New Books Network
Sociology
Anthropology August 3, 2021

Signs of Difference

Language and Ideology in Social Life

Susan Gal and Judith T. Irvine

Hosted by Amir Lehman
How are peoples' ideas about languages, ways of speaking and expressive styles shaped by their social positions and values? How is difference, in language and in social life, made - …

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Cover Story August 3, 2021

Sarah Hepola on Drinking in a "Dry" Texas County

Sarah Hepola

Hosted by Agata Popeda
Welcome to Cover Story, a podcast by New Books Network devoted to long form journalism. Today, we are talking to Texas-based writer Sarah Hepola. Hepola is most known from her …
South Asian Studies August 2, 2021

Everyday State and Politics in India

Government in the Backyard in Kalahandi

Sailen Routray

Hosted by Aparna Gopalan
Set in the eastern state of Odisha in a district known as the “Somalia of India,” Everyday State and Politics in India: Government in the Backyard in Kalahandi (Routledge 2018) …
Indian Ocean World July 30, 2021

What Is Religious Authority?

Cultivating Islamic Communities in Indonesia

Ismail Fajrie Alatas

Hosted by Kelvin Ng
What Is Religious Authority?: Cultivating Islamic Communities in Indonesia (Princeton UP, 2021) by Ismail Fajrie Alatas draws on groundbreaking anthropological insights to provide a new understanding of Islamic religious authority, showing …
Sociology July 29, 2021

How Green Became Good

Urbanized Nature and the Making of Cities and Citizens

Hillary Angelo

Hosted by Richard Ocejo
As projects like Manhattan's High Line, Chicago's 606, China's eco-cities, and Ethiopia's tree-planting efforts show, cities around the world are devoting serious resources to urban greening. Formerly neglected urban spaces and …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast July 29, 2021

The Value of Voice

Nick Couldry

Hosted by Howard Burton
The Value of Voice is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Nick Couldry, Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory in the Department of Media and …
Gender Studies July 29, 2021

Hijras, Lovers, Brothers

Surviving Sex and Poverty in Rural India

Vaibhav Saria

Hosted by Shraddha Chatterjee
Hijras, one of India’s third gendered or trans populations, have been an enduring presence in the South Asian imagination—in myth, in ritual, and in everyday life, often associated in stigmatized …
Economics July 29, 2021

Welfare for Autocrats

How Social Assistance in China Cares for Its Rulers

Jennifer Pan

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
Development economists have been doing intensive research in recent years on conditional cash transfer programs as a tool to help get people out of poverty. Meanwhile in the US there …
Law July 28, 2021

Myanmar's Enemy Within

Buddhist Violence and the Making of a Muslim 'Other'

Francis Wade

Hosted by Jane Richards
In 2017, Myanmar's military launched a campaign of widespread targeted violence against its Rohingya minority. The horrific atrocities was later described by United Nations experts as genocide. This had been building …
World Christianity July 28, 2021

Imagining Persecution

Why American Christians Believe There Is a Global War Against Their Faith

Jason Bruner

Hosted by Byung Ho Choi
Many American Christians have come to understand their relationship to other Christian denominations and traditions through the lens of religious persecution. Jason Bruner's Imagining Persecution: Why American Christians Believe There …
Systems and Cybernetics July 27, 2021

Systems Approaches to Making Change: A Practical Guide

Martin Reynolds and Sue Holwell (Retired)

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
Practitioners from all professional domains are increasingly confronted with incidences of systemic failure, yet poorly equipped with appropriate tools and know-how for understanding such failure, and the making of systemic …
Sociology July 27, 2021

Against White Feminism

Notes on Disruption

Rafia Zakaria

Hosted by Deidre Tyler
Elite white women have branded feminism, promising an apolitical individual empowerment along with sexual liberation and satisfaction, LGBTQ inclusion, and racial solidarity. As Rafia Zakaria expertly argues in Against White Feminism …
Secularism July 26, 2021

Dangerous Games

What the Moral Panic over Role-Playing Games Says about Play, Religion, and Imagined Worlds

Joseph P. Laycock

Hosted by Carrie Lynn Evans
The 1980s saw the peak of a moral panic over fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. A coalition of moral entrepreneurs that included representatives from the Christian Right …
Interpretive Political and Social Science July 23, 2021

Gendered Citizenship

Understanding Gendered Violence in Democratic India

Natasha Behl

Hosted by Nick Cheesman
Why do we find pervasive gender-based discrimination, exclusion and violence in India when the Indian constitution builds an inclusive democracy committed to gender equality? This is the puzzle that animates …
Science, Technology, and Society July 23, 2021

Radiant Infrastructures

Media, Environment, and Cultures of Uncertainty

Rahul Mukherjee

Hosted by Noopur Raval
In Radiant Infrastructures: Media, Environment, and Cultures of Uncertainty (Duke UP, 2020), Rahul Mukherjee explores how the media coverage of nuclear power plants and cellular phone antennas in India—what he …
Irish Studies July 23, 2021

Derry City

Memory and Political Struggle in Northern Ireland

Margo Shea

Hosted by Ryan Shelton
The city that sits on the River Foyle on the North side of the Irish isle in many ways has stood as a microcosm of the conflicts in Northern Ireland …
Medicine July 23, 2021

Distributing Condoms and Hope

The Racialized Politics of Youth Sexual Health

Chris A. Barcelos

Hosted by Rachel Pagones
Distributing Condoms and Hope: The Racialized Politics of Youth Sexual Health (U California Press, 2020) is a feminist ethnographic account of how youth sexual health programs in the racially and …
Sociology July 22, 2021

Chasing World-Class Urbanism

Global Policy Versus Everyday Survival in Buenos Aires

Jacob Lederman

Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu
What makes some cities world class? Increasingly, that designation reflects the use of a toolkit of urban planning practices and policies that circulates around the globe. These strategies—establishing creative districts …
Psychology July 22, 2021

The Tragedy of Heterosexuality

Jane Ward

Hosted by Eugenio Duarte
If opposite-gender partnerships remain the societal ideal, then why are so many straight couples miserable? Author Jane Ward has been studying this question for some time and outlines her ideas …
Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight July 22, 2021

Influencer Marketing Strategy

How to Create Successful Influencer Marketing

Gordon Glenister

Hosted by Dan Hill
Today I talked Gordon Glenister about his new book Influencer Marketing Strategy: How to Create Successful Influencer Marketing (Kogan-Page, 2021) Gordon Glenister is the Global Head of Influencer Marketing for the Brand …