Beyond the Lecture

Our “Beyond the Lecture” podcast is back! In this episode, spring 2024 Nina Maria Gorrissen fellow and expert in comparative political behavior Noam Lupu talks about his research into how intergenerational trauma shapes political identity. Touching on his own family's experience and those of his research subjects, he opens new ways of understanding this transfer. Visit https://www.americanacademy.de/person/noam-lupu/ for more information about Lupu and his work at the American Academy in Berlin. Host: Kristen Allen Producer: Tony Andrews Music: “Valium,” by nothanks Photo: Annette Hornischer

With the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Academy's spring 2022 Daimler fellow Lawrence Douglas's project on aggressive war, atrocity and the "Verbrecherstaat" suddenly became very current. On this episode of "Beyond the Lecture," Douglas talks about the origin of the term "Verbrecherstaat," considers Russia's actions in light of the categories of aggressive war and atrocity, and explains the options and limitations of international law. Host: Denise Gamon Producer: Juliane Schallau Music: Valium by nothanks Photo: Annette Hornischer

In fall 2021, New Orleans-based writer Ladee Hubbard spent her time as Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellow in Fiction working on her new novel, "The Descendants." On this episode of "Beyond the Lecture," Hubbard talks about her novel-in-progress, the 1980s war on drugs, and, as a special treat, reads a story from her forthcoming collection "The Last Suspicious Holdout" (Amistad, March 8). Host: Denise Gamon Producer: Juliane Schallau Music: Valium by nothanks Photo: Ralph K. Penno

During her stay at the American Academy as the Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellow in Fiction in fall 2021, Lan Samantha Chang gave the finishing touch to her much-anticipated new novel "The Family Chao," to be published by W.W. Norton & Company in February 2022. On today's episode, you can find out how rediscovering Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" has shaped Chang's own writing, what it means to be an immigrant, or the child of immigrants, in the Midwest, and why two Chinese-American brothers have to visit an American diner to find some privacy. Host: Denise Gamon Producer: Juliane Schallau Music: Valium by nothanks Photo: Juliane Schallau

In this episode of "Beyond the Lecture," we take a behind-the-scenes look at a debate currently roiling classical scholarship and pedagogy. It’s a debate about how the field should be approached now and in the future, about privilege and access and the very aura of classics. To get into this story, we talk with spring 2021 American Academy fellow Nandini Pandey, who teaches classics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research is bringing to light a more detailed picture of the heterogenous makeup of the ancient Roman world. And as an Indian American, she represents the changes that are occurring in classical scholarship itself. Host: R. Jay Magill Producer: Tony Andrews Production Assistance: Denise Gamon Music: Machinery by Kai Engel Image: Triumph of Dionysus by Sophie Hay

What was it like to be the first black person at an all-white private school in the American South? The very first, that is. In this episode, we explore this question through the work of investigative journalist and fall 2020 Holtzbrinck fellow, Mosi Secret, who's currently writing a book about a philanthropic initiative to integrate black children into elite Southern schools in the 1960s and '70s. We also invite Secret to consider his own experience as part of a black minority at a similar school in Atlanta in the 1990s. Did the first generation make it any easier for those who followed? Host: R. Jay Magill; Producer: Tony Andrews with help from Denise Gamon; Special thanks to Nisha Simama; Music: Mystery Blues by Squire Tuck, Jolenta Clears The Table by Doctor Turtle, Distilled by Nctrnm, Meekness by Kai Engel, Midnight in the Green House by Kevin MacLeod, and Chad Crouch by The Pond Instrumental.

There are few novelists who made more of an impact on twentieth-century German literature than Thomas Mann. His works have been translated into over thirty languages and remain the subject of much debate. On today's podcast, we bring together two scholars who have made Mann's life and literary output the focus of their academic concerns: Susan Bernofsky, a fall 2020 fellow and professor of writing at Columbia University, and Veronika Fuechtner, a spring 2020 fellow professor of German at Dartmouth College. As Fuechtner continues work on a project about Mann’s maternal Brazilian heritage, Bernofsky is currently translating Mann’s 1924 masterpiece, The Magic Mountain. Their resulting discussion is alive with passion and curiosity for Thomas Mann's private life and unique literary inventiveness. Host: R. Jay Magill Producer, Editor: Denise Gamon

The world is on hold and we are all going a bit stir-crazy. Strange things are happening in a tiny New York City apartment, where a young podcaster uses his isolation time to open a mysterious portal to the afterlife. This episode of “Beyond the Lecture” features a special recording of novelist Paul LaFarge’s fictive play “Ninth Beast.” LaFarge is the American Academy’s spring 2020 Holtzbrinck fellow and author of five novels, such as “The Night Ocean” (2017) and “Haussmann, or the Distinction” (2001). Host: R.Jay Magill Producer: Tony Andrews Script: Paul LaFarge Voice Actors: Harvey Friedman, Anna Janusz, and Tara Bray Smith Music: The Spring (Instrumental) by Chad Crouch; Talk to me by Loyalty Freak Music

In this episode of „Beyond the Lecture,” scholars and artists at the American Academy in Berlin reflect on the various intersections of the coronavirus pandemic with their respective fields of study. We spoke with composer Carolyn Chen, cultural historian Liliane Weissberg (spring 2020 Anna-Maria Kellen fellow) of University of Pennsylvania, German Studies professor Veronika Fuechtner (spring 2020 Anna-Maria Kellen fellow) of Dartmouth College, filmmaker Kevin Everson (spring 2020 Ellen Maria Gorrissen fellow) of University of Virginia, professor of comparative literature Moira Fradinger (spring 2020 Andrew W. Mellon fellow) of Yale University, urban historian Nikhil Rao of Wellesley College, cultural anthropologist Dominic Boyer (Axel Springer fellow) of Rice University, and Cymene Howe of Rice University. Host: R. Jay Magill Producer and narrator: Tony Andrews Recordings: Dominic Boyer

In this episode of "Beyond the Lecture," cultural anthropologists Dominic Boyer (spring 2020 Axel Springer Fellow) and Cymene Howe, both of Rice University, reveal some insights from their recent research into Iceland's ancient traditions. What they found has profound implications for how we view grief, the future, and the way we come to terms with an increasingly shared sense of precariousness. Music: We have to do something by Komiku; Mystery Blues by Squire Tuck; Free To Use 9 by Monplaisir; Frá opnunarhátíð Hörpunnar by Raddir Íslands. Sound of the glacier courtesy of the Art We There Yet Project; image and drone footage by Josh Okun. The story was produced and narrated by Tony Andrews, and hosted by R. Jay Magill

Poet, playwright, and Yale University professor Claudia Rankine was at the American Academy in Berlin as a Distinguished Visitor in early November 2019, to deliver the John W. Kluge lecture. Academy producer Tony Andrews sat down with Rankine to discuss the various dynamics at work in the conversations she quotes in her forthcoming book, Just Us, a collection of essays that critically engages with the conversation as a racialized space. Host: R. Jay Magill Producer: Tony Andrews Photo: Annette Hornischer

Historian Linda Gordon was recently at the American Academy in Berlin, as a Marcus Bierich Distinguished Visitor, to discuss her latest book, "The Second Coming of the KKK." In it, Gordon goes beyond the more well-known terrorism of the KKK in the South, to show just how active the Klan was in northern states like Oregon and Massachusetts in the first half of the twentieth century. There, the primary methods employed by the Klan did not rely on violence but rather on propaganda and electoral activity, both entirely legal means, for furthering their racist agenda. In this episode of “Beyond the Lecture,” Gordon suggests that some of the anti-immigrant sentiment in contemporary political discourse has its roots in the Klan of the 1920s. Host: R. Jay Magill Producer: Tony Andrews Photo: Annette Hornischer Music: "After the End," "Final Step," "Desert Fox Underscore," and "Eye of Forgiveness" by Rafael Krux; "Midnight in the Green House" by Kevin MacLeod; "Distilled" by Nctrnm; "Staunch and True" by United States Marine Band.

Writer Anne Finger is in Berlin to research histories of disability in the city. In this episode, she goes on a trip to an old, abandoned Nazi psychiatric facility with producer Tony Andrews. Along the way, they meet up with Andreas Hechler, whose great grandmother was sent to a facility just like it. In the process, they confront some disturbing history and reflect upon the politics of memory today. Host: R. Jay Magill Producer: Tony Andrews Photo: Annette Hornischer Music: "Meekness" and "Mercy" by Kai Engel; "Jolenta Clears The Table" by Doctor Turtle.

Composer and pianist Wang Lu was born in the Xi’an, China, the country’s ancient capital. Brought up in a musical family with strong Chinese opera and folk music traditions, her compositions are inspired by both of these forms, and fused with urban environmental sounds. Wang’s works have been performed internationally by the Ensemble Modern, The Minnesota Orchestra, The American Composers Orchestra and Holland Symfonia, to name just a few. As a spring 2019 Fellow at the Academy, Wang is working on new pieces, and she’ll be performing works from Urban Inventory in the city as well. Producer Tony Andrews sat down with Wang to discuss her work.

Literary historian Martin Puchner's journey with languages started early and unexpectedly: a series of seemingly unconnected events led to his discovery that he was the last speaker of an almost forgotten medieval language, Rotwelsch. In his research into what this language was — where it came from, who spoke it, and why — Puchner was forced to confront the good and the bad in his own family's history and how he would choose to inherit the Rotwelsch legacy. Host: R. Jay Magill, Producer: Tony Andrews, Photo: Annette Hornischer, Music: "Mischief" and "Neugierig" by Ryan Rainer; "I Leaned My Back Against an Oak" by Axletree; "Jolenta Clears The Table" by Doctor Turtle.

Sir David Chipperfield is a world-renowned architect who has designed and refurbished some of the most iconic buildings in the world, including Berlin’s Neues Museum. On March 21, 2019, Sir Chipperfield was at the American Academy to deliver a lecture entitled “Identity and Sustainability—Fundación RIA in Galicia.” In the lecture, he discusses his work at Fundación RIA, an NGO that enables architects to serve society through comprehensive engagement in urban planning. Berlin architect Jason Danziger, of the firm thinkbuild, sat down with Sir Chipperfield to discuss how architects can and should serve their communities.

New Yorker staff writer Masha Gessen was at the American Academy in late November to talk about her most recent book, The Future Is History. In this podcast, she discusses Russia, cynicism, doublethink, and the imaginative powers of democracy with fall 2018 Academy fellow Joshua Yaffa, the Moscow correspondent for the New Yorker. Host: R. Jay Magill Producer: Cristina Gonzalez Photo: Annette Hornischer

P. Carl is a dramaturg, nonfiction writer, theater producer, and Distinguished Artist in Residence at Emerson College. As a Holtzbrinck Fellow at the American Academy in fall 2018, he’s is working on a memoir about gender transition, entitled Becoming a White Man, to be published by Simon & Schuster. The American Academy’s Tina Reis sat down with Carl to talk about his memoir, recent political and social debates surrounding masculinity and trans inclusion, and how the democratization of criticism is good for the arts. Host: R. Jay Magill, Jr. Producer: William Glucroft Photo: Annette Hornischer

Many climate scientists say it's past midnight on the environmental clock. New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer recpient Elizabeth Kolbert has spent the last few decades reporting on climate change and its effects. We sat down with her to talk about the dire state of the biosphere. Host: R. Jay Magill, Jr. Producer: Cristina Gonzalez Photo: Annette Hornischer

On October 11, 2018, Pulitzer-prize winning author and journalist Frances FitzGerald delivered a lecture on evangelical voters in the United States, as the American Academy's fall 2018 Richard von Weizsäcker Distinguished Visitor. We sat down with FitzGerald to find out more about this particular voting bloc and its political influence in the United States. Host: R. Jay Magill, Jr. Producer: Cristina Gonzalez Photo: Annette Hornischer

Political philosopher Michael Sandel was at the American Academy in spring 2018 to deliver a lecture entitled “Populism, Trump, and the Future of Democracy.” We sat down with him to gauge his thoughts on where democracy was headed, what he thought was missing from public discourse, and what he believes gave rise to populist nationalism. Host: R. Jay Magill Producer: William Glucroft Photo: Ralph K. Penno

Linda Greenhouse reported on the Supreme Court for the New York Times for the past thirty years. Currently a journalist in residence at the Yale Law School, and president of the American Philosophical Society, Greenhouse was at the Academy in May 2018 to deliver the Lloyd Cutler Lecture, entitled “Can the Supreme Court Save the United States.” We sat down with her to ask a few questions about cases facing the Supreme Court, journalist interactions with justices, and the challenges of the Court during the Trump administration. Host: R. Jay Magill, Jr. Producer: William Glucroft

Tricia Rose is a professor of Africana Studies and director of the Center of the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Brown University, and a frequent commentator in American media and on college campuses about the state of race in America. A few hours before her April 24, 2018 Marcus Bierich lecture at the American Academy, we sat down with Rose to ask her what is going on with race in America now, about the harmfulness of "colorblindness" among well-meaning whites, and how social media is both helping and hindering our understanding of how race works. Host: R. Jay Magill Producer: William Glucroft Photo: Annette Hornischer

Adam Tooze is professor of history and director of the European Institute at Columbia University. A specialist in twentieth-century German economic history, he was at the Academy on March 13, 2018, to deliver this semester’s Marcus Bierich Lecture, “The 2008 Global Crisis: Approaches to a Future History.” This is also the subject of his forthcoming book, Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World (Viking, August 2018). Host: R. Jay Magill Producer: William Glucroft Photo: Annette Hornischer

Keith David Watenpaugh is Professor and Director of Human Rights Studies at the University of California, Davis. Since 2013, he has directed a multi-disciplinary international research program to assist refugee university students and scholars fleeing the war in Syria. He’s leading an effort to expand refugee access to higher education through something called the Article 26 Backpack project, supported by the Ford Foundation, which helps refugee students digitally store their academic credentials. On February 27, 2018, Watenpaugh was at the American Academy as a Richard von Weizsaecker Distinguished Visitor, to deliver a talk about the marriage of his academic work, as a renowned historian of the Middle East, and as a person who cares deeply about the plight of people fleeing war. He sat down with American Academy president Michael Steinberg to discuss his work. Host: R. Jay Magill Producer: William Glucroft Photo: Annette Hornischer

David Miliband, a former British foreign minister, has been the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee since 2013. He's the author of a new book about the global migration crisis, Rescue: Refugees and the Political Crisis of Our Time (Simon & Schuster/TED Books). On February 19, 2018, Miliband gave a lecture on this topic as an American Academy in Berlin, as an Airbus Distinguished Visitor. We sat down with him afterwards to discuss the challenges facing the 65 million worldwide refugees, the challenges facing the nations that are taking them in, and the state of the international liberal order.  Host: R. Jay Magill Producer: William Glucroft Photo: Ralph K. Penno

Before joining the German Marshall Fund, as executive vice president and senior advisor for security and defense policy, Derek Chollet held senior positions in the Obama administration—in the White House, State Department, and the Pentagon. He most recently served as US assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, and most recently authored the book The Long Game: How Obama Defied Washington and Redefined America’s Role in the World. A fellow at the American Academy in spring 2002, Chollet returned as a Richard C. Holbrook Distinguished Visitor on February 15, 2018, when he joined a panel of foreign-policy experts to discuss the state of US-German relations one year after the election of Donald Trump. We sat down with Chollet to discuss the most salient issues facing US security, the state of the transatlantic relationship, and one of his mentors and former bosses, Academy founder Richard Holbrooke. Host: R. Jay Magill Producer: William Glucroft Photo: Ralph K. Penno

Beyond the Lecture: Earl Lewis on Meeting Global Challenges by American Academy in Berlin

Political scientist Nicholas Eberstadt (American Enterprise Institute) was a Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin in November 2017. An expert on North Korea, Eberstadt has been following the country's economic and political development for the past thirty years. In this interview, he discusses the country's reclusive regime, its supporting agents, and its recent relations with the US, Iran, and China. Host: R. Jay Magill

On November 16, the renowned Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor was at the American Academy to deliver the 2017 Fritz Stern lecture, “Democratic Degeneration: Three Easy Paths to Regression.” Taylor’s talk addressed a concern held by increasing numbers of thoughtful people in recent years: that democracy is sliding backwards—losing ground internationally to authoritarian rule, voter apathy, and the slogans of populist rhetoric. To understand more about Taylor’s thoughts on the subject, we arranged a discussion between him and American Academy fellow Dilip Gaonkar, a politial theorist at Northwestern University and Taylor’s decades-long colleague at the the Center for Transcultural Studies. We recorded their discussion at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, in Potsdam, where Taylor was a short-term fellow. Host: R. Jay Magill Photo: Ralph K. Penno

On this episode of "Beyond the Lecture," we sat down with political scientist Nicholas Eberstadt to discuss the origins and causes of the decline of work for American men. "Men without Work" is the title Eberstadt’s latest book. It’s about the radical decline in employment of working age American men over the past half-century. This worrying trend is not about a lack of available jobs, however. It evidences instead something even more worrisome: a decline in skilled labor, mass exits from the labor force, opioid addiction, and the resulting lack of motivation to work at all. Eberstadt is the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, in Washington, DC, and a senior adviser to the National Bureau of Asian Research. A Bosch Fellow in Public Policy at the American Academy in 2008, he was back in early November as the Kurt Viermetz Distinguished Visitor. Host: R. Jay Magill Photo: Ralph K. Penno

On this edition of "Beyond the Lecture," we sat down with New York Times columnist Roger Cohen. On the evening of September 28, 2017, Cohen spoke at the American Academy -- as a John W. Kluge Distinguished Visitor -- about the fate of the postwar order in the age of Donald Trump. We sat down with Cohen to discuss the topic more personally, and to hear his thoughts on a few related topics. Host: R. Jay Magill Photo: Ralph K. Penno

On this edition of Beyond the Lecture, we sit down with artists Kerry James Marshall and Trenton Doyle Hancock for an extended discussion about painting, collage, and comics. Host: R. Jay Magill

At a time when public trust in the news media is at a historic low, when fake news proliferates social media, and voters are highly polarized, how can quality journalism survive? Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times, sits down with the Academy's Beyond the Lecture series to discuss protecting accurate and reliable news. Host: R. Jay Magill Photo: Annette Hornischer

At a time when Russia is alleged to have manipulated the recent US Presidential elections, Kati Marton returned to the American Academy to present her latest book, True Believer (Simon & Schuster, 2016), which reveals the life of Noel Field, an Ivy League-educated State Department employee, who was deeply rooted in the culture and history of the United States yet spied for Joseph Stalin. With a reporter’s eye for detail and a historian’s grasp of the cataclysmic events of the twentieth century, Marton captures Field’s riveting quest for a life of meaning that went horribly wrong. Host: R. Jay Magill

This episode of the American Academy in Berlin's “Beyond the Lecture” features an interview with University of California Berkeley economist Barry Eichengreen. A distinguished academic expert on the international monetary and financial systems, Eichengreen is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London. He was at the Academy this past December to deliver the semester’s Kurt Viermetz Lecture, "The Populist Turn in American Politics." We sat down with him to talk about populism’s roots in economics and what the future may hold for the euro, free trade, and American domestic policy. Host: R. Jay Magill

On this edition of the American Academy in Berlin's “Beyond the Lecture” series, Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz discussed his most recent book, The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe. It was published this fall in Germany by Siedler Verlag, as Europa Sparr Sich Kaputt. We spoke with him talk about the future of the euro, free trade, and economic inequality in America. Stiglitz was the Stephen M. Kellen Distinguished Visitorat the American Academy in Berlin in October 2016. Host: R. Jay Magill

Douglas Rivers, chief scientist at YouGov and professor of political science at Stanford University, talks to the American Academy in Berlin about polling, the media, and the angry voter in the 2016 US Presidential election. Host: R. Jay Magill

On February 4th, Soheil Nasseri performed Beethoven's Fifth Symphony at the American Academy in Berlin. For more information about Nasseri's upcoming performances, you can visit his website: http://soheilnasseri.com/en/

On the occasion of her visit to the American Academy in Berlin, Stanford University historian Marilyn Yalom sat down with Academy fellow Brenda Stevenson, herself a historian from UCLA. Their topic was one of shared interest: women. From Abigail Adams to Hillary Clinton, Yalom and Stevenson discuss the historical role of women and the current challenges facing women in America and throughout the world. Poem: “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou Music: bensound.com Host: Ashley Bamford Producer: Cristina Gonzalez

24 years ago, the deadliest race riots in US history were raging in Los Angeles. Current American Academy fellow Brenda E. Stevenson shares her perspective on why the violence erupted and how the American criminal justice system must still be improved to make all citizens truly equal under the law. Hear more from Brenda at her Axel Springer Lecture "Performing Social Status in Slavery and Freedom." http://www.americanacademy.de/home/program/upcoming/performing-social-status-slavery-and-freedom-southern-black-marriage-rituals-1 Sound provided by bensound.com

"When Strangers Become Friends" brought remarkable musicians from the US, Syria, and Germany to the Academy. Listen to a beautiful testament to the unifying power of music by Yo-Yo Ma (cello) and Kinan Azmeh (clarinet). This concert took place on March 23, 2016 at the American Academy in Berlin.

Can advice from ancient Rome redeem the current political scene in the United States? Dirk Ippen fellow Michèle Lowrie discusses this anomalous, yet timely question in a review of Philip Freeman’s translations of the works of the brothers Cicero.

On March 31, the Trustees of the American Academy in Berlin announced the selection of a new president, Brown University Professor Michael P. Steinberg, who will assume his duties at the Hans Arnhold Center on August 15, 2016. The following are excerpts from a press conference with Professor Steinberg and current Academy president, Professor Gerhard Casper.

Based on his research of today's sharing economy, our fellow Steven Hill sees facets of the German system as a potential model for the US.

On March 9, the American Academy in Berlin co-hosted an event with ESMT and Siedler Verlag: Nobel laureate and Academy distinguished visitor Alvin E. Roth introduced his new book "Wer Kriegt Was und Warum? Bildung, Jobs und Partnerwahl: Wie Märkte Funktionieren" (Siedler Verlag 2016). Roth spoke with the American Academy's Cristina Gonzalez about matching markets and how market design might aid, among many other things, in the resettlement of refugees in Europe.

Democracy has been doing poorly around the world in recent years, argued noted political scientist Francis Fukuyama, the Academy's spring 2016 Marcus Bierich Distinguished Visitor, at his February 29 lecture. With political breakdown occurring in many regions across the globe, Fukuyama noted, the failure of governments to provide citizens with basic services and the consequences of widespread political corruption have contributed to democracy’s poor performance. Fukuyama argued that in order for democracies to remain legitimate and to continue to attract new adherents, they must address the constraints imposed upon them by institutions that emphasize rule of law and accountability at the expense of states’ capacities to take strong action.

Distinguished Visitor and noted political scientist Francis Fukuyama delivered a lecture at the American Academy in Berlin, "Democracy's Failure to Perform." Prior to his lecture on February 29, 2016, he spoke with the American Academy's Cristina Gonzalez about polarization in the United States, the rise of presidential candidate Donald Trump, and the effect of the refugee crisis on liberal Western democracy.