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French Studies
Jewish Studies May 26, 2023

Undesirables

A Holocaust Journey to North Africa

Aomar Boum

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
In the lead-up to World War II, the rising tide of fascism and antisemitism in Europe foreshadowed Hitler's genocidal campaign against Jews. But the horrors of the Holocaust were not …

French Studies

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Interviews with scholars of France about their new books.

Military History May 23, 2023

Dünkirchen 1940

The German View of Dunkirk

Robert Kershaw

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
The surprise success of the German offensive in the West that commenced on May 10, 1940 caught the Allies completely off-guard, and France would soon capitulate to the Germans in …
History Ex Silo May 20, 2023

Empires after World War II: The Cases of the USSR and France

A Discussion with Rachel Applebaum and Emily Marker

Rachel Applebaum and Emily Marker

Hosted by Stephen Bittner
Where lay the fissures of Soviet power in Eastern Europe during the Cold War? Why did France fail in its postwar efforts to make its African colonies part of France …
International Horizons May 18, 2023

Algeria and France

Grievances and the Effects of Decolonialism

Laetitia Bucaille

Hosted by International Horizons
In this episode of International Horizons, RBI's director, John Torpey interviewed Laetitia Bucaille about the factors that explain variation in resentment and grievances in former colonies drawing from the cases …
Sociology May 17, 2023

The Political Durkheim

Sociology, Socialism, Legacies

Matt Dawson

Hosted by Rituparna Patgiri
Matt Dawson's The Political Durkheim: Sociology, Socialism, Legacies (Routledge, 2023) presents Durkheim as an important political sociologist, inspired by and advocating socialism. Through a series of studies, it argues that …
General History May 15, 2023

Khmer Nationalist

Sơn Ngc Thành, the CIA, and the Transformation of Cambodia

Matthew Jagel

Hosted by Michael Vann
Khmer Nationalist: Sơn Ngc Thành, the CIA, and the Transformation of Cambodia (Northern Illinois UP, 2023) is a political history of Cambodia from World War II until 1975, examining the …
French Studies May 14, 2023

Cacaphonies

The Excremental Canon of French Literature

Annabel L. Kim

Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi
Annabel Kim's second book*, Cacaphonies: The Excremental Canon of French Literature (University of Minnesota Press, 2022) digs into fecal matter as a preoccupation of modern French literature. Inspired by the author's observations …
French Studies May 6, 2023

Senegalese Stagecraft

Decolonizing Theater-Making in Francophone Africa

Brian Valente-Quinn

Hosted by Annie de Saussure
Brian Valente-Quinn is an Associate Professor of Francophone African studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. His book, Senegalese Stagecraft: Decolonizing Theater-Making in Francophone Africa, was published at Northwestern University Press …
French Studies May 1, 2023

Marianne Is Watching

Intelligence, Counterintelligence, and the Origins of the French Surveillance State

Deborah Bauer

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
In the wake of its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), the French Third Republic sought to rebuild its strength to avenge its defeat and secure itself as a major …
French Studies April 29, 2023

Paris and the Parasite

Noise, Health, and Politics in the Media City

Macs Smith

Hosted by Salvador Lopez Rivera
The social consequences of anti-parasitic urbanism, as efforts to expunge supposedly biological parasites penalize those viewed as social parasites. According to French philosopher Michel Serres, ordered systems are founded on …
French Studies April 22, 2023

At Home in Our Sounds

Music, Race, and Cultural Politics in Interwar Paris

Rachel Anne Gillett

Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi
Rachel Gillett's At Home in Our Sounds: Music, Race, and Cultural Politics in Interwar Paris (Oxford University Press, 2021) explores the world of the French "Jazz Age" in the years after the First World …
Madison's Notes April 11, 2023

The Roots of Equity and Equality

A Conversation with Teresa Bejan

Teresa M. Bejan

Hosted by Annika Nordquist
The ideas of equity and equality are all over the news, yet there seems to be little agreement on what exactly each term means. Political theorist and intellectual historian Teresa …
Jewish Studies April 10, 2023

A 'Jewish Marshall Plan'

The American Jewish Presence in Post-Holocaust France

Laura Hobson Faure

Hosted by Geraldine Gudefin
While the role the United States played in France’s liberation from Nazi Germany is widely celebrated, it is less well known that American Jewish individuals and organizations mobilized to reconstruct …
French Studies April 10, 2023

Soundscapes of Liberation

African American Music in Postwar France

Celeste Day Moore

Hosted by Annie de Saussure
Celeste Day Moore is a historian of African American culture, media, and Black internationalism in the twentieth century. Her first book, Soundscapes of Liberation: African American Music in Postwar France …
Medieval History April 6, 2023

Friendship in the Merovingian Kingdoms

Venantius Fortunatus and His Contemporaries

Hope Williard

Hosted by Jana Byars
Hope Williard's book Friendship in the Merovingian Kingdoms: Venantius Fortunatus and His Contemporaries (Arc Humanities Press, 2022) explores how one early medieval poet survived and thrived amidst the political turbulence of sixth …
Critical Theory April 5, 2023

The Archaeology of Foucault

Stuart Elden

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
How did Foucault’s thought develop in the 1960s? In The Archaeology of Foucault (Polity, 2022) Stuart Elden, a professor of Political Theory and Geography at the University of Warwick, completes the series …
The Imperfect Buddha Podcast April 1, 2023

Incognito

The Astounding Life of Alexandra David-Neel

Dianne Harke

Hosted by Matthew O'Connell
I grew up with Alexandra David-Neel’s books on my mum’s bookshelf. She was part of the myth making process that led to my own fascination with Tibet, as something real …
Literary Studies March 26, 2023

Decolonizing Memory

Algeria and the Politics of Testimony

Jill Jarvis

Hosted by Brittney Edmonds
In Decolonizing Memory: Algeria and the Politics of Testimony (Duke UP, 2021), Jill Jarvis examines the crucial role that writers and artists have played in cultivating historical memory and nurturing political resistance …
Sociology March 21, 2023

Forbidden Intimacies

Polygamies at the Limits of Western Tolerance

Melanie Heath

Hosted by Rituparna Patgiri
In the past thirty years, polygamy has become a flashpoint of conflict as Western governments attempt to regulate certain cultural and religious practices that challenge seemingly central principles of family …
Critical Theory March 16, 2023

Playing Oppression

The Legacy of Conquest and Empire in Colonialist Board Games

Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Playing Oppression: The Legacy of Conquest and Empire in Colonialist Board Games (MIT Press, 2023) by Dr. Mary Flanagan & Dr. Mikael Jakobsson is a striking analysis of popular board …