New Books Network Podcast

East Asian Studies December 7, 2022

The Curious Case of the Camel in Modern Japan

(De)Colonialism, Orientalism, and Imagining Asia

Ayelet Zohar

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

Ayelet Zohar’s The Curious Case of the Camel in Modern Japan: (De)Colonialism, Orientalism, and Imagining Asia (Brill, 2022) traces the use of camels in the visual vocabulary of Japan’s definition …

Animal Studies December 6, 2022

Rescue Me

On Dogs and Their Humans

Margret Grebowicz

Hosted by Jimena Ledgard

Margret Grebowicz's Rescue Me: On Dogs and Their Humans (U Minnesota Press, 2022) is a little book about the oldest relationship we humans have cultivated with another large animal—in something …

Animal Studies December 2, 2022

The Vegan Matrix

Understanding and Discussing Privilege Among Vegans to Build a More Inclusive and Empowered Movement

Melanie Joy

Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

A short guidebook to understanding and discussing privilege among vegans and vegan organizations in the wake of #metoo, including how to establish accountability while honoring dignity and ways to communicate …

Recall This Book December 1, 2022

The Nature of the Future

A Discussion with Elizabeth Kolbert

Elizabeth Kolbert

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz

How should humans respond to our ongoing human-made climate catastrophe? To answer that question, Recall this Book turned to prize-winning climate reporter Elizabeth Kolbert, who visited Brandeis this Fall. The …

Animal Studies November 18, 2022

The Animals in that Country

Laura Jean McKay

Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

In this episode, I talk to Dr. Laura Jean McKay about her award-winning novel The Animals in that Country (Scribe US, 2020). Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, and allergic to bullshit, Jean is …

Animal Studies November 16, 2022

Experimenting with Humans and Animals

From Aristotle to CRISPR

Anita Guerrini

Hosted by Callie Smith

Experimentation on animals—particularly humans—is often assumed to be a uniquely modern phenomenon. But the ideas and attitudes that encourage biological and medical scientists to experiment on living creatures date from …

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast November 15, 2022

The Sounds of Life

How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants

Karen Bakker

Hosted by Mark Klobas

The natural world teems with remarkable conversations, many beyond human hearing range. Scientists are using groundbreaking digital technologies to uncover these astonishing sounds, revealing vibrant communication among our fellow creatures …

Film November 15, 2022

Hollywood at the Races

Film's Love Affair with the Turf

Alan Shuback

Hosted by Rachel Pagones

Today I talked to Alan Shuback about his book Hollywood at the Races: Film's Love Affair with the Turf (UP of Kentucky, 2019) A love of the slapstick film duo Laurel and …

Biology and Evolution November 7, 2022

A World in a Shell

Snail Stories for a Time of Extinctions

Thom van Dooren

Hosted by Galina Limorenko

In this time of extinctions, the humble snail rarely gets a mention. And yet snails are disappearing faster than any other species. In A World in a Shell: Snail Stories …

Medicine October 31, 2022

The Perfection of Nature

Animals, Breeding, and Race in the Renaissance

Mackenzie Cooley

Hosted by Rachel Pagones

The Renaissance is celebrated for the belief that individuals could fashion themselves to greatness, but there is a dark undercurrent to this fêted era of history. The same men and …

High Theory October 31, 2022

Red Cat

A Conversation with Leigh Claire La Berge

Leigh Claire La Berge

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

In this episode of High Theory, Leigh Claire La Berge talks about red cats: communist cats, revolutionary tigers, radical felines of all stripes. The red cat is a provocation, and …

High Theory October 28, 2022

Halloween Special: Alice Walker’s Cat

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

Saronik tells Kim about Alice Walker’s book Anything We Love Can Be Saved, where she talks about her many cats over the years, and how they represented her connection with …

High Theory October 27, 2022

Halloween Special: Jacques Derrida’s Cat

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

Saronik talks with Kim about Jacques Derrida’s cat. Derrida writes about his cat, who makes him rather anxious, in “The Animal That Therefore I Am (More to Follow)” trans. David …

High Theory October 24, 2022

Halloween Special: Michel de Montaigne’s Cat

A Discussion with John Guilliory

John Guilliory

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

In part one of our Halloween Special on Cats, Kim talks with John Guilliory about Montaigne’s essay “An Apology for Raymond Sebond.” Montaigne asks us: “When I play with my …

African Studies October 10, 2022

Animality and Colonial Subjecthood in Africa

The Human and Nonhuman Creatures of Nigeria

Saheed Aderinto

Hosted by Sara Katz

With this multispecies study of animals as instrumentalities of the colonial state in Nigeria, Saheed Aderinto argues that animals, like humans, were colonial subjects in Africa. Animality and Colonial Subjecthood …

Asian Review of Books October 6, 2022

The Last Tigers of Hong Kong

True Stories of Big Cats That Stalked the Hills Beyond the City

John Saeki

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Most Hong Kong residents nowadays only have to worry about a wandering boar or an aggressive monkey in their day-to-day lives. But for much of its history, those living in …

Animal Studies October 6, 2022

Reading Veganism

The Monstrous Vegan, 1818 to Present

Emelia Quinn

Hosted by Callie Smith

Reading Veganism: The Monstrous Vegan, 1818 to Present (Oxford UP, 2021) focuses on the iteration of the trope of ‘the monstrous vegan’ across 200 years of Anglophone literature. Explicating, through such monsters …

Medieval History October 4, 2022

Introducing the Medieval Swan

Natalie J. Goodison

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What comes to mind when we think of swans? Likely their beauty in domestic settings, their preserved status, their association with royalty, and possibly even the phrase ‘swan song’. Dr …

Nordic Asia Podcast September 30, 2022

Beyond Meat?

Dietary Shifts and Meat Contestations in China, India and Vietnam

Helene Ramnæs, Marius Korsnes, Kenneth Bo Nielsen, and Arve Hansen

Hosted by Nordic Asia Podcast

What explains the uneven meatification of diets in three of Asia’s core ‘emerging economies’? How and why is meat consumption changing today, and what role have American fast-food chains played …

Animal Studies September 26, 2022

Wilderness, Morality, and Value

Joshua Duclos

Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

What if wilderness is bad for wildlife? This question motivates the philosophical investigation in Wilderness, Morality, and Value (Lexington Books, 2022). Environmentalists aim to protect wilderness, and for good reasons …