CHCI Podcast Roundup, Summer 2022
On the last Friday of each month, we review the podcast episodes released by CHCI Member Organizations and highlight new podcasts as they arise.
This month, we will look at episodes posted in Summer 2022.
The Role of Race and Intersectionality
The New Books in Literature podcast highlights Tajja Isen’s book of essays in the episode, “Tajja Isen, Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service.” Tajja Isen is a writer and the editor-in-chief of Catapult magazine. This project was inspired by the prominence of equity and inclusion language without the follow through. Isen details her work in the animation and voiceover industry, and how unfortunately the gains toward equity have been restricted to gender. Isen’s book discusses the small proportion of roles for voiceover actors of color, who dictates what sounding black means, and the expectations placed on writers of color.
Creighton University’s podcast Threads of Equality released its latest episode titled, “Damon Tweedy.” The episode features an interview with Damon Tweedy, MD discussing the role of race in healthcare. Dr. Tweedy details his experience in psychiatry from medical school to clinical practice. The interview covers lack of representation in the academic medical world, historical mistrust of medical professionals in black communities, and the need for diverse perspectives in healthcare.
Cornell University’s Society for The Humanities publishes The Humanities Pod. Its latest episode, “ History wrapped up in song: “Singing Freedom” with Tsitsi Jaji, Lucy Fitz Gibbon, and Ed Baptist” features Tsitsi Jaji, Associate Professor of English at Duke University, Lucy Fitz Gibbon, Soprano and Interim Director of Vocal Programs at Cornell University, and Ed Baptist, Professor of History at Cornell University. They discuss the project “Singing Freedom” and feature music from this collaboration.
The podcast of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute of Trinity College Dublin released an episode “ Intersecting and contiguous identities in African narratives.” The episode includes a talk by Dr. Théophile Munyangeyo (Trinity College Dublin) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series. Dr. Munyangeyo discusses the conceptualization of identities in Africa, the role of the perceived audience in the process of writing, and the intersection of literature and identity in African contexts.
Queer Perspectives and Methodologies
The Institute Podcast of the Institute for the Arts & Humanities of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill published, “Episode 121: Interview with 2022 Reckford Speaker Magdalena J. Zaborowska.” In the episode Magdalena Zabrowska, award winning James Baldwin scholar, and Sharon Holland, American Studies Professor and Chair at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, details James Baldwin’s conception of Black queer humanism. Zabrowska notes interdisciplinary approaches to research and how Baldwin can save us in contemporary society.
Central European University and The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva publish the Democracy in Question? Podcast. The episode, “Current State of Affairs in Putin’s Russia” features Masha Gessen, journalist and writer for The New Yorker, they left Russia due to the criminalization and discrimination of gay parents in Putin’s regime. Gessen details their experience in Moscow as the invasion began and how within the city there was a sense of normalcy and routinization of war coverage. They stress the role of the authoritarian regime in understanding the state of the country today.
The Tallinn University Podcast published by Tallinn University released its latest episode,“ 2.11 Pride Month Special - the history and future of the LGBTQ+ movement in Estonia.” The episode features Anette Mäletjärv, Cooperation Officer in the Estonian LGBT Association, detailing the history of the LGBTQ+ movement in Estonia and the pathways forward.
Institutional Violence and Resistance
The With Good Reason podcast of Virgina Humanities released the episode, “In the System” The episode includes Christa Moore, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia at Wise, detailing the ways in which our child welfare system should adopt a collaborative care model. Heidi Williams, a sociology professor at Virginia Tech, highlights the perspectives and motivations of individuals who had a parent incarcerated during their childhood. Mary Ellen O’Toole and Anthony Falsetti, professors of Forensic Science at George Mason University, detail the work of their new lab or body farm that is looking closely at human decomposition. Jay Albanese, criminologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, notes how organized crime operates and the contexts that enable these forms of crimes.
The WISER Podcast of the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) at the University of Witwatersrand published, “ Two Treasons, Two States, One Family .” The episode features Reverend Frank Chikane and his son Regotsofetse Chikane reflecting on the moment they were each arrested for treason in South Africa, although these moments occured thirty years apart. They discuss the changes in government from apartheid to post-apartheid and how the fight for a more democractic government continues.
The Vault podcast of the New York Institute for the Humanities published its latest episode, “Rony Brauman and Samantha Power on Arendt and Humanitarianism” The episode features Dr. Rony Brauman, former president of Doctors Without Borders, and Samantha Power, US ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017. The excerpt is from a 2006 symposium “Hannah Arendt Right Now”. Brauman presents on Arendt’s influence on his perspectives about humanitarian aid and Power responds.
The latest episode of Ben Franklin’s World entitled, “ 334 Brandon Bayne, Missions & Mission Building in New Spain,” features Brandon Bayne, an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Bayne details the role of Spanish missionaries as tools of colonization. He notes the Jesuits’ relationship with New Spain leading to their expulsion from the colony.
Producing Media
The New Books in Sound Studies podcast released the episode, “ Andrew Simon, "Media of the Masses: Cassette Culture in Modern Egypt" (Stanford UP, 2022).” Andrew Simon, a lecturer and research associate at Dartmouth University, details his book highlighting the popularity of the cassette tape as a pivotal moment in empowering cultural producers prior to the internet. Simon uses the cassette to unpack Egyptian history and note its role as a form of resistance against the state controlled media.
The Being Human Podcast of the Humanities Center at the University of Pittsburgh published its,“ Series Finale, An Interview with Dan Kubis.” The finale features Jacqui Sieber, Humanities Media Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh, interviewing Being Human's host Dan Kubis about the show's 7-year run. Kubis reflects on how the podcast started as a documentary, how the podcast has changed over time, and how he found scholars to participate in the podcast.