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Critical Theory October 6, 2022

State Sponsored Literature

Britain and Cultural Diversity After 1945

Asha Rogers

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
How does the state support writers? In State Sponsored Literature: Britain and Cultural Diversity after 1945 (Oxford UP, 2020), Asha Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Postcolonial Literature at the University of …

Performing Arts

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Interviews with performing artists and scholars of the performing arts about their new books.

Lies Agreed Upon October 5, 2022

The Two Russias

On White Nights (1985), The Hunt for Red October (1990), and The Russia House (1990)

Hosted by Lia Paradis and Brian Crim
In the late 1980s, Hollywood reflected the real world thaw in the Cold War by depicting the idea of two Russias: the cold bureaucratic state run by grey men intent …
African American Studies October 4, 2022

Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity

Sarah F. Derbew

Hosted by Amanda Joyce Hall
Sarah Derbew’s new book Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity (Cambridge UP, 2022) asks how should articulations of blackness from the fifth century BCE to the twenty-first century be properly read and interpreted …
Film October 4, 2022

Cinema’s First Nasty Women

A Discussion with Maggie Hennefeld, Laura Horak, and Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi

Maggie Hennefeld, Laura Horak, and Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi

Hosted by Annie Berke
What makes a nasty woman? Is it her unwillingness to break to the stringent standards of patriarchy, her gameness to get rough, even abject? Or is it the way she …
South Asian Studies September 30, 2022

Dancing Women

Choreographing Corporeal Histories of Hindi Cinema

Usha Iyer

Hosted by Pratichi Priyambada
Dancing Women: Choreographing Corporeal Histories of Hindi Cinema (Oxford UP, 2020), an ambitious study of two of South Asia's most popular cultural forms ― cinema and dance ― historicizes and theorizes the …
Global Media & Communication September 29, 2022

Sirens of Modernity

World Cinema via Bombay

Samhita Sunya

Hosted by Aswin Punathambekar and Jing Wang
Hello, world! This is the Global Media & Communication podcast series. In this inaugural episode, our host Aswin Punathambekar speaks with Samhita Sunya, the author of the book Sirens of …
Geography September 29, 2022

Breathing Aesthetics

Jean-Thomas Tremblay

Hosted by Stentor Danielson
In Breathing Aesthetics (Duke University Press (2022), Jean-Thomas Tremblay argues that difficult breathing indexes the uneven distribution of risk in a contemporary era marked by the increasing contamination, weaponization, and monetization of …
Lies Agreed Upon September 28, 2022

Cold War Homefront

On The Deer Hunter (1978), Coming Home (1978), and Da Five Bloods (2020)

Hosted by Lia Paradis and Brian Crim
We could do a whole season on Vietnam war films, but in this episode we chose three films that highlight the Cold War’s omnipresence in daily life. You wouldn’t associate …
Art September 27, 2022

The Art of Activism and the Activism of Art

Gregory Sholette

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez
Since the global financial crash of 2008, artists have become increasingly engaged in a wide range of cultural activism targeted against capitalism, political authoritarianism, colonial legacies, gentrification, but also in …
General History September 26, 2022

Death By Shakespeare

Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts

Kathryn Harkup

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
William Shakespeare found dozens of different ways to kill off his characters, and audiences today still enjoy the same reactions – shock, sadness, fear – that they did more than …
Performing Arts September 23, 2022

The Choreography of Everyday Life

Annie-B Parson

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Renowned choreographer Annie-B Parson's new book The Choreography of Everyday Life (Verso, 2022) is many things: a pandemic diary, a discourse of Greek tragedy, and a tribute to Parson's many inspirations …
Film September 21, 2022

Ernest Lehman

The Sweet Smell of Success

Jon Krampner

Hosted by Daniel Moran
A Hollywood screenwriting and movie-making icon, Ernest Lehman penned some of the most memorable scenes to ever grace the silver screen. Hailed by Vanity Fair as “perhaps the greatest screenwriter …
Lies Agreed Upon September 21, 2022

It’s The End Of The World As We Know It

On On the Beach (1959), The Day After (1983), and Threads (1984)

Hosted by Lia Paradis and Brian Crim
Last episode we discussed films about how a nuclear war would start, particularly the insane logic of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). In this episode we explore how American, British, and …
Music September 20, 2022

Unrequited Infatuations

A Memoir

Stevie Van Zandt

Hosted by Bradley Morgan
What story begins in a bedroom in suburban New Jersey in the early '60s, unfolds on some of the country's largest stages, and then ranges across the globe, demonstrating over …
Popular Culture September 16, 2022

Nocturnal Admissions

Behind the Scenes at Tunnel, Limelight, Avalon, and Other Legendary Nightclubs

Steve Adelman

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
In Nocturnal Admissions: Behind the Scenes at Tunnel, Limelight, Avalon, and Other Legendary Nightclubs (Santa Monica Press, 2022), nightclub director Steve Adelman reflects on his years working in some of the world's most …
Performing Arts September 14, 2022

Working Backstage

A Cultural History and Ethnography of Technical Theater Labor

Christin Essin

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Working Backstage: A Cultural History and Ethnography of Technical Theater Labor (University of Michigan Press, 2021) by Dr. Christin Essin illuminates the work of New York City’s theater technicians, shining …
Lies Agreed Upon September 14, 2022

A MAD, MAD, World

On Dr. Strangelove (1964), and Failsafe (1964)

Hosted by Lia Paradis and Brian Crim
The world lived under the shadow of the acronym MAD for forty years. Mutually Assured Destruction was no laughing matter, but Stanley Kubrick thought dark comedy was the only way …
Critical Theory September 13, 2022

True Story

What Reality TV Says About Us

Danielle J. Lindemann

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
Why is reality TV important? In True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us (FSG, 2022), Danielle J. Lindemann, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Lehigh University, uses a sociological …
Art September 13, 2022

The City in Time

Contemporary Art and Urban Form in Vietnam and Cambodia

Pamela N. Corey

Hosted by Holiday Powers
In The City in Time: Contemporary Art and Urban Form in Vietnam and Cambodia (U Washington Press, 2021), Pamela N. Corey provides new ways of understanding contemporary artistic practices in a region …
Art September 12, 2022

Art After Liberalism

Nicholas Gamso

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez
Art After Liberalism (Columbia UP, 2022) is an account of creative practice at a moment of converging political and social rifts – a moment that could be described as a …