Podcasts about culture studies

When I first heard about Hannah Zeavin's new book, Mother Media: Hot and Cool Parenting in the Twentieth Century, I knew it Culture Study material. Historicizing the intersection between tech and motherhood (and how surveillance affects mothers and changes parenting norms which leads to more surveillance)… that's some Culture Study s**t. I'm thrilled that Hannah Zeavin — whose work so compellingly crosses the lines of media history and history of psychology — agreed to come on the pod (and that she was such a dynamic and engaging co-host). If you're skeeved out by breastfeeding discourse, if you've ever been a childcare provider (for your own children or others') and resent the threat of cameras, if you feel so deeply ambivalent about the nanny cam… this episode will take you to places that make all of this surveillance “make sense” (which is very different from making it feel better). I can't wait for your thoughts on this one.Thanks to the sponsors of today's episode!Get great sleep on a new Birch mattress. Go to BirchLiving.com/Culture for 27% off sitewideGet $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood—delivered right to your door. Go to: https://www.wildalaskan.com/CULTURE.Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

We have a treat for you today with a drop-in episode from Anne Helen Petersen's Culture Study. Culture Study is a podcast about the culture that surrounds you. This episode featuring Hannah and Marcelle is all about Royal Family gossip, colonialism, and empires in decline! Together, Anne, Hannah and Marcelle consider how royal fascination manifests differently depending on where you live, how you were raised, and identification (or lack thereof) with “your” generation of monarch.You can find Culture Study wherever you get your podcasts and at culturestudypod.substack.com.Head to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease to become a supporter of the show. On Patreon you'll get so many ad-free bonus episodes you will stop missing us completely. It costs as little as $5 USD a month to support the show but it is the difference between us paying Coach or not. Don't you want to pay Coach? Don't you want to listen to more episodes? Again head to patreon.com/ohwitchplease or wait until next week for a new episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hidden Heroes (Anthem Press, 2025) offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the lives of ordinary North Koreans through a collection of short stories by renowned DPRK authors. Spanning from the 1980s to the present, these works explore the theme of the “hidden hero,” a popular moniker in the DPRK to describe the average citizen who navigates the complexities of daily life with quiet dedication for their work and country. In this interview, Dr. Kim and Dr. Berthelier discuss the appeal of North Korean literature, their approach to translating the collection, and how sharing stories reminds readers of our shared humanity. Dr. Benoit Berthelier is a senior lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Sydney. His research interests include North Korea's cultural industries and digital technologies. View his university profile here.  Dr. Immanuel Kim is The Korea Foundation and Kim-Renaud Professor of Korean Literature and Culture Studies at George Washington University. His research focuses on the changes and development, particularly in the representations of women, sexuality, and memory, of North Korean literature from the 1960s to present day. View his university profile here.  Leslie Hickman is an Anthropology graduate student at Emory University. She has an MA in Korean Studies and a KO-EN translation certificate from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. You can contact her at leslie.hickman@emory.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Hidden Heroes (Anthem Press, 2025) offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the lives of ordinary North Koreans through a collection of short stories by renowned DPRK authors. Spanning from the 1980s to the present, these works explore the theme of the “hidden hero,” a popular moniker in the DPRK to describe the average citizen who navigates the complexities of daily life with quiet dedication for their work and country. In this interview, Dr. Kim and Dr. Berthelier discuss the appeal of North Korean literature, their approach to translating the collection, and how sharing stories reminds readers of our shared humanity. Dr. Benoit Berthelier is a senior lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Sydney. His research interests include North Korea's cultural industries and digital technologies. View his university profile here.  Dr. Immanuel Kim is The Korea Foundation and Kim-Renaud Professor of Korean Literature and Culture Studies at George Washington University. His research focuses on the changes and development, particularly in the representations of women, sexuality, and memory, of North Korean literature from the 1960s to present day. View his university profile here.  Leslie Hickman is an Anthropology graduate student at Emory University. She has an MA in Korean Studies and a KO-EN translation certificate from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. You can contact her at leslie.hickman@emory.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Hidden Heroes (Anthem Press, 2025) offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the lives of ordinary North Koreans through a collection of short stories by renowned DPRK authors. Spanning from the 1980s to the present, these works explore the theme of the “hidden hero,” a popular moniker in the DPRK to describe the average citizen who navigates the complexities of daily life with quiet dedication for their work and country. In this interview, Dr. Kim and Dr. Berthelier discuss the appeal of North Korean literature, their approach to translating the collection, and how sharing stories reminds readers of our shared humanity. Dr. Benoit Berthelier is a senior lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Sydney. His research interests include North Korea's cultural industries and digital technologies. View his university profile here.  Dr. Immanuel Kim is The Korea Foundation and Kim-Renaud Professor of Korean Literature and Culture Studies at George Washington University. His research focuses on the changes and development, particularly in the representations of women, sexuality, and memory, of North Korean literature from the 1960s to present day. View his university profile here.  Leslie Hickman is an Anthropology graduate student at Emory University. She has an MA in Korean Studies and a KO-EN translation certificate from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. You can contact her at leslie.hickman@emory.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Hidden Heroes (Anthem Press, 2025) offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the lives of ordinary North Koreans through a collection of short stories by renowned DPRK authors. Spanning from the 1980s to the present, these works explore the theme of the “hidden hero,” a popular moniker in the DPRK to describe the average citizen who navigates the complexities of daily life with quiet dedication for their work and country. In this interview, Dr. Kim and Dr. Berthelier discuss the appeal of North Korean literature, their approach to translating the collection, and how sharing stories reminds readers of our shared humanity. Dr. Benoit Berthelier is a senior lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Sydney. His research interests include North Korea's cultural industries and digital technologies. View his university profile here.  Dr. Immanuel Kim is The Korea Foundation and Kim-Renaud Professor of Korean Literature and Culture Studies at George Washington University. His research focuses on the changes and development, particularly in the representations of women, sexuality, and memory, of North Korean literature from the 1960s to present day. View his university profile here.  Leslie Hickman is an Anthropology graduate student at Emory University. She has an MA in Korean Studies and a KO-EN translation certificate from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. You can contact her at leslie.hickman@emory.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

We have a treat for you today with a drop-in episode from Anne Helen Petersen's Culture Study. Culture Study is a podcast about the culture that surrounds you. This episode featuring Hannah and Marcelle is all about Royal Family gossip, colonialism, and empires in decline! Together, Anne, Hannah and Marcelle consider how royal fascination manifests differently depending on where you live, how you were raised, and identification (or lack thereof) with “your” generation of monarch.You can find Culture Study wherever you get your podcasts and at culturestudypod.substack.com.Head to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease to become a supporter of the show. On Patreon you'll get so many ad-free bonus episodes you will stop missing us completely. It costs as little as $5 USD a month to support the show but it is the difference between us paying Coach or not. Don't you want to pay Coach? Don't you want to listen to more episodes? Again head to patreon.com/ohwitchplease or wait until next week for a new episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hidden Heroes (Anthem Press, 2025) offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the lives of ordinary North Koreans through a collection of short stories by renowned DPRK authors. Spanning from the 1980s to the present, these works explore the theme of the “hidden hero,” a popular moniker in the DPRK to describe the average citizen who navigates the complexities of daily life with quiet dedication for their work and country. In this interview, Dr. Kim and Dr. Berthelier discuss the appeal of North Korean literature, their approach to translating the collection, and how sharing stories reminds readers of our shared humanity. Dr. Benoit Berthelier is a senior lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Sydney. His research interests include North Korea's cultural industries and digital technologies. View his university profile here.  Dr. Immanuel Kim is The Korea Foundation and Kim-Renaud Professor of Korean Literature and Culture Studies at George Washington University. His research focuses on the changes and development, particularly in the representations of women, sexuality, and memory, of North Korean literature from the 1960s to present day. View his university profile here.  Leslie Hickman is an Anthropology graduate student at Emory University. She has an MA in Korean Studies and a KO-EN translation certificate from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. You can contact her at leslie.hickman@emory.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/korean-studies

You're listening to Burnt Toast! Today, my guest isMara Gordon, MD. Dr. Mara is a family physician on the faculty of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, as well as a writer, journalist and contributor to NPR. She also writes the newsletter Your Doctor Friend by Mara Gordon about her efforts to make medicine more fat friendly. And she was previously on the podcast last November, answering your questions on how to take a weight inclusive approach to conditions like diabetes, acid reflux, and sleep apnea.Dr. Mara is back today to tackle all your questions about perimenopause and menopause! Actually, half your questions—there were so many, and the answers are so detailed, we're going to be breaking this one into a two parter. So stay tuned for the second half, coming in September! As we discussed in our recent episode with Cole Kazdin, finding menopause advice that doesn't come with a side of diet culture is really difficult. Dr Mara is here to help, and she will not sell you a supplement sign or make you wear a weighted vest. This episode is free but if you value this conversation, please consider supporting our work with a paid subscription. Burnt Toast is 100% reader- and listener-supported. We literally can't do this without you.PS. You can always listen to this pod right here in your email, where you'll also receive full transcripts (edited and condensed for clarity). But please also follow us in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and/or Pocket Casts! And if you enjoy today's conversation, please tap the heart on this post — likes are one of the biggest drivers of traffic from Substack's Notes, so that's a super easy, free way to support the show!And don't miss these: Episode 203 TranscriptVirginiaWhen I put up the call out for listener questions for this, we were immediately inundated with, like, 50 questions in an hour. People have thoughts and feelings and need information! So I'm very excited you're here. Before we dive into the listener questions, let's establish some big picture framing on how we are going to approach this conversation around perimenopause and menopause.MaraI should start just by introducing myself. I'm a family doctor and I have a very general practice, which means I take care of infants and I have a couple patients who are over 100. It's amazing. And families, which is such an honor, to care for multiple generations of families. So, perimenopause and menopause is one chunk of my practice, but it is not all of it.I come from the perspective of a generalist, right? Lots of my patients have questions about perimenopause and menopause. Many of my patients are women in that age group. And I have been learning a lot over the last couple of years. The science is emerging, and I think a lot of practice patterns amongst doctors have really changed, even in the time that I have been in practice, which is about 10 years. There has been a huge shift in the way we physicians think about menopause and think about perimenopause, which I think is mostly for the better, which is really exciting.There's an increased focus on doctors taking menopause seriously, approaching it with deep care and concern and professionalism. And that is excellent. But this menopause advocacy is taking place in a world that's really steeped in fatphobia and diet culture. Our culture is just so susceptible to corporate influence. There are tons of influencers who call themselves menopause experts selling supplements online, just selling stuff. Sort of cashing in on this. And I will note, a lot of them are medical doctors, too, so it can be really hard to sort through.VirginiaYour instinct is to trust, because you see the MD.MaraTotally. There's a lot of diet talk wrapped up in all of it, and there's a lot of fear-mongering, which I would argue often has fatphobia at its core. It's a fear of fatness, a fear of aging, a fear of our bodies not being ultra thin, ultra sexualized bodies of adolescents or women in their 20s, right? This is all to say that I think it's really exciting that there's an increased cultural focus on women's health, particularly health in midlife. But we also need to be careful about the ways that diet culture sneaks into some of this talk, and who might be profiting from it. So we do have some hearty skepticism, but also some enthusiasm for the culture moving towards taking women's concerns and midlife seriously.VirginiaThe cultural discourse around this is really tricky. Part of why I wanted you to come on to answer listener questions is because you approach healthcare from a weight inclusive lens, which is not every doctor. It is certainly not every doctor in the menopause space. And you're not selling us a supplement line or a weighted vest, so that's really helpful. So that's a good objective place for us to start! Here's our first question, from Julie: It's my understanding that the body naturally puts on weight in menopause, especially around the torso, and that this fat helps to replace declining estrogen, because fat produces estrogen. I don't know where I've heard this, but I think it's true? But I would like to know a doctor's explanation of this, just because I think it's just more evidence that our bodies know what they're doing and we can trust them, and that menopause and the possible related weight gain is nothing to fear or dread or fight.MaraOof, okay, so we are just diving right in. Thank you so much for this question. It's one I get from many of my patients, too. So I looked into some of the literature on this, and it is thought that declining estrogen—which happens in the menopausal transition—does contribute to what we call visceral adiposity, which is basically fatty tissue around the internal organs. And in clinical practice, we approximate this by assessing waist circumference. This is really spotty! But we tend to think of it as “belly fat,” which is a fatphobic term. I prefer the term “visceral adiposity” even though it sounds really medical, it gets more specifically at what the issue is, which is that this particular adipose tissue around internal organs can be pathologic. It can be associated with insulin resistance, increasing risk of cardiovascular disease, and risk of what we call metabolic—here's a mouthful—metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease, which is what fatty liver disease has been renamed.So I don't think we totally understand why this happens in the menopausal transition. There is a hypothesis that torso fatty tissue does help increase estrogen, and it's the body's response to declining estrogen and attempts to preserve estrogen. But in our modern lives, where people live much longer than midlife, it can create pathology. VirginiaI just want to pause there to make sure folks get it. So it could be that this extra fat in our torsos develops for a protective reason —possibly replacing estrogen levels—but because we now live longer, there's a scenario where it doesn't stay protective, or it has other impacts besides its initial protective purpose.MaraRight? And this is just a theory. It's kind of impossible to prove something like that, but many menopause researchers have this working theory about, quote—we've got to find a better term for it—belly fat. What should we call it, Virginia? Virginia. I mean, or can we reclaim belly fat? But that's like a whole project. There is a lot of great work reclaiming bellies, but we'll go with visceral adiposity right now.MaraAnyway, this is an active area of menopause research, and I'm not sure we totally understand the phenomenon. That being said, Julie asks, “Should we just trust our bodies?” Do our bodies know what they're doing? And I think that's a really philosophical question, and that is the heart of what you're asking, Julie, rather than what's the state of the research on visceral adiposity in the menopause transition.It's how much do we trust our bodies versus how much do we use modern medicine to intervene, to try to change the natural course of our bodies? And it's a question about the role that modern medicine plays in our lives. So obviously, I'm a fan of modern medicine, right? I'm a medical doctor. But I also have a lot of skepticism about it. I can see firsthand that we pathologize a lot of normal physiologic processes, and I see the way that our healthcare system profits off of this pathology.So this is all to say: Most people do tend to gain weight over time. That's been well-described in the literature. Both men and women gain weight with age, and women tend to gain mid-section weight specifically during the menopausal transition, which seems to be independent of age. So people who go through menopause earlier might see this happen earlier. This weight gain is happening in unique ways that are affected by the hormone changes in the menopausal transition, and I think it can be totally reasonable to want to prevent insulin resistance or prevent metabolic dysfunction in the liver using medications. Or can you decide that you don't want to use medications to do that; diet and exercise also absolutely play a role. But I think it's a deep question. I don't know, what do you think? Virginia, what's your take?VirginiaI think it can be a both/and. If everybody gains weight as we age, and particularly as we go through menopause transition, then we shouldn't be pathologizing that at baseline. Because if everybody does it, then it's a normal fact of having a human body. And why are we making that into something that we're so terrified of?And I think this is what we're going to get more into with these questions: It's also possible to say, can we improve quality of life? Can we extend life? Can we use medicine to help with those things in a way that makes it not about the weight gain, but about managing the symptoms that may or may not be caused by the weight gain? If the weight gain correlates with insulin resistance, of course you're going to treat the insulin resistance, because the insulin resistance is the concern. Does that mean weight loss is the thing we have to do? Not necessarily.MaraTotally. I define size inclusive medicine—which is the way that I practice medicine—as basically not yelling at my patients to lose weight. And it's quite revolutionary, even though it shouldn't be. I typically don't initiate conversations about weight loss with my patients. If my patients have evidence of metabolic dysfunction in the liver, if they have evidence of diabetes or pre-diabetes, if they have high blood pressure, we absolutely tackle those issues. There's good medications and non-medication treatments for those conditions.And if my patients want to talk about weight loss, I'm always willing to engage in those conversations. I do not practice from a framework of refusing to talk with my patients about weight loss because I feel that's not centering my patients' bodily autonomy. So let's talk about these more objective and less stigmatized medical conditions that we can quantify. Let's target those. And weight loss may be a side effect of targeting those. Weight loss may not be a side effect of targeting those. And there are ways to target those conditions that often don't result in dramatic or clinically significant weight loss, and that's okay.One other thing I'll note that it's not totally clear that menopausal weight gain is causing those sort of metabolic dysfunctions. This is a really interesting area of research. Again, I'm not a researcher, but I follow it with interest, because as a size-inclusive doctor, this is important to the way that I practice. So there's some school of thought that the metabolic dysfunction causes the weight gain, rather than the weight gain causing the metabolic dysfunction. And this is important because of the way we blame people for weight gain. We think if you gain weight, you've caused diabetes or whatever. This flips thta narrative on its head. Diabetes is a really complex disease with many, many factors affecting it. It's possible that having a genetic predisposition to cardiometabolic disease may end up causing weight gain, and specifically this visceral adiposity. So this is all to say there's a lot we don't understand. And I think at the core is trying to center my patients values, and de-stigmatize all of these conversations.VirginiaI love how Julie phrased it: “The possible related weight gain in menopause is maybe nothing to fear, dread, or fight.” I think anytime we can approach health without a mindset of fear and dread and not be fighting our bodies, that seems like it's going to be more health promoting than if we're going in like, “Oh my God, this is happening. It's terrible. I have to stop it.”And this is every life stage we go through, especially as women. Our bodies change, and usually our bodies get bigger. And we're always told we have to fight through puberty. You have a baby, you have to get your body back as quickly as possible. I do think there's something really powerful in saying: “I am going through a big life change right now so my body is supposed to change. I can focus on managing the health conditions that might come along with that, and I can also let my body do what it needs to do.” I think we can have both.MaraYeah, that's so beautifully said. And Julie, thank you for saying it that way.VirginiaOkay, so now let's get into some related weight questions.I was just told by my OB/GYN that excess abdominal weight can contribute to urinary incontinence in menopause. How true is this, and how much of a factor do you think weight is in this situation? And I think the you know, the unsaid question in this and in so many of these questions, is, so do I have to lose weight to solve this issue?MaraYes. So this is a very common refrain I hear from patients about the relationship between BMI and sort of different processes in the body, right? I think what the listeners' OB/GYN is getting at is the idea that mass in the abdomen and torso might put pressure on the pelvic floor. And more mass in the torso, more pressure on the pelvic floor.But urinary incontinence is extremely complicated and it can be caused by lots of different things. So I think what the OB/GYN is alluding to is pelvic floor weakness, which is one common cause. The muscles in the pelvic floor, which is all those muscles that basically hold up your uterus, your bladder, your rectum—all of those muscles can get weak over time. But other things can cause urinary incontinence, too. Neurological changes, hormonal changes in menopause, can contribute.Part of my size inclusive approach to primary care is I often ask myself: How would I treat a thin person with this condition? Because we always have other treatment options other than weight loss, and thin people have urinary incontinence all the time.VirginiaA lot of skinny grandmas are buying Depends. No shame!MaraTotally, right? And so we have treatments for urinary incontinence. And urinary incontinence often requires a multifactorial treatment approach.I will often recommend my patients do pelvic floor physical therapy. What that does is strengthen the pelvic floor muscles particularly if the person has been pregnant and had a vaginal delivery, those muscles can really weaken, and people might be having what we call genitourinary symptoms of menopause. Basically, as estrogen declines in the tissue of the vulva, it can make the tissue what we call friable.VirginiaI don't want a friable vulva! All of the language is bad.MaraI know, isn't it? I just get so used to it. And then when I talk to non-medical people, I'm like, whoa. Where did we come up with this term? It just means sort of like irritable.VirginiaOk, I'm fine having an irritable vulva. I'm frequently irritable.MaraAnd so that can cause a sensation of having to pee all the time. And that we can treat with topical estrogen, which is an estrogen cream that goes inside the vagina and is an amazing, underutilized treatment that is extremely low risk. I just prescribe it with glee and abandon to all of my patients, because it can really help with urinary symptoms. It can help with discomfort during sex in the menopausal transition. It is great treatment.VirginiaItchiness, dryness…MaraExactly, yeah! So I was doing a list of causes of urinary incontinence: Another one is overactive bladder, which we often use oral medications to treat. That helps decrease bladder spasticity. So this is all to say that it's multifactorial. It's rare that there's sort of one specific issue. And it is possible that for some people, weight loss might help decrease symptoms. If somebody loses weight in their abdomen, it might put less pressure on the pelvic floor, and that might ease up. But it's not the only treatment. So since we know that weight loss can be really challenging to maintain over time for many, many reasons, I think it's important to offer our patients other treatment options. But I don't want to discount the idea that it's inherently unrelated. It's possible that it's one factor of many that contributes to urinary incontinence.VirginiaThis is, like, the drumbeat I want us to keep coming back to with all these issues. As you said, how would I treat this in a thin person? It is much easier to start using an estrogen cream—like you said, low risk, easy to use—and see if that helps, before you put yourself through some draconian diet plan to try to lose weight.So for the doctor to start from this place of, “well, you've got excess abdominal fat, and that's why you're having this problem,” that's such a shaming place to start when that's very unlikely to be the full story or the full solution.MaraTotally. And pelvic PT is also underutilized and amazing. Everyone should get it after childbirth, but many people who've never had children might benefit from it, too.VirginiaOkay, another weight related question. This is from Ellen, who wrote in our thread in response to Julie's question. So in related to Julie's question about the role of declining estrogen in gaining abdominal fat:If that's the case, why does hormone replacement therapy not mitigate that weight gain? I take estrogen largely to support my bone health due to having a genetic disorder leading to fragile bones, but to be honest I had hoped that the estrogen would also help address the weight I've put on over the past five years despite stable eating and exercise habits. That hasn't happened, and I understand that it generally doesn't happen with HRT, but I don't understand why. I guess I'd just like to understand better why we tend to gain abdominal fat in menopause and what if anything can help mitigate that weight gain. I'm working on self acceptance for the body I have now, and I get frustrated when clothes I love no longer fit, or when my doctor tells me one minute to watch portion sizes to avoid weight gain, and the next tells me to ingest 1000 milligrams of calcium per day, which would account for about half of the calories I'm supposed to eat daily in order to lose weight or not gain more weight. It just feels like a lot of competing messages! Eat more protein and calcium, but have a calorie deficit. And it's all about your changing hormones, but hormone replacement therapy won't change anything.Ellen, relatable. So many mixed messages. Dr. Mara, you spoke to what we do and don't know about the abdominal fat piece a little bit already in Julie's question, so I think we can set that aside. But yes, if estrogen is playing a role, why does hormone replacement therapy not necessarily impact weight? And what do we do with the protein of it all? Because, let me tell you, we got like 50 other questions about protein.MaraI will answer the first part first: I don't think we know why menopausal hormone therapy does not affect abdominal fat. You're totally right. It makes intuitive sense, but that's not what we see clinically. There's some evidence that menopausal hormone therapy can decrease the rate of muscle mass loss. But we consider it a weight neutral treatment. Lots of researchers are studying these questions. But I don't think anybody knows.So those messages feel like they're competing because they are competing. And I don't think we understand why all these things go on in the human body and how to approach them. So maybe I'll turn the question back to you, Virginia. How do you think about it when you are seeking expertise and you get not a clear answer?VirginiaI mean, I'm an irritable vulva when it happens, that's for sure. My vulva and I are very irritated by conflicting messages. And I think we're right to be. I think Ellen is articulating a real frustration point.The other thing Ellen is articulating is how vulnerable we are in these moments. Because, as she's saying, she's working on self-acceptance for the body she has. And I think a lot of us are like, “We don't want weight loss to be the prescription. We don't want to feel pressured to go in that direction.” And then the doctor comes in and says, “1000 milligrams of calcium a day, an infinity number of protein grams a day. Also lose weight.” And then you do find yourself on that roller coaster or hamster wheel—choose your metaphor. Again, because we're so programmed to think “well, the only option I have is to try to control my weight, control my weight, control my weight.” And you get back in that space.What I usually try to do is phone a friend, have a plan to step myself out of that. Whether it's texting my best friend or texting Corinne, so they can be that voice of reason. And I would do this for them, too! You need help remembering: You don't want to pursue intentional weight loss. You're doing all this work on self-acceptance. Dieting is not going to be helpful. So what can you take from this advice that does feel doable and useful? And maybe it's not 1000 milligrams of calcium a day, but maybe it's like, a little more yogurt in your week. Is there a way you can translate this to your life that feels manageable? I think it's what you do a great job of. But I think in general, doctors don't do a great job with that part.MaraYeah, I bet you Ellen's doctor had 15 minutes with her. And was like, “Well, eat all this calcium and definitely try to lose weight,” right? And then was rushing out the door because she has 30 other patients to see that day.I think doctors are trying to offer what maybe they think patients want to hear, which is certainty and one correct answer. And it can feel hard to find the space to sort of sit in the uncertainty of medicine and health and the uncertainty of like our bodies. And corporate medicine is not conducive to that, let's put it that way.VirginiaBut so how much protein do we need to be eating?MaraI have no idea. Virginia, I don't think anybody knows. I think exercise is good for you. It's not good for every single body at every single moment in time. If you just broke your foot, running is not a healthy activity, right? If you're recovering from a disordered relationship with exercise, it's not healthy.But, movement in general prolongs our health span. And I'm reluctant to even say this, but, the Mediterranean diet—I hate even calling it a diet, right? But vegetables, protein—I don't even want to call them healthy fats, it's just so ambiguous what that means. But olive oil. All those things seem to be good for you. With the caveat that it's really hard to study the effects of diet. And this is general diet, not meaning a restrictive diet, but your diet over time. But I don't think we know how much, how much protein one needs to eat. It is unknowable.VirginiaAnd that's why, I think what we've been saying about figure out how to translate this into something that feels doable in your life. It's not like, Oh, olive oil forever. Never butter again. MaraOf course not. I love butter. Oh, my God. Extra butter!VirginiaRight. Butter is core to the Burnt Toast philosophy. I know you wouldn't be coming here with an anti-butter agenda.MaraOh, of course not. Kerry Gold forever.VirginiaBut it's, how can you take this and think about what makes sense in your life and would add value and not feel restrictive? And that's hard to do that when you're feeling vulnerable and worried and menopause feels like this big, scary unknown. But you still have the right to do that, because it's still your body.MaraBeautifully said.ButterVirginiaWell, this has all been incredibly helpful. Let's chat about things that are bringing us joy. Dr Mara, do you have some Butter for us? MaraI had to think about this a lot. The Butter question is obviously the most important question of the whole conversation.We have been in a heat wave in Philly, where I live, and it's really, really hot, and we have a public pool that is four blocks from our house. Philly actually has tons of public pools. Don't quote me on this, but I've heard through the grapevine—I have not fact-checked this—that it is one of the highest per capita free public pools in the country. I don't know where I heard that from. I know I should probably look that up, but anyway, we've got a lot of pools in Philly. And there's one four blocks from my house.So I used to think of pool time as a full day, like a Saturday activity. Like you bring snacks, you bring a book, you lounge for hours. But our city pool is very bare bones. There's no shade. And so, I have come to approach it as an after work palate cleanser. We rush there after I get my kid from daycare, and just pop in, pop out. It's so nice. And pools are so democratic. Everybody is there cooling off. There's no body shame. I mean, I feel like it's actually been quite freeing for my experience of a body shame in a bathing suit, because there's no opportunity to even contemplate it. Like you have to hustle in there to get there before it closes. There's no place to put your stuff. So you can't do all those body shielding techniques. You have to leave your stuff outside of the pool. So you have to go in in a bathing suit. And it's just like, all shapes and sizes there. I love it. So public pools are my Butter.VirginiaWe don't have a good public pool in my area, and I wish we did. I'm so jealous. That's magical. Since we're talking about being in midlife, I'm going to recommend the memoir, Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success by Jeff Hiller, which I just listened to on audiobook. Definitely listen to it on audiobook. Obviously, Jeff Hiller is a man and not in menopause, but he is in his late 40s, possibly turned 50. He's an actress of a certain age, as he says. If you watched “Somebody Somewhere” with Bridget Everett, he plays her best friend Joel. And the show was wonderful. Everyone needs to watch that.But Jeff Hiller is someone who had his big breakout role on an HBO show at the age of, like, 47 or something. And so it's his memoir of growing up as a closeted gay kid in Texas, in the church, and then moving to New York and pursuing acting and all that. It's hilarious. It's really moving. It made me teary several times. He is a beautiful writer, and it just makes you realize the potential of this life stage. And one of his frequent refrains in the book, and it's a quote from Bridget Everett, is Dreams Don't have Deadlines, and realizing what potential there is in the second half of our lives, or however you want to define it. Oh my gosh, I loved it so much. There's also a great, great interview with Jeff on Sam Sanders podcast that I'll link to as well. That's just like a great entry point, and it will definitely make you want to go listen to the whole book.MaraI love it.I will briefly say one thing I've been thinking about during this whole conversation is a piece by the amazing Anne Helen Petersen who writes Culture Study, which is one of my favorites of course, in addition to Burnt Toast. She wrote a piece about going through the portal. That was what she calls it. And she writes about how she's talking with her mom, I think, who says, “Oh, you're starting to portal!” to Anne. And I just love it.What she's getting at is this sort of surge of creativity and self confidence and self actualization that happens in midlife for women in particular. And I just love that image. Whenever I think of doing something that would have scared me a few years ago, or acting confident, appropriately confident in situations. I'm like, I'm going into the portal. I just, I love it, it's so powerful, and I think about it all the time.VirginiaWell, thank you so much for doing this. This was really wonderful. Tell folks where they can find you and how we can support your work.MaraThank you so much, Virginia. I'm such a fan of your work. It has been so meaningful, meaningful to me, both personally and professionally. So it's such an honor to be here again. You can find me on Substack. I write Your Doctor Friend by Mara Gordon . And I'm on Instagram at Mara Gordon MD, too. And you can find a lot of my writing on NPR as well. And I'm writing a book called, tentatively, How to Take Up Space, and it's about body shame and health care and the pursuit of health and wellness. So lots of issues like we touched on today, and hopefully that will be coming into the world in a couple of years. But yeah, thanks so much for having me, Virginia.The Burnt Toast Podcast is produced and hosted by Virginia Sole-Smith (follow me on Instagram) and Corinne Fay, who runs @SellTradePlus, and Big Undies.The Burnt Toast logo is by Deanna Lowe.Our theme music is by Farideh.Tommy Harron is our audio engineer.Thanks for listening and for supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, scholars Immanuel Kim and Benoit Berthelier discuss their new book, “Hidden Heroes: An Anthology of North Korean Fiction,” which brings together 10 DPRK short stories from the last 30 years that focus on ordinary citizens who quietly contribute to society. Kim and Berthelier discuss their motivations for curating this anthology, their translation choices and the challenges of navigating the fine line between state-sanctioned propaganda and genuine storytelling. They also reflect on the ethical implications of translating and publishing North Korean literature for a global audience. Dr. Immanuel Kim is the Korea Foundation and Kim-Renaud Associate Professor of Korean Literature and Culture Studies at George Washington University. His research specializes in North Korean literature and cinema, including comedy films, some of which he previously discussed on episode 190 of the podcast. Dr. Benoit Berthelier is senior lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Sydney. His research interests include North Korean literature, culture and society, as well as digital humanities and discourse analysis. ​ About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists. NK News subscribers can listen to this and other exclusive episodes from their preferred podcast player by accessing the private podcast feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide at nknews.org/private-feed.

What are we going to do with our kids all summer? Gone are the days when kids can just play outdoors unsupervised from sunup to sundown. Now certain summer camps are sold out within a matter of minutes on January 1st. So how can we keep our kids affordably occupied all summer long? Here are some helpful tips and resources where you can find reasonably priced camps and activities for your kids this summer. Amy and Margaret discuss: How they spent their own summers as kids The most effective way to apply for scholarships and financial aid for summer programs Which local community organizations often provide summer activities for kids Sign up for the What Fresh Hell newsletter! Once a month you'll get our favorite recent episodes, plus links to other things to read and watch and listen to, and upcoming special events: bit.ly/whatfreshnewsletter Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: Nicole Fabian-Weber for Care.com: Summer camp cost: Breaking down the price of day, sleep-away and specialty camps Sarah D. Wire for USA TODAY: Latest Trump cuts put summer reading, mobile libraries and local museums in jeopardy Here is where you can view how much federal grant money is going to programs in your area Jeff Williams for U.S. News: 8 Alternatives to Sending Your Child to a Pricey Summer Camp Our Fresh Take with Jessica Calarco Anne Helen Petersen for the Culture Study blog: The Past and Potential Future of the Summer Care Scramble Nancy Chen for CBS News: Inflation has caused summer camp costs to soar. Here are tips for parents on how to save Joel Anderson for Slate: What Happened to Kids' Summers? Jamie Aderski on TikTok: Send Your Kids to Camp or Quit Your Job? We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: ⁠https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/⁠ mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid's behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, emotional labor, cognitive labor, summer camps, summer camps for kids, camps for kids, kids camps, kids summer activities, summer activities for kids, affordable summer camps for kids Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here at Culture Study we're launching a new series on culture of place — it could be a state, a region, a city, so long as it has place-ness. The first in the series features Josh Gondelman, one of the place-iest comedians I know, and exactly what we're looking for when it comes to co-hosts in this series: people who love a place dearly, who are deeply intimate with its peccadilloes, but who can also generate some analytical distance from that place as we talk about insider/outsider dynamics, how race and class intersect with a place's understanding of itself, accents, tells, code-switching, cliches, and so much more. For this episode, listeners gave us so many excellent questions — from three-way beef and the allure of Dunkin, to how a city does or does not jettison a racist reputation. And because our co-host is Josh, it's also very funny. I can't wait to argue (with grace) about Boston in the comments with all of you. Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.comThank you to the sponsors of today's episode!Get 15% off OneSkin with the code CULTURE at https://www.oneskin.co/Ancient Nutrition is offering 25% off your first order when you go to AncientNutrition.com/CULTURE To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

Readers, if you are feeling burned out right now, you are not alone. In our team meeting last week, we talked about the fact that things are hard right now. That's why this feels like a great time to revisit a favorite past episode from another time not so long ago when we were also feeling burned out. Today we're sharing Anne's May 2021 conversation with journalist Anne Helen Petersen, which originally aired back then as Episode 284. Anne Helen writes the weekly email newsletter Culture Study and she knows a lot about burnout because she literally wrote a book about it: Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation. In today's episode, Anne Helen shares her personal experience with reading during a grueling season, advice and hope for readers who feel stuck in burnout, and a handful of backlist favorites from her own bookshelves. No matter how your reading life has evolved over the last few years, or even if it hasn't, we think you'll find comfort and insight in today's episode. Find the full list of titles mentioned today at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/474. We've been working hard behind the scenes to prepare your 2025 Summer Reading Guide! This year will be our 14th annual Summer Reading Guide, and we kick off the celebration with our live unboxing before continuing with all sorts of bonus reading adventures in Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club and in our Patreon community. Order your Summer Reading Guide at modernmrsdarcy.com/srg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew and Christian Walker write, "The logic of bodily sex differences helps explain the moral logic of biblical sexual ethics overall. The mandate for sexual relations in Scripture is tied to the design of the body... The end for which the body is organized--namely, reproduction--tells us what sexual actions are proper to the body and which actions are immoral." If you were to take a poll on the most controversial and delicate biblical views, homosexuality would probably be near the top if not at the very top. Because of this, if we are going to stand in our Christian convictions, then we must know what the Bible teaches and why it teaches it. For those who object to the Christian view, it is equally important for them to understand the what and the why in order to offer an accurate and fair critique. Today's show will take a look at homosexuality as we walk through chapter 5 of Andrew and Christian Walker's new book, "What Do I Say When...?: A Parents' Guide to Navigating Cultural Chaos for Children & Teens." I've done a few shows on this topic (see below), so I aim to keep the teaching short and get to your calls and questions as soon as possible. Join me for an important conversation! Content Discussed 0:00 Intro 6:14 Think Well Merch Store! 8:58 A look at future shows 10:33 The cultural narrative based on the Sexual Revolution 18:19 A more compelling Christian narrative 27:55 1st Biblical Principle - Everywhere homosexuality is mentioned in the Bible, it is mentioned critically 29:45 2nd Biblical Principle - The Bible prohibits all forms of homosexuality 34:19 3rd Biblical Principle - The Bible's prohibition against homosexuality is grounded in a creation mandate 38:58 4th Biblical Principle - Jesus affirms the immorality of homosexuality 42:15 5th Biblical Principle - Any identity at odds with Scripture is never fulfilling 49:13 A more authentic community 51:52 LIVE QUESTION: Am I presenting a false choice between biblical marriage and gay marriage? 53:41 LIVE QUESTION: Does the Bible ever look at slavery as an immoral institution? 56:40 LIVE QUESTION: Do you think all sinful acts should be illegal? 58:39 LIVE QUESTION: Has the Bible ever settled any argument? Christians are always disagreeing 1:02:00 CALLER: How do we make sense of Jesus's confusing parables and answers to questions? 1:06:37 CALLER: How do we explain gay penguins? Doesn't nature show that homosexuality is normal? Should gay marriage be legal? 1:39:56 CALLER: Questions on Christopher Yuan and biblical sexuality being oriented toward procreation.

About Erica: Erica Joy Johnson (she/her) is a mother, partner, daughter, sister, minister, and scholar-artist. A doctoral candidate in the area of Religion, Psychology and Culture, with minors in Ethics and Rhetoric, Communication and Sacred Utterance, her work focuses on disclosure ethics, care practices, and black wordcraft. Prior to graduate school, Erica served as a victim advocate and grants coordinator for a domestic violence program. She holds a Master of Divinity with a concentration in Black Religion and Culture Studies, earning certificates in the Kelly Miller Smith Institute for Black Church Studies and the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender and Sexuality. She has a Bachelor of Science in Child Development, African American and Diaspora Studies and Public Health.

In this insightful episode of Fishing Without Bait, host Jim Ellermeyer welcomes Christopher Maverick, a professor of digital narrative interactive design at the University of Pittsburgh, for a conversation blending academia, pop culture, and mindfulness. Together, they explore the intersection of humanities and technology, with Maverick sharing his journey from software design to teaching subjects like comics, graphic novels, and cultural studies. Key topics include the relevance of modern cultural studies in understanding traditional English literature, the value of making connections between pop culture and classical texts, and Maverick's unique path to academia. The discussion also touches on the power of great teaching to inspire, the role of performance in education, and the importance of creating impactful and relatable messages for younger generations. This episode is a must-listen for those interested in cultural studies, education, or finding purpose through unconventional paths. Tune in for a deep dive into how storytelling, technology, and creativity can reshape our understanding of literature and life. Visit FishingWithoutBait.com for more episodes.Find out more about Chris Maverick and listen to the VoxPopCast at www.chrismaverick.comAre you finding benefit from this show?  We appreciate any support with our Patreon page!  Pledge as little as $1 a month for extra clips, behind the scenes and more at www.patreon.com/fishingwithoutbait !

In this insightful episode of Fishing Without Bait, host Jim Ellermeyer welcomes Christopher Maverick, a professor of digital narrative interactive design at the University of Pittsburgh, for a conversation blending academia, pop culture, and mindfulness. Together, they explore the intersection of humanities and technology, with Maverick sharing his journey from software design to teaching subjects like comics, graphic novels, and cultural studies. Key topics include the relevance of modern cultural studies in understanding traditional English literature, the value of making connections between pop culture and classical texts, and Maverick's unique path to academia. The discussion also touches on the power of great teaching to inspire, the role of performance in education, and the importance of creating impactful and relatable messages for younger generations. This episode is a must-listen for those interested in cultural studies, education, or finding purpose through unconventional paths. Tune in for a deep dive into how storytelling, technology, and creativity can reshape our understanding of literature and life. Visit FishingWithoutBait.com for more episodes.Find out more about Chris Maverick and listen to the VoxPopCast at www.chrismaverick.comAre you finding benefit from this show?  We appreciate any support with our Patreon page!  Pledge as little as $1 a month for extra clips, behind the scenes and more at www.patreon.com/fishingwithoutbait !

Today we're sexy, confident, intelligent, heaven-sent – and taking on Katy Perry's disastrous new album, 143. Featuring the lead single ‘Woman's World', this album has gone viral for all the wrong reasons: a muddled feminist message, a slew of publicity gaffes and even a government investigation. What makes the album so disappointing? And why do people care so much about a Katy Perry flop? Lilah is joined by two excellent guests who bring expertise in celebrity culture and music: Anne Helen Petersen hosts the Culture Study podcast, and Ludovic Hunter-Tilney is our pop critic of almost 25 years.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap, and email at lilahrap@ft.com. And we're grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify!-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Ludo's one-star review of 143 by Katy Perry is here: https://on.ft.com/4gTRSga. Here's the “Woman's World” music video, so you can decide what it means for yourself! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVIJUH29pjU – Anne Helen Petersen hosts the Culture Study podcast. Listen to her conversation with Lilah about cooking in the age of infinite recipes here, or by searching “Culture Study” wherever you listen– Anne is on Instagram @annehelenpetersen. Her newsletter is here: https://annehelen.substack.com/ – Ludo is on X @ludohunter-------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart-------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. Clips this week courtesy of Capitol. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're taking a short break so we wanted to share this Best Of In the Demo podcast episode with you.This episode first aired on May 16, 2024.Millennials are reframing their generational identity as they enter homeownership and parenthood, but broken systems remain. Nostalgia for a pre-internet era offers an escape, and reflects a yearning for IRL experiences and human connection in an automated and mediated world.Anne Helen Petersen, author and cultural critic, joins host Farrah Bostic to discuss the evolving narratives surrounding millennials and Gen Z. They explore how the optimism of the 90s and early 2000s has given way to disillusionment, the impact of political polarization on younger generations, and the collective burnout experienced by a society that glorifies productivity over rest.ResourcesThe Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt"How the Stanley Cup Went Viral" by Kyle Chayka in The New Yorker"It's Just a Water Bottle" by Amanda Mull in The AtlanticVox's "Today, Explained" episode, "The kids are all home"Our GuestA former senior culture writer for BuzzFeed, Anne Helen Petersen now writes her newsletter, Culture Study, as a full-time venture on Substack. Petersen received her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin, where she focused on the history of celebrity gossip. Her previous books, Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud and Scandals of Classic Hollywood, were featured in NPR, Elle, and the Atlantic. She lives in Missoula, Montana.Your HostsFarrah Bostic is the founder and Head of Research & Strategy at The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy. With over 20 years of experience turning audience insights into effective strategies for B2B and B2C companies, Farrah helps business leaders make big decisions.Adam Pierno is an author, strategist, and managing director of brand strategy at Arizona State University, and founder of Specific Branding and Research, where he helps brands understand customer habits and create effective growth strategies.Stay ConnectedWebsiteLinkedInNewsletter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I started a Substack! It covers all the podcast culture beats you love, but also standalone topics that are best explored through writing. I'll also provide recommendations, interesting links, and the usual hot goss. It's called 'we need to unpack this,' and you can subscribe to it for free here.The first two pieces are all about Blake Lively, both in what she's really trying to sell us, (no, it's not just the promise of good hair or sparkling craft beverages), and breaking down what the backlash from the press tour from ‘It Ends With Us' tells us about ourselves. I've been thinking about her and Ryan Reynolds for an embarrassingly long time - both in how they've positioned themselves, together, as industry power houses, and how they seem to evade a lot of the backlash from overexposure and earnestness we don't tolerate as much from other celebrities.If you enjoy the podcast, you will most definitely love the Substack. And if you want to get into the social media of it all, follow along on Instagram @haveyouheardpodcast. Thanks for listening, your support and feedback make doing the show so much fun, and I really appreciate it. If you have a culture beat topic you'd like the show or Substack to explore, shoot me a DM on Instagram. Enjoy the Substack! 

On this episode, my guest is Sean P. Smith, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Culture Studies at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Much of his research has focused on the relationship between social media and tourism, and how colonial histories shape today's ideologies and visual cultures of travel. The inequalities that result from many forms of tourism development, he argues, are intimately linked with how tourists create content for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, and the ways tourists frame themselves in landscapes and alongside local residents often replay colonial hierarchies.Show Notes: Why Study Instagram?The Pre-tour Narrative (Edward Bruner, Raul Salazar)The Habitus of Tourism (or How We Got Here)The Promontory Witness (or that photo)The Logic of InfluenceEmptying the Landscape (John Urry)The Techno-Generational DivideMedia EcologyOther Horizons in OmanHomework:Sean P. Smith - Tilburg UniversitySean P. Smith: Twitter / X | Instagram | Google Scholar (Articles)Transcript:Chris: [00:00:00] Welcome, Sean, to the pod. Thank you so much for being willing to join us to speak about your work. Sean: Thanks very much for having me. Chris: My pleasure. I'm curious, Sean where you're speaking from today and, and how the world is, how the world might be housing you there. Sean: Well, it's very rainy and dark. I'm in the Southern Netherlands, an area called North Brebant, where I just moved less than a month ago.So, in many places of moving around, if so, getting used to this one. Chris: Sean, I found out about your work from one of the pod's listeners who sent in a link to one of your academic articles entitled, Instagram Abroad, Performance, Consumption, and Colonial Narrative in Tourism. Now, I've been ruminating on the effect that social media has on tourism, spectacle, surveillance, and cultures of disposability for a long time now.So I'm really excited to speak with you today. And [00:01:00] likewise parts of the podcast are shared via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, so there's always this sense of kind of feeding the machine. unaware and perhaps more aware each time. And so first then, I'm curious why focus on Instagram in the context of critical tourism studies? What makes it different from say Facebook or Twitter?Sean: Yeah, that's a really good question Chris. I think with Instagram, in many contexts around the world, certainly not universally, but it's the social media platform that is most readily identified with not just tourism, but the way that people represent themselves engaging in tourism. It's very image driven.Of course, people do write captions, they do engage in other forms of storytelling, but nowadays it's mostly pictures and especially reels, arguably in the last few years. And for a long time, this [00:02:00] has been could almost say the dream work of tourism going back 200, maybe longer years. So even though today, I think you can find forms of tourism well represented TikTok to varying degrees on Facebook.Instagram, at least in many of the places where I've conducted research, is the place that one goes to both learn about places to travel and also to show how oneself travels.Chris: And I'm kind of imagining that we're more or less in the same age range, but I'm curious if on your travels, you mentioned just briefly that you had also spent time backpacking as a younger person and I'm curious if Instagram existed at the time and also if this dream work was evident to you in your travels.Sean: It was. I think I was relatively young when I got my first [00:03:00] smartphone, but certainly not as young as people nowadays. I must have been maybe 22 or 23. So I did have some years of traveling before I think Instagram really reshaped the way that tourism is done, not just for people that actually use this app, but regardless of whether or not anyone's ever downloaded it on their phone, I think Instagram has had a significant impact on the way that tourism is done. So when I first got a smartphone, I was in a period of my life where I was able to travel quite frequently and that was something that I was really pursuing at the time. And Instagram was a way that I was able to engage in a long running interest in photography, but also kind of a diary of where I had been, but certainly one that was legible and sort of visible to other people.And it was through that, you could say "performance" of travel that began to think a bit more critically about this app and other social media [00:04:00] platforms as well. And the way that it was reshaping tourism destinations. Chris: Mm. Mm. Yeah, you mention in your work this notion of the pre tour narrative.And I'm wondering if we could unpack that a little bit for our listeners and what part Instagram plays in this pre tour narrative. Sean: Yeah, I'm very happy to point that out, because I think this is, this is an important way to think about tourism, and that particular phrase I'm drawing on the work of Edward Bruner, who was an American anthropologist.And that's also been picked up in other realms to be identified as what other people have called tourism imaginaries, such as in the work of Raúl Salazar. So what this concept of the pre-tour narrative describes is that before people travel to a particular destination, they are exposed to [00:05:00] various forms of representation.And oftentimes this is very image based or narrative based. So we would see this maybe thinking back in the era before social media, images encountered in magazines and films, perhaps novels, other forms of storytelling, such as just talking with people who have been to places that one wants to travel.However, in social media, as it's become more integral to the way that people conduct their everyday lives, let alone traveling. It's become the dominant engine for the way that the pre tour narrative is formed. Many people who use Instagram as a space to learn about places to travel, they will encounter images of these of these places on this app or and not just sort of the way that it's portrayed, but what people do in these spaces, the people that live [00:06:00] in the places they're going to visit. So, this process of the formation of a pre tour narrative has really always been a part of tourism. But I think it perhaps it's if not accelerated, then certainly taken a bit of a different form with the advent of social media.Chris: So on some level, it's not just the question of what you're going to go see, but also how you're going to see it, how you're going to stand in front of that tower or restaurant and see, experience, what's there. Sean: Yeah, that's a really good way to put it. Chris: And I know it's a little early in the interview, but I'd like to jump into the heart of the matter and your critiques, if we can. You know, you wrote this incredible article Landscapes for Likes, capitalizing on travel with Instagram. And, in that article, you wrote that, deep breath, "Instagram's networked architecture and affordances produce three [00:07:00] outcomes that circulate and magnify utterances about travel to a degree impossible in pre-networked media.One, a mediated travel habitus hegemonically informs prevailing aesthetic norms. Two, the scalability of embodied performances entrench the motif's narrative underpinnings. And three, the monetizable market of Instagram encourages neoliberal notions of the branded self." Now that's a beautiful mouthful. And so I'm wondering, if you might be willing and able to flesh out these three outcomes for our listeners. Sean: No, that's brilliant. And it's nice to talk about these things, perhaps when they're written that can be quite a bit denser.So maybe we can start with the first idea, this mediated travel habitus. And with the word habitus, I'm trying on the work of [00:08:00] the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, who theorizes he's talking about class and culture and ways that people display their belonging within a particular class.And the reason that I'm looking to Bordeaux here is tourism and travel, really, it's important to look at this as a practice that has been connected to what Bordeaux might call the pursuit of distinction, to the search for an acquisition of cultural goods. You know, we might think of cultural goods as being a painting or a taste and a particular kind of music, clothes, certain way of speaking even. And when one amasses certain, certain cultural goods, and they're recognized as being part of the upper classes, being marks of somebody who is [00:09:00] sophisticated, somebody who is typically from a fairly privileged financial background, these cultural goods are desirable.So, this background I think is important because tourism from its modern beginnings in the 18th century has been obtaining these experiences and often physical artifacts that can be a way of claiming a certain social status. So, maybe you've discussed this in other podcasts already, but, when the Grand Tour began in the 1600s, but really took off in the 1700s there was this process in which the aristocratic men, young men, were sent on a tour around Europe, and they would go to capitals like Paris, later Vienna, and then especially places like Rome, and, where they could encounter the remnants of the Roman Empire and classical learning. [00:10:00] And this was meant to do a few things in the first sense. It was meant to introduce them other parts of the world, to certain historical understandings. They could refine their Latin. They could get better at French and then they could go home and be recognized as a sophisticated member of the aristocracy. And this practice really became quite popular up until about the turn of the 19th century, when it stopped briefly because of wars on the European continent, and then after the Napoleonic Wars ended, it basically exploded. So when we think about over tourism now in 2023, this was, you know, 1815, 1820s, and this was a period where all of a sudden there were more tourists than ever before.And what that meant is this practice, which had only been done [00:11:00] by the wealthiest classes, was now something that the middle classes could engage in and that produced a kind of anxiety, where how was one able to become a distinguished or sophisticated traveller. How was one able to obtain the cultural goods provided by travel if everyone was doing it?So, the habitus of tourism, the kind of implicitly learned practices and sensibilities that developed during the Grand Tour experienced this period of challenge where people had to look for a way to find distinction by other means. And I think this beginning led to this friction where now you see people who are trying to go places that no other tourists go, trying to take pictures that no other tourists have taken, trying to be the only person in a picture of a [00:12:00] famous place. So this way of understanding how to be a tourist has become enshrined in the kinds of images that we see in a space like, like Instagram to the extent where I think these images are circulating the ideologies of tourism. The scalability refers to, in social media studies, the way in which a single image can achieve a degree of circulation that is not really possible in pre-networked media. So, by networked media, we can think of platforms like Instagram. We can think of Twitter, anything where the possibility of likes and retweets or reposts achieves a degree of visibility what we might call going viral.So what I was writing about in that article was this particular composition called the "promontory witness" where you have typically one [00:13:00] person who's standing on a promontory or we can say the edge of a cliff the top of a building, in front of a waterfall and they're looking really, really small as compared to the vast scale of nature.And people see these images and they understand through the mediation, the widespread circulation of these images, that this means something important about travel. This is what I mean by the mediated habitus of travel, that taking an image like this and being a person in a promontory witness image has a particular value. It is a way of claiming distinction, again, in Rodrigo's terms. And by taking a promontory witness image, one is able to circulate that image on Instagram in a very different way than before the social media platform existed. So, you know, we think about images circulated in tourism before Instagram.It would either be, say, in a family photo album. That people used to have projectors. [00:14:00] People used to maybe send holiday pictures to family and friends, basically whoever they could, you know, show it to, but this is a really, really small circulation, unless somebody was able to get an image in a magazine or some sort of formal publication. But what really shifts with scalable social media is that somebody can take an image and there really is the potential to go viral.I think in Instagram, the potential to have an image seen by a really significant number of people is less than on a platform like Tik Tok. But there remains the possibility if I post a promontory witness image and I put a geo tag in a place that is particularly trendy at this, at this moment and I put the right hashtags that thousands of people can witness this image and because of that possibility, I think there's a degree of enlistment, a degree of interest in [00:15:00] participating in this trend because taking a promontory witness picture is going to have much more possibility of going viral of leveraging these architectures, these scalable architectures.Much more so than if it just take, if I take another image that isn't so popular on a platform like Instagram. Chris: Thank you. Thank you, Sean. Yeah. So there's, there's a lot in there I'm going to come back to in just a little bit. But I wanted to just finish off this one last part because you kind of, you know, mentioned it a little bit.The monetizable market of Instagram that encourages neoliberal notions of the brand itself. And, you know, I pulled this, this other sentence from one of your articles where you write that "as a banal mediator of travel and tourism, Instagram can encourage tourists to imagine themselves as a capital generating brand." Sean: It's really a comment on the attention economy structure of social media platforms, [00:16:00] where I want people to see my pictures and I want to get likes.And I say that very much as being somebody who continues to study social media and tourism from a critical angle. When I post something I'm always aware of how it's going to be received. Some part of me, even when I'm very aware of the issues with thinking this way potentially is I always want it to gain more visibility.If I post something and it has less likes than something I posted previously, this will likely incur some degree of thinking, what did I do wrong? What could I have done differently? You know, maybe I'm just produced such interesting content. And what I think is really taking place there is that we're constantly thinking about ways to achieve visibility in a way that is not dissimilar to the kind of negotiation that celebrities and [00:17:00] other public figures have to go through when managing their, what we might in today's terms, call their brand, where because there is always this metric of how popular one is or how visible one is in the form of likes or in the form of reposts or retweets or what have you it's means that we develop a way of always orienting towards this possible public. We're always thinking about the people that are going to see whatever kind of thing we say online, and we, I think much of the time, are hoping that it's going to be received.If not, you know, people are going to like it, if it is going to maybe change the way that people think about something, if it's going to influence them in some way. And Instagram, of course, is like other social media platforms, is monetizable in the sense that when one gets a lot of followers, you know, if I continually create fantastic travel content and I get tens of thousands or more followers, then [00:18:00] that means that I am able to start making money from it. I'm going to be paid by different companies to come and stay at a resort or go on some sort of guided tour and take an image or make a reel of this experience and post it on Instagram, talk about how great it was, and then tag the company.And that's a way of them bringing in business. This is how advertising works. So, people become advertisers. But even before that influencer level, I think those of us who are not influencers, and I am certainly not, there's a degree to which we are participating in this logic because even if we don't have any designs of becoming influencers, we still want our posts to be liked and this ultimately influences not just posts we make, but the kind of traveling we do and the kind of relationship we have with the places to which we travel.Hmm. Chris: Well [00:19:00] contentious at the very least. But thank you for that, Sean, for being able to flesh that out for us. And I'd like to return back to this notion of the promontory witness, and you know, because even before Instagram I remember seeing in my backpacking years, these same photos, right?The photo of the person, of their back to the camera facing the open horizon, you know, whether it be a cliff face or a desert or whatever it is, and spreading their hands or arms and, just this kind of emanating freedom, I guess.But you also mentioned that this kind of perspective, if you want to call it that, manufactures emptiness because there's nobody else in the photo, and this is so much a part of the kind of sometimes they're Instagram reels, or sometimes they're photos of people, what it looks like when people are at tourist destinations, actually taking the [00:20:00] photo in front of the Eiffel Tower, or the Great Wall, or the Leaning Tower of Pisa, or whatever, and there's actually hundreds.And thousands of people taking the same photo or trying to, and everyone wants to have that photo without anyone else in it. And so, just a little preamble to the question again, in Landscapes for Likes, you write that "this manufacturing of emptiness privileges tourists as the sole consumers of a landscape, and with its residents hidden from view, a landscape is voided of its human and temporal context. Thus abstracted, place is relevant as little but a visual commodity." And then just another quote that I think brings a little something else to the picture is that "the promontory witness motif scrubs the landscape of the tourist destination of any sign of human habitation, but that of the tourist, singularly pictured in a position of mastery that confers [00:21:00] possession over the destination." And so there seems to be a kind of shared understanding in critical tourism studies that modern and especially social media based travel photography emphasizes empty spaces, of course, minus the Instagram user, the person photographing question. And so I'm curious, why is identifying the emptying of the landscape so important for our understanding?What does it do to us as photo viewers? Sean: Yeah, that's an excellent question and I think I'm very, I'm very interested in this composition, which the lone tourist and the landscape, which, mean, other people before me have pointed to, and at least John Urry.And I think there are two things happening here. For one, it's the kind of picture that's due to the mediation of what we can think of as a travel habitus, due to the way that [00:22:00] people have learned about how to do tourism and to represent themselves doing tourism and the most sophisticated way or in the way that is the most likely to gain them social distinction. They take these images because they've seen these images before and they're attractive images as well. Maybe they're attractive because we have, through seeing so many pictures like them, we've been taught or sort of subconsciously imbibed the aesthetics as being something that we value and are attracted to.One degree of what's of what's taking place. And to another extent, when it comes to this notion of possessing something of being the only person that that goes there, this kind of image of the tourist being the only person in a landscape or in front of some sort of cultural monument is , a way of [00:23:00] claiming a symbolic status, which links back to this ideology of getting off the beaten track. So, I imagine if you're experience backpacking and my own there's a real interest in getting off the beaten path, of going to places that aren't touristy, of being a traveler and not a tourist. And part of the way that the success in getting off the beaten track is signified is being the only person in a photograph.You know, we as backpackers or tourists don't want to be associated with other tourists. And there's very little better way to represent not being another tourist than being the only person in a particular image.Chris: Yeah, it [00:24:00] makes you wonder. And putting together the research for this episode, I came to this, this kind of possibility, question, consternation, And it arose in this way. And so the, the next question, which kind of relates to the last one is, do you think there might be, or is a connection here between the emptying of the photo of humans or locals and the emptying of places of humans and locals, and that is in the context of the gentrification of local people and culture in tourist destinations. Sean: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's a very good point. I think especially because gentrification is aesthetically produced through a kind of emptiness or a kind of minimalism. And this gentrified neighborhood is not something that is crowded. It is not some place that there are a lot of wayward signs, [00:25:00] wayward, quote unquote.It is a space which is typically designed according to what might be understood as a globalized regime of clean lines and interesting fonts and a lot of white space. So thinking about the way that that works and everything from upmarket coffee shops to designing neighborhoods that are meant to attract capital on upper middle class consumers and residents.I think that does link quite persuasively with this desire to be the only person within this landscape. I mean, what ultimately is taking place in both processes is that, no matter where somebody is going and taking a promontory witness picture, there are people who live there. There's people who've always lived there and been a part, in many ways, of the land that is being made into a landscape.And by not including [00:26:00] them, within these pictures or in processes of gentrification, actually through state-sanctioned programs or other forms of state-sanctioned investment, local residents are being pushed out to make way for different people, the tourist in this case. There is a process of erasure and, and often what can be conceived as really a very colonial process of taking over, taking over a space and privileging the owners of capital, who in this case, typically are tourists.And of course, it's a little bit different when you're taking a picture versus when you're taking a picture in a place that is not considered part of the Global North. But tourists typically have a lot more privilege and financial resources than local residents.And when they're not in these images, but the places in which they are are included, then at least when we're seeing pictures of it, how [00:27:00] do we imagine who, who controls the space? How do we imagine who has a right to this space? It would be the person in the photograph, the tourist, rather than the people who actually live, work, and, and shape these landscapes.Okay. Chris: Since Instagram tends to be the go to medium for these images and for images in general, as far as social media is concerned, do you think that Instagram then is a tool and driver of gentrification? Could we say that with a sense of coherence? Sean: I think it's as much a tool as, as many other tools and it is very easily leveraged to that end by actors who are seeking to mobilize processes of gentrification. And then I think this is pretty well documented for instance, in Yoo Jung oh's article Instagaze, Aesthetic Representation and Contested Transformation of Woljeong, South Korea.Well, she was [00:28:00] writing about Jeju Island in South Korea, and how once tourists started to take particular forms of images often of being one person in a beach, then different interests were able to move in and realize the value of this image and find ways to capitalize on all of the tourists that wanted to come and take that same image. So what that led to was the beach front where, this is largely a fishing community and other sort of small scale, more artisanal economies, was remade into cafes and restaurants and guest houses in a process that.I think it can be widely recognized in tourism development around the world. But what the author, Yu Jung Oh, is saying, is showing there, is that this was largely motivated by the ability to take this image, that [00:29:00] a tourist could go and purchase a coffee or something, and they would be able to take that image for their Instagram. So there's a really clear linkage there and I think that linkage can be made in many other places as well. But I think in that sense, Instagram and social media is, is can be leveraged for gentrification as, as many other tools can be and are being.Chris: Thank you, Sean. And so, know, for the rest of our time together, I'd like to kind of lean on you a little bit for your personal opinion. I know that sometimes working in and living in academic worlds that's kind of something to be left the doorstep before you walk in. But you know, you mentioned this notion of networked media and pre networked media and kind of social media falling into this wider term of networked media and since these mediums have only come to exist, in terms of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, [00:30:00] we're talking 15 years at the most, and then the extension or prototypes of those existing in the previous 10. So about 25 years, maybe. And I'm curious in this regard you know, I imagine that you're about my age, maybe a little bit younger so I'm curious if you have a lived memory of how things were before social media and perhaps even before the internet, what do you think we might be losing by virtue of not being able to remember the world without social media Sean: yeah, great question. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, very good question. Very, of course, fraught. So I guess for context, I was born in 1988. And. So I, got a cell phone at 16, and again, I got a smartphone and Instagram and WhatsApp. So I'm really in two minds about this. And in the first sense, I think it's important to be aware of [00:31:00] how with any new technology there's a great deal of anxiety and resistance and what might be called panic. And this isn't just social media or it's not just television, but we can go all the way back to radio, to novels.People were worried about that, to the written word back in the ancient Greek era. People were concerned that when we start writing things down, this is going to make it very difficult to remember things, and we're going to be less successful orators and our reasoning will be diluted because we start writing things down.So there's always this kind of fear of new technology, and part of me wants to recognize that this is just another one of those periods in which some sort of transformative technology comes along and many of [00:32:00] the generation who can remember what it was like beforehand is going to feel varying degrees of nostalgia for that period.That said, it's also difficult to not, at the same time, say that something really significant has, has, has happened, to not feel, I mean, honestly, I do certainly feel nostalgia for periods before social media. Some of the things which I think have been changed is the interest in finding ways to represent oneself, traveling. And this isn't to say that whenever one goes somewhere, one is always sort of seeing it as if from the viewfinder or, well, it wouldn't really be a viewfinder of a camera so much as, you know, one's phone screen.But that leads to. In being very interested in taking images that would be successful within the attention economies of a platform like Instagram, it can be difficult to [00:33:00] not see the world as if from the perspective of what would make a good picture for Instagram. There's a lot of different people who've come up with critiques of this process.I mean, if you think about it in terms of spectacle, you know, like Guy DuBord's idea that we're no longer, and he was writing in the 60s, you know, that we are seeing relationships, not between people, but between people and images. And so some sort of fundamental human connection is being lost because all we're doing is just relating to images and using images to relate to other people.I'm not so sure about universalizing that idea, but the ubiquity of social media and the Challenges to not somehow be on one of these platforms, in some even practical way does mean, I think, that there are significant influences in tourism as much as anything. Chris: Yeah, my my phone died the other day, abruptly. [00:34:00] And you know, I still have this computer that thankfully allows me to have this interview with you. And I can still access Facebook and Twitter, but for whatever reason, I can't access Instagram. And you know, it's been a few days and I'm really loving it.And then this morning I realized that I had planned to upload a post for the podcast. And then I was just like, okay, well, my best recourse of action is to just stay calm and wait, right? Yeah, and it's a big question, and I think it's something that, I wonder if young people, say people born, you know, 2000 or after would be able to answer with, with any, without having lived in a time without social media, for example. And so this kind of like brings us a little bit towards the towards theme of media ecology, which, you know, we talked about just very briefly before we started our interview here and I had taken Andrew McLuhan's Understanding Media [00:35:00] Intensive last year.He was also on the pod in the, in season three and just generally speaking for our listeners media ecology, within media ecology, the focus is on the medium and not just the message. It's a way of taking to task the context of our technology and not just the content.And so this manufacturing of emptiness of people and places as brands and I'm curious, isn't this to a large extent, also contingent on our tools, on the limits and architecture of the camera, for example? You know, do we stop with Instagram or do we look at all social media and later all tools? Because these media exist within each other, right?Instagram is a medium within the internet, I suppose, and then the internet is a medium within the phone. Maybe you could make that argument. It's not to say, if we didn't have these things, if we didn't have Instagram, if we didn't have [00:36:00] social media, would the promontory witness just disappear? I don't think it's as easy as that. But Would it be as intensely magnified in our time? Sean: So yes, I think the question of magnification is really what sits at the heart of social media because if we're looking at the medium of Instagram, then we have to think about photography and which was invented in the 1840s.And then if we think about photography, we have to think about painting the way that landscape has been represented in many different cultures, both in painting in the Western, Chinese and many other traditions, but then also in poetry and literature. So with all of these things, there's a precedent.And I think if you look at something like the Promontory Witness, this composition and this the visual formation of having one person immersed within a landscape or standing at some edge of a cliff, that's been around for [00:37:00] 200 years at least. You can see some in the later 1700s that look like this, but then the desire to be the only person in a particular place to have gotten off of the beaten track and be the distinguished traveler, that's also been around for, for a very long time. So that's why I think I'm hesitant to sort of pin the blame on Instagram.And I think my thinking around this has taken a bit of it, not exactly a turn, but it's changed a bit. So I think there's a real tendency to look at platforms like Instagram as only being spaces in which processes of gentrification can gain momentum, or only be spaces where one is almost disciplined into being a neoliberal subject who, is working sort of subconsciously thinking about how to brand oneself all the time, specifically in places of tourism, you know, that it's a way that people [00:38:00] only think about the pictures. They only want to go take a picture in these places. They don't actually want to have any experiences in this place or relationships with the people there. And I think that really exists. That is absolutely one dimension of what takes place with social media platforms. But as many people I've spoken to say, social media is a double edged sword. And where that's really been driven home to me has been where I've been conducting research for the past almost two years now. Sometimes they're in person, other times digitally, in Oman, a country in the Arabian peninsula where I was interested initially because it was becoming more popular as an international tourism destination. So, I went there after the pandemic expecting to meet all these people who were experiencing the problematics of international tourism as we know well, I think from your podcast among other, among other spaces.And there's some of that, absolutely. But what I also found was that, in the past few [00:39:00] years, people who are living in Oman, and this is both Omanis, people who have citizenship and then also residents, so there's about 40 percent of the country is made up of people who don't have citizenship in Oman, like many other Gulf countries.And in the past few years, I mean, we're talking five years, maximum ten years, there's been this surge of interest in nature, or we can say is the non human or even the more than human environment and what's can be understood as domestic nature tourism, I think, like many places around the world, domestic nature tourism in Oman became was very popularized during the pandemic when people could not travel abroad. But what this meant is that people saw these images on Instagram and Instagram is really most popular app in Oman, next to WhatsApp, and that introduced them to parts of the country that they'd never [00:40:00] interacted with before.And Oman is this incredibly various and fascinating environment where there's mountains that are, you know, over 3, 000 meters higher, what is that 10, 000 feet you know, all of this coastline and with coral reefs and these waddies or slot canyons. And people began to engage with the environments in a very different way to go on hiking trips, to go on canyoning trips and social media was this massive part of that. You know, this is where people learned about this possibility, this is where people met people to introduce them, to take them safely into these spaces. They'd never been on a hike before. You know, Instagram is where they're going to meet somebody to go out into nature with.And it's not to say that this doesn't have problems associated with it, and everything I suppose related with tourism does, but I think it also represents a case where Instagram, in this sense, was a way that people are actively connecting to nature, and in a place [00:41:00] where, you know, Instagram existed and was widely used before nature tourism was a thing.And I think this kind of flips the narrative a bit where in Western Europe, where I'm sitting right now, for instance, there's been this long time practice of nature tourism, you know, going back to, again, the 1900s. You know, people started climbing Alps in the 1850s and so forth. And then Instagram comes along and everybody's saying, oh, people just want to climb the mountain to take a picture. you know, they don't actually care about nature. Well, in Oman, people weren't really, not that many people were climbing mountains, before the ability to take a picture existed. So, there's a bit of a different trajectory in which people began to relate to a particular space and to the kinds of experiences that one can have engaging in nature tourism.So in that sense to go back to your to your question about what do we essentially do with this platform? [00:42:00] And how do we address the problematics? I don't think that I mean, I think that Instagram will not be the most popular platform forever, certainly, but social media, or this kind of connected media, barring some kind of unforeseen complication. I mean, looking at you, AI. But this sort of communication is here to stay probably. So, can we find ways in which this space is can be generative of community could be generative of care and ethical forms of travel? What might that look like? And what kind of imagery might be associated with it?Chris: I'm curious in that regard, Oman to me is someone who's never been and probably, you know extremely ignorant to any of the nation's culture or history. I imagine modernity to be something of a recent arrival in that place, relatively speaking, correct me if I'm wrong, of course. And I guess what I'm curious about in the context of your research and most [00:43:00] recent research is if you've seen the conflicts that might arise in terms of traditional hospitality? What it means to be in a place, as opposed to a landscape, what it means to be a host, as opposed to, I guess a landlord, in the Airbnb sense of the word and perhaps also what it means to be a traveler as opposed to a tourist within the context of these new economic dynamics in Oman and if Instagram has anything to do with that? Sean: No, that's, that's a wonderful question. It's one I really appreciate as I continue to work there and spend time with people who've been incredibly generous showing me around and introducing me to what their life is like as people who participate in tourism. I mean, the first thing I would say is the Oman, the Arabian peninsula and really Arabic speaking cultures generally is hospitality is one of the most fundamentally [00:44:00] important things in social relationships. In what it means to be a part of this culture, one is hospitable to guests, to friends, to family members. It's almost difficult to understate how integral this is. I mean, it is, in many cultures, hospitality is big, but it's very big in this space.And so I think it's a particularly well suited question to, you know, how is tourism and how is social media impacting this code of conduct and, you know this really wonderful practice that I think, you know, the rest of the world can stand to learn a lot from.So, to your question about sort of where my mind sits in this span of development. Oil was discovered in the 1960s and kind of transformative effect as it has everywhere. And in this time, there was a great degree of urbanization. People could get services rather than relying on culture, trading, which comes from a pre oil economy.[00:45:00] Now, you see, I think, a couple things. For one thing, cultures of hospitality, I think, were already being disturbed by the way that neoliberal capitalism tends to work, not just in Oman, but anywhere around the world. It encourages people to find ways to profit themselves and to think as individual agents rather than as being part of a community, having responsibilities to the humans, but also nonhumans to the land as well as to one's family.So that process is already in it's already taking place before tourism began to take root. And I think there are some spaces in which tourism is developing in such a way that it's very profit oriented. And where people are incentivized to privilege [00:46:00] their own gains over those of others.However, there are other ways I think in which people who, say we're living in the city, are meeting people who live in fairly remote areas, under the auspices of tourism. Because they're engaging in tourism, they're meeting people who are living in these spaces and often chatting with them or sharing a meal or sharing coffee or something like this.Sometimes these people who are living in places that are becoming tourism destinations are part of the industry and sometimes people are not, but as it stands now, it seems as very much a preservation of hospitality within this, this particular context. As with anything, I think the question of tourism is to what extent this will become commodified or not, like how do we make money off of this culture of hospitality?How do we turn it into a tourist product? You know, we can sell Oman as being it's hospitable, come meet the locals. But in the way that people continue [00:47:00] to practice it, both people who are living in Oman and being domestic tourists and also people who are seeing tourists come to where they live in ways that they haven't before. To me, it still seems like it's very robustly in place.Chris: Good to hear. And I very much look forward to the publication of your research. Hopefully it'll see the light of day soon, perhaps. Sean: I hope so. Yeah. Things are in process for sure. Chris: Okay. Well, I'd like to thank you, Sean, on behalf of our listeners for joining us today. And you know, this leads me of course, to the question of how might they be able to get in touch with you or follow your work. And if that includes an Instagram handle. Sean: Yeah, that's, that's fine. So I I recently started another Instagram account. I had my own account and stopped posting about 2019.And then I got interested in it again. I opened a new account, which is sort of more research facing. So yeah, if people wanna check that [00:48:00] out, it's @SPSMITHS, so S-P-S-M-I-T-H-S or email spSmith@tilburguniversity.edu. So always pleased to hear ideas and of course things that I've missed because of course I have so much to learn in this space.So I would really look forward to feedback and ideas. Hmm. Chris: Well, I'll make sure all of that's on the End of Tourism website and the podcast page when the interview launches and as well as the other authors, researchers and works that you mentioned earlier on. So once again, it's been amazing, Sean, thank you so much for being able to really flesh these complex ideas out for us and we'll see what happens, right?Sean: Absolutely. Thanks very much for the invitation. And as always, I'll look forward to continue listening. This is such an excellent project. Chris: Thank you, Sean.This episode and others like it are created and made possible by the generosity of Substack subcribers like yourself. Similarly, I have subsidized the work of the pod with my own time and money. This is a labour of love and lineage that requires the support of others. Please consider offering a gift in return, whether that include upgrading to paid subscription, making a one-time donation, sharing the podcast among your people or being willing to reach out and assist in production (as others have). Thank you. Bless. Peace. Get full access to ⌘ Chris Christou ⌘ at chrischristou.substack.com/subscribe

J.Lo is, as we say in the Culture Study universe, a rich text. There is so much history, so many layers of accumulated meaning, so many relationships, and so little in terms of actual revelations. She gives so much and yet offers so little! Chelsea Devantez is a celebrity memoir aficionado, a humor writer, and a newly-minted J.Lo scholar — and the absolute perfect co-host to unpack all of your J.Lo questions, like why does Mariah hate her, why can't she and Ben be happy, what the hell is going on with the new movie, and what does she actually want? Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

In this episode of the Vienna Coffee House Conversations, Ivan Vejvoda hosts Kim Lane Scheppele, the Lawrence S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Princeton University. With a particular focus on the example of Hungary under Orbán, they explore the rise of populism, identity politics, and nationalism, and point out the threats these pose to democracy - especially when leaders exploit the legal frameworks of democratic institutions to entrench and extend their power. How can populism corrupt a democratic state into an autocracy?They comment on the European Union's struggles to address democratic backslides in Hungary and Poland, emphasizing the complexity and slowness of the EU's response. Scheppele reflects on Hungary's shift from a pro-European democratic atmosphere in the 1990s to its current autocratic state. They also discuss strategies for opposition and civil society, the role of economic policies in populist strategies, the importance of media control, and the implications of urban-rural political divides. Finally, they touch on the potential challenges in upcoming elections in France and the United States, stressing the need for vigilance and robust democratic engagement.Kim Lane Scheppele is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Princeton University, focusing on the intersection of constitutional and international law, particularly in systems under stress. She has researched the development of constitutional law in Hungary and Russia post-1989 and the impact of anti-terrorism laws globally post-9/11. Scheppele has served as an expert advisor to the Hungarian Parliament's Constitutional Drafting Committee and co-directed the Gender and Culture Studies program at Central European University. She previously taught at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and has held visiting professorships at Humboldt University, Erasmus University, Yale, and Harvard. She directed Princeton's Program in Law and Public Affairs and has received the Kalven Prize from the Law and Society Association, with elections to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Comparative Law​.Find Kim on X @KimLaneLawSee her selected publications at princeton.edu  Ivan Vejvoda is Head of the Europe's Futures program at IWM implemented in partnership with ERSTE Foundation. The program is dedicated to the cultivation of knowledge and the generation of ideas addressing pivotal challenges confronting Europe and the European Union: nexus of borders and migration, deterioration in rule of law and democracy and European Union's enlargement prospects.The Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) is an institute of advanced studies in the humanities and social sciences. Founded as a place of encounter in 1982 by a young Polish philosopher, Krzysztof Michalski, and two German colleagues in neutral Austria, its initial mission was to create a meeting place for dissenting thinkers of Eastern Europe and prominent scholars from the West.Since then it has promoted intellectual exchange across disciplines, between academia and society, and among regions that now embrace the Global South and North. The IWM is an independent and non-partisan institution, and proudly so. All of our fellows, visiting and permanent, pursue their own research in an environment designed to enrich their work and to render it more accessible within and beyond academia.You can find IWM's website at:https://www.iwm.at/

Culture writer Anne Helen Petersen has spent years researching and writing about burnout —that feeling of chronic stress and exhaustion that plagues so many in our always-working culture. On this special replay edition of the show, Anne explains how burnout differs from regular stress, why millennials seem particularly susceptible to it, and how we can start to overcome it both individually and systemically.    Subscribe to Anne's substack Culture Study @ annehelen.substack.com Subscribe to Jonathan Small's substack @ jonsmalltalk.substack.com

Millennials are reframing their generational identity as they enter homeownership and parenthood, but broken systems remain. Nostalgia for a pre-internet era offers an escape, and reflects a yearning for IRL experiences and human connection in an automated and mediated world.Anne Helen Petersen, author and cultural critic, joins host Farrah Bostic to discuss the evolving narratives surrounding millennials and Gen Z. They explore how the optimism of the 90s and early 2000s has given way to disillusionment, the impact of political polarization on younger generations, and the collective burnout experienced by a society that glorifies productivity over rest.ResourcesThe Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt"How the Stanley Cup Went Viral" by Kyle Chayka in The New Yorker"It's Just a Water Bottle" by Amanda Mull in The AtlanticVox's "Today, Explained" episode, "The kids are all home"Our GuestA former senior culture writer for BuzzFeed, Anne Helen Petersen now writes her newsletter, Culture Study, as a full-time venture on Substack. Petersen received her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin, where she focused on the history of celebrity gossip. Her previous books, Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud and Scandals of Classic Hollywood, were featured in NPR, Elle, and the Atlantic. She lives in Missoula, Montana.Your HostsFarrah Bostic is the founder and Head of Research & Strategy at The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy. With over 20 years of experience turning audience insights into effective strategies for B2B and B2C companies, Farrah helps business leaders make big decisions.Adam Pierno is an author, strategist, and managing director of brand strategy at Arizona State University, and founder of Specific Branding and Research, where he helps brands understand customer habits and create effective growth strategies. Stay ConnectedWebsiteLinkedInNewsletterSign up for our newsletter to receive exclusive content, episode highlights, and behind-the-scenes insights delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this third installment of the ASU FOLC Fest Compendium - Sean and Jake turn to the conversations with Scotty Craig, Chelsea Schlesinger, and Karla Murphy on transformative approaches and innovative methods and experiences in integrating technology and student-centered strategies in education.Some Key Points Discussed: Technology in Learning: Scotty elaborates on the role of AI and other digital tools in reshaping educational environments, focusing on their practical use in classrooms to make learning more engaging and effective.Interactive Syllabus: Chelsea and Karla detail their method of turning syllabus review into an interactive, engaging process that empowers students and enhances their participation and interest in the course from the outset.Faculty Involvement: The discussion underscores the need for more faculty engagement in educational innovation and the importance of fostering a community that values teaching and learning advancements.Some Insights from the conversations:The integration of technology not only enhances learning but also demystifies its use for educators, facilitating a more inclusive educational environment.Adopting student-centered approaches in course design and delivery can significantly impact student engagement and learning outcomes.Encouraging faculty participation in educational forums can lead to more dynamic and inclusive educational practices.Our Guests: Scotty Craig - Associate Professor of human systems engineering within The Polytechnic School of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University.Chelsea Schlesinger - Instructor in the School of Humanities, Arts and Cultural StudiesKarla Murphy - Teaching Professor in the School of Humanities, Arts and Culture Studies 

Dr. Omkar Bhatkar is a distinguished Sociologist whose doctoral research delves into the intricate realms of Proxemics and Social Ecology. With over a decade of experience as a visiting professor, he has imparted knowledge in diverse subjects such as Film Theory, Culture Studies, and Gender Studies, including serving on the faculty of the London School of Economics International Programmes in Sociology. As the Co-Founder and Head of the vibrant St. Andrew's Centre for Philosophy and Performing Arts, Dr. Bhatkar passionately amalgamates the worlds of art and academia. He leads the renowned Metamorphosis Theatre Inc., renowned for its captivating explorations of Poetry in Motion, Existentialist Themes, and Contemporary French Plays in Translation. His directorial portfolio boasts over twenty plays, many of which have graced prestigious Art and Theatre Festivals worldwide. Collaborating with institutions like the Alliance Française de Bombay, Dr. Bhatkar has brought Contemporary French Plays to English-speaking audiences, earning acclaim and recognition, including selection at esteemed festivals such as the Asia Playwrights Theatre Festival and the International Women's Theatre Festival. Beyond the stage, Dr. Bhatkar ventures into the realm of cinema as a filmmaker, crafting independent feature films and poetic documentaries that captivate audiences with their depth and innovation. His works have garnered attention at festivals such as the White City Film Festival in Nebraska. A true aficionado of the sea, Dr. Bhatkar draws inspiration from the depths of poetry and finds solace in contemplation. His creative pursuits extend to literature, with two published poetry books and four plays translated into multiple languages, reflecting his global impact and resonance. Dr. Bhatkar's artistic prowess has been recognized by numerous festivals, with his plays and designed performances receiving official selections at renowned events like the Kala Ghoda Art Festival and the Kochi Biennale. His cinematic endeavors have also been celebrated on platforms such as the White City Film Festival. Beyond his artistic endeavors, Dr. Bhatkar is an avid conversationalist, finding joy in engaging discussions over a cup of black tea. Connect with him on social media to explore his rich tapestry of creativity and insight. Facebook http://www.facebook.com/omkarbhatkar Instagram @omkar_arte LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/dr-omkar-bhatkar-30555b1a7 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/soulvelocity/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/soulvelocity/support

We're on Spring Break this week so we're bringing you a podcast that we think you'll love from our friends at The Culture Study Podcast. Get ready for a deep conversation into the world of A Court of Thorns and Roses, and the 'romantasy' genre as a whole!

We're thrilled to be joined by Anne Helen Petersen for this episode about the popularity of athleisure! If you don't already know, Anne Helen Petersen (she/her) is the incredible writer, journalist and recovering academic behind the beloved newsletter Culture Study. She is the host of a brand new podcast of the same name and the author of four books, most recently Out of the Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working From Home (co-written with Charlie Warzel) and Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation. Together we begin with a history lesson from Hannah about WWII's effect on the fashion industry, particular women's clothing and the rise of spandex. Hannah offers some insight from cultural critic Jia Tolentino and her essay, "Athleisure, barre and kale: the tyranny of the ideal woman." We then move on to some helpful framing from theorist Michelle Foucault, sociologists Daniel Nehring and Anja Röcke, and feminist scholars Julie Brice and Holly Thorpe. We talk neoliberalism, fatphobia, and, of course, our culture's obsession with optimization. We end with an honest discussion about the role of pop culture analysis in helping us navigate the murky waters of ideology. We loved having Anne on the show and if you like this episode, we recommend heading to patreon.com/ohwitchplease for more! Anne joins us for two perks you DO NOT want to miss. And of course, you can find more of Anne's specific, timely and thoughtful writing all over the internet @annehelenpetersen!You can learn more about the show at ohwitchplease.ca and on our instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Want more from us? Check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back in two weeks for another episode, but until then, we mean it — go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! ***Material Girls is a show that aims to make sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is really interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment. Music Credits:“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've been in a bookstore lately, you've undoubtedly seen it: A Court of Thorns and Roses, better known as ACOTAR, ruling over the paperback bestsellers with all its sequel pals. These books are behemoths. They're massive. They've sold millions upon millions of copies. They're about faeries. And they're very, very hot. Culture writer (and lifelong fantasy reader) Kathryn VanArendonk joins me to talk all things ACOTAR, from “is the writing bad” and “is that actually an interesting question” to “is Feyre secretly a horrible painter” and “wtf is happening with book four.” The podcast conversation is neatly divided, so you can listen to the first half without spoilers or without any previous knowledge of the books, and the second half (behind the paywall) is more of an ACOTAR book club, where we work through specific questions about plotting, characterization, and Feyre's aforementioned painting skills. And if you want even more ACOTAR content, head over to the Culture Study newsletter for everything I've been thinking about that didn't make its way into this episode. Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

Every so often, I do a Culture Study (newsletter) interview that inspires a LOT of follow-up questions — and the podcast is the perfect forum to address them, particularly when the interviewee is as smart and hilarious and curious as Heather Radke. For today's episode, Heather and I tackle all your BUTTS questions, like: Why are butts so funny? Isn't it weird the fossil record can't tell us how big butts were? Wouldn't it be awesome if someone told you about hemorrhoids in a very matter-of-fact way at, like, age 16? Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

This week, comedian and Fake the Nation host Negin Farsad and Ted Talks Daily host Elise Hu join us to discuss a week's worth of litigious news. We learn about the guy who's suing Powerball for posting the incorrect numbers, the dating app users who say the platforms are too addictive, and the proposed “right to disconnect” law protecting workers in Australia. Plus, how many exclamation points are too many?!! In her substack newsletter ‘Culture Study,' Anne Helen Petersen recently unpacked why so many women have been told to use fewer exclamation points in the workplace, while others have been told to use more. At its heart, Anne says, it's all about “policing women's speech!”]]>

Bradley Cooper would very much like an Oscar. If you've been paying attention to Hollywood at any point over the last five years, you know this. It's evident in the films he makes, the way he talks about them, the cheesesteak food truck he opened for a weekend to keep himself in the press cycle. There's nothing wrong with wanting an Oscar — what actor doesn't want one?! — but what happens when that desire becomes the overarching theme of your entire image? The dominant way the public understands you? The great Sam Sanders joins the pod to talk about Cooper's star image, Hollywood masculinity, and the Tracy Flick of it all. [If you're familiar with Culture Study/my work/Sam's work, you'll recognize this type of star image analysis — if not, a reminder that we're talking about what Cooper means, not trying to *be* mean.] Today's full episode is free for everyone! If you like what you hear, please consider supporting the show with a paid subscription. (And if you're already a Culture Study newsletter subscriber, you get a screaming deal).Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. This week, we're looking for your questions for future episodes about: The romance novel boom; the Stanley cup obsession, your thoughts and feelings on student loans; online shopping culture (including but not limited to the significance of reviews).You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit culturestudypod.substack.com/subscribe

Maybe you've seen it happen, or maybe you've just heard it whispered: divorce is contagious. One person in a friend group gets divorced, and suddenly it seems like EVERYONE is. That's an exaggeration, of course, but we wanted to have divorce aficionado Lyz Lenz on the pod to answer all your questions about the way we pathologize divorce. If you like the show, would you share it with a friend who would too? Post it on Instagram. Follow or subscribe to the pod on your podcast app, and/or write us a quick review on iTunes. Also: we've made enough through subscriptions to pay Melody through April but without more… we can't keep making the show! So if you like the pod, if you want it to continue, consider subscribing today. (And if you're already a Culture Study newsletter subscriber, you get a screaming deal).Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. This week, we're looking for your questions for future episodes about: The romance novel boom; your thoughts and feelings on student loans; online shopping culture (including but not limited to the significance of reviews).You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here. To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

There is no bigger cultural story right now than the romance between NFL superstar Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. The reaction to their relationship has been so extreme that parody is almost indiscernible from reality. It's a potent mix of celebrity culture, sports, and extreme politics.  Audie brings together Cari Champion and Anne Helen Peterson, to dissect why all of this is happening. Why have Travis and Taylor generated a supernova of fans, haters, and overwhelming scrutiny?  Cari Champion is the host of the podcast Naked with Cari Champion and former anchor of ESPN's SportsCenter.  Anne Helen Peterson is the author of Culture Study on Substack, and the host of the Culture Study podcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There is no bigger cultural story right now than the romance between NFL superstar Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. The reaction to their relationship has been so extreme that parody is almost indiscernible from reality. It's a potent mix of celebrity culture, sports, and extreme politics.  Audie brings together Cari Champion and Anne Helen Petersen, to dissect why all of this is happening. Why have Travis and Taylor generated a supernova of fans, haters, and overwhelming scrutiny?  Cari Champion is the host of the podcast Naked with Cari Champion and former anchor of ESPN's SportsCenter.  Anne Helen Petersen is the author of Culture Study on Substack, and the host of the Culture Study podcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, there are coaches for everything. Business, fitness, careers, breastfeeding, parenting, ADHD, MLMs, divorce… even death. Is it b******t? Or is it offering a valuable service? And how can you tell the difference in a totally unregulated space? Jane Marie, host of The Dream, joins me to delve into the world of personal coaching. If you like the show, it is SO INCREDIBLY HELPFUL for our fledging pod if you can share it with others. Send it to your nerdy friend or coworker who'd love it. Post it on Instagram. Follow or subscribe to the pod on your podcast app, and/or write us a quick review on iTunes.Also: we've made enough through subscriptions to pay Melody through mid-March, but without more…..we can't keep making the show. So if you like the pod, if you want it to continue, consider subscribing today. (And if you're already a Culture Study newsletter subscriber, you get a screaming deal).Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. This week, we're looking for your questions for future episodes about: The romance novel boom; your thoughts and feelings on student loans; online shopping culture (including but not limited to the significance of reviews).You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here. To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

Philanthropy is so weird. Celebrities: also weird. When the two collide, you get something even more bizarre. Why should we believe what Ashton Kutcher has to say about human trafficking? How did Bill Gates change the very core of his image? What does The Gilded Age teach us about philanthropy and social position? And why does giving feel more and more like shopping? Amy Schiller joins the pod to work through the tangled knot of modern philanthropy. If you like the show, it is SO INCREDIBLY HELPFUL for our fledging pod if you can share it with others. Send it to your nerdy friend or coworker who'd love it. Post it on Instagram. Follow or subscribe to the pod on your podcast app, and/or write us a quick review on iTunes.Also: we've made enough through subscriptions to pay Melody through early March, but without more…..we can't keep making the show. So if you like the pod, if you want it to continue, consider subscribing today. (And if you're already a Culture Study newsletter subscriber, you get a screaming deal).Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. This week, we're looking for your questions for future episodes about: The romance novel boom; your thoughts and feelings on student loans; whatever Bradley Cooper's whole deal is.You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here. To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

At some point in the last year I looked around and realized… 2000s music was EVERYWHERE. Nelly Furtado. Timbaland. Eminem. 50 Cent. MGMT. In Bama Rush videos. At sports games. In the background of TikToks of teens plaintively yearning to be 2000s teens. In weird animation videos meant for seven-year-old boys. Why THIS music, and why RIGHT NOW? Musicologist Nate Sloan— co-host of one of my favorite podcasts, Switched on Pop— has all the answers, or at least most of them. If you like the show, it is SO INCREDIBLY HELPFUL for our fledging pod if you can share it with others. Send it to your nerdy friend or coworker who'd love it. Post it on Instagram. Follow or subscribe to the pod on your podcast app, and/or write us a quick review on iTunes.Also: we've made enough through subscriptions to pay Melody through early March, but without more…..we can't keep making the show. So if you like the pod, if you want it to continue, consider subscribing today. (And if you're already a Culture Study newsletter subscriber, you get a screaming deal).Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. This week, we're looking for your questions for future episodes about: Weird modern architecture and home design trends; your thoughts and feelings on sitting; whatever Bradley Cooper's whole deal is.You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit culturestudypod.substack.com/subscribe

This week I get my “cold plunge curious” partner Charlie Warzel to come on the pod and talk about how cold plunging suddenly feels like it's everywhere, the science (some interesting, some junk) behind it, whether it's been “bro-ified,” who's buying those $6000 cold plunge tubs… and how to actually start doing it, if that's your thing. If you like the show, it is SO INCREDIBLY HELPFUL for our fledging pod if you can share it with others. Send it to your nerdy friend or coworker who'd love it. Post it on Instagram. Follow or subscribe to the pod on your podcast app, and/or write us a quick review on iTunes.Also: we've made enough through subscriptions to pay Melody through early March, but without more…..we can't keep making the show. So if you like the pod, if you want it to continue, consider subscribing today. (And if you're already a Culture Study newsletter subscriber, you get a screaming deal).Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. This week, we're looking for your questions for future episodes about: Moms for Liberty; your thoughts and feelings on sitting; the cultural force that is ACOTAR; whatever Bradley Cooper's whole deal is.You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here. To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

This week I'm joined by Michelle Cyca to talk about the trailer for the Mean Girls reboot. You might think: wow, that's a very small thing to focus on, what could you possibly talk about for 45 minutes… but just you wait. WHY are they hiding that it's a musical? WHO do they think is the actual audience for this movie? What happens when millennial content is rebooted for Gen-Z audiences without context? And why is Tina Fey apparently uncancellable? We cover it all.If you like the show, it is SO INCREDIBLY HELPFUL for our fledging pod if you can share it with others. Send it to your nerdy friend or coworker who'd love it. Post it on Instagram. Follow or subscribe to the pod on your podcast app, and/or write us a quick review on iTunes.Also: we've made enough through subscriptions to pay Melody through early March, but without more…..we can't keep making the show. So if you like the pod, if you want it to continue, consider subscribing today. (And if you're already a Culture Study newsletter subscriber, you get a screaming deal).Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. This week, we're looking for your questions for future episodes about: Goodreads (what has made it so bad, a particular trend you've observed, should you go to Storygraph, you can take this anywhere you want); sitting (think expansively here); Moms for Liberty; the cultural force that is/was Contemporary Christian Music; whatever Bradley Cooper's whole deal is.You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here. To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

For the fifth episode of the Culture Study podcast I'm joined by Nicole Washington to talk about all things F1: what's behind the recent rise, is it in fact Real Housewives of Monaco, what's the current drama, and so much more. Because this is a conversation between someone with very little knowledge about F1 (me) and someone with an abundance of knowledge about F1 (Nicole) it's accessible to all levels of fandom. If you're utterly mystified by the newfound popularity, this episode's for you. If you have a text thread dedicated to F1 memes, this episode is also for you. If you like the show, it is SO INCREDIBLY HELPFUL for our fledging pod if you can share it with others. Send it to your nerdy friend or coworker who'd love it. Post it on Instagram. Follow or subscribe to the pod on your podcast app, and/or write us a quick review on iTunes. Also: we've made enough through subscriptions to pay Melody through early March, but without more…..we can't keep making the show. (We haven't found the right ad partner and ads won't sustain the show anyway!!) So if you like the pod, if you want it to continue, consider subscribing today. (And if you're already a Culture Study newsletter subscriber, you get a screaming deal). Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. This week, we're looking for your questions for future episodes about: Celebrity Philanthropies (weird ones, good ones, why do they exist, etc.); Moms for Liberty; Very Contemporary Architecture Trends (like ‘modern farmhouse'); Why Goodreads is the way it is (think expansively here); ONLINE PURCHASE REVIEW CULTURE (as in: what motivates people to leave reviews? With photos? What makes a good review, what makes a worthless one?); Whatever Bradley Cooper's whole deal is.You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here. To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

For the fourth episode of the Culture Study podcast I'm joined by Philip Maciak — who manages to be a professor, the television critic for The New Republic, and an avid consumer of children's television — to talk about Paw Patrol. We talk about copaganda, plot laziness, why 90% of the characters are boys, how Paw Patrol gets “in the water” at most kids' schools even if they don't actually watch the show, and take arguably too deep of a dive into the theme song. If you hate Paw Patrol, this episode is for you. If you're annoyed by its banality, this episode is for you. Even if you've never heard of it, it's a really fascinating exploration into why so much kids media turns out the way it does. If you like the episode, it is SO HELPFUL for our fledging pod if you can share it with others. Send it to your nerdy friend or parent who'd love it. Post it on social media. Follow or subscribe to the pod on your podcast app, and/or write us a quick review on iTunes.If you want to support the show financially, and get some cool perks, check out our Substack.Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here. This week, we're looking for your questions for future episodes about: Celebrity Philanthropies (weird ones, good ones, why do they exist, etc.); Moms for Liberty; Very Contemporary Architecture Trends (like ‘modern farmhouse'); Why Goodreads is the way it is (think expansively here); ONLINE PURCHASE REVIEW CULTURE (as in: what motivates people to leave reviews? With photos? What makes a good review, what makes a worthless one?); Whatever Bradley Cooper's whole deal is.You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit culturestudypod.substack.com/subscribe

For the maiden voyage of the Culture Study podcast, we're taking a hard look at a problem that plagues us all: terrible clothes. Why are shirts falling apart or pilling after just a few wears? Why does Gucci charge $3200 for a polyester sweater? What happened to ironing and will we ever dry clean en masse again?Amanda Mull, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins me for a deep dive into the past twenty years of fashion production (and consumption) trends.If you like the ep, it helps a fledging pod SO MUCH if you can help us get the word out. Share it with your friends, post it to social media, “follow” it in your podcast app, or write us a review on iTunes. You're the best and we literally could not make this pod without your help.If you want to support the show financially, and get some cool perks, check out our Substack.Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.Show notes:The tweet I describe in the beginning of the podcastRead Amanda Mull's piece in The Atlantic: “Your Sweaters Are Garbage”Read Sarah Zhang's piece in The Atlantic: “How I Got Bamboo-zled by Baby Clothes”Amanda mentioned: Sofi Thanhauser's Worn: A People's History of ClothingSome other Amanda pieces I love: Millennials Have Lost Their Grip on Fashion, The Free-Returns Party Is Over, How Shoppers Got Tricked By Vegan LeatherYou can see Amanda's Jeffrey Dahmer glasses in the bio of her Instagram (which is private, so don't friend request unless you actually know her)Paul Mescal's rat tail situation (perhaps more appropriately called a mullet)This week, we're looking for your questions for future episodes about:Resurgent interest in early 2000s music (with Switched on Pop's Nate Sloan)The Mean Girls TrailerA deep analysis of Taylor and Travis Kelce discourseKevin Bacon's Hott Instagram and Gen-X/Elder Millennial Instagram in general“Little treat” cultureYou can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here.

Everything is interesting. That idea has guided the tremendously popular Culture Study newsletter, and it's at the heart of the Culture Study Podcast, where host Anne Helen Petersen and the smartest people she knows answer listeners' questions about the nooks and crannies of contemporary culture, from “why are clothes like this now” to “what's the deal with F1?”Subscribe to the Culture Study Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Listeners can submit their own questions here, and find weekly discussion threads, extensive show notes, transcripts and a lot more on Substack.

Anne Helen Petersen is the voice behind the popular newsletter, Culture Study, and the podcast, Work Appropriate. This week she joins Vanessa to talk about our relationship to work, social media, and aging. --This show is completely funded by Patreon, and we are so grateful to our supporters who make it possible. If you can, please considering chipping in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In recent years, Greek life faced a crisis as the pandemic cast a shadow on recruitment, and the “abolish Greek life” movement grew across campuses. But then came #RushTok —  a flurry of TikToks documenting the sorority recruitment process among university campuses, especially in the South. One tag, in particular, soared to remarkable heights: #BamaRush. It chronicled the rush process at the University of Alabama and has garnered an astonishing 3 billion TikTok views (and counting).   This week we speak to writer, journalist, and former sorority sister Anne Helen Petersen, who  has been documenting the phenomenon. Why are the videos dominating our feeds? And what does RushTok's popularity say about its stars... and its biggest stans?  Anne Helen Petersen is a writer and journalist whose writing has appeared in BuzzFeed News, The New York Times, Vox, The Atlantic, and more. Her books include Out of the Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working From Home and Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation. She writes a Substack newsletter called Culture Study.   To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

In recent years, Greek life faced a crisis as the pandemic cast a shadow on recruitment, and the “abolish Greek life” movement grew across campuses. But then came #RushTok — a flurry of TikToks documenting the sorority recruitment process among university campuses, especially in the South. One tag, in particular, soared to remarkable heights: #BamaRush. It chronicled the rush process at the University of Alabama and has garnered an astonishing 3 billion TikTok views (and counting).   This week we speak to writer, journalist, and former sorority sister Anne Helen Petersen, who has been documenting the phenomenon. Why are the videos dominating our feeds? And what does RushTok's popularity say about its stars... and its biggest stans?  Anne Helen Petersen is a writer and journalist whose writing has appeared in BuzzFeed News, The New York Times, Vox, The Atlantic, and more. Her books include Out of the Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working From Home and Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation. She writes a Substack newsletter called Culture Study.    To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're starting off the weekend with two excellent panelists: Anne Helen Petersen, 'Work Appropriate' podcast host and writer of the newsletter “Culture Study,” and Nick Quah, Vulture's podcast critic. We discuss the late night hosts turned daytime podcasters, the gender reveal of cocktail glasses, and Meg Ryan's return to the romcom. Then, we talk about a brewing reckoning in reality television. Real Housewives of New York alum Bethenny Frankel called out Bravo this month for exploitation of its reality show cast members and a lawsuit may be in the works. Lawyer and pop culture writer Claudia Rosenbaum fills us in.]]>

This week, we're touring Washington, DC, to learn how the nation's capital is a Native capital—with returning guest Dr. Elizabeth Rule! She and Jonathan explore the city's significance for the 574 tribal nations in the US today and spotlight Indigenous art, architecture, and activism. Put on your walking shoes and join us for a journey that'll change how you see the city, and the United States.Elizabeth Rule, PhD (enrolled citizen, Chickasaw Nation) is an Assistant Professor of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies, and a Social Impact Resident Fellow with the Kennedy Center. Her book, Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation's Capital (Georgetown University Press, 2023), analyzes historical and contemporary sites of Indigenous importance in Washington, DC. Rule is also the founder of the Guide to Indigenous Lands Project and creator of the Guide to Indigenous DC (2019), Guide to Indigenous Baltimore (2021), and Guide to Indigenous Maryland (2022) digital maps and mobile applications. You can follow Dr. Rule on Twitter and TikTok at @ERuleDC, on Instagram @ERule.DC, and at ElizabethRule.com. And make sure to pre-order Indigenous DC, out in April from Georgetown University Press.Keep up with all things Guide To Indigenous DC on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook at @IndigenousDC. For the apps and Indigenous DC merch, head to GuidetoIndigenousLands.com.And check out Elizabeth's first appearance on the show here!Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN to join the conversation. Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Our executive producer is Erica Getto. Our editor is Andrew Carson. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Chris McClure, and Erin McKeon. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com.