Critical Theory

Critical Theory

episodes

Interviews with scholars of critical theory about their new books.

Anthony Grasso, "Dual Justice: America's Divergent Approaches to Street and Corporate Crime" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

November 11, 2024

Dual Justice

Anthony Grasso
Hosted by Susan Liebell

The United States incarcerates its citizens for property crime, drug use, and violent crime at a rate that exceeds any other developed nation – and di…

Non-literary Fiction

November 9, 2024

Non-literary Fiction

Esther Gabara

In this episode of High Theory, Esther Gabara talks with us about Non-Literary Fiction, that is, works of fiction that belong to the world of contempo…

Amín Pérez, "Bourdieu and Sayad Against Empire: Forging Sociology in Anticolonial Struggle" (Polity Press, 2023)

November 9, 2024

Bourdieu and Sayad Against Empire

Amín Pérez
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How did the Algerian war of independence shape contemporary sociology? In Bourdieu and Sayad Against Empire: Forging Sociology in Anticolonial Struggl…

Daniela Berghahn, "Exotic Cinema: Encounters with Cultural Difference in Contemporary Transnational Film" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

November 9, 2024

Exotic Cinema

Daniela Berghahn
Hosted by Arya Rani

Daniela Berghahn's award-winning monograph Exotic Cinema: Encounters with Cultural Difference in Contemporary Transnational Film (Edinburgh UP, 2023) …

Doyle D. Calhoun, "The Suicide Archive: Reading Resistance in the Wake of French Empire" (Duke UP, 2024)

November 6, 2024

The Suicide Archive

Doyle D. Calhoun
Hosted by Sarah Miles

A note about content: This episode involves discussion of suicide, specifically in the contexts of slavery, colonization and empire. Please use your…

Anne M. Whitesell, "Living Off the Government?: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Welfare" (NYU Press, 2024)

November 3, 2024

Living Off the Government?

Anne M. Whitesell
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Who deserves public assistance from the government? This age-old question has been revived by policymakers, pundits, and activists following the massi…

Robert A. Schneider, "The Return of Resentment: The Rise and Decline and Rise Again of a Political Emotion" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

November 2, 2024

The Return of Resentment

Robert A. Schneider

The term “resentment,” often casually paired with words like “hatred,” “rage,” and “fear,” has dominated US news analysis since November 2016. Despi…

Kristina Kolbe, "The Sound of Difference: Race, Class and the Politics of 'Diversity' in Classical Music" (Manchester UP, 2024)

November 2, 2024

The Sound of Difference

Kristina Kolbe
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What happens when the elitist space of 'Western' classical music seeks to diversify itself? And what are the social effects worked through diversity d…

Adam Hanieh, "Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market" (Verso, 2024)

November 2, 2024

Crude Capitalism

Adam Hanieh
Hosted by Geoffrey Gordon

Oil is everywhere. It’s in our cars, it’s in the fertilizer used to grow our food, and it’s in the plastics used to produce and transport our consumer…

Ghosts In Our Fields

November 1, 2024

Ghosts In Our Fields

High Theory returns with a series of haunting concepts, places, and figures from our former guests. We asked folks to call in with something spookwort…

Angel Daniel Matos, "The Reparative Impulse of Queer Young Adult Literature" (Routledge, 2024)

November 1, 2024

The Reparative Impulse of Queer Young Adult Literature

Angel Daniel Matos
Hosted by Pete Kunze

The Reparative Impulse of Queer Young Adult Literature (Routledge, 2024) is a provocative meditation on emotion, mood, history, and futurism in the cr…

Lennard J. Davis, "Poor Things: How Those with Money Depict Those Without It" (Duke UP, 2024)

October 30, 2024

Poor Things

Lennard J. Davis
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

For generations most of the canonical works that detail the lives of poor people have been created by rich or middle-class writers like Charles Dicken…

Anuradha Sajjanhar, "The New Experts: Populist Elites and Technocratic Promises in Modi's India" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

October 30, 2024

The New Experts

Anuradha Sajjanhar
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How are technocratic experts supporting populist politics? In The New Experts Populist Elites and Technocratic Promises in Modi’s India (Cambridge UP,…

Michael Hardt, "The Subversive Seventies" (Oxford UP, 2023)

October 29, 2024

The Subversive Seventies

Michael Hardt

A thought-provoking reconsideration of how the revolutionary movements of the 1970s set the mold for today's activism. The 1970s was a decade of "s…

Andrew deWaard, "Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture" (U California Press, 2024)

October 27, 2024

Derivative Media

Andrew deWaard
Hosted by Pete Kunze

Sequels, reboots, franchises, and songs that remake old songs—does it feel like everything new in popular culture is just derivative of something old?…

Kostas Kampourakis, "Ancestry Reimagined: Dismantling the Myth of Genetic Ethnicities" (Oxford UP, 2023)

October 27, 2024

Ancestry Reimagined

Kostas Kampourakis

Recent social and political psychological research indicates that increased access to ancestry testing has strengthened the notion of genetic essentia…

Omer Aijazi, "Atmospheric Violence: Disaster and Repair in Kashmir" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024)

October 25, 2024

Atmospheric Violence

Omer Aijazi

Atmospheric Violence: Disaster and Repair in Kashmir (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) grapples with the afterlife of environmental disasters and armed c…

Matilde Masso, "Contested Money: Towards a New Social Contract" (Routledge, 2023)

October 25, 2024

Contested Money

Matilde Masso

Discussing money is always accompanied by controversy as well as enchantment. Debating what money is and how it performs its main functions in the con…

Deborah Valenze, "The Invention of Scarcity: Malthus and the Margins of History" (Yale UP, 2023)

October 24, 2024

The Invention of Scarcity

Deborah Valenze

A radical new reading of eighteenth-century British theorist Thomas Robert Malthus, which recovers diverse ideas about subsistence production and envi…

The End of White Politics: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide

October 24, 2024

The End of White Politics: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide

Zerlina Maxwell

In early June 2020, Christina Gessler and Zerlina Maxwell met remotely to discuss Maxwell’s soon-to-be-released book. This episode is an encore presen…