New Books Network
Anthropology
Anthropology October 26, 2021

Connected

How a Mexican Village Built Its Own Cell Phone Network

Roberto J. González

Hosted by Hussein Mohsen
Connected: How a Mexican Village Built Its Own Cell Phone Network (U California Press, 2020) is the true story of how, against all odds, a remote Mexican pueblo built its own …

Anthropology

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Interviews with anthropologists about their new books.

Food October 26, 2021

The Immigrant-Food Nexus

Borders, Labor, and Identity in North America

Julian Agyeman and Sydney Giacalone

Hosted by Amir Sayadabdi
The Immigrant-Food Nexus: Borders, Labor, and Identity in North America (MIT Press, 2020) considers the intersection of food and immigration at both the macroscale of national policy and the microscale …
Chinese Studies October 22, 2021

The End of the Village

Planning the Urbanization of Rural China

Nick R. Smith

Hosted by Suvi Rautio
Today I spoke to Nick R. Smith to talk about how China's expansive new era of urbanization threatens to undermine the foundations of rural life, which he writes about in …
Religion October 22, 2021

Jesus and Addiction to Origins

Toward an Anthropocentric Study of Religion

Willi Braun

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer
Willi Braun's Jesus and Addiction to Origins: Towards an Anthropocentric Study of Religion (Equinox, 2020)  constitutes an extended argument for an anthropocentric, human-focused study of religious practices. Part I presents the basic …
African Studies October 21, 2021

The Muridiyya on the Move

Islam, Migration, and Place Making

Cheikh Anta Babou

Hosted by Sara Katz
The construction of collective identity among the Muridiyya abroad is a communal but contested endeavor. Differing conceptions of what should be the mission of Muridiyya institutions in the diaspora reveal …
Critical Theory October 21, 2021

The Care Crisis

What Caused It and How Can We End It?

Emma Dowling

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
What is the future of care? In The Care Crisis: What Caused It and How Can We End It? (Verso, 2021),  Emma Dowling, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, University …
Recall This Book October 21, 2021

On Multi-Species Community

A Critical Conversation with Patricia Alvarez Astacio

Patricia Alvarez Astacio

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
Octopus month has morphed seamlessly into Multispecies month here at RtB, bringing with it not only last week's piece on chimpanzees, but also this sparkling conversation about all sorts of …
Latino Studies October 21, 2021

Sounds of Crossing

Music, Migration, and the Aural Poetics of Huapango Arribeño

Alex E. Chávez

Hosted by David-James Gonzales
In Sounds of Crossing: Music, Migration, and the Aural Poetics of Huapango Arribeño (Duke UP, 2017), Alex E. Chávez explores the contemporary politics of Mexican migrant cultural expression manifest in the …
Indian Religions October 21, 2021

Turbulent Transformations

Non-Brahmin Śrīvaiṣṇavas on Religion, Caste and Politics in Tamil Nadu

Katherine Young

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Katherine Young, Turbulent Transformations: Non-Brahmin Śrīvaiṣṇavas on Religion, Caste and Politics in Tamil Nadu (Orient Blackswan, 2021) studies the interlinking of religious, social and political identities in modern Tamil Nadu …
Anthropology October 20, 2021

Screen Shots

State Violence on Camera in Israel and Palestine

Rebecca L. Stein

Hosted by Mathew Gagné
In the last two decades, amid the global spread of smartphones, state killings of civilians have increasingly been captured on the cameras of both bystanders and police. Screen Shots: State …
African Studies October 19, 2021

Global Nomads

An Ethnography of Migration, Islam, and Politics

Susanna Fioratta

Hosted by Sara Katz
Countering the traditional narrative of "migration as crisis," Global Nomads tells the story of a group of people for whom migration is not a symptom of a disordered world, but …
General History October 19, 2021

The Darker Angels of Our Nature

Refuting the Pinker Theory of History & Violence

Philip Dwyer and Mark Micale

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
In The Better Angels of Our Nature Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker argued that modern history has witnessed a dramatic decline in human violence of every kind, and that in the …
Gender Studies October 18, 2021

Queer Nightlife

Kemi Adeyemi, Kareem Khubchandani and Ramon H. Rivera-Servera

Hosted by Isabel Machado
The mass shooting at a queer Latin Night in Orlando in July 2016 sparked a public conversation about access to pleasure and selfhood within conditions of colonization, violence, and negation …
Islamic Studies October 15, 2021

Elusive Lives

Gender, Autobiography, and the Self in Muslim South Asia

Siobhan Lambert-Hurley

Hosted by Kristian Petersen
Muslim South Asia is widely characterized as a culture that idealizes female anonymity: women's bodies are veiled and their voices silenced. Challenging these perceptions, Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, University of Sheffield, highlights …
Japanese Studies October 15, 2021

The Blood of Gutoku

A Jack Riddley Mystery in Japan

J. W. Traphagan

Hosted by Jingyi Li
Today I talked to anthropologist J. W. Traphagan's novel The Blood of Gutoku: A Jack Riddley Mystery in Japan (Balestier Press, 2021). Jack Riddley is an anthropologist all too ready to retire – …
Gender Studies October 15, 2021

The Political Economy of Stigma

HIV, Memoir, Medicine, and Crip Positionalities

Allyson Day

Hosted by Sohini Chatterjee
In The Political Economy of Stigma: HIV, Memoir, Medicine, and Crip Positionalities (Ohio State UP, 2021), Ally Day offers a compelling critique of neoliberal medical practices in the US by coupling …
Environmental Studies October 15, 2021

Deep Time Reckoning

How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now

Vincent Ialenti

Hosted by Matthew Brown
Based on twelve years of anthropological exploration, Vincent Ialenti's Deep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now (MIT Press, 2020) is an engaging guide on deep time learning …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast October 12, 2021

Exploring the Sikh Tradition

Eleanor Nesbitt

Hosted by Howard Burton
Exploring the Sikh Tradition is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Eleanor Nesbitt who is Professor Emeritus of Education Studies at University of Warwick and a …
History of Science October 8, 2021

Race Unmasked

Biology and Race in the Twentieth Century

Michael Yudell

Hosted by Hussein Mohsen
Race, while drawn from the visual cues of human diversity, is an idea with a measurable past, an identifiable present, and an uncertain future. The concept of race has been …
Gender Studies October 7, 2021

Complaint!

Sara Ahmed

Hosted by Shraddha Chatterjee
In Complaint! (Duke UP, 2021), Sara Ahmed examines what we can learn about power from those who complain about abuses of power. Drawing on oral and written testimonies from academics and students …