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Folklore
Recall This Book April 21, 2022

Madeline Miller on Circe (GT, JP)

Madeline Miller

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
In this rebroadcast, John and Brandeis neuroscientist Gina Turrigiano (an occasional host and perennial friend of Recall this Book) speak with Madeline Miller, author of the critically acclaimed bestseller Circe …

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Interviews with folklorists and scholars of folklore about their new books.

Recall This Book April 7, 2022

Fantasy Then, Now, and Forever with Anna Vaninskaya

A Conversation with Anna Vaninskaya

Anna Vaninskaya

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
Elizabeth and John talk about fantasy's power of world-making with Edinburgh professor Anna Vaninskaya, author of William Morris and the Idea of Community: Romance, History and Propaganda, 1880-1914 (2010) and …
Folklore March 25, 2022

Contemporary Korean Shamanism

From Ritual to Digital

Liora Sarfati

Hosted by Timothy Thurston
Once viewed as an embarrassing superstition, the theatrical religious performances of Korean shamans--who communicate with the dead, divine the future, and become possessed--are going mainstream. Attitudes toward Korean shamanism are …
Irish Studies March 18, 2022

Collecting Music in the Aran Islands

A Century of History and Practice

Deirdre Ní Chonghaile

Hosted by Aidan Beatty
Deirdre Ní Chonghaile is a writer, musician, broadcaster, and curator from the Aran Islands. Working bilingually in Irish and English, she is drawn to voices, contemporary and historical, especially those …
General History March 17, 2022

The Cuckoo Cage

Ra Page

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
The superhero of comic books and blockbuster movies may be a quintessentially American invention, forever saving the world in skin-tight spandex. But the cultural DNA of the superhero can arguably …
Folklore February 24, 2022

Gichigami Hearts

Stories and Histories from Misaabekong

Linda LeGarde Grover

Hosted by Stephanie Khattak
Stephanie Khattak speaks with Dr. Linda Legarde Grover, an award-winning author whose latest book interweaves family and Ojibwe history with stories from Misaabekong (the place of the giants) on Lake …
Folklore February 22, 2022

Handbook for Folklore and Ethnomusicology Fieldwork

John Fenn and Lisa Gilman

Hosted by Timothy Thurston
With The Handbook for Folklore and Ethnomusicology Fieldwork (Indiana University Press, 2019), Lisa Gilman and John Fenn offer a comprehensive review of the ethnographic process for developing a project, implementing the plan …
General History January 26, 2022

The Fairy Tellers

A Journey into the Secret History of Fairy Tales

Nicholas Jubber

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In The Fairy Tellers: A Journey into the Secret History of Fairy Tales (John Murray, 2022), Nick Jubber unearths the lives of the dreamers who made our most beloved fairy …
General History January 26, 2022

Eaters of the Dead

Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters

Kevin J. Wetmore

Hosted by Jana Byars
Spanning myth, history, and contemporary culture, a terrifying and illuminating excavation of the meaning of cannibalism. Every culture has monsters that eat us, and every culture repels in horror when …
Folklore January 18, 2022

Folk Literati, Contested Tradition, and Heritage in Contemporary China

Incense Is Kept Burning

Ziying You

Hosted by Timothy Thurston
In Folk Literati, Contested Tradition, and Heritage in Contemporary China: Incense Is Kept Burning (Indiana UP, 2020), Ziying You explores the role of the "folk literati" in negotiating, defining, and …
Folklore December 29, 2021

The Nuosu Book of Origins

A Creation Epic from Southwest China

Translated by Mark Bender and Aku Wuwu

Hosted by Timothy Thurston
The Nuosu people, who were once overlords of vast tracts of farmland and forest in the uplands of southern Sichuan and neighboring provinces, are the largest division of the Yi …
Japanese Studies December 28, 2021

Ghastly Tales from the Yotsuya Kaidan

Takashi Saitō

Hosted by Jingyi Li
Ghastly Tales from the Yotsuya Kaidan (Chisokudo, 2020) is a newly revised and corrected translation of what is perhaps the most famous and oft told tales of horror in Japan. The …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast December 15, 2021

"Bambi" isn't about what you think it's about

Jack Zipes explains what it's really about

Jack Zipes

Hosted by Marshall Poe
Most of us think we know the story of Bambi—but do we? The Original Bambi: The Story of a Life in the Forest (Princeton UP, 2022) is an all-new, illustrated …
German Studies November 26, 2021

The Knight Without Boundaries

Yiddish and German Arthurian Wigalois Adaptations

Annegret Oehme

Hosted by Lea Greenberg
This volume explores a core medieval myth, the tale of an Arthurian knight called Wigalois, and the ways it connects the Yiddish-speaking Jews and the German-speaking non-Jews of the Holy …
General History November 17, 2021

Shapeshifters

A History

John B. Kachuba

Hosted by Jana Byars
There is something about a shapeshifter—a person who can transform into an animal—that captures our imagination; that causes us to want to howl at the moon, or flit through the …
Film October 18, 2021

Lucasfilm

Filmmaking, Philosophy, and the Star Wars Universe

Cyrus R.K. Patell

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
From A New Hope to The Rise of Skywalker and beyond, this book offers the first complete assessment and philosophical exploration of the Star Wars universe. Lucasfilm: Filmmaking, Philosophy, and …
Folklore October 12, 2021

Alabama Quilts

Wilderness Through World War II, 1682-1950

M. E. J. Huff and Carole Ann King

Hosted by Stephanie Khattak
Stephanie Khattak speaks with Carole Ann King, who, along with Mary Elizabeth “Sunshine” Johnson Huff, wrote Alabama Quilts: Wilderness Through World War II, 1682-1950 (UP of Mississippi, 2020). Alabama Quilts …
Indian Religions October 5, 2021

Winged Stallions and Wicked Mares

Horses in Indian Myth and History

Wendy Doniger

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Raj Balkaran speaks with Wendy Doniger about her new book Winged Stallions and Wicked Mares: Horses in Indian Myth and History (University of Virginia Press, 2021), along with her translation of the final …
Japanese Studies September 22, 2021

The Comic Storytelling of Western Japan

Satire and Social Mobility in Kamigata Rakugo

M.W. Shores

Hosted by Jingyi Li
Rakugo, a popular form of comic storytelling, has played a major role in Japanese culture and society. Developed during the Edo (1600–1868) and Meiji (1868–1912) periods, it is still popular …
East Asian Studies September 17, 2021

The Global White Snake

Liang Luo

Hosted by Huiying Chen
Liang Luo's book The Global White Snake (U Michigan Press, 2021) examines the Chinese White Snake legends and their extensive, multidirectional travels within Asia and across the globe. Such travels across …