New Books Network

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 …

Darts & Letters August 11, 2022

Modifying Maize

How Genetically Modified Corn Changed Science, Academia and Indigenous Rights in Mexico (Part 1 of 2)

Hosted by Gordon Katic

This is part 1 of a 2-part series from Cited - the predecessor of Darts and Letters. When genetically modified corn was found in the highlands of Mexico, Indigenous campesino …

Darts & Letters August 10, 2022

The Colonial Lens

Analyzing Decolonization, Reconciliation, and Colonialism in Academia

Hosted by Gordon Katic

Scholars want to decolonize everything, and universities say they are doing the hard work of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. But is anything really being done, or is it all for …

Darts & Letters August 9, 2022

Letters from Herzl

Settler Colonialism at work in Palestine

Hosted by Gordon Katic

Today’s episode originally aired in May of 2021, while violence was erupting all along the Gaza Strip. Israeli airstrikes had left over 200 Palestinians and a dozen Israelis dead. It …

Critical Theory August 8, 2022

The Cruel Optimism of Racial Justice

Nasar Meer

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Why are societies still not offering racial equality? In The Cruel Optimism of Racial Justice (Policy Press, 2022), Nasar Meer, a professor of Race, Identity and Citizenship in the School of …

Art August 5, 2022

Shelf Documents

Art Library as Practice

Heide Hinrichs and Jo-Ey Tang

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez

How can a library change the world? How can an art library change the art school or the gallery? Or even an art practice? In Shelf Documents: Art Library as …

General History August 5, 2022

The Memory of Colonialism in Britain and France

The Sins of Silence

Itay Lotem

Hosted by Michael Vann

In The Memory of Colonialism in Britain and France: The Sins of Silence (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021), Itay Lotem explores the remembering of empire in Britain and France. By comparing these two former …

Anthropology August 3, 2022

Routledge Handbook of Ecocultural Identity

Tema Milstein and José Castro-Sotomayor

Hosted by Adam Bobeck

The Routledge Handbook of Ecocultural Identity (Routledge, 2020) brings the ecological turn to sociocultural understandings of self. Tema Milstein and José Castro-Sotomayor introduce a broad, insightful assembly of original theory and research …

Education August 3, 2022

Why They Hate Us

How Racist Rhetoric Impacts Education

Lindsay Pérez Huber and Susana M. Muñoz

Hosted by Autumn Wilke

Why They Hate Us: How Racist Rhetoric Impacts Education (Teachers College Press, 2021) examines how racist political rhetoric has created damaging and dangerous conditions for Students of Color in schools …

Critical Theory August 1, 2022

Producing Politics

Inside the Exclusive Campaign World Where the Privileged Few Shape Politics for All of Us

Daniel Laurison

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Who runs American politics? In Producing Politics: Inside the Exclusive Campaign World Where the Privileged Few Shape Politics for All of Us (Beacon Press, 2022), Daniel Laurison, an associate professor …

African American Studies July 29, 2022

Insurrection

Rebellion, Civil Rights, and the Paradoxical State of Black Citizenship

Hawa Allan

Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

The little-known and under-studied 1807 Insurrection Act was passed to give the president the ability to deploy federal military forces to fend off lawlessness and rebellion, but it soon became …

Historical Materialism July 27, 2022

Automation and Autonomy

Labour, Capital and Machines in the Artificial Intelligence Industry

James Steinhoff

Hosted by Reuben Niewenhuis

Automation and Autonomy: Labour, Capital and Machines in the Artificial Intelligence Industry (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) argues that Marxist theory is essential for understanding the contemporary industrialization of the form of artificial …

Critical Theory July 27, 2022

The Global Bourgeoisie

The Rise of the Middle Classes in the Age of Empire

Jürgen Osterhammel, David Motadel, and Christof Dejung

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

While the nineteenth century has been described as the golden age of the European bourgeoisie, the emergence of the middle class and bourgeois culture was by no means exclusive to …

Critical Theory July 26, 2022

The Flexibility Paradox

Why Flexible Working Leads To (Self-)Exploitation

Heejung Chung

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Why are we working harder? In The Flexibility Paradox: Why Flexible Working Leads To (Self-)Exploitation (Polity Press, 2022), Heejung Chung, a professor of sociology and social policy at the University of …

Politics July 25, 2022

It's Not Free Speech

Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom

Michael Bérubé and Jennifer Ruth

Hosted by Catriona Gold

The protests of summer 2020 led to long-overdue reassessments of the legacy of racism and white supremacy in both American academe and cultural life more generally. But while universities have …

High Theory July 22, 2022

Social Psychoanalysis

A Discussion with Ankhi Mukherjee

Ankhi Mukherjee

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

Ankhi Mukherjee talks about that looks at the subject of psychoanalysis as a product of social and cultural processes, and thereby reorients concepts of parental and familial bonds, trauma, coping …

Film July 20, 2022

Feminist Worldmaking and the Moving Image

Erika Balsom and Hila Peleg

Hosted by Galina Limorenko

Erika Balsom and Hila Peleg's edited volume Feminist Worldmaking and the Moving Image (MIT Press, 2022) offers intersectional, intergenerational, and international perspectives on nonfiction film- and videomaking by and about women …

Religion July 20, 2022

Postsecular History

Political Theology and the Politics of Time

Maxwell Kennel

Hosted by David Kunsman

In this thought provoking book entitled PostSecular History: Political Theology and The Politics of Time (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), Max Kennel explores how contemporary approaches to the meaning of time and history follow …

Philosophy July 20, 2022

Animal Crisis

A New Critical Theory

Alice Crary and Lori Gruen

Hosted by Sarah Tyson

As we lose more individual animals and entire species to catastrophic climate change, habitat destruction, toxic dumping, and other human activities, it becomes increasingly difficult to register the full scope …

Critical Theory July 19, 2022

Movie Workers

The Women Who Made British Cinema

Melanie Bell

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Where are the women in the history of British cinema? In Movie Workers: The Women Who Made British Cinema (U Illinois Press, 2021), Melanie Bell, a Professor of Film History …