University of Texas Press Podcast

Following a Texas Book Festival panel “Making History: The Civil Rights Movement in Texas,” we invited three of the panelists for a longer discussion on diversity and inclusion in Austin—both on and off campus. Virginia Cumberbatch, Director of Community Engagement and Social Equity, and Leslie Blair, Executive Director of Communications, both share their perspectives as staff members at UT Austin’s Division of Diversity and Community Engagement and also as coauthors of the book As We Saw It: The Story of Integration at the University of Texas at Austin. Also contributing to our discussion is UT Austin alumnus and Texas Monthly reporter Doyin Oyeniyi, who co-created the web series Austin While Black, a project that documents the stories of Black Austinites. In the first half of our conversation, we cover some of the remarkable stories from As We Saw It, including the legacy of women in the civil rights movement at the university and the integration of UT Austin’s athletics program. In the second half of our conversation, we address the university’s ongoing efforts to foster inclusion and combat bias, including the recent removal of confederate statues. Our guests also evaluate Austin’s reputation as a progressive city and discuss how both institutions and individuals can work toward dismantling institutional racism. Further reading: “How I Navigate the Overwhelming Whiteness of Austin” by Doyin Oyeniyi for Thrillist https://exit.sc/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thrillist.com%2Ftravel%2Fnation%2Fliving-in-austin-texas-white-people-whiteness “Removing Confederate Monuments Won’t Erase History, But Could Correct It” by Doyin Oyeniyi for Texas Monthly https://exit.sc/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.texasmonthly.com%2Fthe-daily-post%2Fremoving-confederate-monuments-wont-erase-history-correct%2F “The Battle Against Affirmative Action Continues After Fisher v. UT Austin” by Doyin Oyeniyi for Texas Monthly https://exit.sc/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.texasmonthly.com%2Fthe-daily-post%2Fbattle-affirmative-action-continues-fisher-v-ut-austin%2F “Outlier: The Case of Austin’s Declining African-American Population” by Dr. Eric Tang, Assistant Professor and Faculty fellow IUPRA and Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, and Dr. Chunhui Ren, Postdoctoral Fellow https://exit.sc/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliberalarts.utexas.edu%2Fiupra%2F_files%2Fpdf%2FAustin%2520AA%2520pop%2520policy%2520brief_FINAL.pdf

Award-winning photographer Dawoud Bey talks through his forty-year career in photography. We cover major bodies of work: "Harlem, U.S.A.", his Type 55 Polaroid street portraits, his 20 × 24 Polaroid works, "Class Pictures", and "The Birmingham Project," delving into his photographic process and the thoughtfulness he brings to his form and artistic practice. Dawoud share the personal connections that Sarah Lewis, Leigh Raiford, and Maurice Berger have to the photographs in the book, and how his year-long MacArthur Genius Class of 2017 year went. Dawoud Bey's current series is titled, “Night Coming Tenderly, Black,” which features night-time landscapes in Cleveland that reflect the city’s pre-Civil War history as a site of the Underground Railroad.

Writer Lance Scott Walker has collected stories and interviews from Houston's rappers, DJs, producers, promoters, and record label owners since 2005. In the new amplified edition of his book HOUSTON RAP TAPES, he includes new photographs and interviews (Scarface, Slim Thug, Lez Moné, B L A C K I E, Lil’ Keke, and Sire Jukebox of the original Ghetto Boys), plus custom maps of Houston that highlight major landmarks for the city's hip-hop culture. Recorded on DJ Screw's birthday, this conversation addresses how police corruption and gentrification have impacted the Houston neighborhoods that gave birth to Houston rap, tracing the scene from early rap battles among Raheem, Willie D, and Vanilla Ice to the up-and-coming H-Town artists making beats and rhymes today. We also cover the complexities of gangsta rap, the women who shaped the scene and are making music on their own terms, and the impact of the late DJ Screw.

We chat with Geoff Dyer about the "visual novelist" and street photographer Garry Winogrand. Dyer highlights the wild humor of Winogrand's eye, how his photographs were packed with narrative potential, how he approached writing short vignettes to complement images in the literary style of John Szarkowski’s Atget or Mark Strand's On Edward Hopper, and the intrigue of Winogrand's out-of-control creative impulse toward the end of his life.

In this probing conversation, B+ digs into the intentions behind his project to reveal the rhythmic connections among people, cultures, and their creations, sharing stories of the record collector who shaped DJ Shadow’s sound, his close friendships with composers David Axelrod and Horace Tapscott, and more. We delve into the importance of politics in art, and how connecting the dots between social movements around the globe can help answer questions raised by provocative forms like underground hip-hop and jazz. Horace TapscottJazzDavid AxelrodphotographyAva DuVernayBrian CrossGhostnotesinterview

In this charming exchange, Khalik Allah and Eli Reed share their experiences navigating rough neighborhoods, earning the trust of their subjects, learning from their mistakes, and developing a unique style that stands out in the digital age. We also talk about Khalik's work with the Wu-Tang Clan, his experience working as a filmmaker on Beyoncé's Lemonade, and more.

In this touching discussion, we talk with renowned birder and dyed-in-the-wool Texan Victor Emanuel and writer S. Kirk Walsh about the importance of taking the time to observe natural beauty, protect it, and the path Victor took from politics to a life of birding. We cover tips for a birding excursion, Victor's friendship with Laura Bush and the literary luminaries Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton, as well as the most memorable rare bird sightings.

Where there is water, there is life. In this casual conversation, we cover the process of researching must-swim spots across Texas, the history of these significant sites, and the importance of being good stewards to our natural swimming holes. We also cover top 5 lists, key etiquette, and the best playlists for a good summer road trip.

What made Austin the city we know today? Eddie Wilson saw the Texas capital transform from a sleepy college town into a global purveyor of music culture, all while booking and housing seminal bands of the 1970s, serving Southern cuisine, and shilling a record-breaking amount of Lone Star beer. The story of the Armadillo World Headquarters includes rollicking tales of what Eddie calls, "a roller coaster of despair and wonder": trying to schedule anything with detail-averse Jerry Garcia, charming Frank Zappa after a 17-minute sound check, accommodating Van Morrison's cravings for the 'Dillo's famous shrimp quesadillas, and so many more 'Keep Austin Weird' moments that helped define Austin's lifestyle, cutlure, and identity. We are joined in this conversation by Jason Mellard, the Assistant Director of the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University–San Marcos and author of Progressive Country: How the 1970s Transformed the Texan in Popular Culture.

In this fascinating discussion, we explore the significance of a massive, conceptually complex piece of rock art that was painted by hunter gatherers within a week to two week period between 400 BC and 400 AD. We cover the graphic vocabulary that depicts the creation of time and the birth of the sun, how certain revelations came to the research team, and the importance of preserving these endangered murals. As the oldest known artistic expression in North America that portrays core concepts later reinterpreted by the Aztecs, the White Shaman mural is an important work, key to understanding ourselves and where we came from.

From a base camp darkroom in Vietnam to street photography in San Francisco to the political stage, this interview with Bob McNeely traces his life as a photographer and offers honest insight into Hillary’s personality and career, wrestling with both the promise of her capabilities and the problems of her political history. Hear how McNeely’s access ended abruptly in 1998 amidst scandal and how Hillary’s Senate race in 2000 foreshadowed her ability to be resilient and move on with her life.

A Pure Solar World explores how Sun Ra was a master of jazz composition, a pioneer in electronic music, a major African American poet, and an expansively free-thinking teacher. Author Paul Youngquist talks to us about the philosophy behind Sun Ra's space music, how audiences first responded to his music and his message, and why his work deserves more attention.

This enriching conversation unpacks how creating art is like raising a child, how not to suck as a creative person, and how pain should be part of becoming a healer. Hersh honors Vic, sharing her favorite memories from the road and explaining why she finally agreed to write Don’t Suck, Don’t Die. She emits so much wisdom, revealing how she learned to “crawl into” prose writing to add dimension to her music and not let "staying in the heavy" obscure hope. We also delve into the process of writing her nonfiction novel Rat Girl.

From the draisine to the latest carbon fiber frame, the bicycle has endured boom and bust to make a lasting impact on our lives. We talk with Margaret Guroff about how the bicycle helped to revolutionize urban infrastructure, technology, gender equality, mechanized aircraft, and more. Now that the middle class is returning to car-dominated cities, the bicycle’s future depends on getting populations other than hipsters to choose a bike over a polluting car. And what happens when self-driving cars get on the road?

Texas is very innovative in a lot of ways but also holds tight to its past and its traditions. Some Texan traditions are obvious, but others took some digging, like drawing on water dousing skills to find water during contemporary droughts. We ask Andrea Valdez what research she conducted to write an authoritative how-to manual on Texas life, how she feels about certain Texas stereotypes, and why engaging in these activities enhanced her sense of self.

Texas women have a uniquely global brand of strength, humor, and grace. We ask non-native Texan Sarah Bird what about the culture of friendly femininity won her over, what her mother taught her, iconic Texas women like Ladybird Johnson and Molly Ivins, and what it means to hunger for the companionship of other women.

This fascinating conversation illuminates the power, purpose, and imagery of Freemason societies in America from their origins in ancient Egyptian mystery schools to the Grand Lodge of Texas sending Buzz Aldrin to claim the moon as Texas Masonic Tranquility Lodge #2000. Adele and Webb talk about how these groups functioned in communities, how they were driven by immigrants seeking to preserve ancient traditions, and how their principles were communicated through ritualistic objects.

This moving conversation wrestles with two centuries of deeply ingrained racial tension born out of Southern plantation kitchens and the journey Toni Tipton-Martin embarked upon when she started one of the world’s largest private collections of African American cookbooks.

Ray Benson speaks honestly about utilizing his ADHD in his career, being Jewish in the music world, playing for the Klu Klux Klan, and the reality that becoming a successful musician has always been a hat trick.

The sociological study at the heart of Invisible in Austin seeks to correct stereotyping in similar studies that reduces people to “the drug dealer,” the single mother,” “the stripper.” The co-authors talk about tackling the politics of collaboration in academia, subjectivity, and intense debates on how to most effectively tell an individual's story.

Our conversation with Wendy Moore explores the difficulties, rewards, and impact of translation. She discusses what’s next for the CMES Modern Middle East Literatures in Translation series and how important it is to find cultural commonalities through translated literature.

The first African American member of Magnum Photos in conversation with UT Press about starting out as a hospital orderly in New Jersey to taking pictures of history in the making, encountering racial discrimination, and more. About the book: With over 250 images that span the astonishing range of his subjects and his evolution as a photographer, this is the first career retrospective of Eli Reed, one of America’s leading contemporary photojournalists and the first African American member of Magnum Photos.

About the book: The award-winning author of The End of Country: Dispatches from the Frack Zone offers a lively, thought-provoking overview of climate change from the perspectives of people who are dealing with it on the ground.

Distinguished screenwriter Bill Wittliff talks about how he spun family-told mysteries into his engrossing first novel. About the book: Set in wild and woolly Texas and Mexico in the 1880s, this engrossing tale of a boy’s search for his missing Momma is as full of colorful characters, folk wit and wisdom, and unexpected turns of events as the great American quest novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/witdev

Stephen Shames talks about his photoessay about a group of Bronx Boys in the 1970's.

Spotlighting three legends of American music—Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock, The Flatlanders recounts the band’s epic forty-year journey from a living room in Lubbock, Texas, to the release of their extraordinary long-lost demo, The Odessa Tapes.

This sophisticated, interdisciplinary study analyzes foundational concepts of deities and deity embodiments in Aztec religion to shed new light on the Aztec understanding of how spiritual beings take on form and agency in the material world. This podcast was generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Latin American and Caribbean Arts & Culture Publication Initiative.

Adding an important new chapter to pre-Columbian art history, this volume is the first to assemble and analyze a comprehensive body of ancient Andean architectural representations, as well as the first that explores their connections to full-scale pre-Hispanic ritual architecture. This podcast was generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Latin American and Caribbean Arts & Culture Publication Initiative.

Kate Shindle weaves an engrossing memoir of her year as Miss America 1998 with a fascinating, insightful history of the pageant to reveal why confident, ambitious young women still compete in a beauty contest that struggles to remain culturally relevant.

Stephen Cox of UCSD discusses the history of American Christianity.

Katie Robinson Edwards discusses Modernist art in midcentury Texas.

David Sterling of the Los Dos Culinary School discusses Yucatecan cooking.

Christina Halperin of Princeton University discussed Mayan figurines.

Linda Mizejewski discusses female comedians and body politics.

This powerful accounting of intelligence abuses committed by the CIA from the Cold War through the war on terror reveals why such abuses and attempts to conceal them are endemic to spying and proposes how a democratic nation can rein in its spymasters.

This lively history by the acclaimed author of Just Food and A Revolution in Eating follows the pecan from primordial Southern groves to the contemporary Chinese marketplace to reveal how a nut with a very limited natural range has become a global commodity and endangered heirloom.

Editor Chad Hammett teases out surprising revelations found in the letters by Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Sam Shepard and longtime friend Johnny Dark.

Focusing on the most prolific decades in the career of this complex, often contradictory icon of country music, David Cantwell explores the creation of many of Merle Haggard’s greatest hits and the life and times that inspired them. Check out Cantwell's Spotify playlist linked below and listen along to 'Merle Haggard: The Running Kind.'

Lavishly produced with foldout images of a major new full-color scale reconstruction of the Bonampak murals, as well as hundreds of photographs and infrared images, many never before published, this landmark in book publishing is the most thorough and thought-provoking study of one of the masterpieces of New World art.

With visceral, previously unpublished photographs and eyewitness accounts from the front lines, three dozen of the world’s leading photojournalists reveal the inside and untold stories of the Iraq war in this groundbreaking oral history.

The James Beard Award–winning author of the best-selling Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook and acclaimed documentary photographer O. Rufus Lovett take us on an extraordinary odyssey from Texas to the Carolinas and back to tell the story of Southern barbecue, past, present, and future—complete with more than seventy recipes.

With an extraordinary collection of images, many never before published, Chief White House Photographer Eric Draper presents a compelling, behind-the-scenes view of the entire presidency of George W. Bush, from dramatic events such as 9/11 to relaxed, intimate moments within the Bush family.

Presenting a range of viewpoints that spans from high-level Mexican and U.S. officials to ordinary narcos and family members of victims, this portrait of Mexico’s bloodiest city offers a gripping, firsthand perspective on the drug war that has claimed close to 60,000 lives since 2007.

Chris Gondek interviews Robert Williams

Using the Maya city of Itzmal as a case study, this book explores how indigenous conceptions of space and landscape both aided and subverted the Franciscan evangelical effort in Colonial Yucatan. This podcast was produced in part by the Latin American and Caribbean Arts & Culture Publication Initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Analyzing the extensive accounts of Aztec dance practices in colonial-era European chronicles, histories, letters, and travel books, this volume reveals the surprising and crucial role that dance played in the European conquest and colonization of the Americas. This podcast was produced in part by the Latin American and Caribbean Arts & Culture Publication Initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Editor in Chief Theresa May talks about the Latin American and Caribbean Arts and Culture Publication Initiative, which is funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.

Refuting claims from both the political right and left, this dynamic narrative history brings to life the long-forgotten founding struggles over American finance, economics, and taxes and reveals their immense and startling relevance to political struggles today.

Drawing on more than 100 interviews with Ann Richards’s friends and associates and her private correspondence, Let the People In offers a nuanced, fully realized portrait of the first feminist elected to high office in America and one of the most fascinating women in our political history.

Paying long-overdue tribute to one of the greatest legends in football, here is a biography of the quarterback who single-handedly revolutionized the game—TCU All-American and Washington Redskins Hall-of-Famer Slingin’ Sammy Baugh.

Powerfully evoking the unquenchable American spirit of exploration, award-winning photographer Dan Winters chronicles the final launches of Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor in this stunning photographic tribute to America’s space shuttle program.