Being Human

In the series finale, 2020/2021 Humanities Media Fellow Jacqui Sieber interviews Being Human's host Dan Kubis about the show's 7-year run. To link to Jacqui's podcast Backbone, click here: www.spreaker.com/show/backbone. And stay tuned for more information about how to access archived episodes of Being Human.

An interview with Min Song, professor of English at Boston College University. The interview focuses on Professor Song's most recent book, Climate Lyricism.

An interview with Kelly Wisecup, professor of English at Northwestern University. The interview focuses on Professor Wisecup's most recent book Assembled for Use: Indigenous Compilation and the Archives of Early Native American Literatures.        

An interview with Marlon Ross, professor of English at the University of Virginia. The interview focuses on Professor Ross's most recent book Sissy Insurgencies: A Racial Anatomy of Unfit Manliness.

An interview with Gayle Rogers, professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on Professor Rogers's most recent book Speculation: A Cultural History from Aristotle to AI.

An interview with Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, professor of English at Bryn Mawr College. The interview focuses on Professor Sullivan's most recent book The Poetics of Difference: Queer Feminist Forms in the African Diaspora. Information on the essay collection Teaching Black, from the University of Pittsburgh Press, can be found here: upittpress.org/books/9780822946953/. The webpage for Professor Sullivan's upcoming novel can be found here: www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/712169…781324091417.

An interview with Heather Love, professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. The interview focuses on Professor Love's most recent book Underdogs: Social Deviance and Queer Theory.        

An interview with Michael Clune, Samuel B. and Virginia C. Knight Professor of Humanities at Case Western University. The interview focuses on Professor Clune's most recent book A Defense of Judgment. Professor Clune's essays at the Chronicle of Higher Education, including one that reproduces the core argument of A Defense of Judgment, are available here: www.chronicle.com/author/michael-clune.

An interview with Charles Exley, professor of Japanese literature and film and Associate Director of film and media studies at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on Professor Exley's work with Screenshot:Asia, a project to promote Asian film and culture in Pittsburgh. The website for Screenshot:Asia is here: www.screenshot.pitt.edu/. The essay we discuss on Takagi Tokuko and Japanese popular opera can be found here: www.jstor.org/stable/44508506?se…_info_tab_contents.

An interview with Paul Bové, professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on Professor Bové's new book Love's Shadow, which was published in January by Harvard University Press. The interview was recorded on Friday, May 21, 2021. Information on boundary2, the journal Professor Bové edits, can be found here: read.dukeupress.edu/boundary-2. The book launch for Love's Shadow hosted by boundary2 is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTSWaaRRI-s. Click here for a conversation on Love's Shadow hosted by Dartmouth: www.youtube.com/watch?v=opVQOsKRamw. More information on the book, including Professor Bové's review of it, can be found here: paulbove.wordpress.com/2021/04/03/th…arch-30-2021/. The clip of Harold Bloom talking about "The Auroras of Autumn" that we discuss in the interview is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLBXe3z9zx8. Click here to listen to Backbone, a podcast about essential workers, hosted and recorded by Being Human producer Jacqui Sieber: www.spreaker.com/show/backbone.

An interview with Shelome Gooden, professor of linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on Professor Gooden's research, teaching, and the way both have been affected by various crises in 2020. It was recorded on Friday, May 7, 2021. Professor Gooden's LSA plenary talk is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlVotlTf6QM&t=565s. A citation and abstract for her essay "In the Fisherman's Net" can be found here: www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/…shelome-gooden. Citation and abstract for "African American Language in Pittsburgh and the Lower Susquehanna Valley" here: www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/…99795390-e-35. Information on the linguist. Click here to listen to Backbone, a podcast about essential workers, hosted and recorded by Being Human producer Jacqui Sieber: www.spreaker.com/show/backbone.

An interview with Adriana Helbig, professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on Professor Helbig's research, teaching, and the way both have been affected by various crises in 2020. It was recorded on Friday, March 12, 2021. The Music at Pitt podcast, which is recorded and produced by Phil Thompson, can be found here: www.music.pitt.edu/podcast.

An interview with Shaundra Myers, professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on Professor Myers' research, teaching, and the way both have been affected by various crises in 2020. It was recorded on Friday, February 19, 2021. Professor Myers' essay on black anaesthetics can be found here: academic.oup.com/alh/article-abst…/31/1/47/5273610. Click here to listen to Backbone, a podcast about essential workers, hosted and recorded by Being Human producer Jacqui Sieber: www.spreaker.com/show/backbone.

An interview with Christopher Nygren, professor of art history at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on Professor Nygren's research, teaching, and the way both have been affected by the pandemic. It was recorded on Friday, February 5, 2021. The Beatrice Institute podcast we discuss can be found here: beatriceinstitute.libsyn.com/nygren-interview. Click here to listen to Backbone, a podcast about essential workers, hosted and recorded by Being Human producer Jacqui Sieber: www.spreaker.com/show/backbone.      

An interview with Mohammed Bamyeh, professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on Professor Bamyeh's research and writing, in particular, including his books Lifeworlds of Islam: the Pragmatics of a Religion, and Anarchy as Order: the History and Future of Civic Humanity. The essay we discuss (which is in Arabic) on civil war in the US is here: www.al-adab.com/article/%D9%83%D9…D9%8A%D8%A9%D8%9F. The interview we discuss is here: countervortex.org/anarchism-and-th…-arab-uprisings/. The issue of Mizna focusing on literature and revolutions can be found here: mizna.org/journal-slider/mizna…ature-in-revolution/.      

An interview with Alaina Roberts, professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on Professor Roberts' research and writing, in particular her forthcoming book I've Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land. More information on the book can be found here: bit.ly/3garKyE. Professor Roberts' website can be found here: alainaeroberts.com/. The interview we discuss during this podcast (with WVON Chicago) can be found by scrolling down on this page: alainaeroberts.com/in-the-media/.

An interview with RA Judy, professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on RA Judy's research and writing, in particular his recently published book Sentient Flesh: Thinking in Disorder, Poiesis in Black. The interview with Fred Moten we discuss can be found here: www.boundary2.org/2020/05/of-human…y-by-fred-moten/. A citation and abstract for the boundary2 essay "Restless Flying" can be found here: read.dukeupress.edu/boundary-2/arti…/47/2/91/164269. Professor Judy's interview for the Minneapolis Interview Project can be found here: turtleroad.org/2020/08/02/ronald-judy/.      

An interview with Mari Webel, professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on Professor Webel's teaching and research, and the perspectives they provide on the crises of 2020. Dr. Webel's National Humanities Webinar can be found here: nationalhumanitiescenter.org/putting-co…epidemics/. The article on reporting responsibly on Covid-19 can be found here: blogs.scientificamerican.com/observatio…sponsibly/.

An interview with Robin Brooks, professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. The interview focuses on Professor Brooks' teaching and research, and the perspectives they provide on the crises of 2020. Dr. Brooks' essay on RIP Shirts in the journal Biography can be found here: muse.jhu.edu/issue/40025. A Washington Post article that draws on that research is here: www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019…peace-shirts/. Links to other research can be found on Dr. Brooks' website, here: drrobinbrooks.com/.

An interview with Rudolph Ware, professor of history at the University of Michigan. The interview focuses on Professor Ware's life and career, particularly his recent book The Walking Qur’an: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa. The novel we discuss during the conversation is Ambiguous Adventure, by Cheikh Hamidou Kane.

An interview with Mabel Wilson, architect, designer, and professor of architecture at Columbia University. The interview focuses on Professor Wilson's life and career, including her 2012 book "Negro Building: Black Americans in the World of Fairs and Museums." The website for Who Builds Your Architecture?, which we discuss in the interview, can be found here: whobuilds.org/.

An interview with Tommie Shelby, Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African and African American Studies and of Philosophy at Harvard University. The interview focuses on Dr. Shelby's life and career, particularly his work on race and justice.

An interview with Fred Moten, professor in the Department of Performance Studies at NYU. The interview focuses on Professor Moten's life and career, particularly his recent volume of criticism called "consent not to be a single being." The Nathaniel Mackey poem "Destination Out," which Moten references at the end of the conversation, is available here: www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi…tination-out.

An interview with Allen MacDuffie, professor of English at the University of Texas, Austin. The interview focuses on Professor MacDuffie's work as a scholar of Victorian literature and the environment. The essay we discuss, "Charles Darwin and the Victorian Pre-History of Climate Denial," is currently available on Jstor, here: www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/vic…_info_tab_contents. Professor MacDuffie also mentions Rob Nixon's work during the conversation. A Being Human interview with Professor Nixon is available here: Humanities-pitt – Slow-violence-and-a-repertoire-of-selves-an-interview-with-rob-nixon.

An interview with Merry Wiesner-Hanks, distinguished professor emerita of history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The interview focuses on Professor Wiesner-Hanks' career as a world historian and a historian of women and gender. The Masha Gessen essay that she references can be found here: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-queer-opposition-to-pete-buttigieg-explained. For even more insight into the experiences of the earliest wave of feminist scholars in the American academy, listen to the Being Human interview with Margaret Homans: https://soundcloud.com/humanities-pitt/margaret-homans-interview.

An interview with Clay Risen, deputy op-ed editor at the New York Times and author of The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century. The interview focuses on Risen's book on Roosevelt, as well as his general approach to writing popular American history.

An interview with Rebecca Jordan-Young, professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Barnard College. The interview focuses on Professor Jordan-Young's research into the science of gender and sexuality, particularly her most recent book Testosterone: An Unauthorized Biography, which she co-authored with Katrina Karkazis.

An interview with Simon Gikandi, professor of English at Princeton University and President of the Modern Language Association (MLA). The interview focuses on Professor Gikandi's life and career, and the role that literature and art played for him growing up in a postcolonial setting. We also discuss the upcoming MLA conference, the theme of which is...Being Human!

An interview with Angie Cruz, Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh and author of the novel Dominicana (2019). The interview focuses on Professor Cruz's recent novel and her work editing the literary journal Aster(ix). Link to Aster(ix) here: asterixjournal.com/. The interview "Editing with Love and Openness is Activism" is available here: www.thereviewreview.net/interviews/ed…hat-angie-cru. The essay "What We Deserve" from the Paris Review is available here: www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/08/…t-we-deserve/.

An interview with David Crandall and Elizabeth Dowd of Theatre Nohgaku, an international performance ensemble whose members share a passion for noh theater and a conviction that it has profound power for audiences today. The interview took place on September 11, 2019, ahead of their upcoming performance of Gettysburg: An American Noh in Pittsburgh. For more information on the company, the performance, or noh theater in general, visit their website here: www.theatrenohgaku.org/.        

An interview with Caspar Pearson, Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophy and Art History at the University of Essex. The interview focuses on Professor Pearson's life and career, particularly his work on Alberti and contemporary European architecture.

An interview with Maria Loh, Professor of Art History at CUNY Hunter College. The interview focuses on Professor Loh's life and career, particularly her work on Titian and early modern painting. Her newest book is titled Titian's Touch: Art, Magic, and Philosophy.

A reading and interview with Andrea Brady, professor of poetry at Queen Mary University of London and fellow at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina. The interview was taped live at City of Asylum in Pittsburgh on February 27, 2019. It focuses on Professor Brady's recently completed poem The Blue Split Compartments as well as her writing on Drone Poetics. A sample of the poem she reads can be found here: www.manifold.group.shef.ac.uk/issue20/An…yBM20.html. The essay "Drone Poetics" was published in volume 89-90 (2017) of the journal "new formations."    

An interview with Ed Ayers, Tucker-Boatright Professor of the Humanities and president emeritus at the University of Richmond. The interview focuses on Professor Ayers' life and career, particularly his work with digital humanities and southern history. The "Everyone Their Own Historian" address that Professor Ayers references can be viewed here: www.edwardayers.com/presidential-address. Many of the other digital projects discussed in the interview can be found through Professor Ayers' website, here: www.edwardayers.com/.

An interview with Steve Lyons, director of research for the Natural History Museum. The interview focuses on NHM's work within the museum sector, particularly their attempts to change the politics of museum practice. More information on all of the exhibits and projects we discuss can be found on NHM's website, here: thenaturalhistorymuseum.org/. More information on the artist collective Not an Alternative is available here: notanalternative.org/.

An interview with Nuruddin Farah, novelist and winner of the 1998 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. Farah was in Pittsburgh for an editorial meeting of the journal boundary 2. Special thanks for Professor Paul Bové for helping arrange the interview.

An interview with Kazuo Hara, Japanese documentary filmmaker and winner of the first biennial University of Pittsburgh Japan Documentary Film Award. The interview focuses on Hara's nearly 50 years of documentary filmmaking and the social impact his films have had in Japan and worldwide. Special thanks to Charles Exley, professor of modern Japanese literature and film at Pitt, for translating and recording Hara's responses. And thanks as usual to Noah Livingston, humanities media fellow at Pitt, for his production work.

An interview with Noël Carroll, distinguished professor of philosophy at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. The interview focuses mostly on Professor Carroll's work on horror, particularly his 1990 book The Philosophy of Horror, or Paradoxes of the Heart. It was part of the 50th anniversary celebration of George Romero's film Night of the Living Dead, which was filmed in Pittsburgh in 1968.

Highlights from a panel conversation on September 26, 2018 titled "Environmental Institutions: Representing Nature in the Anthropocene." The panel featured Reid Frazier (Energy Reporter, The Allegheny Front and StateImpact Pennsylvania), Nicole Heller (Curator of the Anthropocene, Carnegie Museum of Natural History), and Heather Houser (Associate Professor of English, University ofTexas-Austin). It was hosted by Dan Kubis (Associate Director, University of Pittsburgh Humanities Center). Reid, Heather, and Nicole were representing three different kinds of institutions: universities, museums, and the media. These institutions help us understand our relationship with the environment and define possibilities moving forward. But do they see these realities and possibilities in the same way? How might they work together to better formulate our current environmental realities or motivate future action? What can other institutions or perspectives add to the conversation? Our guests worked towards answering these questions as they shared their experiences working with environmental issues and the communities they affect.

An interview with Lee Gutkind, writer and founder of the literary journal Creative Nonfiction. The interview was conducted live at the University of Pittsburgh on July 20, 2018. It was part of the concluding event for Pitt's 2018 Summer Science Writing Workshop, organized by Lillian Chong. The event began with students from the workshop reading some of the science writing they had developed over the summer. You can read those works here: medium.com/lab-musings-summer-2018.

An interview with Robin Bernstein, Dillon Professor of American History at Harvard University. We were honored to have Professor Bernstein at Pitt to give the Humanities Center's 2018 Faculty Seminar. The interview focuses on Professor Bernstein's life and career, particularly her work on childhood and performance studies.

An interview with Rob Nixon, professor of English at Princeton University. The interview focuses on Professor Nixon's life and career, particularly his work in environmental criticism and public humanities. You can find his book Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor here: www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674072343. The essay we discuss, How to Read a Bridge, can be found here: www.environmentandsociety.org/perspectiv…ead-bridge.

An interview with Judith Peraino, professor in the Department of Music at Cornell University. The interview focuses on Professor Peraino's life and career, particularly her work on connections between music and queer sexuality.

An interview with Rhodessa Jones, co-artistic director of the performance company Cultural Odyssey and creator of the Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women. Rhodessa Jones was at Pitt for a month-long residency in February, 2018. During her residency, she worked with students to create a theatrical performance, offered performances of her own work, and gave lectures. The interview focuses on Rhodessa's life and career, particularly the social impact of her work.

An interview with Fred Moten, professor in the Department of Performance Studies at NYU. The interview focuses on Professor Moten's life and career, particularly his recent volume of criticism called "consent not to be a single being." The Nathaniel Mackey poem "Destination Out," which Moten references at the end of the conversation, is available here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/articles/70124/destination-out. 

An interview with Anne Knowles, McBride Professor of History at the University of Maine. The interview focuses on Professor Knowles's life and career, particularly her work with geographical information systems. Stay tuned for a link to the map we discuss at 31:15.

An interview with Christopher Fynsk, professor and dean of the Division of Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought at the European Graduate School. The interview focuses on Professor Fynsk's life and career, particularly his 2004 book "The Claim of Language: A Case for the Humanities."

An interview with author John Edgar Wideman. The interview focuses on Wideman's life and career, particularly connections between his writing and the various communities of which he has been a part. The conversation also features Leon Ford, a social activist in Pittsburgh. Ford was shot by police in 2012 and is paralyzed as a result. He currently works for social justice in Pittsburgh, and has developed a relationship with Wideman based on their mutual investment in writing. For more on Leon's story see here: http://www.leonfordspeaks.com/. 

An interview with Tommie Shelby, Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African and African American Studies and of Philosophy at Harvard University. The interview focuses on Dr. Shelby's life and career, particularly his work on race and justice.

An interview with Janet Marstine, Academic Director of the Art Museum and Gallery Studies program at the University of Leicester. The interview focuses on Dr. Marstine's life and career, particularly her work on museums and ethical practice. For information on Theaster Gates' piece "To Speculate Darkly," see here: www.chipstone.org/exhibitionframe.…peculate-Darkly/. Robert Fontenot's "Recycle LACMA": www.robertfontenot.com/new-page-1/. Ansuman Biswas's "Manchester Hermit": www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/…ticle/?id=4711.