New Books Network Podcast

High Theory April 1, 2022

Welcome to High Theory!

Kim Adams and Soronik Bosu

Welcome to High Theory! High Theory is a podcast in which we get high on the substance of theory. And we ask the three standard questions, to each other, and …

Anthropology November 29, 2022

Permanent Markers

Race, Ancestry, and the Body After the Genome

Sarah Abel

Hosted by Reighan Gillam

Over the past twenty years, DNA ancestry testing has morphed from a niche market into a booming international industry that encourages members of the public to answer difficult questions about …

Critical Theory November 29, 2022

Indexicalism

The Metaphysics of Paradox

Hilan Bensusan

Hosted by Adam Bobeck

In Indexicalism: The Metaphysics of Paradox (Edinburgh UP, 2021), Hilan Bensusan clarifies the logic and structure of an essentially situated and indexical metaphysics that is paradoxical and can also be regarded …

The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones November 25, 2022

The Future of Multiculturalism

A Discussion with Patti Tamara Lenard and Peter Balint

Patti Tamara Lenard and Peter Balint

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones

What is the best way to achieve societal harmony in a place in which groups of people with different identities are living together. Should minority groups be given exemptions from …

Politics & Polemics November 23, 2022

Chokepoint Capitalism

How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We'll Win Them Back

Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Corporate concentration has breached the stratosphere, as have corporate profits. An ever-expanding constellation of industries are now monopolies (where sellers have excessive power over buyers) or monopsonies (where buyers hold …

Writ Large November 22, 2022

On Michel Foucault's "Discipline and Punish"

A Discussion with Camille Robcis

Camille Robcis

Hosted by Zachary Davis

We moderns often tell ourselves a story that goes something like this: The past was barbaric, especially when it came to punishing criminals or persecuting minorities. Legal punishment used to …

Critical Theory November 18, 2022

Abolish the Family

A Manifesto for Care and Liberation

Sophie Lewis

Hosted by Oana Uiorean

What if family were not the only place you might hope to feel safe, loved, cared for and accepted? What if we could do better than the family? We need …

Critical Theory November 17, 2022

Highly Discriminating

Why the City Isn't Fair and Diversity Doesn't Work

Louise Ashley

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Can we make the finance industry fair? In Highly Discriminating: Why the City Isn’t Fair and Diversity Doesn’t Work (Bristol UP, 2022), Louise Ashley, Associate Professor and IHSS Fellow at Queen Mary …

African American Studies November 17, 2022

Emancipation's Daughters

Re-Imagining Black Femininity and the National Body

Riché Richardson

Hosted by Mickell Carter

In Emancipation's Daughters: Re-Imagining Black Femininity and the National Body (Duke UP, 2020), Riché Richardson examines iconic black women leaders who have contested racial stereotypes and constructed new national narratives …

Psychoanalysis November 17, 2022

Hatred of Sex

Oliver Davis and Tim Dean

Hosted by Matthew Pieknik

Hatred of Sex (U Nebraska Press, 2022) links Jacques Rancière’s political philosophy of the constitutive disorder of democracy with Jean Laplanche’s identification of a fundamental perturbation at the heart of …

Literary Studies November 17, 2022

Violent Phenomena

21 Essays on Translation

Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang

Hosted by Gargi Binju

Frantz Fanon wrote in 1961 that 'Decolonisation is always a violent phenomenon,' meaning that the violence of colonialism can only be counteracted in kind. As colonial legacies linger today, what …

Darts & Letters November 16, 2022

Science Against the People

Anti-Capitalist Science

Sigrid Schmaltzer

Hosted by Gordon Katic

It’s difficult to criticise science from the left. Right-wingers attack science and liberals defend it. Science for the People is a radical movement of scientists and educators who argue that …

Public Policy November 15, 2022

Mass Incarceration Nation

How the United States Became Addicted to Prisons and Jails and How it Can Recover

Jeffrey Bellin

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

The United States imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any other nation. Mass Incarceration Nation offers a novel, in-the-trenches perspective to explain the factors - historical, political, and …

Critical Theory November 14, 2022

Black Madness :: Mad Blackness

Therí Alyce Pickens

Hosted by Clayton Jarrard

In Black Madness :: Mad Blackness (Duke UP, 2019), Therí Alyce Pickens rethinks the relationship between Blackness and disability, unsettling the common theorization that they are mutually constitutive. Pickens shows how …

Politics & Polemics November 14, 2022

Revisiting Marx’s Critique of Liberalism

Rethinking Justice, Legality and Rights

Igor Shoikhedbrod

Hosted by Lavinia Stan

Is Marx relevant today, after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe? Is Marx’s political theory compatible with individual rights? You will be surprised to learn that the answers are …

On Religion November 10, 2022

Preparing for War

The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--And What Comes Next

Bradley Onishi

Hosted by Gregory Soden

The insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was not a blip or an aberration. It was the logical outcome of years of a White evangelical subculture's preparation …

Critical Theory November 8, 2022

Women Negotiating Feminism and Science Fiction Fandom

The Case of the "Good" Fan

Neta Yodovich

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How do women balance feminist identities whilst being science fiction fans? In Women Negotiating Feminism and Science Fiction Fandom: The Case of the “Good” Fan (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022), Neta Yodovich …

Critical Theory November 8, 2022

Philosophy Illustrated

Helen De Cruz

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

Thought experiments are tools philosophers and scientists use to investigate how things are, without actually having to go out and experiment in the real world. Philosophy Illustrated: Forty-Two Thought Experiments …

Writ Large November 8, 2022

On Edward Said's "Orientalism"

A Discussion with Stathis Gourgouris

Stathis Gourgouris

Hosted by Zachary Davis

Beginning in the 17th century, European countries began colonizing countries east of Europe. They imposed their own ideas over local cultures and extracted free labor and resources. One way that …

Psychology November 7, 2022

The Borderline Culture

Intensity, Jouissance, and Death

Željka Matijasević

Hosted by Eugenio Duarte

Borderline personality disorder is no longer a secret. Many people who are not therapists know what it is and see it as a fitting description for their personal experience. But …