…

US History in 15 Foods: A Conversation with Anna Zeide

July 24, 2023

US History in 15 Foods

Anna Zeide
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Anna Zeide, Associate Professor of History at Virginia Tech, talks about her book, US History in 15 Foods (Bloomsbury, 2023), with Peoples & Things ho…

African American Women on the American Railroad: A Conversation with Miriam Thaggert

July 17, 2023

African American Women on the American Railroad

Miriam Thaggert
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Miriam Thaggert, Professor of English at the University of Buffalo, talks about her book, Riding Jane Crow: African American Women on the American Rai…

Palo Alto: A Conversation with Malcolm Harris

July 10, 2023

Palo Alto

Malcolm Harris
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

This is the second Peoples & Things episode featuring a guest host. In this case, it is M. R. “Mols” Sauter, an assistant professor of information stu…

The Singer Sewing Machine in Spain and Mexico: Multinational Business, Gender, and Technologies

June 26, 2023

The Singer Sewing Machine in Spain and Mexico

Paula A. De La Cruz-Fernández
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Historian Paula de la Cruz-Fernandez talks about her book, Gendered Capitalism: Sewing Machines and Multinational Business in Spain and Mexico, 1850-1…

The History of the American Shopping Mall and Its Cultures: A Conversation with Alexandra Lange

June 19, 2023

The History of the American Shopping Mall and Its Cultures

Alexandra Lange
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

Writer and design critic Alexandra Lange talks about her book, Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Shopping Mall (Bloombury, 2023), with…

Red Team Blues and the Social Dimensions of Technology

June 12, 2023

Red Team Blues and the Social Dimensions of Technology

Cory Doctorow
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

This episode is a first for the Peoples & Things podcast: it features a guest host. It is something you will be seeing more of in the future. Guest ho…

The History of 19th-Century Quarantine Politics: A Conversation with David S. Barnes

June 5, 2023

The History of 19th Century Quarantine Politics

David S. Barnes
Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Listen:

David S. Barnes, Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania, talks about his book, Lazaretto: How Phila…