New Books Network Podcast

NYIH Conversations December 5, 2022

Dirty Work

Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America

Eyal Press

Hosted by New York Institute for the Humanities

In the episode of Conversations from the Institute, we hear from Eyal Press, who is the author of Absolute Convictions: My Father, a City, and the Conflict that Divided America …

Iberian Studies December 5, 2022

Jamón and Halal

Lessons in Tolerance from Rural Andalucía

Christina Civantos

Hosted by Paula De La Cruz-Fernández

In this episode, I interview Dr. Christina Civantos (University of Miami, FL, USA) about her open access book Jamón and Halal: Lessons in Tolerance from Rural Andalucía (Amherst College Press, 2022) …

Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel December 5, 2022

The Grieving Brain

The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss

Mary-Frances O'Connor

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

For as long as humans have existed, we have struggled when a loved one dies. Poets and playwrights have written about the dark cloak of grief, the deep yearning, how …

Popular Culture December 4, 2022

Wandering Games

Melissa Kagen

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In Wandering Games (MIT Press, 2022), Melissa Kagen analyzes wandering within different game worlds, viewed through the lenses of work, colonialism, gender, and death. Wandering in games can be a theme, a …

Secularism December 3, 2022

Atheism in Five Minutes

Teemu Taira

Hosted by Carrie Lynn Evans

Atheism in Five Minutes, by Professor Teemu Taira, is part of Equinox Publishing’s “Religion in 5 Minutes” series. It offers insights into a number of commonly held questions about the …

Japanese Studies December 2, 2022

Ryokan

Mobilizing Hospitality in Rural Japan

Chris McMorran

Hosted by John Traphagan

Today I talked to Chris McMorran about his new book Ryokan: Mobilizing Hospitality in Rural Japan (U Hawaii Press, 2022). Amid the decline of many of Japan’s rural communities, the hot springs …

Sociology December 2, 2022

Egypt's Housing Crisis

The Shaping of Urban Space

Yahia Shawkat

Hosted by Rituparna Patgiri

Along with football and religion, housing is a fundamental cornerstone of Egyptian life: it can make or break marriage proposals, invigorate or slow down the economy, and popularize or embarrass …

African Studies December 1, 2022

Christianity, Politics and the Afterlives of War in Uganda

There is Confusion

Henni Alava

Hosted by Suvi Rautio

Today I had the pleasure of talking to Dr. Henni Alava, postdoctoral researcher at Tampere University, on her fascinating new book published by Bloomsbury as part of the New Directions in Anthropology …

Southeast Asian Studies December 1, 2022

Vietnamese Migrants in Russia

Mobility in Times of Uncertainty

Lan Anh Hoang

Hosted by Patrick Jory

Vietnam and Russia share a common socialist history dating back to the Cold War. But since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and Vietnam’s đổi mới reforms, Russia …

Middle Eastern Studies November 30, 2022

Protesting Jordan

Geographies of Power and Dissent

Jillian Schwedler

Hosted by Ronay Bakan

Protest has been a key method of political claim-making in Jordan from the late Ottoman period to the present day. More than moments of rupture within normal-time politics, protests have …

Anthropology November 29, 2022

Afro-Sweden

Becoming Black in a Color-Blind Country

Ryan Thomas Skinner

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Contemporary Sweden is a country with a worldwide progressive reputation, despite an undeniable tradition of racism within its borders. In the face of this contradiction of culture and history, Afro-Swedes …

African Studies November 29, 2022

Space, Place and Identity

Wodaabe of Niger in the 21st Century

Florian Köhler

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

Known as highly mobile cattle nomads, the Wodaabe in Niger are today increasingly engaged in a transformation process towards a more diversified livelihood based primarily on agro-pastoralism and urban work …

Psychology November 29, 2022

Climate Psychology

A Matter of Life and Death

Wendy Hollway, Paul Hoggett, Chris Robertson, and Sally Weintrobe

Hosted by Karyne Messina

Climate Psychology: A Matter of Life and Death (Phoenix Publishing House, 2022) offers ways to work with the unthinkable and emotionally unendurable current predicament of humanity. The style and writing …

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 …

Religion November 29, 2022

Orthodox Christianity, New Age Spirituality and Vernacular Religion

The Evil Eye in Greece

Eugenia Roussou

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer

Eugenia Roussou's book Orthodox Christianity, New Age Spirituality and Vernacular Religion: The 'Evil Eye' in Greece (Bloomsbury, 2021) thoroughly illustrates the novel synthesis of Christian religion and New Age spirituality in …

Sociology November 29, 2022

Diaspora As Translation and Decolonisation

Ipek Demir

Hosted by Gargi Binju

Ipek Demir's book Diaspora As Translation and Decolonisation (Manchester UP, 2022) engages critically with existing conceptualisations of diaspora, arguing that if diaspora is to have analytical purchase, it should illuminate a …

Medicine November 28, 2022

Where They Need Me

Local Clinicians and the Workings of Global Health in Haiti

Pierre Minn

Hosted by Rachel Pagones

Haiti is the target of an overwhelming number of internationally funded health projects. While religious institutions sponsor a number of these initiatives, many are implemented within the secular framework of …

Sociology November 28, 2022

Estate Regeneration and Its Discontents

Public Housing, Place and Inequality in London

Paul Watt

Hosted by Anna Zhelnina

It is widely accepted that London is in the midst of a serious housing crisis, manifested most obviously in city's soaring rents. While the causes of this crisis are manifold …

Literary Studies November 25, 2022

Fairy Tales in Contemporary American Culture

How We Hate to Love Them

Kate Christine Moore Koppy

Hosted by Carmen Gomez-Galisteo

In the twenty-first century, American culture is experiencing a profound shift toward pluralism and secularization. In Fairy Tales in Contemporary American Culture: How We Hate to Love Them (Lexington Books …

Disability Studies November 24, 2022

Queer Silence

On Disability and Rhetorical Absence

J. Logan Smilges

Hosted by Sohini Chatterjee

In queer culture, silence has been equated with voicelessness, complicity, and even death. Queer Silence: On Disability and Rhetorical Absence (U Minnesota Press, 2022) insists, however, that silence can be …