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Critical Theory
High Theory April 1, 2022

Welcome to High Theory!

Kim Adams and Soronik Bosu

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik 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 …

Critical Theory

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Interviews with scholars of critical theory about their new books.

Critical Theory May 27, 2022

Heritage and Nationalism

Understanding Populism through Big Data

Chiara Bonacchi

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
What are the connections between the past and modern politics? In Heritage and Nationalism: Understanding Populism through Big Data (UCL Press, 2022), Chiara Bonacchi, a Chancellor's Fellow in Heritage, Text …
High Theory May 27, 2022

Undisciplining

A Discussion with Amy Wong, Ronjaunee Chatterjee, and Alicia Christoff

Amy Wong, Ronjaunee Chatterjee, and Alicia Christoff

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Kim talks to Amy Wong, Ronjaunee Chatterjee, and Alicia Christoff about ‘Undisciplining’, a term they borrowed from Christina Sharpe’s In the Wake and have used in an article and a …
Politics & Polemics May 27, 2022

The Disenchanted Earth

Reflections on Ecosocialism and Barbarism

Richard Seymour

Hosted by Nicholas Pritchard
In The Disenchanted Earth: Reflections on Ecosocialism & Barbarism (Indigo Press, 2022), Richard Seymour, one of the UK's leading left-wing writers, gives an account of his 'ecological awakening'. A search for transcendence, beyond …
African American Studies May 27, 2022

There's a Disco Ball Between Us

A Theory of Black Gay Life

Jafari S. Allen

Hosted by Brittney Edmonds
In There's a Disco Ball Between Us: A Theory of Black Gay Life (Duke UP, 2022), Jafari S. Allen offers a sweeping and lively ethnographic and intellectual history of what …
High Theory May 26, 2022

Abolition

A Discussion with Sean Gordon

Sean Gordon

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Leading up to Mayday, the nationwide Day of Refusal, and Abolition May, Saronik talks with Sean Gordon about abolition as an historical movement to end the transatlantic slave trade and …
Critical Theory May 25, 2022

British Black and Asian Shakespeareans, 1966-2018

Integrating Shakespeare

Jami Rogers

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
What is the hidden history of performers of colour in in British theatre? In British Black and Asian Shakespeareans: Integrating Shakespeare, 1966–2018 (Arden Shakespeare, 2022), Jami Rogers, an honorary fellow at Department …
Art May 24, 2022

Takedown

Art and Power in the Digital Age

Farah Nayeri

Hosted by Allison Leigh
For centuries, art censorship has been a top-down phenomenon—kings, popes, and one-party states decided what was considered obscene, blasphemous, or politically deviant in art. Today, censorship can also happen from …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones May 24, 2022

The Future of Neoliberalism

A Conversation with Gary Gerstle

Gary Gerstle

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
The word neoliberalism is often used more as an insult than a description of a set of beliefs. And people can be rather hazy about the beliefs it refers to …
High Theory May 24, 2022

The Right to Maim

A Discussion with Bassam Sidiki

Bassam Sidiki

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Bassam Sidiki talks about the right to maim, the titular concept in Jasbir K. Puar’s book, and the related concept of debility. He explains how these concepts have changed how …
Asian American Studies May 23, 2022

Archipelago of Resettlement

Vietnamese Refugee Settlers and Decolonization Across Guam and Israel-Palestine

Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi

Hosted by Ann Choi
“Nước Việt Nam: a home, a cradle, a point of departure” (Gandhi, 1). The Vietnamese word nước embraces the duality of land and water with an idea of “home.” Through …
Genocide Studies May 23, 2022

Global Burning

Rising Antidemocracy and the Climate Crisis

Eve Darian-Smith

Hosted by Jeff Bachman
Recent years have seen out-of-control wildfires rage across remote Brazilian rainforests, densely populated California coastlines, and major cities in Australia. What connects these separate events is more than immediate devastation …
High Theory May 23, 2022

Autotheory

A Discussion with Lauren Fournier

Lauren Fournier

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
In this episode Kim speaks with Lauren Fournier about autotheory. Lauren has recently published a book on the subject, titled Autotheory as Feminist Practice in Art, Writing, and Criticism (MIT …
Environmental Studies May 20, 2022

Environmental Justice in Postwar America

A Documentary Reader

Christopher W. Wells

Hosted by Brady McCartney
In the decades after World War II, the American economy entered a period of prolonged growth that created unprecedented affluence—but these developments came at the cost of a host of …
High Theory May 20, 2022

Military Industrial Complex

A Discussion with Patrick Deer

Patrick Deer

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Kim talks to Patrick Deer about the Military Industrial Complex, a term used by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a 1961 speech to describe a permanent war economy, and …
Media May 20, 2022

Race, Culture and Media

Anamik Saha

Hosted by Gummo Clare
In Race, Culture and Media (Sage, 2021), Anamik Saha provides an account of the role that media plays in both circulating and shaping ideas about race and racism in the …
Critical Theory May 19, 2022

Universality and Identity Politics

Todd McGowan

Hosted by Reuben Niewenhuis
The great political ideas and movements of the modern world were founded on a promise of universal emancipation. But in recent decades, much of the Left has grown suspicious of …
High Theory May 18, 2022

Alienation

A Discussion with Mustafa Yavas

Mustafa Yavas

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
In this episode Kim talks with Mustafa Yavas about Alienation. Mustafa quotes Karl Marx’s Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. He also references Albert Camus’ books The Stranger and The …
Latin American Studies May 18, 2022

Affect, Ecofeminism, and Intersectional Struggles in Latin America

A Tribute to Berta Cáceres

Irune del Rio Gabiola

Hosted by Elize Mazadiego
In Affect, Ecofeminism, and Intersectional Struggles in Latin America: A Tribute to Berta Cáceres (Peter Lang, 2020), Irune del Rio Gabiola examines the power of affect in structuring decolonizing modes of resistance performed …
Art May 18, 2022

The Memeing of Mark Fisher

How the Frankfurt School Foresaw Capitalist Realism and What to Do about It

Mike Watson

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez
Through his blog K-Punk, Mark Fisher become one of the cult figures of cultural theory after the economic crash of 2008. One of Fisher’s insights, widely taken up by the …