Media and Communications

Media and Communications

episodes

Interviews with scholars of media and communications about their new books.

Christine Grandy, "Race on Screen: Audience Racism in Twentieth-Century Britain" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

April 4, 2026

Race on Screen

Christine Grandy
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

What is the role of television in the history of the UK? In Race on Screen: Audience Racism in Twentieth-Century Britain (Cambridge UP, 2026) Christin…

Asif Iqbal, "Bangladesh in Anglophone and Vernacular Literature: Cultural Imaginings of a Postcolonial Nation" (Routledge, 2025)

April 2, 2026

Bangladesh in Anglophone and Vernacular Literature

Asif Iqbal
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Bangladesh in Anglophone and Vernacular Literature: Cultural Imaginings of a Postcolonial Nation (Routledge, 2025) illuminates individual and collecti…

Ben Collier on Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy

March 30, 2026

Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy

Ben Collier
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, and guest host, Paula Bialski, Associate Professor of Digital Sociology at University of St. Gallen, talk to Ben C…

Mark Hlavacik, "Willing Warriors: A New History of the Education Culture Wars" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

March 28, 2026

Willing Warriors

Mark Hlavacik
Hosted by Laura Kelly

How the rise of the culture wars afflicts the politics of education. On August 9, 2022, the Denton Independent School District held a meeting to add…

Gist Books: How Print on Demand Creates New Possibilities for the Publishing Industry

March 23, 2026

Gist Books

Ramona Liberoff and Liz Fried
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Today I’m speaking with Ramona Liberoff and Liz Fried, cofounders of the new publisher, Gist Books. Gist allows readers to pick the topics they want, …

Deirdre Flynn and Mary McGill eds., "Irish Digital Cultures: Identity, Contexts, Space" (Routledge, 2025)

March 22, 2026

Irish Digital Cultures

Deirdre Flynn and Mary McGill eds.
Hosted by Helen Penet

Irish Digital Cultures: Identity, Contexts, Space (Routledge, 2025) explores how questions of Ireland and Irishness are represented in online environm…

Miriam Ticktin, "Against Innocence: Undoing and Remaking the World" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

March 19, 2026

Against Innocence

Miriam Ticktin
Hosted by Reighan Gillam

In this timely and bold book, Against Innocence: Undoing and Remaking the World (U Chicago Press, 2025), Miriam Ticktin explores how a concept that co…

A.J. Bauer, "Making the Liberal Media: How Conservatives Built a Movement Against The Press" (Columbia UP, 2026)

March 18, 2026

Making the Liberal Media

A J Bauer
Hosted by John Armenta

In Making the Liberal Media: How Conservatives Built a Movement Against The Press (Columbia UP, 2026), A.J. Bauer examines the history of the idea of …

P. Thirumal and K. A. Nuaiman eds., "Inhabiting Technologies/Modernities: Media and Cultural Practices in South Asia" (Orient BlackSwan, 2025)

March 17, 2026

Inhabiting Technologies/Modernities

P. Thirumal and K. A. Nuaiman eds.
Hosted by Khadeeja Amenda

Studies of forms of media have focused on either political or cultural histories of media. Political histories study media growth and literacy, and th…

Sari Hanafi, "Against Symbolic Liberalism: A Plea for Dialogical Sociology" (Liverpool UP, 2025)

March 11, 2026

Against Symbolic Liberalism

Sari Hanafi

In an era of deepening polarization, Sari Hanafi examines how social scientists often reproduce the very injustices they seek to challenge, taking ent…

Stephen Lee Naish, "Screen Captures: Film in the Age of Emergency" (Lever Press, 2026)

March 10, 2026

Screen Captures

Stephen Lee Naish
Hosted by Joel Tscherne

Movies open a window into our collective soul. In Screen Captures: Film in the Age of Emergency (Lever Press, 2026), Stephen Lee Naish guides us throu…

Pablo Zavala, "Forging a Mexican People: Collective Subjectivities in Postrevolutionary Print Culture, 1917-1968" (U Arizona Press, 2026)

March 10, 2026

Forging a Mexican People

Pablo Zavala
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Forging a Mexican People: Collective Subjectivities in Postrevolutionary Print Culture, 1917–1968 (University of Arizona Press, 2026) shows how illust…

Stuck: How Money, Media and Violence Prevent Change in Congress

March 10, 2026

Stuck

Maya Kornberg

Fifty years of changemaking and reform haven't fixed Congress—what does that reveal about American democracy? In Stuck: How Money, Media and Violence …

Glen Oglaza, "When I Stories" (Pegasus, 2024)

March 9, 2026

When I Stories

Glen Oglaza
Hosted by John Gibbs

As news reporters, we are in the story-telling business, the eye witnesses to history, writing, it's ‎said, ‘the first draft of history'.‎ The fall o…

Tamara Kay, "Sesame Street Around the World: Culture, Politics, and Transnational Organizational Partnerships" (Oxford UP, 2025)

March 7, 2026

Sesame Street Around the World

Tamara Kay and Andrew W Mellon Endowed Chair in Sociology Tamara Kay
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Given the sometimes extraordinary politicization of culture, it is surprising that Sesame Street has gained acceptance and legitimacy in more than fif…

Jieun Kiaer, "Emoji Speak: Communication and Behaviours on Social Media" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

March 2, 2026

Emoji Speak

Jieun Kiaer
Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Listen:

Emoji Speak: Communication and Behaviours on Social Media (Bloomsbury, 2023) by Dr. Jieun Kiaer provides an in-depth discussion of emoji use in a glob…

Joanna Bourke, "Five Evil Women: Hindley, West, Wuornos, Homolka, Tucker" (Reaktion, 2026)

March 1, 2026

Five Evil Women

Joanna Bourke
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Why do certain women become icons of evil? Five Evil Women: Hindley, West, Wuornos, Homolka, Tucker (Reaktion, 2026) by Professor Joanna Bourke offers…

Barbie Zelizer, "How the Cold War Broke the News: The Surprising Roots of Journalism's Decline" (Polity, 2025)

February 28, 2026

How the Cold War Broke the News

Barbie Zelizer
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Most of us would agree that American journalism has problems. Rushed reporting and thin coverage. Timidity in the face of adversity. Polarized perspec…

Fred Turner on Countercultures, Cybercultures, and Californian and Texan Ideologies

February 25, 2026

Countercultures, Cybercultures, and Californian and Texan Ideologies

Fred Turner
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, and guest host, Paula Bialski, Associate Professor of Digital Sociology at University of St. Gallen, talk to Fred T…

Lynda Nead, "British Blonde: Women, Desire and the Image in Post-War Britain" (Yale UP, 2025)

February 22, 2026

British Blonde

Lynda Nead
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the 1950s, American glamour swept into a war-torn Britain as part of a broader transatlantic exchange of culture and commodities. But in this proce…