New Books Network Podcast

Jewish Studies September 29, 2023

The Unknown History of Jewish Women Through the Ages

On Learning and Illiteracy, On Slavery and Liberty

Rachel Elior

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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Rachel Elior's book The Unknown History of Jewish Women: On Learning and Illiteracy, On Slavery and Liberty (de Gruyter, 2023) is a comprehensive study on the history of Jewish women, which discusses their …

Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work September 27, 2023

Pregnancy Test

Karen Weingarten

Hosted by Jana Byars

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In the 1970s, the invention of the home pregnancy test changed what it means to be pregnant. For the first time, women could use a technology in the privacy of …

Disability Studies September 26, 2023

Madwomen in Social Justice Movements, Literatures, and Art

Jessica Lowell Mason and Nicole Crevar

Hosted by Shu Wan

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Jessica Lowell Mason and Nicole Crevar's Madwomen in Social Justice Movements, Literatures, and Art (Vernon Press, 2023) boldly reasserts the importance of the Madwoman more than four decades after the publication …

Sociology September 24, 2023

Good Soldiers Don't Rape

The Stories We Tell About Military Sexual Violence

Megan MacKenzie

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Sexual violence is a significant problem within many Western militaries. Despite international attention to the issue and global #MeToo and #TimesUp movements highlighting the impact of sexual violence, rates of …

Gender Studies September 23, 2023

The Other #MeToos

Iqra Shagufta Cheema

Hosted by Diana Dukhanova

From Asia to Africa to the Middle East, #MeToo has inspired local movements and hashtag trends like #AnaKaman and transnational collective hashtags like #MosqueMeToo. Yet, most Western scholarly and popular …

French Studies September 23, 2023

Queering the Enlightenment

Kinship and Gender in Eighteenth-Century French Literature

Tracy Rutler

Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi

Tracy Rutler's Queering the Enlightenment: Kinship and Gender in Eighteenth-Century French Literature (Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, Liverpool UP, 2021) explores the imaginaries of novels and plays from the "liminal" period …

Buddhist Studies September 22, 2023

Buddhist Masculinities

Megan Bryson and Kevin Buckelew

Hosted by Jue Liang

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While early Buddhists hailed their religion's founder for opening a path to enlightenment, they also exalted him as the paragon of masculinity. According to Buddhist scriptures, the Buddha's body boasts …

Indian Religions September 21, 2023

Middle-Class Dharma

Gender, Aspiration, and the Making of Contemporary Hinduism

Jennifer D. Ortegren

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

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Middle-Class Dharma: Gender, Aspiration, and the Making of Contemporary Hinduism (Oxford UP, 2023) is a contemporary ethnography of class mobility among Hindus in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. Focusing on women …

Genocide Studies September 20, 2023

Remnants

Embodied Archives of the Armenian Genocide

Elyse Semerdjian

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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Foremost among the images of the Armenian Genocide is the specter of tattooed Islamized Armenian women. Blue tribal tattoos that covered face and body signified assimilation into Muslim Bedouin and …

Gender Studies September 20, 2023

Male Femininities

Dana Berkowitz, Elroi J. Windsor, and C. Winter Han

Hosted by Isabel Machado

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Innovative essays that explore how men perform femininity and what femininity looks like without women.What counts as “male femininity”? Is it simply men behaving in effeminate ways or is it …

African American Studies September 19, 2023

The Black Angels

The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis

Maria Smilios

Hosted by Katrina Anderson

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New York City, 1929. A sanatorium, a deadly disease, and a dire nursing shortage. In the pre-antibiotic days when tuberculosis stirred people’s darkest fears, killing one in seven, white nurses …

Postscript September 18, 2023

How Firearms Fuel Domestic Violence in the US

A Discussion with Shannon Frattoroli, Kelly Roskam, and April M. Zeoli

Shannon Frattoroli, Kelly Roskam, and April M. Zeoli

Hosted by Susan Liebell

In 2019, nearly two-thirds of domestic violence homicides in the United States were committed with a gun. On average, three women are killed by a current or former partner every …

Library Science September 16, 2023

In Visible Archives

Queer and Feminist Visual Culture in the 1980s

Margaret Galvan

Hosted by Jen Hoyer

In In Visible Archives: Queer and Feminist Visual Culture in the 1980s (U Minnesota Press, 2023), Margaret Galvan explores a number of feminist and cultural touchstones—the feminist sex wars, the …

Almost Good Catholics September 14, 2023

Brides of Christ

Contemplative Life among the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles

Sister Mary Josefa

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

Sister Mary Josefa of the Eucharist is a Benedictine nun in Missouri; she and the sisters of her community recently wrote a charming children’s book, Brides of Christ (Sophia Institute …

Art September 13, 2023

The Art of Being Dangerous

Exploring Women and Danger through Creative Expression

Jo Shaw and Ben Fletcher-Watson

Hosted by Marshall Poe

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The idea that women are dangerous - individually or collectively - runs throughout history and across cultures. Behind this label lies a significant set of questions about the dynamics, conflicts …

Gender Studies September 12, 2023

Drag

A British History

Jacob Bloomfield

Hosted by Isabel Machado

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Drag: A British History (University of California Press, 2023) is a groundbreaking study of the sustained popularity and changing forms of male drag performance in modern Britain. With this book, Jacob …

Popular Culture September 11, 2023

The Disney Princess Phenomenon

A Feminist Analysis

Robyn Muir

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

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The Disney Princesses are a billion-dollar industry, known and loved by children across the globe. In The Disney Princess Phenomenon: A Feminist Analysis (Bristol University Press, 2023) Dr. Robyn Muir …

Early Modern History September 10, 2023

Girl Culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Performance and Pedagogy

Deanne Williams

Hosted by Elspeth Currie

Deanne Williams's newest book, Girl Culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance: Performance and Pedagogy (Bloombury, 2023), is a groundbreaking study of the girl actor in the medieval and early …

Chinese Studies September 10, 2023

Violent Intimacy

Family Harmony, State Stability, and Intimate Partner Violence in Post-Socialist China

Tiantian Zheng

Hosted by Shu Wan

Based on ethnographic research with victims of intimate partner violence since 2014, Tiantian Zheng's Violent Intimacy: Family Harmony, State Stability, and Intimate Partner Violence in Post-Socialist China (Bloomsbury, 2022) brings …

Nordic Asia Podcast September 9, 2023

Victims, Perpetrators and Professionals

The Representation of Women in Chinese Crime Films

Tingting Hu

Hosted by Joanne Kuai

How are women represented in Chinese crime films? In what ways do the representation reflect traditional Chinese values and contemporary Chinese social-cultural norms? How did boys’ love culture emerge in …