New Books Network Podcast

Anthropology September 30, 2023

Progress in the Balance

Mythologies of Development in Santos, Brazil

Daniel R. Reichman

Hosted by Yadong Li

Progress and development have long been important issues in anthropology and social sciences. Based on extensive archives and ethnographic fieldwork, Progress in the Balance: Mythologies of Development in Santos, Brazil …

Latin American Studies September 22, 2023

Reading the Walls of Bogota

Graffiti, Street Art, and the Urban Imaginary of Violence

Alba Griffin

Hosted by Victoria Lupascu

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A cultural imaginary is a structuring space through which collective understandings of cultural and society phenomena are formed, reproduced, and accepted as the norm. Reading the Walls of Bogota: Graffiti …

Interpretive Political and Social Science September 20, 2023

Rooted Globalism

Arab–Latin American Business Elites and the Politics of Global Imaginaries

Kevin Funk

Hosted by Nick Cheesman

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Triumphant capitalism has in our time engendered a new global class that lives and works in a borderless world, beyond the reach of national politics or sovereign power. Or has …

Caribbean Studies September 17, 2023

Negotiating Relief and Freedom

Responses to Disaster in the British Caribbean, 1812-1907

Oscar Webber

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Negotiating Relief and Freedom: Responses to Disaster in the British Caribbean, 1812-1907 (Manchester University Press, 2023) by Dr. Oscar Webber is an investigation of short- and long-term responses to disaster …

Literary Studies September 16, 2023

Emergency

Reading the Popol Vuh in a Time of Crisis

Edgar Garcia

Hosted by John Yargo

Today’s guest is Edgar Garcia. Garcia’s new book Emergency: Reading the Popol Vuh in a Time of Crisis (University of Chicago Press, 2022). Emergency takes nine words—“birds,” “wealth,” “caves,” “television,” …

Latin American Studies September 15, 2023

Of Light and Struggle

Social Justice, Human Rights, and Accountability in Uruguay

Debbie Sharnak

Hosted by Christine Lamberson

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Debbie Sharnak's new book, Of Light and Struggle: Social Justice, Human Rights, and Accountability in Uruguay (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023) is an important and vibrant history of international and …

Literature September 5, 2023

I Surrender

A Memoir of Chile's Dictatorship, 1975

Kathleen M. Osberger

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

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Today I talked to Kathleen Osberger about her book I Surrender: A Memoir of Chile's Dictatorship, 1975 (Oribis Books, 2023). In 1975, Kathleen Osberger, who’d just graduated from Notre Dame University …

General History September 4, 2023

Since Time Immemorial

Native Custom and Law in Colonial Mexico

Yanna Yannakakis

Hosted by Joaquín Rivaya-Martínez

In Since Time Immemorial: Native Custom and Law in Colonial Mexico (Duke UP, 2023), Yanna Yannakakis traces the invention of Native custom, a legal category that Indigenous litigants used in disputes …

Latin American Studies September 3, 2023

Until the Storm Passes

Politicians, Democracy, and the Demise of Brazils Military Dictatorship

Bryan Pitts

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Bryan Pitts' book Until the Storm Passes: Politicians, Democracy, and the Demise of Brazil's Military Dictatorship (U California Press, 2023) reveals how Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship contributed to its own demise …

Disability Studies September 2, 2023

Madness in Buenos Aires

Patients, Psychiatrists, and the Argentine State, 1880-1983

Jonathan Ablard

Hosted by Shu Wan

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Madness in Buenos Aires: Patients, Psychiatrists, and the Argentine State, 1880-1983 (Ohio UP, 2008) examines the interactions between psychiatrists, patients and their families, and the national state in modern Argentina …

Jewish Studies September 2, 2023

Gente Como Uno

Class, Belonging, and Transnationalism in Jewish Life in Lima

Romina Yalonetzky

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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In Gente Como Uno: Class, Belonging, and Transnationalism in Jewish Life in Lima (Academic Studies Press, 2021), Dr. Romina Yalonetzky introduces readers to a physical microcosm of the intersection between Peruvian and …

Latin American Studies September 1, 2023

Love and Despair

How Catholic Activism Shaped Politics and the Counterculture in Modern Mexico

Jaime M. Pensado

Hosted by Brad Wright

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Love and Despair: How Catholic Activism Shaped Politics and the Counterculture in Modern Mexico (U California Press, 2023) explores the multiple and mostly unknown ways progressive and conservative Catholic actors …

Education August 30, 2023

Commemorative Literacies and Labors of Justice

Resistance, Reconciliation, and Recovery in Buenos Aires and Beyond

James S. Damico, Loren D. Lybarger, and Edward Brudney

Hosted by Madden Gilhooly

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Commemorative Literacies and Labors of Justice: Resistance, Reconciliation, and Recovery in Buenos Aires and Beyond (Routledge, 2021) examines literacy practices of commemoration marking the 40th anniversary of the March 24 …

African American Studies August 29, 2023

Museums and Atlantic Slavery

Ana Lucia Araujo

Hosted by Katrina Anderson

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Ana Lucia Araujo's book Museums and Atlantic Slavery (Routledge, 2021) explores how slavery, the Atlantic slave trade, and enslaved people are represented through words, visual images, artifacts, and audiovisual materials in …

Mexican Studies August 25, 2023

Arise!

Global Radicalism in the Era of the Mexican Revolution

Christina Heatherton

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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The Mexican Revolution was a global event that catalyzed international radicals in unexpected sites and struggles. Tracing the paths of figures like Black American artist Elizabeth Catlett, Indian anti-colonial activist …

Latin American Studies August 20, 2023

Circulating Culture

Transnational Cuban Networks of Exchange

Jennifer Cearns

Hosted by Katie Coldiron

“In this subtle and beautifully crafted ethnography, Cearns invites us to travel through the many Cuban circuits of exchange that give shape to mutating histories of connection within and between …

Latin American Studies August 16, 2023

If I Give My Soul

Faith Behind Bars in Rio de Janeiro

Andrew Johnson

Hosted by Ethan Fredrick

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Pentecostal Christianity is flourishing inside the prisons of Rio de Janeiro. To find out why, Andrew Johnson dug deep into the prisons themselves. He began by spending two weeks living …

Anthropology August 11, 2023

Routine Crisis

An Ethnography of Disillusion

Sarah Muir

Hosted by Alize Arıcan

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Argentina, once heralded as the future of capitalist progress, has a long history of economic volatility. In 2001–2002, a financial crisis led to its worst economic collapse, precipitating a dramatic …

Latin American Studies August 6, 2023

Sewer of Progress

Corporations, Institutionalized Corruption, and the Struggle for the Santiago River

Cindy McCulligh

Hosted by Brad Wright

For almost two decades, the citizens of Western Mexico have called for a cleanup of the Santiago River, a water source so polluted it emanates an overwhelming acidic stench. Toxic …

Science, Technology, and Society August 5, 2023

Deep Cut

Science, Power, and the Unbuilt Interoceanic Canal

Christine Keiner

Hosted by Shu Wan

The Atlantic-Pacific Central American sea-level canal is generally regarded as a spectacular failure. However, Deep Cut: Science, Power, and the Unbuilt Interoceanic Canal (U Georgia Press, 2020) examines the canal …