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On today's show, Ben sits down with Dr. Iván Chaar López, Assistant Professor with the Department of American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss his research on the history and politics of computing and information infrastructures. Iván's recently published book, The Cybernetic Border: Drones, Technology, and Intrusion (Duke University Press), draws on his archival research to show how, as he writes, “the matter of ‘the border' is as much a technological question as it is a cultural one.” During our conversation, we reflect on how cybernetics—the study of circular processes or the “system of systems” in organisms, machines, and organizations—has played a significant role in shaping border and immigration enforcement. Iván discusses the development of technologies like drones, ground sensors, and surveillance networks that turn people into data and depict them as “intruders” in the landscape. This timely conversation grapples with the lineages of the border's violent history and also considers how art and activism challenge us to think about the ways these brutal systems might someday be undone. Works referenced in this episodeChaar Lopez, I. (2024). The Cybernetic Border: Drones, Technology, Intrusion. Duke University Press. Chaar Lopez, I. (2025). “Borders are a War by Other Means.” Public Books.De Andrade, O. (2025). “Anthropophagic Manifesto (1928),” Luszo-Brazilian Review, 62 (1).Irani, L. (2013). “The Cultural Work of Microwork.” New Media & Society, 17 (5).Mbembe, A. (2003). “Necropolitics.” Public Culture, 15 (1), 11-40.Nakamura, L. (2014). “Indigenous Circuits: Navajo Women and the Racialization of Early Electronic Manufacture.” American Quarterly, 66 (4), 919-941.St. John, R. (2012). Line in the Sand: A History of the Western U.S.-Mexico Border. Princeton University Press. Star, S. L. (1999). “The Sociology of the Invisible: The Primacy of Work in the Writings of Anselm Strauss.” In David Maines (ed.): Social Organization and Social Process: Essays in Honor of Anselm Strauss. Aldine de Gruyter, 265–283.University of Texas at Austin Border Tech LabAn accessible transcript of this episode can be found here (via Descript): https://share.descript.com/view/EQYznoqcyau
This episode engages with both the thought and practice of interconnectivity and collective consciousness in Indigenous theory. Niu/Knew/Neo Tā-Vā is framed as a talanoa/tzijonïk/storying conversation between Tāvāism, critical and global Indigenous theory. Mayan philosophy of time space is introduced and demonstrated to have overlaps with ideas of reality and life in Tā-Vā, which is explored along with critical thought. Some themes include: apocalyptic thought and response to change; cross cultural connections of shared social values; temporality beyond linearity; and calibrating actions. The role of sacrifice in sharing time-space is also considered in this emerging project, which is one of shifting the hoa (pairing) of Tā-Vā from dominant to global Indigenous philosophical traditions. References: Giovanni Batz. The Fourth Invasion. University of California Press, 2024. Floridalma Boj Lopez. Indigenous Archives. Duke University Press, 2026. Octavia E. Butler. Parable of the Sower. Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993. Octavia E. Butler. Parable of the Talents. New York: Warner Books, 1998. Lewis Gordon. A philosophical look at Black music. Quinnipiac University (26 Sep 2019). Epeli Hau‘ofa. We are the ocean: Selected works. University of Hawaii Press, 2008. Tēvita Kaʻili. “Ancestral Voices of the Sea: Hearing the Past to Lead the Future.” In Anne Perez Hattori and Jane Samson (Eds.), The Cambridge History of The Pacific Ocean Volume II: The Pacific Ocean Since 1800. Cambridge University Press, 2023. Miguel León-Portilla. Time and Reality in the Thought of the Maya. University of Oklahoma Press, 1990. Alexus McLeod. Philosophy of the ancient Maya: Lords of time. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017. Manulani Aluli Meyer. “Holographic epistemology: Native common sense.” China Media Research, 9(2), 2013. Victor Montejo. Mayalogue: An Interactionist Theory of Indigenous Cultures. State University of New York Press, 2021. Arcia Tecun, ‘Inoke Hafoka, Lavinia ‘Ulu ‘ave, and Moana ‘Ulu ‘ave-Hafoka. "Talanoa: Tongan epistemology and Indigenous research method." AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 14, no. 2 (2018): 156-163. Teresia Teaiwa. “On analogies: Rethinking the Pacific in a global context.” The Contemporary Pacific 18 (1), 2006: 71-87. Victor Turner. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Aldine Publishing, 1969. Sione Vaka. A Tongan approach of integrating mental health care. TedxNuku'alofa (2 Dec 2021).
What happens after a country's electricity infrastructure is destroyed by war? Following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Turkish conglomerate Karadeniz Holding had an innovative idea: if ships could be retrofitted as floating power plants, they could be quickly deployed to countries in crisis, then moved elsewhere again when needed. Gökçe Günel returns to the Land and Climate Podcast to discuss her latest book, which uses the history of ‘powerships' and their operations in Ghana to analyse the unexpected ways that geopolitics, business and conflict shape energy systems, and to question the concept of a linear energy transition. Gökçe Günel is Associate Professor in Anthropology at Rice University. Her 2019 book “Spaceship in the Desert: Energy, Climate Change and Urban Design in Abu Dhabi” explored Masdar City project - discussed in our previous episode here. Her new book, “Floating Power: Energy, Infrastructure, and South-South Relations,” published by Duke University Press, is available to purchase here. Further reading: ‘Energy accumulates: Ghana shows that the “energy transition” is more myth than fact', Land & Climate Review, 2026 ‘Cin Fikir: Infrastructure, War and Progress', Against Catastrophe, 2025 ‘Leapfrogging to Solar', South Atlantic Quarterly, 2021 ‘Energy Accumulation', e-flux Architecture, 2020, Spaceship in the Desert: Energy, Climate Change, and Urban Design in Abu Dhabi, 2019 Send us Fan MailClick here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.
The final episode of the Queer Forms and Pronouns series got a bit more personal than I expected. The incredible Teagan Bradway and I speak about misgendering ourselves, giving the gift of language to our loved ones and why not just the function but also the beauty of gender-nonconformity pronouns is politically and personally significant. We speak about my anxieties about it pronouns and how this plays out in different genres from speculative fiction to memoir. Teagan's insights into narrative agency and pronominal shifts are incredibly helpful in taking one last deep dive into the world of pronouns.This conversation is part of a miniseries that accompanies my book Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature (Oxford University Press, 2026). I hope you like hearing more from your host, but not to worry: we will be back to our usual format after this one. References:Bradway, Teagan. "Queer Narrative Theory and the Relationality of Form." PMLA 136.5 (2021): 711-727.Bradway, Teagan, and Elizabeth Freeman, eds. Queer Kinship: Race, Sex, Belonging, Form. Duke University Press, 2022.Bradway, Teagan. "Introduction: Queer Metarelationality." differences 35.3 (2024): 1-13.Bradway, Teagan. "Queer Formalism." The Palgrave Handbook of Feminist, Queer and Trans* Narrative Studies. Palgrave, 2025. 95-109.https://teaganbradway.com/Les FeinbergTorrey Peters' Stag DanceBecky Chambers' Monk and RobotOctavia Butler's Lilith's BroodMaia Kobabe's Gender QueerDiane WattJack HalberstamDana LucianoMel Y. ChenSpivak pronouns (E/em/eir)Isaac FellmanAndrea GibsonHekanaho, Laura. "A thematic analysis of attitudes towards English nonbinary pronouns." Journal of Language and Sexuality 11.2 (2022): 190-216.Mattheis, Lena. "Nonbinary Narration." The Palgrave Handbook of Feminist, Queer and Trans* Narrative Studies. Palgrave, 2025. 25-39.Vera NuenningCorinna Assmann Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What does narrative agency have to do with pronouns? How might narrative point of view affect pronouns? Why do we discuss genre? What could the implications of discussing pronouns in speculative fiction be? How can ‘it' pronouns allow us to think about gender, personhood and humanness? What are Spivak pronouns? You may want to look this up as we only mention them very briefly. What do Lena and Teagan think about mispronouning? Why do we speak about pronouns as a gift that is not always easy to give? How do you feel about sharing your pronouns or learning someone else's?
Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy (Duke University Press, 2026) re-examines cinema studies through the work of Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu, employing the multiple methodologies and indeterminacy of Ozu's films as a model for discussions of cinema's relationship to the world and the formation of film studies as a discipline. Author Daisuke Miyao is Professor and Hajime Mori Chair in Japanese Language and Literature at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author and editor of several books, including Japonisme and the Birth of Cinema, The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema, and Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom, published by Duke University Press. 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
Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy (Duke University Press, 2026) re-examines cinema studies through the work of Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu, employing the multiple methodologies and indeterminacy of Ozu's films as a model for discussions of cinema's relationship to the world and the formation of film studies as a discipline. Author Daisuke Miyao is Professor and Hajime Mori Chair in Japanese Language and Literature at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author and editor of several books, including Japonisme and the Birth of Cinema, The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema, and Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom, published by Duke University Press. 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
Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy (Duke University Press, 2026) re-examines cinema studies through the work of Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu, employing the multiple methodologies and indeterminacy of Ozu's films as a model for discussions of cinema's relationship to the world and the formation of film studies as a discipline. Author Daisuke Miyao is Professor and Hajime Mori Chair in Japanese Language and Literature at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author and editor of several books, including Japonisme and the Birth of Cinema, The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema, and Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom, published by Duke University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/film
Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy (Duke University Press, 2026) re-examines cinema studies through the work of Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu, employing the multiple methodologies and indeterminacy of Ozu's films as a model for discussions of cinema's relationship to the world and the formation of film studies as a discipline. Author Daisuke Miyao is Professor and Hajime Mori Chair in Japanese Language and Literature at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author and editor of several books, including Japonisme and the Birth of Cinema, The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema, and Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom, published by Duke University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies
Dr. Samuele Collu is an Assistant Professor of Medical and Psychological Anthropology at McGill University. His research examines the entanglement between psychic life, therapeutic practices, and digital devices. He is currently completing Dreams I Scroll Through, an experimental ethnography immersing the reader in a (mildly psychedelic) social media binge-scroll. Collu is also working on a project titled “Force and Form,” which focuses on learning, trauma, and internal alchemy practices in Montréal.The topic for today's conversation is his first book, Into the Loop: An Ethnography of Compulsive Repetition, came out with Duke University Press this year (2026). Written in an experimental and literary style that moves fluidly between the academic, the personal, and their uncanny in-betweens, Into the Loop offers a unique window into the repetitive cycles that shape our most intimate relationships and the possibilities for transformation within them.
When you subscribed to this podcast, I bet you thought, “When is Sarah going to interview an expert on theoretical physics ?” Today is your day!My guest is Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein author of the book The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie.And if you're thinking, I was really bad at physics – don't worry, so was I. I found this book to be both incredibly engaging and just the right amount of challenging. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein is going to explain space-time, and how theoretical physics, Black feminist theory, Robert Frost, and the cosmos are all connected.If you held your breath during the liftoff of Artemis II, and were crying when they splashed down safety, not to worry – so was I. I was extremely excited to interview Dr. Prescod-Weinstein, and the timing is perfect. We are in good hands....Support for this episode comes from The Awkward Agenda by Beth Morton, an open-door romance featuring friends-to-lovers, found family, and pirate cosplay, available now digitally in Kindle Unlimited, and in print from retailers everywhere. ...You can find Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein'sPersonal website: http://chanda.scienceNewsletter: http://news.chanda.scienceInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/chanda.prescod.weinstein/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/chanda.bsky.socialYou can find the abstract for her work, “The Cosmos is a Black Aesthetic” at Duke University Press.We also mentioned NASA's image collection. ...Music: purple-planet.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When you subscribed to this podcast, I bet you thought, “When is Sarah going to interview an expert on theoretical physics ?” Today is your day!My guest is Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein author of the book The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie.And if you're thinking, I was really bad at physics – don't worry, so was I. I found this book to be both incredibly engaging and just the right amount of challenging. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein is going to explain space-time, and how theoretical physics, Black feminist theory, Robert Frost, and the cosmos are all connected.If you held your breath during the liftoff of Artemis II, and were crying when they splashed down safety, not to worry – so was I. I was extremely excited to interview Dr. Prescod-Weinstein, and the timing is perfect. We are in good hands....Support for this episode comes from The Awkward Agenda by Beth Morton, an open-door romance featuring friends-to-lovers, found family, and pirate cosplay, available now digitally in Kindle Unlimited, and in print from retailers everywhere. ...You can find Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein'sPersonal website: http://chanda.scienceNewsletter: http://news.chanda.scienceInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/chanda.prescod.weinstein/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/chanda.bsky.socialYou can find the abstract for her work, “The Cosmos is a Black Aesthetic” at Duke University Press.We also mentioned NASA's image collection. ...Music: purple-planet.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hachi was just a puppy when he was adopted by a professor at Tokyo Imperial University. The two bonded instantly. Every day, Hachi greeted Professor Hidesaburo Ueno at the Shibuya Train Station as he came home from work. The pair would walk home together. But when the professor suddenly died, Hachi's loyalty didn't. For years, Hachi still went to the train station, waiting for the professor to return.Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from: Fritz, Robb. “History's a Bitch: A Dog Walk Through Time: Wait for Me.” McSweeney's Internet Tendency, February 7, 2012. https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wait-for-me.Itoh, Mayumi. Hachi: The Truth of The Life and Legend of the Most Famous Dog in Japan. Self Published, 2013.MC. “Hachiko's Droopy Ear.” The House of Two Bows, March 3, 2011. https://shibasenji.wordpress.com/tag/saito-hirokichi/.Perkins School for the Blind. “Helen Keller: A Life with Dogs.” June 24, 2016. https://www.perkins.org/helen-keller-a-life-with-dogs/.Skabelund, Aaron. “Fascism's Furry Friends: Dogs, National Identity, and Purity of Blood in 1930s Japan.” In The Culture of Japanese Fascism, edited by Alan Tansman, Rey Chow, Harry Harootunian, and Masao Miyoshi. Duke University Press, 2009. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781478090885-008/html.Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you'll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90's style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin's previous podcast, Let's Go To Court.
This is John Drabinski and you're listening to Conversations in Atlantic Theory, a podcast dedicated to books and ideas generated from and about the Atlantic world. In collaboration with the Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy, these conversations explore the cultural, political, and philosophical traditions of the Atlantic world, ranging from European critical theory to the black Atlantic to sites of indigenous resistance and self-articulation, as well as the complex geography of thinking between traditions, inside traditions, and from positions of insurgency, critique, and counternarrative.Today's discussion is with Don Deere, who teaches in the Department of Philosophy at Texas A&M University. He has published a number of articles in key journals and edited collections, is the co-translator of Santiago Castro-Gómez's Zero-Point Hubris: Science, Race, and Enlightenment in 18th-Century Latin America, and is the author of The Invention of Order: On the Coloniality of Space, published in 2026 on Duke University Press as part of their series Radical Américas, which is the occasion for our conversation today. In this conversation, we explore the importance of Latin American theorists for philosophy and philosophers, the challenge of thinking across multiple geographies, and the legacy of colonialism in our understanding of spatiality, place, and the meaning of modernity.
City Lights and Duke University Press celebrate the publication of Curating Deviance: Programming the Queer Film Canon by Marc Francis, published by Duke University Press. You can purchase copies of Curating Deviance: Programming the Queer Film Canon here: https://citylights.com/curating-deviance/ Originally broadcast via Zoom on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation
Yousaf Nishat-Botero on the Ecologies of Planning and Metabolic Municipalism. Shownotes Yousaf Nishat-Botero Dr. Yousaf Nishat-Botero at the University of Birmingham: https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/persons/yousaf-nishat-botero/ Nishat-Botero, Y. (2023). Planning's ecologies: Democratic planning in the age of planetary crises. Organization. Special Issue: Public Value, 1-23. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13505084231186749 Nishat-Botero, Y. & Thompson, M. (2025). Planning in Nature's Metropolis: Metabolic Municipalism and Ecological Planning in Barcelona. Environment and Planning D. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/02637758251364061 Nishat-Botero, Y. & Thompson, M. The land question and postcapitalist countrysides: towards a town-country synthesis. In Postcapitalist Countrysides (N. Gallent, M.Gkartzios, M. Scott, A. Purves (Eds.). UCL Press. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379514594_The_land_question_and_postcapitalist_countrysides_towards_a_town-country_synthesis on ‘metabolism' in Liebig and Marx: Clark, B. & Foster, J. B. (2018). The Robbery of Nature: Capitalism and the Metabolic Rift. Monthly Review 70(3). https://monthlyreview.org/articles/the-robbery-of-nature/ Marx, K. ([1867] 2004). Capital: Volume I. Penguin U https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/35192/capital-by-karl-marx-intro-ernest-mandel-trans-ben-fowkes/9780140445688 Sorg, C. (2023). Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail: Toward an Expanded Notion of Democratically Planned Postcapitalism. Critical Sociology 49(3), 475-493. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08969205221081058 Salleh, A. (2010). From Metabolic Rift to “Metabolic Value”: Reflections on Environmental Sociology and the Alternative Globalization Movement. Organization & Environment 23(2), 205-219. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27068655 on ‘capitalism as socioecological totality': Fraser, N. (2022). Cannibal Capitalism: How our System is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet – and what we can do about it. Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/2685-cannibal-capitalism Moore, J. (2015). Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and the Accumulation of Capital. Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/74-capitalism-in-the-web-of-life Planning for Entropy. (2022). Democratic Economic Planning, Social Metabolism and the Environment. Science and Society Journal. Vol 82, Nr 2. New York: Guilford Publications https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/siso.2022.86.2.291 Latour, B. & Weibel, P. (2020). Critical Zones. The Science and Politics of Landing on Earth. MIT Press. https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262044455/critical-zones/ on the Oskar-Lange-Model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lange_model Barca, S. (2021) Forces of Reproduction: Notes for a Counter-hegemonic Anthropocene. Elements in Environmental Humanities. Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/forces-of-reproduction/BE9B0DBDC89593F3284FE3F51D3B0418 on Donna Harraway's ‘response-ability': Harraway, D. (2016). Staying with the Trouble. Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press. https://www.dukeupress.edu/staying-with-the-trouble Braudel, F. (1979 [1992]). Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, Vol I-III. University of California Press. https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper Nunes, R. (2021). Neither Vertical nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organization. Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/772-neither-vertical-nor-horizontal?srsltid=AfmBOoqNKlXZJs9HrqEBU4BlAF7hbaxEzAOWD1oQCV6M_Kwtg5n9xOcO on Otto Neurath's political economy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neurath/political-economy.html on the quote by Otto Neurath: Otto Neurath in O'Neill, J. (2003) ‘Socialism, Associations and the Market', Economy and Society 32(2): 184–206 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249006144_Socialism_associations_and_the_market on Friedrich Hayek's argument against centralized planning: Hayek, F. A. (1945). The Use of Knowledge in Society. The American Economic Review 35(4), 519-530. https://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/hykKnw.html https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/hayek-opposes-centralized-economic-planning Morozov, E. (2019). Digital Socialism? New Left Review 116/117. https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii116/articles/evgeny-morozov-digital-socialism Rochowicz, N. (2025). Planning progress: Incorporating innovation and structural change into models of economic planning. Competition & Change, 29(1), 64-82. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10245294231220690? Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Duke University Press. https://web.education.wisc.edu/halverson/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2012/12/jameson.pdf Toscano, A. & Kinkle, J. (2015). Cartographies of the Absolute. Zero Books. https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/our-books/cartographies-of-the-absolute Anderson, P. (1961). Sweden: Mr. Crosland's Dreamland. New Left Review 1/7. https://newleftreview.org/issues/i7/articles/perry-anderson-sweden-mr-crosland-s-dreamland-part-1 Mandel, E. (1986). In Defence of Socialist Planning. New Left Review 1/159. https://newleftreview.org/issues/i159/articles/ernest-mandel-in-defence-of-socialist-planning Thompson, M., & Nishat-Botero, Y. (2025). Postcapitalist Planning and Urban Revolution. Competition & Change, 29(1), 101-120. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10245294231210980 Durand, C., Hofferberth, E. & Schmelzer, M. (2023). Planning beyond growth. The case for economic democracy within limits. Political Economy Working Papers. University of Geneva. https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:166429 on Barcelona En Comú: https://barcelonaencomu.cat/ on Grupo AGBAR and the anti-privatisation movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupo_Agbar https://ejatlas.org/conflict/remunicipalisation-and-anti-privatization-movement-in-barcelona1 on the Socialist party of Catalonia: https://www.socialistes.cat/ on the airport expansion in Barcelona: https://ejatlas.org/conflict/prat-airport-expansion-catalonia-spain on the paper by Union Populaire: https://programme.lafranceinsoumise.fr/livrets/planification-ecologique/ on the quote from Mike Davis: Davis, M. (1990). City of Quartz. Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/1320-city-of-quartz?srsltid=AfmBOor1VtvQMJu_87qS8EDz0EcwP9KABUrajgH5LX2pdFNXWVC5Su6B Future Histories Folgen S03E59 | Cédric Durand on Ecological Planning https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e59-cedric-durand-on-ecological-planning/ S03E50 Aaron Benanav - Beyond Capitalism II https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e51-aaron-benanav-beyond-capitalism-ii/ S03E49 Aaron Benanav - Beyond Capitalism I https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e50-aaron-benanav-beyond-capitalism-i/ S03E21 | Christoph Sorg zu Finanzwirtschaft als Planung https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e21-christoph-sorg-zu-finanzwirtschaft-als-planung/ S03E03 | Planning for Entropy on Sociometabolic Planning https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e03-planning-for-entropy-on-sociometabolic-planning/ S02E44 | Evgeny Morozov on Discovery Beyond Competition https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e44-evgeny-morozov-on-discovery-beyond-competition/ — If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these resources might be of help: Democratic planning – an information website: https://www.democratic-planning.com/ Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue 1. https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1 Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction - Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press. [for a review copy, please contact: amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk] https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction International Network for Democratic Economic Planning https://www.indep.network/ Democratic Planning Research Platform: https://www.planningresearch.net/ — Future Histories Contact & Support If you like Future Histories, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/FutureHistories Contact: office@futurehistories.today Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehpodcast/ Mastodon: https://mstdn.social/@FutureHistories English webpage: https://futurehistories-international.com Episode Keywords #YousafNishat-Botero, #JanGroos, #Interview, #UniversityofBirmingham, #FutureHistoriesInternational, #FutureHistories, #DemocraticPlanning, #Planning, #EconomicPlanning, #Ecology, #Socialization, #Organization, #Capitalism, #Socialism, #Municipalism, #Metabolism, #PlanetaryCrisis, #Nature, #Barcelona
O que há em comum entre uma bateria antiaérea da Segunda Guerra Mundial, os algoritmos do WhatsApp e o bolsonarismo? Para Letícia Cesarino, professora associada de Antropologia Social na Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, a resposta está na cibernética. Neste episódio, produzido em parceria com o Observatório da Extrema Direita, David Magalhães e Guilherme Casarões recebem Letícia para discutir seu artigo recém-publicado na revista Current Anthropology: “An Ecology of Mind Approach to Far-Right Publics in Brazil“, no qual ela aplica o quadro teórico da ecologia da mente, desenvolvido pelo antropólogo Gregory Bateson, para reler o bolsonarismo como um sistema tecnopolítico. No bloco de notícias, David traz dois termômetros da extrema-direita global: os resultados das eleições municipais na França, que revelam o avanço territorial do Rassemblement National a despeito de um teto de vidro nas grandes cidades, e as eleições húngaras de abril, onde Peter Magyar desafia 15 anos de governo Orbán. E ainda tem, no último bloco, dica cultural. Aperte o play! Quer apoiar o Chutando a Escada? Acesse chutandoaescada.com.br/apoio Mande um café usando nossa chave PIX: perguntas@chutandoaescada.com.br Comentários, críticas, sugestões? Escreva pra gente em perguntas@chutandoaescada.com.br Participaram deste episódio: Letícia Cesarino (UFSC), David Magalhães e Guilherme Casarões Capa do episódio: Agência Brasil (CC BY 3.0 BR) Escute também no Spotify, no YouTube ou Apple Podcasts. Capítulos: 00:00 — Abertura 00:02 — Entrevista: ecologia da mente, cibernética e extrema-direita digital 00:32 — Bolsonarismo, populismo e públicos digitais artificiais 00:45 — Radicalização, a lacuna online-offline e os limites da etnografia 00:57 — Boletim: França — eleições municipais e o Rassemblement National 01:03 — Boletim: Hungria — Orbán e Peter Magyar às vésperas das eleições de abril 01:08 — Dica cultural: Feels Good Man (Amazon Prime, 2020) Citados no episódio CESARINO, Letícia. “An Ecology of Mind Approach to Far-Right Publics in Brazil”. Current Anthropology, 2026. BATESON, Gregory. Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chandler, 1972. GALISON, Peter. “The Ontology of the Enemy: Norbert Wiener and the Cybernetic Vision”. Critical Inquiry, v. 21, n. 1, 1994. WIENER, Norbert. Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. MIT Press, 1948. MASSUMI, Brian. Ontopower: War, Powers, and the State of Perception. Duke University Press, 2015. SIMONDON, Gilbert. L’individuation à la lumière des notions de forme et d’information. Jérôme Millon, 2005. LIFTON, Robert Jay. The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide. Basic Books, 1986. EASTON, David. A Systems Analysis of Political Life. Wiley, 1965. Documentário Feels Good Man. Direção: Arthur Jones. EUA, 2020. Disponível na Amazon Prime. Chute 391 — Transcrição Parceria Chutando a Escada e Observatório da Extrema Direita Publicado em 26 de março de 2026 Abertura David Magalhães: Olá, pessoal! Sejam bem-vindos e bem-vindas a mais um episódio da parceria entre o Chutando a Escada e o Observatório da Extrema Direita — o primeiro episódio de 2026. A partir de agora, nos encontramos sempre na última semana de cada mês com episódios dedicados a discutir a extrema-direita em suas dimensões globais, teóricas e também reagindo ao calor dos acontecimentos. Para quem já acompanha o podcast, vale lembrar que nosso programa segue dividido em três blocos. No primeiro, trazemos uma entrevista mais aprofundada com pesquisadores e pesquisadoras que estão na linha de frente desse debate. Depois, passamos para um boletim com as análises das principais notícias envolvendo a extrema-direita global. E, para fechar, uma dica cultural sempre conectada com o universo do extremismo de direita — pode ser um livro, um filme, uma série, uma produção musical. Peço que você fique conosco até o fim, porque a dica deste episódio está completamente relacionada com o tema da nossa entrevista. Vamos lá. Entrevista — Letícia Cesarino David Magalhães: Estou aqui com o meu amigo Guilherme Casarões para receber a nossa convidada deste episódio, que é a Letícia Cesarino. A Letícia é professora associada de Antropologia Social na Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina e também uma das novas integrantes do Observatório da Extrema Direita. Aproveitamos para dar as boas-vindas — é um prazer ter você conosco, não só no episódio, mas também no Observatório. Nos últimos cinco anos, a Letícia desenvolveu uma pesquisa bastante aprofundada e relevante sobre antropologia digital, extrema-direita e redes sociais. E, mais recentemente, ela acaba de publicar — acabou de sair do forno — um artigo bastante interessante e instigante na revista Current Anthropology. O artigo se intitula “An Ecology of Mind Approach to Far-Right Publics in Brazil” — algo como uma abordagem da ecologia da mente aplicada aos públicos de extrema-direita no Brasil. A ideia deste episódio é discutir esse novo artigo. Letícia, você mobiliza um quadro teórico bastante sofisticado, especialmente ao trazer a ideia de ecologia da mente — ecology of mind —, que vem do trabalho de Gregory Bateson, um antropólogo e linguista britânico importante do século XX. Confesso que não o conhecia; encontrei o livro dele em PDF na internet e li um pouco para me inteirar de como você adota e aplica esse quadro teórico para discutir redes sociais e extrema-direita brasileira. Fiquei bastante interessado no uso do termo “cibernético”, porque para ouvidos contemporâneos ele remete imediatamente ao universo digital, de redes e internet. Mas as principais obras de Bateson são publicadas logo após a Segunda Guerra, nos anos 1960 e 1970 — embora ele tenha iniciado seu desenvolvimento nos anos 1930 —, e ele não estava falando exatamente de internet. Isso me gerou dúvidas. Antes de falarmos da aplicação propriamente dita, você poderia nos explicar um pouco sobre essa abordagem e esse quadro teórico? Bateson propõe tudo isso muito antes da chamada terceira revolução industrial. Letícia Cesarino: Oi, David, Casarões. É um grande prazer estar aqui com vocês no podcast e também no Observatório da Extrema Direita como um todo. Obrigada pelo convite. Acho que esse artigo é um bom gancho para trabalharmos questões da minha abordagem mais específica para a extrema-direita, porque, diferente de muitos que trabalham nesse campo, eu não venho dos estudos da política. Sou uma antropóloga cuja área de origem é a antropologia da ciência e tecnologia — sempre foi assim, desde a graduação —, e nos últimos anos fui transitando para essas questões das mediações digitais, das plataformas e da cibernética. O meu olhar para a extrema-direita é, portanto, um olhar tecnopolítico. O meu interesse é entender essa dimensão relativamente pouco trabalhada nas ciências sociais: o papel das máquinas, o papel da técnica, o papel das infraestruturas técnicas na conformação dessa força política e, mais especificamente no caso desse artigo, dos ecossistemas digitais de extrema-direita. A ecologia da mente e o Bateson — nos últimos anos consolidei em torno da obra dele um arcabouço que remeto também a outros autores da antropologia e da área dos estudos de mídia e tecnopolítica, para desenvolver uma perspectiva que veja agência humana e maquínica juntas, de forma recursiva. E aí a cibernética — podemos começar por ela, esclarecendo o termo. O termo remete a computadores, o que faz sentido, porque a cibernética clássica dos anos 1940, a de Norbert Wiener, o matemático estadunidense que inventou o termo, também deu origem à indústria de tecnologia que temos hoje. Existe, portanto, uma continuidade entre o que chamamos de cibernética hoje e o que era a cibernética como superciência da comunicação e do controle, tanto nos sistemas maquínicos como nos sistemas animais, incluindo o humano. Gregory Bateson fez parte do grupo original das chamadas Conferências Macy, nos anos 1940. Mas depois da Segunda Guerra houve uma bifurcação: uma linha foi trabalhar o que chamo de cibernética das máquinas — Norbert Wiener, Von Neumann, todos os nomes precursores da indústria de tecnologia, da construção dos computadores, da inteligência artificial —, enquanto Bateson foi trabalhar a questão da cibernética dentro de uma chave mais próxima da teoria da evolução e da história natural, o que chamo de cibernética da vida. Ele tem um arcabouço que inclui a cibernética das máquinas, os princípios comuns do funcionamento de máquinas cibernéticas, humanos e animais, mas vai além, trazendo as camadas extras que o humano coloca na relação com a máquina. Nesse sentido, a ecologia da mente inclui a cibernética, mas é maior. É a partir desse ponto de vista que tenho olhado para a participação de máquinas cibernéticas — que, no fundo, hoje são basicamente algoritmos, e a evolução dos algoritmos são as inteligências artificiais — e como elas influem e participam em processos que entendemos como políticos, mas que, na verdade, são tecnopolíticos, porque têm cada vez mais a participação de agências não humanas, agências maquínicas. Guilherme Casarões: Letícia, eu também ficava intrigado com essa terminologia cibernética. Lembro que na faculdade, na aula de sociologia, tive contato com David Easton, que aplicava a cibernética aos sistemas políticos e aos sistemas humanos em geral. Sempre achei curioso que não tivesse a ver com computador — essa foi a maneira como sempre encaramos o termo. Mas toda teoria de sistemas convida a um tipo de abordagem cibernética, com essa linguagem muito interessante de inputs e outputs, de como os sistemas funcionam. Trazer isso de volta à discussão é fundamental. E você argumenta no seu texto que a infraestrutura das redes sociais carrega uma espécie de ontologia do inimigo, herdada dessa cibernética militar da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Como essa visão do ser humano como um servomecanismo — um animal a ser controlado por algoritmos — cria uma afinidade eletiva com a lógica da guerra e a desumanização do outro praticadas pela extrema-direita? Letícia Cesarino: Ótima pergunta. É um bom gancho para colocarmos mais camadas na questão da cibernética. O que tentaram fazer nos anos 1940 — e é importante notar que a cibernética nasce do esforço de guerra, do esforço de guerra dos americanos entrando na Segunda Guerra contra o nazifascismo; a primeira conferência foi em 1946, se não me engano — era produzir conhecimento básico, porque a cibernética é uma ciência que explicaria formas comuns de funcionamento de máquinas cibernéticas, de animais e de humanos. O que têm em comum entre o funcionamento desses sistemas? A cibernética gira em torno da ideia não só de input e output, mas principalmente do feedback — quando o output volta para o sistema como input. O coração da cibernética é essa questão da recursividade, ou causalidade circular, que é uma característica de qualquer organismo vivo e também de máquinas construídas à imagem e semelhança desses organismos, ou seja, máquinas que tomam decisões sozinhas. Essa é, para mim, a principal definição de máquina cibernética, porque os algoritmos fazem isso. Mas muito antes da indústria de tecnologia, outras máquinas já faziam isso — como a própria máquina a vapor de James Watt, que é a base do que Marx, no uso grundrissiano, chama de automata. Ele já identificou no século XIX que havia máquinas sendo incorporadas nas infraestruturas do trabalho que tomavam decisões sozinhas — ainda muito rudimentares, mas a ideia de que as máquinas começam a dar o ritmo do trabalho humano já estava colocada desde o século XIX. A cibernética dos anos 1940 traz para o centro essa questão da guerra, que é quando houve um pico na produção dessas máquinas antes da indústria de tecnologia propriamente dita. Peter Galison — um dos grandes historiadores da ciência, físico de formação — tem um artigo no qual trabalha a ontologia da cibernética de Wiener a partir do contexto de guerra. Ele vai elaborar o que seria essa ontologia do inimigo de guerra a partir da cibernética. Ele faz uma progressão que vale a pena resgatar brevemente aqui. Quando você está numa conjuntura de guerra — uma conjuntura de exceção, isso é importante —, você precisa desumanizar seu inimigo, porque assim vai torná-lo eliminável. Em modelos de guerra anteriores, até a Primeira Guerra, quando você tinha que confrontar seu inimigo no corpo a corpo com uma baioneta ou uma arma de fogo de curto alcance, a forma de desumanização era através de analogias com animais, com monstros. Galison trabalha, por exemplo, cartas de soldados americanos que representam os japoneses através de analogias com ratos, com vermes. Essa é uma forma de desumanização. A segunda forma seria a da Segunda Guerra, que compartilha com a cibernética essa ideia do servomecanismo — um híbrido de humano-máquina. Quando Norbert Wiener começou a desenvolver a cibernética para produzir artilharia antiaérea — máquinas que conseguissem calcular sozinhas a trajetória do caça inimigo para atirar antes de o avião chegar, e o projétil encontrar o alvo no meio da trajetória —, o que o servomecanismo significa? Por que essa imagem do inimigo desumaniza? Porque não interessa quem está dirigindo aquele avião. O que interessa é como aquele avião se comporta — e um comportamento que possa ser previsto e controlado. É um tipo de desumanização cibernética. E podemos pensar também em outras formas de desumanização que evoluem com a guerra, como essa guerra de videogame que temos hoje, onde o inimigo não é sequer visto — é quase como algo da fantasia dos videogames. Isso sempre acompanha a guerra. A cibernética é uma boa epistemologia para entender contextos de exceção, conjunturas de guerra, conjunturas de crise que não se superam, porque são conjunturas de grande instabilidade, de não linearidade, com essa tendência à bifurcação do corpo social. Essas são ferramentas melhores para esse tipo de conjuntura do que muitas das ferramentas clássicas das ciências sociais — Durkheim, por exemplo, desenvolveu ferramentas em sua maioria para contextos de estabilidade, de paz, onde o social está mais estruturado, mais previsível e regido por normas. Num contexto de exceção, de crise e de guerra, o social muda de modo de funcionamento. Uma das hipóteses do meu próximo livro é a de que o social de guerra, de exceção e de crise, funciona em outra dinâmica, e que a cibernética tem boas ferramentas para entender isso, inclusive as formas de desumanização que tendem a se proliferar nesses contextos. David Magalhães: Excelente. Acho que é um bom gancho para avançarmos para a parte do seu texto em que você enquadra todo esse arcabouço para compreender a extrema-direita em ambiente digital. As principais linhas interpretativas preocupadas em compreender a ascensão dessa onda ultradireitista global olham para a questão ideológica, para eleitores frustrados, para a relação desses eleitores com a globalização e com a crise da democracia liberal. Mas você propõe algo diferente: observar esse fenômeno como um grande organismo cibernético, um sistema no qual humanos — lideranças, influenciadores, seguidores — e máquinas — algoritmos do WhatsApp, do Telegram, de redes sociais — operam de maneira integrada, como parte de um ecossistema. O que ganhamos analiticamente ao fazer esse deslocamento? Letícia Cesarino: São muitas camadas. Uma das coisas que acho importante — sempre começo palestras com isso — é a questão do ciborgue. O que é o ciborgue? É um híbrido de humano-máquina, outra forma de falar no servomecanismo. Mas temos essa imagem fantasiosa do ciborgue que vem da ficção científica, a de que seria um indivíduo com partes de sua função fisiológica — alimentação, respiração — suplementadas por máquina. O Robocop seria o tipo ideal disso. O ciborgue da vida real, porém, não se parece em nada com o Robocop. O ciborgue da vida real somos nós. É qualquer um que acorda e a primeira coisa que faz é pegar o celular — para olhar o WhatsApp ou para desligar o alarme — e fica nessa relação de dependência com aquela máquina o dia inteiro, para questões de memória e de tomada de decisão. Por que isso acontece? Porque o Homo sapiens é uma espécie extremamente técnica — uma questão antropológica. Sobrevivemos como espécie, enquanto todos os outros hominíneos foram extintos, pela questão da técnica, da cultura. Precisamos ser suplementados. Como espécie biológica, precisamos ser suplementados o tempo todo pela cultura e pela técnica. Isso não significa que outros animais não tenham técnica — vários mamíferos têm, pássaros também. Mas para o sapiens, isso é existencial. Como Bateson diz, a mente não termina na pele; a mente humana é estendida para o seu ambiente. A unidade de análise da ecologia da mente nunca é o indivíduo sozinho — tentamos delimitar qual é o circuito relevante, e esse circuito de feedbacks é sempre maior que o indivíduo. Pode ser uma família, como no caso dos cães e de uma matilha; pode ser uma comunidade, algum território existencial qualquer. E o nosso território existencial hoje passa necessariamente por essas tecnologias. Os algoritmos, as máquinas, a agência maquínica fazem parte desse território existencial. Isso é um preâmbulo para chegar ao argumento que também faço em vários textos — inclusive nesse —: de que a extrema-direita, se a gente for transposto para a política, é uma força política nativa digital, pelo menos essa extrema-direita que conhecemos hoje. O nazifascismo histórico tem muita participação de mídia, embora isso não seja suficientemente notado. Há muitos estudos históricos que mostram o papel do rádio na capilarização do Terceiro Reich, para conformar esse grande território existencial imaginado e como isso atraiu os alemães comuns em torno daquele projeto. De certa forma, algo similar — similar, mas muito diferente também — está sendo recolocado hoje com relação à nova infraestrutura técnica midiática que são as plataformas digitais. Evito usar a palavra “mídia” porque quando falamos em mídia pensamos em máquinas específicas — televisão, rádio —, mas plataformas não são exatamente mídias. Elas se sobrepõem a todo tipo de infraestrutura técnica, não apenas midiática. Com a plataformização — uma tendência relativamente recente; a internet era muito diferente antes de 2010 — e com os smartphones, que foram um verdadeiro game changer, as primeiras áreas cujos efeitos foram sentidos foram a política eleitoral e a área da saúde. Mesmo antes da pandemia, pesquisadores já identificavam como o autocuidado começou a passar rapidamente por essas infraestruturas, com o “doutor Google”. Para não me estender, vou colocar os dois pontos principais que desenvolvo no artigo, porque são mais ontológicos: como essas máquinas mudam a própria relação espaço-temporal dos nossos sistemas sociotécnicos. O que os algoritmos fazem? Eles hiperaceleram — e esse é, para mim, o ponto central. Quando você hiperaccelera, desestabiliza a relação da mente humana com o seu ambiente. Fica aquele fluxo constante de eventos ao qual você tem que responder o tempo todo, e cognitivamente isso é lido como uma situação de crise, do ponto de vista da ecologia da mente — não só para o humano, para qualquer espécie. Quando há uma instabilidade muito grande do ambiente, isso tende a reverter para o modo crise. É o que Wendy Chun chama de situação de crise permanente que as plataformas jogam nos nossos sistemas sociotécnicos. Isso é, obviamente, uma base fértil para a instrumentalização por forças de extrema-direita. Um outro ponto que os algoritmos introduzem, relacionado à hiperaceleração — que seria uma dimensão mais temporal —, é uma dimensão mais espacial de bifurcação. Algoritmos programados para segmentar públicos, porque essa é a lógica do modelo de negócios da economia da atenção, acabam gerando — não sozinhos, mas na interação com os usuários humanos, porque a recursividade do humano-máquina vai para os dois lados — um efeito sistêmico não de segmentação pura e simples, mas de bifurcação. É aí que entra o código amigo-inimigo, a polarização, a sismogênese — todos esses processos de antagonismo extremo, o que chamo de “mundo do avesso”: um lado é o extremo oposto do outro, numa dinâmica de guerra em que só um pode prevalecer, porque o outro é visto como uma ameaça existencial. No ecossistema de extrema-direita, ele vai desde um polo mais moderado — Tarcísio, digamos — até um polo mais radicalizado — o pessoal do 8 de janeiro, o “tio França” que se explodiu na frente do STF. O que é a extrema-direita? Um lado? O outro? Agentes específicos? Discursos específicos? Não. Do ponto de vista da ecologia da mente, a extrema-direita é toda essa ecologia, todo esse ecossistema que cobre todo esse espectro e que inclui a agência maquínica como um dos seus principais motores. Primeiro porque ela desestabiliza o mundo real, com a hiperaceleração e todos esses processos. Mas ao mesmo tempo ela direciona — é como um rio que tem uma corrente que vai para um lado, e os agentes da extrema-direita são aqueles que nadam a favor da correnteza, porque as plataformas são um ambiente; elas não são variáveis. Elas mudam o ambiente no qual fazemos política. E esse ambiente tem vieses técnicos intrinsecamente favoráveis a uma força política como a extrema-direita. Por isso não é que eles estejam mais espertos ou inteligentes — é que a forma como fazem política converge com a lógica das redes de maneira subliminar, intrínseca. Como o Casarões disse, há uma certa afinidade eletiva com a lógica das plataformas. Mas essa afinidade não é aleatória — por isso foi importante voltarmos à cibernética dos anos 1940, ao esforço de guerra, à artilharia antiaérea. O próprio DNA dessa indústria de tecnologia se originou da guerra e nunca saiu da chave de guerra. Depois da Segunda Guerra, a cibernética se tornou parte da Guerra Fria, com a mesma lógica do controle indireto — fazer o inimigo fazer o que você quer que ele faça indiretamente —, que é essa ideia cibernética do controle numa chave sempre não linear, sempre recíproca. É o que o Trump exatamente tenta fazer agora, em outra versão. Houve um breve interregno onde se tornou uma indústria civil, nos anos 1980 e 1990, mas a lógica algorítmica, a lógica cibernética, continuou sendo a da guerra — só que agora, em vez de controlar o inimigo, você vai controlar o usuário, para fazê-lo clicar num anúncio e vender a atenção daquele usuário para os anunciantes. Há também uma convergência, especialmente durante a Guerra Fria, entre a lógica de guerra indireta, a lógica da propaganda e a indústria de publicidade que temos hoje. Não foi a publicidade que originou a propaganda política — foi a propaganda política que veio primeiro e depois se tornou uma indústria civil, que é o coração da lógica da economia da atenção. Mesmo essas plataformas que se colocavam como liberais sempre tiveram um DNA mais próximo da lógica de guerra, propaganda e controle indireto do que de algo parecido com democracia. Era, de certa forma, um pouco inevitável que as coisas se desenrolassem como estão se desenrolando, porque já estavam previstas na própria ontogênese dessa indústria — como Simondon chamaria —, uma ontogênese ligada à guerra, ao controle e à desumanização. As plataformas, os algoritmos, não nos veem como humanos. É exatamente a mesma coisa do caça com o piloto dirigindo: a máquina é incapaz de ver interioridade, incapaz de ver subjetividade. Ela só nos interpela no nível do controle, da previsão de comportamento. A política está se tornando isso — retroalimentando-se com os discursos da extrema-direita que ativam o senso comum na direção da regeneração, que é a lógica do fascismo histórico: seria possível vencer essa crise, resetar o sistema e construir o estereótipo de um inimigo que precisa ser derrotado para que a crise permanente seja superada. No fim das contas, é uma mistificação de processos reais e de problemas reais, numa linguagem nacionalista e nativista. Guilherme Casarões: Letícia, um outro conceito com que você trabalha no texto e na sua obra é o de populismo. Uma das passagens que mais me chamaram a atenção — e que acho fascinante — é que essa abordagem ecológica de Bateson ganha muita relevância frente ao populismo contemporâneo, justamente porque esse populismo se ampara em públicos que, como você diz no texto, são parcialmente artificiais. A passagem, para quem quiser ler depois, está na página 2 do texto: “os públicos que são produzidos por essa dinâmica são resultados transindividuais de uma agência que é humana e não humana, na medida em que os algoritmos coemergem permanentemente por meio de ciclos cibernéticos”. Essa questão da artificialidade do público é muito central para entender tanto a dinâmica amigo-inimigo quanto a maneira pela qual o populismo contemporâneo consegue controlar a construção narrativa e a mobilização de seu público. Queria ir mais especificamente para o caso que você estuda no texto, que é o bolsonarismo. Seu texto descreve o bolsonarismo não só como uma ideologia, mas como uma dinâmica mutante que oscila entre a moderação e a radicalização. Você traz o conceito de indecidibilidade rítmica — essa coisa de ir e voltar — e eu queria que você explicasse como o bolsonarismo, a partir dessa chave analítica, alterna entre o institucional e o antiestructural, e como isso permitiu ao ex-presidente Bolsonaro manter o sistema político num estado de antagonismo permanente sem chegar a uma ruptura total — o que só vai acontecer em 2023. Letícia Cesarino: O que tentei fazer nesse texto é reler parte do governo Bolsonaro até as eleições de 2022 a partir dessa lógica cibernética — ou seja, como ele performou uma dinâmica cibernética que é essa tecnopolítica moldada pelas máquinas. Casarões, você trouxe a questão do populismo, e acho que são etapas. Desde 2013 até 2018, temos essa invasão muito forte e muito rápida da agência técnica dessas mídias e desses dispositivos dentro da política — um movimento mais tectônico, de desestabilização. E aí essas figuras aparecendo mais ou menos ao mesmo tempo: Modi, Trump, Bolsonaro, Duterte, Orbán — é aí que o conceito de populismo realmente faz mais sentido, nesse sentido dessa irrupção de uma política antiliberal, com uma norma mais afetiva, mais espontânea. É a política da exceção. E que, novamente, bate com a estrutura das plataformas, porque as plataformas também são políticas de exceção e de multidão. É importante termos isso em mente. A citação que você trouxe mostra como as plataformas fazem um tipo de prestidigitação: colocam uma coisa na interface, então o usuário tem a impressão de que é livre, de que é um indivíduo, enquanto o que está acontecendo atrás da tela é que esse indivíduo está sendo desagregado e reagregado com fragmentos de outros usuários em grandes multidões digitais. Ele não tem liberdade — ao contrário, está tendo seu comportamento indiretamente controlado, no sentido cibernético, pelos algoritmos. E esse social de multidão é o social de crise. Quem está imerso nesses ambientes está se colocando num modo crise — e a extrema-direita é a força política que mais combina com esse tipo de ambiente. Sem crise eles não são nada. Se você tirar a crise, a atmosfera de ameaça de que o Brasil vai acabar, eles não têm nada. Por isso não têm programa político: são uma força política na e da crise e da exceção. Daí esse paradoxo de como uma tecnopolítica de crise, de exceção e de guerra se rotiniza como um governo — que foi exatamente o paradoxo do governo Bolsonaro. E ainda teve a pandemia, que adicionou uma camada enorme de crise a isso. Ciberneticamente, faz muito sentido esse vai e vem — os ciclos de feedback positivo e negativo. O feedback positivo é o que acelera o viés que você já está; o negativo coloca um freio. Bolsonaro, enquanto governante, não podia ficar só no runaway, só no feedback positivo, porque o feedback positivo sozinho eventualmente leva a um colapso — tanto nos organismos vivos como nas máquinas. O que ele e o Trump fazem é colocar estrategicamente esses freios, esses recuos: avanço e recuo, feedback positivo e negativo. Tentei mostrar no artigo como isso se deu durante o governo e como esse processo perde o controle na eleição de 2022, redundando eventualmente no 8 de janeiro. O governo Bolsonaro não construiu nada — estava destruindo coisas, que é o que a extrema-direita faz — mas dosando até onde poderia ir na relação com os outros agentes: o Congresso Nacional, o público. E o público passou a ser medido através das redes sociais — pelas métricas das mídias digitais — e cada vez mais por pesquisas de opinião, que são outra forma de feedback que coteja com as mídias sociais. Bolsonaro foi assim sentindo, de forma propriamente recursiva, lidando com um ambiente de causalidades circulares, crises, etc. A linearidade só é possível em contextos de estabilidade e paz — e é exatamente o que o Trump está fazendo hoje. Agora, uma virada acontece, e aí é muito importante a questão do método. Esse artigo é baseado em pesquisa de métodos mistos, onde a abordagem qualitativa antropológica foi composta com uma abordagem computacional de grandes quantidades de dados, com os meus parceiros da Universidade da Bahia, do LabHD, onde fazíamos o mapeamento em tempo real dos públicos do Telegram. Foi muito interessante ver como, em meados de 2021, o comportamento desse ecossistema transindividual — que chamamos de públicos refratados, os públicos da extrema-direita — mudou. O comportamento pandêmico, ativado pela pandemia, e inclusive as teorias da conspiração começaram a diminuir. Isso foi bem na época da questão do voto impresso. Quando o voto impresso é enterrado, um conspiracionismo eleitoral começa a subir e se estabilizar. Por quê? As condenações do Lula tinham sido definitivamente canceladas, e eles, na mentalidade de guerra deles, já previam: “Está vindo um golpe que vai impedir o Bolsonaro de ganhar as eleições de 2022.” Isso mais de um ano antes da eleição. Já entraram no modo de contra-golpe. Que é outra característica desse social de crise — o que Brian Massumi, também batesoniano, chama de preempção: você passa a agir antecipando a ação do seu inimigo. É muito como a lógica da Guerra Fria entre os dois blocos. Por isso a extrema-direita está sempre reagindo — isso é uma característica muito consistente, inclusive dos ecossistemas misóginos, que estão sempre reagindo à suposta provocação ou traição da mulher. O bolsonarismo entrou nesse modo preemptivo, com a certeza de que haveria um golpe contra ele. Na cabeça deles, dessa grande mente transindividual controlada pelo Bolsonaro, o golpe deles era um contra-golpe: seria dado um golpe no Bolsonaro, e o que estavam fazendo seria a resposta. Quando você vê tudo o que fizeram ao longo desse tempo com esse olhar, tudo faz sentido — e o Bolsonaro, como depois ficou demonstrado, de fato estava tentando articular esse contra-golpe. Nas eleições de 2022, estavam nessa dinâmica de avanço e recuo, não deixando o sistema escalar demais, a temperatura subir demais, enquanto conspiravam. Quando ele finalmente desiste, vê que não ganhou a eleição — isso se arrasta por algumas semanas —, e quando realmente percebem que os comandantes das três forças não vão entrar, que o golpe não vai acontecer, Bolsonaro fica em silêncio. Ciberneticamente, isso foi muito importante, porque era ele que fazia a regulação cibernética entre a camada moderada e a camada radicalizada. Ele não deixava as coisas escalar. Era um agente de radicalização, mas também de moderação. Quando ele se retira, a coisa escala — e foi justamente o 8 de janeiro. Olha que interessante: quando aquela multidão invadiu o Congresso, o que aconteceu? Ficaram esperando para ver o que ia acontecer, porque confiavam no plano — só que o plano já tinha dado errado e eles não sabiam disso. Tem esse componente de um mundo de fantasia criado dentro das comunidades radicalizadas — o Bateson ajuda a entender isso, porque ele tem uma teoria cibernética da fantasia e do jogo. Foi aquele choque de realidade. Não houve mais regulação, não houve mais feedback negativo, a coisa escalou, a temperatura subiu — e é onde o artigo termina, fazendo essa releitura cibernética e ecológica dos eventos do segundo governo Bolsonaro e das eleições de 2022. David Magalhães: Ótimo, Letícia. Encaminhando para o fechamento: no finzinho do artigo você faz uma ressalva que achei bastante importante, ao apontar que a ecologia da mente é extremamente poderosa para entender essas dinâmicas sistêmicas mais amplas, mas que também tem limites — especialmente quando tentamos compreender a totalidade da vida cotidiana do sujeito. É justamente aí que você coloca a necessidade de retornar à etnografia tradicional, à etnografia offline. Queria te ouvir sobre esse desafio metodológico. Como a antropologia pode costurar essas duas pontes — de um lado, a visão de um sistema cibernético amplo no qual os indivíduos parecem agir quase como parte de um circuito, de maneira relativamente previsível; de outro, as trajetórias de vida, as experiências subjetivas, as dores concretas que não desaparecem. Como não reduzir essas pessoas a meros nós de rede? Letícia Cesarino: Ótima pergunta, porque é realmente um desafio metodológico. No caso da ecologia da mente, você nunca pode fechar só no indivíduo. Mas é possível — e é o que estou fazendo no livro novo — pensar como o indivíduo enquanto sistema, porque todo organismo individual é um sistema cibernético, com outras camadas além dele, mas ele próprio é uma camada de individuação bastante importante. Ele pode estar dividido entre dois territórios existenciais — e é um pouco como estou tentando trabalhar a questão da radicalização no livro novo. O online oferece um tipo de território existencial onde a persona online do sujeito está com interações específicas. É isso que gera o elemento de fantasia nas comunidades extremistas: no online é possível cultivar uma realidade e um tipo de estereotipação do inimigo, toda a questão da desinformação, que não é possível fazer no offline. Por isso o que aconteceu depois da invasão ao Congresso e ao STF: a realidade bateu. Eles achavam que a realidade era o que era cultivado na mente transindividual do online — e isso não bateu com o que estava acontecendo offline. Com a internet, não é mais preciso se deslocar fisicamente para se radicalizar. Você pode viver sua vida normalmente e, em parte do seu circuito, se radicalizar só no online. São muito esses casos que abordarei no próximo livro: adolescentes e jovens que estão no quarto jogando videogame, vivendo normalmente na escola, e estão fazendo coisas indescritíveis na internet — que você só vai descobrir quando a polícia bater na porta. Etnografar a radicalização é muito difícil, porque é um processo — você precisa acompanhar a pessoa desde o início, quando não estava radicalizada. É praticamente impossível, a não ser que alguém muito próximo passe por isso. Mas existem autorrelatos. Tenho trabalhado muito com o caso dos neonazistas, onde já há na Europa e nos Estados Unidos um repertório grande de testemunhos e autobiografias de pessoas que saíram dessas comunidades extremistas. No jihadismo também há bastante material; os manifestos de atiradores em escolas, por exemplo, muitas vezes trazem essa visão subjetiva da radicalização. Há um outro ponto que descobri e que não estava na pesquisa anterior: o que alguns estudos de radicalização chamam de reduplicação. Isso vem de um estudo histórico de Robert Lifton sobre médicos nazistas — como eles dividiam a personalidade. Quando estavam em Auschwitz, eram um tipo de pessoa; quando estavam em casa, com a família, eram completamente diferentes. Era uma reduplicação da personalidade em duas, como forma de resolver dissonâncias e contradições. O médico conseguia desumanizar as pessoas que selecionava para morrer em Auschwitz, enquanto em casa humanizava os seus. Algo assim parece acontecer também no nível da mente individual através da lacuna online–offline: as pessoas inconscientemente encontram formas de dividir a sua mente entre esses dois mundos, de forma que não precisem romper com familiares, amigos ou colegas de trabalho por razões políticas. Esse efeito da lacuna online–offline deve ser estudado — não é só uma questão metodológica, é a questão de qual é o efeito dessa própria separação, que é inédita: são as primeiras tecnologias que possibilitam essa divisão em ambientes existenciais separados, ainda que em relação recursiva. Isso pode ser um indutor de radicalização. Sabe aquele meme dos cachorros latindo no portão? Quando o portão abre, cada um vai para um lado. O humano tem um pouco disso: fica mais agressivo, fala coisas e faz coisas quando não está cara a cara com a pessoa — coisas que não faria no presencial. Isso é muito característico da extrema-direita: estão latindo, agressivos, no comportamento de ameaça, e quando a Polícia Federal bate na porta, revertem ao comportamento de autopiedade e vitimização — que é o que o Bolsonaro está fazendo agora na cadeia. Bateson trabalha isso muito bem, não só no humano, mas em outros mamíferos. A ecologia da mente, pegando inclusive insights de outros mamíferos — como o Bateson faz —, nos ajudaria a reincorporar o elemento biológico-evolutivo nas nossas explicações. E aqui chego a um ponto que acho muito importante: a extrema-direita tem todo um repertório do darwinismo social e da psicologia evolutiva para dizer que a forma como ela vê o humano é a forma real, a forma biológica, a forma natural. São leituras completamente erradas e enviesadas, mas para o senso comum são muito intuitivas. A questão de gênero, por exemplo: a ideia de que o homem é para um papel e a mulher para outro não tem apoio em estudos sérios de outras espécies ou da nossa. A antropologia, porém, abandonou esse campo — tornou-se etnografia, estudo da cultura, abandonou a natureza e a biologia, por razões relacionadas à história e à política interna da disciplina. Um dos meus objetivos é recuperar esse espaço de autoridade científica para falar do humano, do que é natural no humano, a partir de abordagens como a do Bateson — que é uma teoria da evolução que inclui a cultura — para competir também nesse campo da naturalização do comportamento humano. Eu diria que é talvez o campo mais persuasivo dos discursos da extrema-direita, porque a esquerda e as ciências sociais ficam só na desconstrução e no culturalismo, enquanto eles estão falando daquilo que é espontâneo, natural, atemporal. É assim que o fascismo mira, e precisamos competir nessa ordem de discurso, reivindicando uma abordagem científica mais universalista — um outro tipo de universalismo, não o positivista. A ecologia da mente é uma das principais vias que vejo para isso. No contexto desse artigo, foi também um subtexto: o artigo foi parte de um dossiê financiado pela Fundação Wenner-Gren, a maior fundação de antropologia dos Estados Unidos, e queria passar essa mensagem para os meus colegas antropólogos — a gente pode falar de universais humanos de uma forma mais refinada e rica, e competir com a extrema-direita nesse campo de discurso. Guilherme Casarões: Letícia Cesarino — incrível, tanto no pessoal quanto no profissional. E agora descobrimos, o que não deveria ser exatamente uma surpresa, que você é especialista em memes. Foi de longe uma das conversas mais eruditas que tivemos aqui, não só na colaboração com o OED, mas de todas as entrevistas que já fiz. Uma densidade impressionante, transmitida de forma didática. Tenho certeza de que os nossos ouvintes vão adorar esse papo. Quem está acompanhando, fiquem por aí — ainda temos a segunda parte da conversa, com o boletim de notícias e a dica cultural. Boletim — Giro de Notícias David Magalhães: Vamos ao nosso boletim com duas notícias envolvendo a ultradireita. França No próximo ano teremos eleições nacionais na França, que serão importantíssimas tanto para a Europa quanto para o futuro da direita radical no mundo. No dia 22 de março, domingo, ocorreu o segundo turno das eleições municipais francesas, que costuma ser um termômetro importante para medir o crescimento e a capilaridade da direita radical francesa, representada aqui pelo Rassemblement National. O resultado dessas eleições foi bastante ambíguo. O Rassemblement National, partido de Marine Le Pen e da estrela em ascensão Jordan Bardella, não conseguiu vencer em grandes cidades estratégicas — como Marselha e Toulon —, onde havia uma expectativa de vitória da direita radical. Por outro lado, o partido avançou de forma importante em outro nível: consolidou uma presença territorial, especialmente no sudeste e no nordeste do país, conquistando dezenas de prefeituras e ampliando de maneira bastante significativa sua base local. Hoje, de acordo com matéria do Le Monde de 23 de março, o Rassemblement National passa a governar aproximadamente 70 municípios e conta com cerca de 3 mil representantes locais — uma quantidade bastante considerável. Outro ponto central é um certo teto de vidro que tem impedido a vitória do RN em grandes cidades. Esses centros urbanos mais ricos, mais jovens e com maior nível educacional têm sido um desafio para a expansão da direita radical. Por outro lado, há um crescimento muito forte em áreas periféricas, regiões pós-industriais e comunas menores, geralmente marcadas por uma sensação de abandono e por um acúmulo de ressentimento — o que alguns autores chamam de left behinds, os que foram deixados para trás —, sentimento que a direita radical populista costuma explorar. Quero destacar ainda um fator que pode ser preocupante olhando para as eleições nacionais de 2027: não houve, ou houve em pouquíssimas cidades, a chamada frente republicana — também chamada de cordão sanitário. O cordão sanitário é o conjunto de alianças tradicionais de partidos com compromissos democráticos para barrar a direita radical no segundo turno das eleições. A quase inexistência desse cordão fez com que o RN conquistasse cidades onde, em eleições anteriores, havia sido bloqueado. No final das contas, essas eleições não deram o resultado que o RN esperava — um grande impulso nacional —, mas consolidaram uma base territorial sólida. Isso coloca uma questão relevante olhando para 2027: seria esse enraizamento local suficiente para sustentar uma vitória nas eleições presidenciais? Seguiremos acompanhando o caso da França. Hungria Passamos para a Hungria — continuamos falando de eleições, já que os húngaros vão às urnas em abril para decidir se encerram os 15 anos de governo de Viktor Orbán. No domingo, 15 de março, os dois principais atores políticos do país — Viktor Orbán, do Partido Fidesz, e o oposicionista Peter Magyar, do partido Tisza — realizaram grandes manifestações em Budapeste no Dia Nacional Húngaro. Mais do que uma comemoração histórica, os eventos funcionaram como um teste de força às vésperas das eleições de abril. Os dois lados reivindicaram vitória em termos de mobilização — como já vimos aqui no Brasil. O governo afirmou que foi uma das maiores marchas já realizadas no país, enquanto a oposição chegou a afirmar que reuniu meio milhão de pessoas. Ainda que sejam números exagerados, as estimativas independentes indicam que o Tisza, de Magyar, levou mais gente às ruas do que o Fidesz de Orbán, o que sinalizaria um possível avanço da oposição no campo urbano. Essas manifestações têm algo interessante: acontecem dentro de um calendário nacional, e foi possível observar uma disputa não só eleitoral, mas simbólica. Ambos os lados tentavam se apropriar da memória da Revolução de 1848. Orbán engendrou uma narrativa que associa o passado à luta contra o domínio estrangeiro, ao globalismo, à ingerência da União Europeia e à ameaça da guerra na Ucrânia. A oposição liderada por Peter Magyar utiliza os mesmos símbolos nacionais, mas com outros significados: para eles, a defesa da liberdade hoje se traduz em manter a Hungria dentro da União Europeia e vinculada à OTAN, além de restaurar o funcionamento das instituições democráticas do Estado húngaro — bastante prejudicadas nos anos de Orbán. As pesquisas de intenção de voto desde julho do ano passado mostram um quadro relativamente estável, com uma diferença de aproximadamente 10% em favor da oposição. É preciso ter cautela com essas pesquisas, no entanto, porque em 2011 Orbán fez uma importante reforma eleitoral que dá mais peso aos distritos rurais, geralmente mais conservadores. Além disso, ele concedeu cidadania a húngaros que vivem na Eslováquia, na Romênia e na Sérvia, uma população que tende a votar no governo. E há também uma mobilização ideológica mais incandescente da direita radical húngara, que pode fazer diferença nas urnas. Fato é que nenhum dos lados parece acreditar numa vitória esmagadora. Já se discute a possibilidade de alianças — o partido Jobbik, na Hungria, pode ser crucial para a formação de uma maioria no parlamento. No nosso episódio de abril, iremos repercutir o resultado dessa eleição. Dica Cultural David Magalhães: A nossa recomendação cultural deste episódio tem tudo a ver com a conversa que tivemos no primeiro bloco com a Letícia Cesarino. Se você se interessou pelo debate sobre internet, cultura digital, extrema-direita e disputa de narrativas, vale muito a pena assistir o documentário Feels Good Man, disponível na Amazon Prime. O documentário é de 2020, mas chegou recentemente a essa plataforma. O filme conta a história do Pepe the Frog, personagem criado pelo cartunista Matt Furie nos anos 2000. Originalmente era um sapo tranquilo, good vibes, que circulava numa tirinha independente. Com o tempo, porém, esse personagem foi sendo apropriado na internet — primeiro como meme, depois ganhando formas cada vez mais distorcidas, até virar um símbolo associado ao alt-right e a outros grupos de extrema-direita. O documentário é bastante interessante porque não trata isso como uma mera curiosidade da internet. Ele mostra como esse processo revela algo mais profundo: como essas comunidades online — fóruns, antigamente o 4chan, hoje um ecossistema bem mais complexo — funcionam como verdadeiros laboratórios de produção cultural e política, com uma lógica quase darwiniana de disputa por atenção, em que os conteúdos mais chocantes e extremos ganham mais visibilidade, com toda uma engenharia algorítmica por trás. O filme também acompanha o próprio criador do Pepe, que se vê completamente impotente diante da transformação da sua obra. E esse é um ponto central: na era da internet, a circulação de imagens e memes escapa completamente ao controle original — pode ser capturada e ressignificada por distintos atores políticos. O documentário tem um aspecto que dialoga diretamente com o que conversamos com a Letícia Cesarino: esses grupos utilizam o humor, a ironia, a ambiguidade e as trollagens para disseminar ideias racistas, misóginas e xenófobas, muitas vezes sob a aparência de brincadeira. Isso cria uma zona cinzenta que dificulta a crítica e, ao mesmo tempo, aumenta o alcance dessas mensagens de ódio. Feels Good Man nos ajuda a entender essa cultura digital e como ela se relaciona com a extrema-direita — e dialoga perfeitamente com os temas que trouxemos na entrevista do primeiro bloco. Até a próxima. The post Ecologia da mente e extrema-direita appeared first on Chutando a Escada.
Et si le ragga antillais des années 90 avait encore des choses à nous dire aujourd'hui ?Dans cet épisode, on replonge dans “America (Bad Boy You)” de Yaniss Odua et Little Sista — un classique qui a marqué toute une génération.Entre souvenirs d'enfance (oui, chanter à tue-tête dans la cuisine
Welcome back, loves!The male gaze didn't begin with film, it was already centuries old by the time cameras appeared. In this episode, I trace how powerful patrons, religious institutions and elite collectors shaped beauty standards through the paintings they commissioned. From reclining Venuses to carefully staged portraits, these images didn't just depict women, they trained viewers how to look at them. But when women finally entered the art world and began painting themselves and each other, the visual language started to shift.By the end of the episode, you may never look at a painting, a movie scene, or even your own camera roll quite the same way again.Are. You. Ready?****************Sources & Further Reading:The Civil Contract of Photography, Ariella Aïsha Azoulay. 2008. Zone Books.Negotiating the Female Body in Art, Elisabeth Bronfen. 1998. University of Chicago Press.Women, Art, and Society, Whitney Chadwick. 1990. Thames & Hudson.Why Love Hurts, Eva Illouz. 2012. Polity Press.The Painting of Modern Life, T. J. Clark. 1985. Princeton University Press.The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love, bell hooks. 2004. Atria Books.Ways of Seeing, John Berger. 1972. Penguin Books.Museum Frictions, Ivan Karp & Corinne A. Kratz (eds.). 2006. Duke University Press.Women, Art, and Power, Linda Nochlin. 1988. Harper & Row.Old Mistresses: Women, Art, and Ideology, Rozsika Parker & Griselda Pollock. 1981. Routledge & Kegan Paul.Vision and Difference, Griselda Pollock. 1988. Routledge.The Burden of Representation, John Tagg. 1988. University of Minnesota Press.Visual and Other Pleasures, Laura Mulvey. 1989. Palgrave Macmillan.Gender and Art, Gill Perry. 1999. Yale University Press.Cold Intimacies, Eva Illouz. 2007. Polity Press.Art and Agency, Alfred Gell. 1998. Oxford University Press.The Linda Nochlin Reader, Linda Nochlin (ed. by Maura Reilly). 2015. Thames & Hudson.The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art, Guerrilla Girls. 1998. Penguin Books.****************Peer-Reviewed Articles & Theoretical EssaysNochlin, Linda. “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” 1971. ARTnews.Pollock, Griselda. “Feminist Interventions in the Histories of Art.” 1988. Various academic journals.Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” 1975. Screen.****************Paintings Mentioned:Venus of Urbino — TitianLa Fornarina — RaphaelPortrait of Eleonora di Toledo with Her Son — Agnolo BronzinoThe Arnolfini Portrait — Jan van EyckGinevra de' Benci — Leonardo da VinciPortrait of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni — RaphaelThe Birth of Venus — Sandro BotticelliDanaë — TitianDanaë — Jean-François de TroySusanna and the Elders — TintorettoGrande Odalisque — IngresLa Maja Desnuda — Francisco GoyaGirl with a Pearl Earring — VermeerThe Three Graces — RubensDiana Leaving the Bath (representing Boucher's mythological nudes)Self‑Portrait as the Allegory of Painting — Artemisia GentileschiSelf‑Portrait with Her Daughter Julie — Élisabeth Vigée Le BrunSelf‑Portrait — Judith LeysterThe Child's Bath — Mary CassattWoman at Her Toilette — Berthe MorisotThe Chess Game — Sofonisba Anguissola****************Leave Us a 5* Rating, it helps the show!Apple Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beauty-unlocked-the-podcast/id1522636282Spotify Podcast:https://open.spotify.com/show/37MLxC8eRob1D0ZcgcCorA****************Follow Us on TikTok & Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!YouTube:@beautyunlockedspodcasthourTikTok:tiktok.com/@beautyunlockedthepod****************Intro/Outro Music:“Fame Inc” by Savvier — https://icons8.com/music
If you've ever wondered why you're attracted to villains... congratulations, you're about to get answers! Let's talk about why so many of us are absolutely unwell over Joan "The Freak" Ferguson from Wentworth, and why a villain this elegant, sever, and unnervingly captivating makes our empathy do backflips it has no business doing...while simultaneously awakening thoughts that require either a licensed therapist, a priest, or both working overtime.In this episode, I'm breaking down how beauty standards trick our brains into defending dangerous characters, how elegance softens evil, and why someone like Joan inspires fan edits, devotion, and comment sections full of people metaphorically (and sometimes literally) biting their lips, calling her "Daddy," and losing structural integrity in the knees.We're going from ancient physiognomy to the modern "hot villain industrial complex" to figure out why one sharply dressed, psychologically commanding woman makes entire fandoms whisper, "Okay... but destroy me!"If you've ever rooted for- or thirsted after - a villain you know belongs in therapy and not your fantasies, this deep dive is about to make everything make sense.Are. You. Ready?****************Sources & Further Reading:Lavater, Johann Kaspar. Essays on Physiognomy. 1775–1778.Pearl, Sharrona. About Faces: Physiognomy in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Princeton University Press, 2010.Lombroso, Cesare. Criminal Man. (Original 1876; Duke University Press edition 2006).Rafter, Nicole. The Criminal Brain: Understanding Biological Theories of Crime. New York University Press, 2008.Williams, Linda. Viewing Positions: Ways of Seeing Film. Rutgers University Press, 1995.Carroll, Noël. The Philosophy of Horror; or, Paradoxes of the Heart. Routledge, 1990.Ndalianis, Angela. Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary Entertainment. MIT Press, 2004.Creed, Barbara. The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis. Routledge, 1993.Hamad, Hannah. Postfeminism and Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. Edinburgh University Press, 2013.Jenkins, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. Routledge, 1992.Additional References:Contemporary film and TV criticism from The Guardian, Vox, Vulture, IndieWire, and The Atlantic (2023–2025).Interviews with Pamela Rabe and the creative team behind Wentworth (ABC Australia, SBS, 2015–2021 press coverage).****************Leave Us a 5* Rating, it helps the show!Apple Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beauty-unlocked-the-podcast/id1522636282Spotify Podcast:https://open.spotify.com/show/37MLxC8eRob1D0ZcgcCorA****************Follow Us on TikTok & Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!YouTube:@beautyunlockedspodcasthourTikTok:tiktok.com/@beautyunlockedthepod****************Intro/Outro Music:“Fame Inc” by Savvier — https://icons8.com/music
City Lights and Duke University Press celebrate the publication of My Father, the Messiah: A Memoir – by Gil Z. Hochberg, published by Duke University Press. You can purchase copies of My Father, the Messiah: A Memoir here: https://citylights.com/my-father-the-messiah/ Originally broadcast via Zoom on Tuesday, January 17, 2026. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation Content Warning: This episode contains a brief mention of self-harm/suicide.
If you've been following the *discourse,* you know that Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" is a divisive film! So of course, we had to watch it and try to make sense of its turbulent place in the zeitgeist. Rather than ask if the film is a "good" or "bad" adaptation, Marcelle leads us in an episode about marriage as a marker and maker of happiness, our collective imagination around Emily Brontë's source material, Heathcliff as romantic hero, and the lure of the abject. This episode is for the lovers, the haters and the die-hard Sara Ahmed heads! Related EpisodesThe Last of Us x Adaptation TheoryComics & Memes x Culture Text with Neale BarnholdenWorks Cited“Adaptations of Wuthering Heights” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. February 11, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_Wuthering_Heights. Ahmed, Sara. 2010. The Promise of Happiness. Duke University Press.Anderson, Hephzibah. 2018. “Heathcliff and Literature's Greatest Love Story Are Toxic.” BBC. July 30, 2018. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180725-heathcliff-and-literatures-greatest-love-story-are-toxic. “Emerald Fennell defends ‘depraved' Wuthering Heights film adaptation: ‘I'm just a goth girl.'” The Australian, YouTube video, 3:37, https://youtu.be/QeooWeEEDJg?si=JMf2hQUoASutoKK1.Support Material GirlsTo learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca (you can also find transcripts here!). Want to support the podcast and our tiny, hard-working team? Check out all the content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease. Bonus episodes, bloopers, merch, watch-alongs, and more! Need a last minute gift for a friend or family member? You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift!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 following the *discourse,* you know that Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" is a divisive film! So of course, we had to watch it and try to make sense of its turbulent place in the zeitgeist. Rather than ask if the film is a "good" or "bad" adaptation, Marcelle leads us in an episode about marriage as a marker and maker of happiness, our collective imagination around Emily Brontë's source material, Heathcliff as romantic hero, and the lure of the abject. This episode is for the lovers, the haters and the die-hard Sara Ahmed heads! Related EpisodesThe Last of Us x Adaptation TheoryComics & Memes x Culture Text with Neale BarnholdenWorks Cited“Adaptations of Wuthering Heights” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. February 11, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_Wuthering_Heights. Ahmed, Sara. 2010. The Promise of Happiness. Duke University Press.Anderson, Hephzibah. 2018. “Heathcliff and Literature's Greatest Love Story Are Toxic.” BBC. July 30, 2018. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180725-heathcliff-and-literatures-greatest-love-story-are-toxic. “Emerald Fennell defends ‘depraved' Wuthering Heights film adaptation: ‘I'm just a goth girl.'” The Australian, YouTube video, 3:37, https://youtu.be/QeooWeEEDJg?si=JMf2hQUoASutoKK1.Support Material GirlsTo learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca (you can also find transcripts here!). Want to support the podcast and our tiny, hard-working team? Check out all the content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease. Bonus episodes, bloopers, merch, watch-alongs, and more! Need a last minute gift for a friend or family member? You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift!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.
Tuck chats with trans studies scholar and Minneapolis resident Aren Aizura (he/him). Topics include: How a protest camp in the Australian desert helped free dozens of immigrant detainees(!!) How Aren's kids are reacting to ICE occupying their neighborhood How Twin Cities organizing has remained leaderless and decentralized Being subjected to archaic HBIGDA "true transsexual" guidelines and a political background check while trying to access top surgery!? Plus: Australian hippies, tear gas, Tim Walz, the YMCA sauna, and audio of a baby talking to a cat in a bag :) Through The Wire, a 10-min independent documentary about the 2002 breakout from Woomera Detention Center, is available to stream here. (cw: incarceration, injury, police violence) Find Aren on Bluesky @incommensurati. Aren's book, Mobile Subjects, is available from Duke University Press. Join our Patreon to access our weekly newsletter and monthly Gender Conceal episodes. Find transcripts and starter packs at genderpodcast.com. We're also on Instagram @gendereveal. Senior Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional music: Blue Dot Sessions Sponsors: DeleteMe (code: TUCK20)
大家好，欢迎收听新一期的《泉》播客。本期节目我们邀请来了Mila的好朋友Ricky。Ricky目前在美国西雅图华盛顿大学读博，主要方向为近现代日语文学，研究方向为与冲绳有关的日语文学写作，包括小说、诗歌等等。在和Mila一起连线收看了食贫道团队制作的纪录片《一念琉球》之后，我们有了想要制作一期关于冲绳的节目的冲动。 本期节目中，Ricky从研究者的角度，分享了他对冲绳以及有关冲绳的文学写作的思考。本期内容中提到的论文与艺术家材料较多，现均已整理如下放在Shownotes中，请大家参阅。 节目主要内容 节目上半节：冲绳 · 琉球 00:02:38 为什么要做冲绳文学相关的研究？ 00:04:48 叛逆！不想做三岛由纪夫，不想做夏目漱石！ 00:08:39 为什么名字的称谓这么重要？是“冲绳”还是“琉球”？ 00:12:36 在“冲绳or琉球“的选择当中能不能选择”or“？ 00:17:53 “琉球”的词义是否有贬义？是否也在使用中变化？ 00:18:58 两个词的词义已经缺乏超验的褒贬，要看语境 00:20:04 Ricky去冲绳的研究经历 00:23:05 在冲绳居酒屋遇到来自我放逐的横滨大哥？ 00:27:23 中平卓馬和冲绳 中平卓馬的摄影展：Overflow ^作品《泛滥》（1974年） ^《冲绳——写真原点1》（1978年） ^《无题（冲绳）》（2009-2011年） 00:29:19 冲绳首里城：烧失和重建 00:31:46 首里城的二战历史 00:33:47 “把死亡带回日常生活”？ 00:35:00 冲绳本地人对首里城的态度 ^Ricky拍摄的首里城修复现场 ^Ricky拍摄的首里城城墙上远眺 00:36:46 二战史带来的发问：什么是现实？现实主义摄影领域的讨论 ^土門拳「筑豊のこどもたち」 ^東松照明 ＜熱線と火災によって溶解変形した瓶＞ 00:41:06 首里城龙头的摆放——每次重建都是巨大的争议焦点 00:43:25 “琉球”的历史脉络不仅只有太平洋战争留下的战争遗产 00:47:49 冲绳混血儿问题（ハーフ）：没有国籍，缺乏归属。 ～ 中场休息：BGM - 三線の花 by BEGIN (2007) 〜 节目下半节：有关冲绳的文学写作 00:56:48 有关冲绳有关的文学写作 00:58:50 目取真俊的短篇小说《水滴》 01:11:38 “脚”在日本文学中的表现 01:14:20 脚承担了身体和灵魂上的重量 01:16:35 脚与鞋的关联：战后文学作品中对脚“无法站立”的描写 01:17:48 二战后的很长一段时间，日本民众没有完好的鞋穿 ^毎日新聞在战后刊载的“日本民众在穿什么鞋” Sharalyn Orbaugh, Japanese Fiction of the Allied Occupation (Leiden: Brill, 2006), 320 Plate 15. 01:25:37 战时的很多儿童没有完好的鞋子穿，因为皮革被用作了战争物资 01:26:46 “标准语”和“共通语” 01:37:53 美军基地在冲绳的存在 01:39:31 在北谷公园和美军飞机的遭遇 ^Ricky拍摄的北谷公园 ^在Futenma Air Station附近的嘉数高台公园上远眺该基地（机场） 01:46:24 一些科研小白的学术经验谈 01:49:18 Ricky从北美原住民研究当中获得的启发 节目中提到的书目和电影 《水滴》目取真俊 《古都》川端康成 《疯癫老人日记》谷崎润一郎 《刺青》谷崎润一郎 《金阁寺》三岛由纪夫 《个人的体验》大江健三郎 《人的脚步声》（短篇）川端康成 《アメリカン・スクール》小島信夫 Julia Adeney Thomas, “Power Made Visible: Photography and Postwar Japan's Elusive Reality,” The Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 67, No. 2 (May, 2008), 365–394. Sharalyn Orbaugh. Japanese Fiction of the Allied Occupation. Leiden: Brill, 2006. 有关冲绳的推荐阅读 《从那霸到上海》孙歌 《冲绳现代史》新崎盛晖 《冲绳札记》大江健三郎 Bhowmik, Davinder L. Writing Okinawa : Narrative Acts of Identity and Resistance. Routledge, 2008. Hein, Laura and Mark Selden, eds. Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Matsuda, Hiroko, and Pedro Iacobelli, eds. Rethinking Postwar Okinawa: Beyond American Occupation. The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2017. Matsumura, Wendy. The Limits of Okinawa : Japanese Capitalism, Living Labor, and Theorizations of Community. Duke University Press, 2015. Nelson, Christopher T. Dancing with the Dead : Memory, Performance, and Everyday Life in Postwar Okinawa. Duke University Press, 2008. Nelson, Christopher T. When the Bones Speak : The Living, the Dead, and the Sacrifice of Contemporary Okinawa. Duke University Press, 2025. 感谢大家收听！如果有任何想对我们说的话，欢迎给我们写信，我们的邮箱
Marc Steiner speaks with Geo Maher, abolitionist scholar and author of We Created Chávez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution, about the untenable goals behind President Trump's invasion of Venezuela, and what the US bid to reassert imperial dominance in the Western hemisphere reveals about its declining place on the global stage.Additional links/info:Geo Maher Facebook page and InstagramGeo Maher, Duke University Press, “We Created Chávez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution”Geo Maher, Verso Books, “Building the Commune: Radical Democracy in Venezuela”Mike Fox, Under the Shadow / The Real News Network, “The Americas will never be the same”Credits:Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Stephen FrankBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-marc-steiner-show--4661751/support.Follow The Marc Steiner Show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.Help us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast
Lithium, a crucial input in the batteries powering electric vehicles, has the potential to save the world from climate change. But even green solutions come at a cost. Mining lithium is environmentally destructive. We therefore confront a dilemma: Is it possible to save the world by harming it in the process? Having spent over a decade researching mining and oil sectors in Latin America, Thea Riofrancos is a leading voice on resource extraction. In this episode, we discuss her 2025 book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, in which she draws on groundbreaking fieldwork on the global race for lithium. Taking readers from the breathtaking salt flats of Chile's Atacama Desert to Nevada's glorious Silver Peak Range to the rolling hills of the Barroso Region of Portugal, the book reveals the social and environmental costs of “critical minerals.” She takes stock of new policy paradigms in the Global South, where governments seek to leverage mineral assets to jumpstart green development. Zooming out from lithium, we also discuss the evolving geopolitics and geoeconomics of energy transition, critical minerals, and green technology supply chains. — Thea Riofrancos is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, a Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute, and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. Her research focuses on resource extraction, climate change, the energy transition, the global lithium sector, green technologies, social movements, and the Latin American left. She explored these themes in her book, Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020), peer-reviewed articles in Cultural Studies, World Politics, and Global Environmental Politics, and her coauthored book, A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019). Her essays have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, and more. Thea's latest book, which we discuss on this episode, is Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025). Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025) The Security–Sustainability Nexus: Lithium Onshoring in the Global North in Global Environmental Politics 2022 Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020) A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies
Lithium, a crucial input in the batteries powering electric vehicles, has the potential to save the world from climate change. But even green solutions come at a cost. Mining lithium is environmentally destructive. We therefore confront a dilemma: Is it possible to save the world by harming it in the process? Having spent over a decade researching mining and oil sectors in Latin America, Thea Riofrancos is a leading voice on resource extraction. In this episode, we discuss her 2025 book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, in which she draws on groundbreaking fieldwork on the global race for lithium. Taking readers from the breathtaking salt flats of Chile's Atacama Desert to Nevada's glorious Silver Peak Range to the rolling hills of the Barroso Region of Portugal, the book reveals the social and environmental costs of “critical minerals.” She takes stock of new policy paradigms in the Global South, where governments seek to leverage mineral assets to jumpstart green development. Zooming out from lithium, we also discuss the evolving geopolitics and geoeconomics of energy transition, critical minerals, and green technology supply chains. — Thea Riofrancos is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, a Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute, and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. Her research focuses on resource extraction, climate change, the energy transition, the global lithium sector, green technologies, social movements, and the Latin American left. She explored these themes in her book, Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020), peer-reviewed articles in Cultural Studies, World Politics, and Global Environmental Politics, and her coauthored book, A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019). Her essays have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, and more. Thea's latest book, which we discuss on this episode, is Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025). Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton 2025) The Security–Sustainability Nexus: Lithium Onshoring in the Global North in Global Environmental Politics 2022 Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020) A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory
On the Semicivilized: Coloniality, Finance, and Embodied Sovereignty in Cairo (Duke University Press, 2025) by Julia Elyachar is a sweeping analysis of the coloniality that shaped—and blocked—sovereign futures for those dubbed barbarian and semicivilized in the former Ottoman Empire. Drawing on thirty years of ethnographic research in Cairo, family archives from Palestine and Egypt, and research on Ottoman debt and finance to rethink catastrophe and potentiality in Cairo and the world today, Elyachar theorizes a global condition of the “semicivilized” marked by nonsovereign futures, crippling debts, and the constant specter of violence exercised by those who call themselves civilized. Originally used to describe the Ottoman Empire, whose perceived “civilizational differences” rendered it incompatible with a Western-dominated global order, semicivilized came to denote lands where unitary territorial sovereignty was stymied at the end of WWI. Elyachar's theorizing offers a new analytic vocabulary for thinking beyond territoriality, postcolonialism, and the “civilized"/"primitive” divide. Looking at the world from the perspective of the semicivilized, Elyachar argues, allows us to shift attention to embodied infrastructures, collective lives, and practices of moving and acting in common that bypass lingering assumptions of territorialism and unitary sovereign rule.Julia Elyachar is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology
We're so so so honored to be joined by McKenzie Wark, the writer, theorist, and unmissable figure in the development of critical thought around information, class, and embodiment. Her work barely needs an introduction, but it has shaped how we think about technology, identity, and shifting relations of power, all while questioning the conventions of theory and public writing itself. Her concept of vectorialism has been extremely important to our own thinking about capitalism.This episode covers a huge range of Wark's evolving project, from her early work on the NetTime listserv and the legendary A Hacker Manifesto (2004), which mapped the shift from industrial capital to the information economy and coined the term vectoralist class, to the decisive personal turn in Reverse Cowgirl (2020), where theory stopped being about something and started being inside it. We talk about what she calls "auto-textual" writing, the body as both subject and medium, and the annihilation of subjectivity through sex, drugs, and dancing.One line from this conversation won't leave us: maybe we're entering an era defined less by an aesthetic of alienation than by an aesthetic of dissociation. If alienation belonged to industrial capitalism, dissociation might be its post-digital heir.Critical (critical) Wark:Wark, McKenzie. A Hacker Manifesto. Harvard University Press, 2004.Wark, McKenzie. Gamer Theory. Harvard University Press, 2007.Wark, McKenzie. Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse?. Verso, 2019.Wark, McKenzie. Reverse Cowgirl. Semiotext(e), 2020.Wark, McKenzie. Raving. Duke University Press, 2023.Wark, McKenzie, and Kathy Acker. I'm Very Into You: Correspondence 1995–1996. Semiotext(e), 2015.
Writer and editor Thomas Beller joins me to discuss his new essay collection Degas at the Gas Station. The essays trace his experience of fatherhood through the landscapes of his own childhood, including the early death of his psychoanalyst father and Tom's later return—wife and children in tow—to the very Manhattan apartment where he was raised. We talk about some of the fundamental conflicts of personal writing, including the ethics of writing about your children and even your ambivalence about parenthood. We also discuss why some writers feel trapped inside the genres that come most naturally to them, how the literary sensibility of The New Yorker shaped the styles of generations of writers, and how Tom is feeling about New York City these days. The episode was recorded on the morning of November 4, Election Day, and Tom talks about why he's voting for Zohran Mamdani—and why he thinks some of my early writing relates directly to Mamdani's platform. Guest Bio: Thomas Beller is a long time contributor to the New Yorker and the author of several books including Lost in the Game: A Book about Basketball, also published by Duke University Press; J.D. Salinger: The Escape Artist; and The Sleep-Over Artist. A 2024-25 Guggenheim fellow, he is a founding editor of Open City Magazine and Books and Mrbellersneighborhood.com, and Professor and Director of creative writing at Tulane University.
Americans are currently besotted with protein. It's touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much else besides. It's sold to men, women, children, the elderly— you can even buy protein for your pets. The protein supplement market alone is worth $21 billion and growing—and extra protein is being added to coffee, cereal, pasta, beer, ice cream, and popcorn. But as frenzied as we currently are about protein, this is not the first protein boom—or even the second. Protein has been promoted as a charismatic, cure-all nutrient for nearly two centuries. In this episode, with the help of Samantha King and Gavin Weedon, the authors of Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, we look closely at all our protein crazes and their associated protein products—from beef tea to whey powder—and see what they can tell us about our current protein mania. This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. We had editing support from Josh Levin and fact-checking by Sophie Summergrad. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281. Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen. Sources for This Episode King, Samantha and Gavin Weedon. Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, Duke University Press, 2026. Baker, Ryan. “Protein has become America's latest obsession. Companies like General Mills and PepsiCo are capitalizing on it,” CNBC, July 22, 2025. Brock, William H. Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper, Cambridge University Press, 1997. Callahan, Alice. “The More Protein, the Better?” New York Times, April 9, 2025. Draper, Kevin. “America's Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry,” New York Times, July 16, 2025. Gayomali, Chris. “Big Food Gets Jacked: How protein mania took over the American grocery store,” New York Magazine, Feb. 12, 2025. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” Maintenance Phase, Aug. 31, 2021. Liebig, Justus von. Researches on the Chemistry of Food, Taylor and Walton, 1847. McLaren, Donald S. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” The Lancet, 1974. Oncken, John. “Stingy, 'half-way' dairy farmer's curiosity changed the world,” Wisconsin State Farmer, April 27, 2022. “Subject of Whey Disposal Discussed in UW Bulletin.” Wausau Daily Herald, Aug. 28, 1965. Torrella, Kenny. “You're probably eating way too much protein,” Vox, Jan. 30, 2024. Wilson, Bee. “Protein mania: the rich world's new diet obsession,” The Guardian, Jan. 4, 2019. Wu, Katherine J. “Should We All Be Eating Like The Rock?” The Atlantic, Aug. 28, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Americans are currently besotted with protein. It's touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much else besides. It's sold to men, women, children, the elderly— you can even buy protein for your pets. The protein supplement market alone is worth $21 billion and growing—and extra protein is being added to coffee, cereal, pasta, beer, ice cream, and popcorn.But as frenzied as we currently are about protein, this is not the first protein boom—or even the second. Protein has been promoted as a charismatic, cure-all nutrient for nearly two centuries. In this episode, with the help of Samantha King and Gavin Weedon, the authors of Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, we look closely at all our protein crazes and their associated protein products—from beef tea to whey powder—and see what they can tell us about our current protein mania. This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. We had editing support from Josh Levin and fact-checking by Sophie Summergrad. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.Sources for This EpisodeKing, Samantha and Gavin Weedon. Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, Duke University Press, 2026.Baker, Ryan. “Protein has become America's latest obsession. Companies like General Mills and PepsiCo are capitalizing on it,” CNBC, July 22, 2025.Brock, William H. Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper, Cambridge University Press, 1997.Callahan, Alice. “The More Protein, the Better?” New York Times, April 9, 2025.Draper, Kevin. “America's Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry,” New York Times, July 16, 2025.Gayomali, Chris. “Big Food Gets Jacked: How protein mania took over the American grocery store,” New York Magazine, Feb. 12, 2025.“The Great Protein Fiasco,” Maintenance Phase, Aug. 31, 2021.Liebig, Justus von. Researches on the Chemistry of Food, Taylor and Walton, 1847.McLaren, Donald S. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” The Lancet, 1974.Oncken, John. “Stingy, 'half-way' dairy farmer's curiosity changed the world,” Wisconsin State Farmer, April 27, 2022.“Subject of Whey Disposal Discussed in UW Bulletin.” Wausau Daily Herald, Aug. 28, 1965.Torrella, Kenny. “You're probably eating way too much protein,” Vox, Jan. 30, 2024.Wilson, Bee. “Protein mania: the rich world's new diet obsession,” The Guardian, Jan. 4, 2019.Wu, Katherine J. “Should We All Be Eating Like The Rock?” The Atlantic, Aug. 28, 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Americans are currently besotted with protein. It's touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much else besides. It's sold to men, women, children, the elderly— you can even buy protein for your pets. The protein supplement market alone is worth $21 billion and growing—and extra protein is being added to coffee, cereal, pasta, beer, ice cream, and popcorn. But as frenzied as we currently are about protein, this is not the first protein boom—or even the second. Protein has been promoted as a charismatic, cure-all nutrient for nearly two centuries. In this episode, with the help of Samantha King and Gavin Weedon, the authors of Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, we look closely at all our protein crazes and their associated protein products—from beef tea to whey powder—and see what they can tell us about our current protein mania. This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. We had editing support from Josh Levin and fact-checking by Sophie Summergrad. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281. Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen. Sources for This Episode King, Samantha and Gavin Weedon. Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, Duke University Press, 2026. Baker, Ryan. “Protein has become America's latest obsession. Companies like General Mills and PepsiCo are capitalizing on it,” CNBC, July 22, 2025. Brock, William H. Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper, Cambridge University Press, 1997. Callahan, Alice. “The More Protein, the Better?” New York Times, April 9, 2025. Draper, Kevin. “America's Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry,” New York Times, July 16, 2025. Gayomali, Chris. “Big Food Gets Jacked: How protein mania took over the American grocery store,” New York Magazine, Feb. 12, 2025. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” Maintenance Phase, Aug. 31, 2021. Liebig, Justus von. Researches on the Chemistry of Food, Taylor and Walton, 1847. McLaren, Donald S. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” The Lancet, 1974. Oncken, John. “Stingy, 'half-way' dairy farmer's curiosity changed the world,” Wisconsin State Farmer, April 27, 2022. “Subject of Whey Disposal Discussed in UW Bulletin.” Wausau Daily Herald, Aug. 28, 1965. Torrella, Kenny. “You're probably eating way too much protein,” Vox, Jan. 30, 2024. Wilson, Bee. “Protein mania: the rich world's new diet obsession,” The Guardian, Jan. 4, 2019. Wu, Katherine J. “Should We All Be Eating Like The Rock?” The Atlantic, Aug. 28, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Americans are currently besotted with protein. It's touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much else besides. It's sold to men, women, children, the elderly— you can even buy protein for your pets. The protein supplement market alone is worth $21 billion and growing—and extra protein is being added to coffee, cereal, pasta, beer, ice cream, and popcorn.But as frenzied as we currently are about protein, this is not the first protein boom—or even the second. Protein has been promoted as a charismatic, cure-all nutrient for nearly two centuries. In this episode, with the help of Samantha King and Gavin Weedon, the authors of Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, we look closely at all our protein crazes and their associated protein products—from beef tea to whey powder—and see what they can tell us about our current protein mania. This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. We had editing support from Josh Levin and fact-checking by Sophie Summergrad. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.Sources for This EpisodeKing, Samantha and Gavin Weedon. Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, Duke University Press, 2026.Baker, Ryan. “Protein has become America's latest obsession. Companies like General Mills and PepsiCo are capitalizing on it,” CNBC, July 22, 2025.Brock, William H. Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper, Cambridge University Press, 1997.Callahan, Alice. “The More Protein, the Better?” New York Times, April 9, 2025.Draper, Kevin. “America's Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry,” New York Times, July 16, 2025.Gayomali, Chris. “Big Food Gets Jacked: How protein mania took over the American grocery store,” New York Magazine, Feb. 12, 2025.“The Great Protein Fiasco,” Maintenance Phase, Aug. 31, 2021.Liebig, Justus von. Researches on the Chemistry of Food, Taylor and Walton, 1847.McLaren, Donald S. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” The Lancet, 1974.Oncken, John. “Stingy, 'half-way' dairy farmer's curiosity changed the world,” Wisconsin State Farmer, April 27, 2022.“Subject of Whey Disposal Discussed in UW Bulletin.” Wausau Daily Herald, Aug. 28, 1965.Torrella, Kenny. “You're probably eating way too much protein,” Vox, Jan. 30, 2024.Wilson, Bee. “Protein mania: the rich world's new diet obsession,” The Guardian, Jan. 4, 2019.Wu, Katherine J. “Should We All Be Eating Like The Rock?” The Atlantic, Aug. 28, 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Americans are currently besotted with protein. It's touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much else besides. It's sold to men, women, children, the elderly— you can even buy protein for your pets. The protein supplement market alone is worth $21 billion and growing—and extra protein is being added to coffee, cereal, pasta, beer, ice cream, and popcorn. But as frenzied as we currently are about protein, this is not the first protein boom—or even the second. Protein has been promoted as a charismatic, cure-all nutrient for nearly two centuries. In this episode, with the help of Samantha King and Gavin Weedon, the authors of Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, we look closely at all our protein crazes and their associated protein products—from beef tea to whey powder—and see what they can tell us about our current protein mania. This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. We had editing support from Josh Levin and fact-checking by Sophie Summergrad. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281. Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen. Sources for This Episode King, Samantha and Gavin Weedon. Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, Duke University Press, 2026. Baker, Ryan. “Protein has become America's latest obsession. Companies like General Mills and PepsiCo are capitalizing on it,” CNBC, July 22, 2025. Brock, William H. Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper, Cambridge University Press, 1997. Callahan, Alice. “The More Protein, the Better?” New York Times, April 9, 2025. Draper, Kevin. “America's Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry,” New York Times, July 16, 2025. Gayomali, Chris. “Big Food Gets Jacked: How protein mania took over the American grocery store,” New York Magazine, Feb. 12, 2025. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” Maintenance Phase, Aug. 31, 2021. Liebig, Justus von. Researches on the Chemistry of Food, Taylor and Walton, 1847. McLaren, Donald S. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” The Lancet, 1974. Oncken, John. “Stingy, 'half-way' dairy farmer's curiosity changed the world,” Wisconsin State Farmer, April 27, 2022. “Subject of Whey Disposal Discussed in UW Bulletin.” Wausau Daily Herald, Aug. 28, 1965. Torrella, Kenny. “You're probably eating way too much protein,” Vox, Jan. 30, 2024. Wilson, Bee. “Protein mania: the rich world's new diet obsession,” The Guardian, Jan. 4, 2019. Wu, Katherine J. “Should We All Be Eating Like The Rock?” The Atlantic, Aug. 28, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Americans are currently besotted with protein. It's touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much else besides. It's sold to men, women, children, the elderly— you can even buy protein for your pets. The protein supplement market alone is worth $21 billion and growing—and extra protein is being added to coffee, cereal, pasta, beer, ice cream, and popcorn.But as frenzied as we currently are about protein, this is not the first protein boom—or even the second. Protein has been promoted as a charismatic, cure-all nutrient for nearly two centuries. In this episode, with the help of Samantha King and Gavin Weedon, the authors of Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, we look closely at all our protein crazes and their associated protein products—from beef tea to whey powder—and see what they can tell us about our current protein mania. This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. We had editing support from Josh Levin and fact-checking by Sophie Summergrad. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.Sources for This EpisodeKing, Samantha and Gavin Weedon. Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, Duke University Press, 2026.Baker, Ryan. “Protein has become America's latest obsession. Companies like General Mills and PepsiCo are capitalizing on it,” CNBC, July 22, 2025.Brock, William H. Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper, Cambridge University Press, 1997.Callahan, Alice. “The More Protein, the Better?” New York Times, April 9, 2025.Draper, Kevin. “America's Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry,” New York Times, July 16, 2025.Gayomali, Chris. “Big Food Gets Jacked: How protein mania took over the American grocery store,” New York Magazine, Feb. 12, 2025.“The Great Protein Fiasco,” Maintenance Phase, Aug. 31, 2021.Liebig, Justus von. Researches on the Chemistry of Food, Taylor and Walton, 1847.McLaren, Donald S. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” The Lancet, 1974.Oncken, John. “Stingy, 'half-way' dairy farmer's curiosity changed the world,” Wisconsin State Farmer, April 27, 2022.“Subject of Whey Disposal Discussed in UW Bulletin.” Wausau Daily Herald, Aug. 28, 1965.Torrella, Kenny. “You're probably eating way too much protein,” Vox, Jan. 30, 2024.Wilson, Bee. “Protein mania: the rich world's new diet obsession,” The Guardian, Jan. 4, 2019.Wu, Katherine J. “Should We All Be Eating Like The Rock?” The Atlantic, Aug. 28, 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Americans are currently besotted with protein. It's touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much else besides. It's sold to men, women, children, the elderly— you can even buy protein for your pets. The protein supplement market alone is worth $21 billion and growing—and extra protein is being added to coffee, cereal, pasta, beer, ice cream, and popcorn. But as frenzied as we currently are about protein, this is not the first protein boom—or even the second. Protein has been promoted as a charismatic, cure-all nutrient for nearly two centuries. In this episode, with the help of Samantha King and Gavin Weedon, the authors of Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, we look closely at all our protein crazes and their associated protein products—from beef tea to whey powder—and see what they can tell us about our current protein mania. This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. We had editing support from Josh Levin and fact-checking by Sophie Summergrad. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281. Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen. Sources for This Episode King, Samantha and Gavin Weedon. Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, Duke University Press, 2026. Baker, Ryan. “Protein has become America's latest obsession. Companies like General Mills and PepsiCo are capitalizing on it,” CNBC, July 22, 2025. Brock, William H. Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper, Cambridge University Press, 1997. Callahan, Alice. “The More Protein, the Better?” New York Times, April 9, 2025. Draper, Kevin. “America's Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry,” New York Times, July 16, 2025. Gayomali, Chris. “Big Food Gets Jacked: How protein mania took over the American grocery store,” New York Magazine, Feb. 12, 2025. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” Maintenance Phase, Aug. 31, 2021. Liebig, Justus von. Researches on the Chemistry of Food, Taylor and Walton, 1847. McLaren, Donald S. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” The Lancet, 1974. Oncken, John. “Stingy, 'half-way' dairy farmer's curiosity changed the world,” Wisconsin State Farmer, April 27, 2022. “Subject of Whey Disposal Discussed in UW Bulletin.” Wausau Daily Herald, Aug. 28, 1965. Torrella, Kenny. “You're probably eating way too much protein,” Vox, Jan. 30, 2024. Wilson, Bee. “Protein mania: the rich world's new diet obsession,” The Guardian, Jan. 4, 2019. Wu, Katherine J. “Should We All Be Eating Like The Rock?” The Atlantic, Aug. 28, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Americans are currently besotted with protein. It's touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much else besides. It's sold to men, women, children, the elderly— you can even buy protein for your pets. The protein supplement market alone is worth $21 billion and growing—and extra protein is being added to coffee, cereal, pasta, beer, ice cream, and popcorn.But as frenzied as we currently are about protein, this is not the first protein boom—or even the second. Protein has been promoted as a charismatic, cure-all nutrient for nearly two centuries. In this episode, with the help of Samantha King and Gavin Weedon, the authors of Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, we look closely at all our protein crazes and their associated protein products—from beef tea to whey powder—and see what they can tell us about our current protein mania. This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. We had editing support from Josh Levin and fact-checking by Sophie Summergrad. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.Sources for This EpisodeKing, Samantha and Gavin Weedon. Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, Duke University Press, 2026.Baker, Ryan. “Protein has become America's latest obsession. Companies like General Mills and PepsiCo are capitalizing on it,” CNBC, July 22, 2025.Brock, William H. Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper, Cambridge University Press, 1997.Callahan, Alice. “The More Protein, the Better?” New York Times, April 9, 2025.Draper, Kevin. “America's Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry,” New York Times, July 16, 2025.Gayomali, Chris. “Big Food Gets Jacked: How protein mania took over the American grocery store,” New York Magazine, Feb. 12, 2025.“The Great Protein Fiasco,” Maintenance Phase, Aug. 31, 2021.Liebig, Justus von. Researches on the Chemistry of Food, Taylor and Walton, 1847.McLaren, Donald S. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” The Lancet, 1974.Oncken, John. “Stingy, 'half-way' dairy farmer's curiosity changed the world,” Wisconsin State Farmer, April 27, 2022.“Subject of Whey Disposal Discussed in UW Bulletin.” Wausau Daily Herald, Aug. 28, 1965.Torrella, Kenny. “You're probably eating way too much protein,” Vox, Jan. 30, 2024.Wilson, Bee. “Protein mania: the rich world's new diet obsession,” The Guardian, Jan. 4, 2019.Wu, Katherine J. “Should We All Be Eating Like The Rock?” The Atlantic, Aug. 28, 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Americans are currently besotted with protein. It's touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much else besides. It's sold to men, women, children, the elderly— you can even buy protein for your pets. The protein supplement market alone is worth $21 billion and growing—and extra protein is being added to coffee, cereal, pasta, beer, ice cream, and popcorn.But as frenzied as we currently are about protein, this is not the first protein boom—or even the second. Protein has been promoted as a charismatic, cure-all nutrient for nearly two centuries. In this episode, with the help of Samantha King and Gavin Weedon, the authors of Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, we look closely at all our protein crazes and their associated protein products—from beef tea to whey powder—and see what they can tell us about our current protein mania. This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. We had editing support from Josh Levin and fact-checking by Sophie Summergrad. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.Sources for This EpisodeKing, Samantha and Gavin Weedon. Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, Duke University Press, 2026.Baker, Ryan. “Protein has become America's latest obsession. Companies like General Mills and PepsiCo are capitalizing on it,” CNBC, July 22, 2025.Brock, William H. Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper, Cambridge University Press, 1997.Callahan, Alice. “The More Protein, the Better?” New York Times, April 9, 2025.Draper, Kevin. “America's Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry,” New York Times, July 16, 2025.Gayomali, Chris. “Big Food Gets Jacked: How protein mania took over the American grocery store,” New York Magazine, Feb. 12, 2025.“The Great Protein Fiasco,” Maintenance Phase, Aug. 31, 2021.Liebig, Justus von. Researches on the Chemistry of Food, Taylor and Walton, 1847.McLaren, Donald S. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” The Lancet, 1974.Oncken, John. “Stingy, 'half-way' dairy farmer's curiosity changed the world,” Wisconsin State Farmer, April 27, 2022.“Subject of Whey Disposal Discussed in UW Bulletin.” Wausau Daily Herald, Aug. 28, 1965.Torrella, Kenny. “You're probably eating way too much protein,” Vox, Jan. 30, 2024.Wilson, Bee. “Protein mania: the rich world's new diet obsession,” The Guardian, Jan. 4, 2019.Wu, Katherine J. “Should We All Be Eating Like The Rock?” The Atlantic, Aug. 28, 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In 2017, activist-scholar Robyn Maynard published her groundbreaking study, Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present. Today, I have the privilege of talking with her about the second edition of this study, which has just been published by Duke University Press. Robyn tells us what has happened since 2017 that compelled her to revise the book and add important new materials to address the challenges of the present. At the core of this new edition is a powerful argument against reform and for abolition—Maynard details the numerous failures of police reform, and explains why precious time, resources, and lives have been spent trying to bring about authentic change via reform. Her vision for abolition is bold, and expansive, reaching beyond Canada to examine both transnational apparatuses of surveillance, policing, and punishment, and vital global forms of resistance and solidarity.Robyn Maynard is an author and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. Her writing on borders, policing, abolition and Black feminism is taught widely in universities across Canada, the United States and Europe. The first edition of Policing Black Lives: State violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present, published in 2017, is a national bestseller, designated as one of the “best 100 books of 2017” by the Hill Times, listed in The Walrus‘s “best books of 2018,” shortlisted for an Atlantic Book Award, the Concordia University First Book Prize and the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction, and the winner of the 2017 Errol Sharpe Book Prize. In 2018 the book was published in French, titled NoirEs sous surveillance. Esclavage, répression et violence d'État au Canada, and won the 2019 Prix de libraires. Her second book, Rehearsals for Living, co-authored with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, is a Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, and CBC national bestseller and was shortlisted for a Governor General's Award for literary non-fiction, a Toronto Heritage Award, and designated one of CBC's “best Canadian non-fiction books of 2022” and the “best 100 books of 2022” by the Hill Times. Other awards include “2018 Author of the Year” from Montreal's Black History Month and the Writers' Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQI* Emerging Writers. Her public scholarship is available at www.robynmaynard.com
Every year, hundreds of international student athletes arrive in the U.S. chasing their basketball dreams — many on F-1 student visas. But for some their journey turns into exploitation. Basketball Trafficking: Stolen Black Panamanian Dreams (Duke University Press, 2025) uncovers how dreams are sold, manipulated, and in some cases stolen — especially for young Black athletes from the Global South. This book offers a powerful call to action for educators, institutions, and sport leaders to safeguard the next generation of hoopers. Rooted in his own experience as a distinguished former Division 1 college athlete and an alumnus of a Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Javier has a unique perspective on the significance of sports in cultural and social movements. He procured his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Florida A&M University, followed by a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin, where he delved into the intersections of race, culture, and athletics. Javier's expertise has led him to prominent roles, including serving as a Fellow at Harvard's AfroLatin American Research Initiative, a University of Pennsylvania & University of Birmingham (UK) Immigration Fellow, and a Postdoctoral Associate and Professor at Duke University. His scholarly work has been recognized with accolades, such as the Harvard ALARI Best Dissertation on an Afro-Latin American topic in 2020 and a Preservation Merit Award from Preservation Austin. Javier has been featured in numerous media outlets such as TEDx, The Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Vice Sports, ESPN, and CNN, marking him as a distinctive voice in his arena. His dedication to shining a light on the unsung heroes who have transformed sports into a stage for empowerment and social change remains unwavering. A committed traveler and cultural enthusiast, Javier continues to connect and promote these remarkable stories of resilience and triumph wherever his journey takes him. You can find Javier online, on Instagram, and at LinkedIn. Find Host Sullivan Summer online, on Instagram, or on Substack, where she and Javier continue their conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies
Every year, hundreds of international student athletes arrive in the U.S. chasing their basketball dreams — many on F-1 student visas. But for some their journey turns into exploitation. Basketball Trafficking: Stolen Black Panamanian Dreams (Duke University Press, 2025) uncovers how dreams are sold, manipulated, and in some cases stolen — especially for young Black athletes from the Global South. This book offers a powerful call to action for educators, institutions, and sport leaders to safeguard the next generation of hoopers. Rooted in his own experience as a distinguished former Division 1 college athlete and an alumnus of a Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Javier has a unique perspective on the significance of sports in cultural and social movements. He procured his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Florida A&M University, followed by a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin, where he delved into the intersections of race, culture, and athletics. Javier's expertise has led him to prominent roles, including serving as a Fellow at Harvard's AfroLatin American Research Initiative, a University of Pennsylvania & University of Birmingham (UK) Immigration Fellow, and a Postdoctoral Associate and Professor at Duke University. His scholarly work has been recognized with accolades, such as the Harvard ALARI Best Dissertation on an Afro-Latin American topic in 2020 and a Preservation Merit Award from Preservation Austin. Javier has been featured in numerous media outlets such as TEDx, The Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Vice Sports, ESPN, and CNN, marking him as a distinctive voice in his arena. His dedication to shining a light on the unsung heroes who have transformed sports into a stage for empowerment and social change remains unwavering. A committed traveler and cultural enthusiast, Javier continues to connect and promote these remarkable stories of resilience and triumph wherever his journey takes him. You can find Javier online, on Instagram, and at LinkedIn. Find Host Sullivan Summer online, on Instagram, or on Substack, where she and Javier continue their conversation. 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
The transgender community has struggled to receive recognition and equality. In this episode, we explore the history of the transgender community over the last 100 years with Dr. Susan Stryker and the life of Dr. Alan L. Hart, a transgender medical doctor working on the forefront of an urgent public health crisis, tuberculosis, in Connecticut. Hart, Director of Connecticut's Office of TB Rehabilitation, is credited with saving countless lives. My guest is Dr. Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History, the Root of Today's Revolution, published in 2017. Transgender History, Third Edition: A Resource for Today's Struggle-and Tomorrow's will be published in Febuary, 2026. Dr. Susan Stryker holds a distinguished visiting appointment at Stanford's Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, and is Professor Emerita of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies at the University of Arizona, where she directed the Institute for LGBT Studies for many years. She is the author or editor of numerous articles, books and anthologies. A collection of previously published short works, When Monsters Speak: A Susan Stryker Reader, was published by Duke University Press in 2024. She is also an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker for Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria. In the documentary, you'll meet Dr. Stryker and some of the transgender women and drag queens who fought police harassment at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco's Tenderloin in 1966 three years before the famous riot at Stonewall Inn bar in New York City. You'll find the documentary on Amazon Prime. To contact Dr. Stryker, visit her website at www.susanstryker.net/about For more information on Dr. Alan L. Hart, go to these resources: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trailblazing-transgender-doctor-saved-countless-lives/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12328259/ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272831386_Manifesting_Manhood_Dr_Alan_Hart's_Transformation_and_the_Embodiment_of_Sex_in_Early_Twentieth-Century_Sexology https://college.lclark.edu/live/news/43320-from-the-archives-dr-alan-hart West Hartford Pride West Hartford Pride supports, celebrates, and uplifts the LGBTQAI+ Community by providing resources, events, education, and social justice initiatives. Find out more about visiting their website at westhartfordpride.org Preservatlon Connecticut LGBTQ+ Historic Sites Survey Preservation Connecticut, in partnership with scholars and activists, has embarked on documenting Connecticut's LGBTQ+ sites. Interwoven through these places are stories of resilience, innovation, and the pursuit of equality that transcend the traditional boundaries of class, race, ethnicity, and religion. If you're interested in learning more or contributing to this survey project, please visit www.preservationct.org/lgbtq. Grating the Nutmeg Three-part LGBTQ+ Series 2025 Connecticut Explored magazine and our podcast, Grating the Nutmeg, have featured many of the heritage trails that mark the important histories and sites of Connecticut's people. Preservation Connecticut has undertaken a survey of LGBTQ+ heritage sites across the state. Now, Grating the Nutmeg and Preservation Connecticut have teamed up to bring you a three-episode podcast series that pairs new research on LGBTQ+ identity and activism with accounts of the Connecticut places where history was made. The episodes include a thriving vegetarian cafe-bookstore run by lesbian feminists in a working-class former factory town, Episode 212, a transgender medical researcher working on an urgent public health issue in the center of Connecticut politics, Episode 219, and a gay, Jewish, best-selling children's book author in affluent Fairfield County, Episode 215. Connecticut Humanites The 2025 LGBTQ+ Three-part series received grant support from CT Humanities, connecting people to the humanities through grants, partnerships, and public programs. Visit our website to learn about our funding opportunities and capacity building grants. https://cthumanities.org/ ------------------------------------------ Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now. secure.qgiv.com/for/gratingthenutmeg This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky. Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
White noise has a very precise technical definition, but people use the term loosely, to describe all sorts of washes of sound—synthetic hums, or natural sounds like a rainstorm or crashing waves—that can be used to mask other sounds. Twenty years ago, if you'd told someone white noise was a regular part of your life, they would have found that unusual. Nowadays, it's likely they use it themselves or know someone who does. The global white noise business is valued at $1.3 billion; TikTok is full of people trumpeting its powers; and Spotify users alone listen to three million hours of it daily. Far more of these sounds already exist than any one person could need—or use. And yet, more keep coming. Looking out at this uncanny ocean of seemingly indistinguishable noises, we wanted to see if it was possible to put a human face on it; to understand why there is so much of it, and what motivates the people trying to soothe our desperate ears with sounds you're not really supposed to hear.In this episode, you'll hear from Elan Ullendorff, who writes the illuminating Substack Escape the Algorithm; Stéphane Pigeon, founder of myNoise; Brandon Reed, who runs Dwellspring; and Mack Haygood, author of Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control and host of the podcast Phantom Power.We'd also like to thank Dan Berlau, Sarah Anderson, and Ashley Carman. This episode was written by Katie Shepherd, Evan Chung, and Willa Paskin. It was produced by Katie Shepherd. We produce Decoder Ring with Max Freedman, and Evan is also our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com, or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281.Sources for This EpisodeAnderson, Sarah. The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet, Shambhala Publications, 2023.Blum, Dani. “Can Brown Noise Turn Off Your Brain?” New York Times, Sep. 23, 2022.Carman, Ashley. “Spotify Looked to Ban White Noise Podcasts to Become More Profitable,” Bloomberg, Aug. 17, 2023. Carman, Ashley. “Spotify to Cut Back Promotional Spending on White Noise Podcasts,” Bloomberg, Sep. 1, 2023.Hagood, Mack. Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Duke University Press, 2019.Pickens, Thomas A., Sara P. Khan, and Daniel J. Berlau. “White noise as a possible therapeutic option for children with ADHD,” Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Feb. 2019.Riva, Michele Augusto, Vincenzo Cimino, and Stefano Sanchirico. “Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 17th century white noise machine,” The Lancet Neurology, Oct. 2017.Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
White noise has a very precise technical definition, but people use the term loosely, to describe all sorts of washes of sound—synthetic hums, or natural sounds like a rainstorm or crashing waves—that can be used to mask other sounds. Twenty years ago, if you'd told someone white noise was a regular part of your life, they would have found that unusual. Nowadays, it's likely they use it themselves or know someone who does. The global white noise business is valued at $1.3 billion; TikTok is full of people trumpeting its powers; and Spotify users alone listen to three million hours of it daily. Far more of these sounds already exist than any one person could need—or use. And yet, more keep coming. Looking out at this uncanny ocean of seemingly indistinguishable noises, we wanted to see if it was possible to put a human face on it; to understand why there is so much of it, and what motivates the people trying to soothe our desperate ears with sounds you're not really supposed to hear. In this episode, you'll hear from Elan Ullendorff, who writes the illuminating Substack Escape the Algorithm; Stéphane Pigeon, founder of myNoise; Brandon Reed, who runs Dwellspring; and Mack Haygood, author of Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control and host of the podcast Phantom Power. We'd also like to thank Dan Berlau, Sarah Anderson, and Ashley Carman. This episode was written by Katie Shepherd, Evan Chung, and Willa Paskin. It was produced by Katie Shepherd. We produce Decoder Ring with Max Freedman, and Evan is also our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com, or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281. Sources for This Episode Anderson, Sarah. The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet, Shambhala Publications, 2023. Blum, Dani. “Can Brown Noise Turn Off Your Brain?” New York Times, Sep. 23, 2022. Carman, Ashley. “Spotify Looked to Ban White Noise Podcasts to Become More Profitable,” Bloomberg, Aug. 17, 2023. Carman, Ashley. “Spotify to Cut Back Promotional Spending on White Noise Podcasts,” Bloomberg, Sep. 1, 2023. Hagood, Mack. Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Duke University Press, 2019. Pickens, Thomas A., Sara P. Khan, and Daniel J. Berlau. “White noise as a possible therapeutic option for children with ADHD,” Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Feb. 2019. Riva, Michele Augusto, Vincenzo Cimino, and Stefano Sanchirico. “Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 17th century white noise machine,” The Lancet Neurology, Oct. 2017. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
White noise has a very precise technical definition, but people use the term loosely, to describe all sorts of washes of sound—synthetic hums, or natural sounds like a rainstorm or crashing waves—that can be used to mask other sounds. Twenty years ago, if you'd told someone white noise was a regular part of your life, they would have found that unusual. Nowadays, it's likely they use it themselves or know someone who does. The global white noise business is valued at $1.3 billion; TikTok is full of people trumpeting its powers; and Spotify users alone listen to three million hours of it daily. Far more of these sounds already exist than any one person could need—or use. And yet, more keep coming. Looking out at this uncanny ocean of seemingly indistinguishable noises, we wanted to see if it was possible to put a human face on it; to understand why there is so much of it, and what motivates the people trying to soothe our desperate ears with sounds you're not really supposed to hear.In this episode, you'll hear from Elan Ullendorff, who writes the illuminating Substack Escape the Algorithm; Stéphane Pigeon, founder of myNoise; Brandon Reed, who runs Dwellspring; and Mack Hagood, author of Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control and host of the podcast Phantom Power.We'd also like to thank Dan Berlau, Sarah Anderson, and Ashley Carman. This episode was written by Katie Shepherd, Evan Chung, and Willa Paskin. It was produced by Katie Shepherd. We produce Decoder Ring with Max Freedman, and Evan is also our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com, or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281.Sources for This EpisodeAnderson, Sarah. The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet, Shambhala Publications, 2023.Blum, Dani. “Can Brown Noise Turn Off Your Brain?” New York Times, Sep. 23, 2022.Carman, Ashley. “Spotify Looked to Ban White Noise Podcasts to Become More Profitable,” Bloomberg, Aug. 17, 2023. Carman, Ashley. “Spotify to Cut Back Promotional Spending on White Noise Podcasts,” Bloomberg, Sep. 1, 2023.Hagood, Mack. Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Duke University Press, 2019.Pickens, Thomas A., Sara P. Khan, and Daniel J. Berlau. “White noise as a possible therapeutic option for children with ADHD,” Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Feb. 2019.Riva, Michele Augusto, Vincenzo Cimino, and Stefano Sanchirico. “Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 17th century white noise machine,” The Lancet Neurology, Oct. 2017.Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
White noise has a very precise technical definition, but people use the term loosely, to describe all sorts of washes of sound—synthetic hums, or natural sounds like a rainstorm or crashing waves—that can be used to mask other sounds. Twenty years ago, if you'd told someone white noise was a regular part of your life, they would have found that unusual. Nowadays, it's likely they use it themselves or know someone who does. The global white noise business is valued at $1.3 billion; TikTok is full of people trumpeting its powers; and Spotify users alone listen to three million hours of it daily. Far more of these sounds already exist than any one person could need—or use. And yet, more keep coming. Looking out at this uncanny ocean of seemingly indistinguishable noises, we wanted to see if it was possible to put a human face on it; to understand why there is so much of it, and what motivates the people trying to soothe our desperate ears with sounds you're not really supposed to hear. In this episode, you'll hear from Elan Ullendorff, who writes the illuminating Substack Escape the Algorithm; Stéphane Pigeon, founder of myNoise; Brandon Reed, who runs Dwellspring; and Mack Haygood, author of Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control and host of the podcast Phantom Power. We'd also like to thank Dan Berlau, Sarah Anderson, and Ashley Carman. This episode was written by Katie Shepherd, Evan Chung, and Willa Paskin. It was produced by Katie Shepherd. We produce Decoder Ring with Max Freedman, and Evan is also our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com, or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281. Sources for This Episode Anderson, Sarah. The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet, Shambhala Publications, 2023. Blum, Dani. “Can Brown Noise Turn Off Your Brain?” New York Times, Sep. 23, 2022. Carman, Ashley. “Spotify Looked to Ban White Noise Podcasts to Become More Profitable,” Bloomberg, Aug. 17, 2023. Carman, Ashley. “Spotify to Cut Back Promotional Spending on White Noise Podcasts,” Bloomberg, Sep. 1, 2023. Hagood, Mack. Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Duke University Press, 2019. Pickens, Thomas A., Sara P. Khan, and Daniel J. Berlau. “White noise as a possible therapeutic option for children with ADHD,” Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Feb. 2019. Riva, Michele Augusto, Vincenzo Cimino, and Stefano Sanchirico. “Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 17th century white noise machine,” The Lancet Neurology, Oct. 2017. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
White noise has a very precise technical definition, but people use the term loosely, to describe all sorts of washes of sound—synthetic hums, or natural sounds like a rainstorm or crashing waves—that can be used to mask other sounds. Twenty years ago, if you'd told someone white noise was a regular part of your life, they would have found that unusual. Nowadays, it's likely they use it themselves or know someone who does. The global white noise business is valued at $1.3 billion; TikTok is full of people trumpeting its powers; and Spotify users alone listen to three million hours of it daily. Far more of these sounds already exist than any one person could need—or use. And yet, more keep coming. Looking out at this uncanny ocean of seemingly indistinguishable noises, we wanted to see if it was possible to put a human face on it; to understand why there is so much of it, and what motivates the people trying to soothe our desperate ears with sounds you're not really supposed to hear.In this episode, you'll hear from Elan Ullendorff, who writes the illuminating Substack Escape the Algorithm; Stéphane Pigeon, founder of myNoise; Brandon Reed, who runs Dwellspring; and Mack Hagood, author of Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control and host of the podcast Phantom Power.We'd also like to thank Dan Berlau, Sarah Anderson, and Ashley Carman. This episode was written by Katie Shepherd, Evan Chung, and Willa Paskin. It was produced by Katie Shepherd. We produce Decoder Ring with Max Freedman, and Evan is also our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com, or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281.Sources for This EpisodeAnderson, Sarah. The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet, Shambhala Publications, 2023.Blum, Dani. “Can Brown Noise Turn Off Your Brain?” New York Times, Sep. 23, 2022.Carman, Ashley. “Spotify Looked to Ban White Noise Podcasts to Become More Profitable,” Bloomberg, Aug. 17, 2023. Carman, Ashley. “Spotify to Cut Back Promotional Spending on White Noise Podcasts,” Bloomberg, Sep. 1, 2023.Hagood, Mack. Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Duke University Press, 2019.Pickens, Thomas A., Sara P. Khan, and Daniel J. Berlau. “White noise as a possible therapeutic option for children with ADHD,” Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Feb. 2019.Riva, Michele Augusto, Vincenzo Cimino, and Stefano Sanchirico. “Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 17th century white noise machine,” The Lancet Neurology, Oct. 2017.Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
White noise has a very precise technical definition, but people use the term loosely, to describe all sorts of washes of sound—synthetic hums, or natural sounds like a rainstorm or crashing waves—that can be used to mask other sounds. Twenty years ago, if you'd told someone white noise was a regular part of your life, they would have found that unusual. Nowadays, it's likely they use it themselves or know someone who does. The global white noise business is valued at $1.3 billion; TikTok is full of people trumpeting its powers; and Spotify users alone listen to three million hours of it daily. Far more of these sounds already exist than any one person could need—or use. And yet, more keep coming. Looking out at this uncanny ocean of seemingly indistinguishable noises, we wanted to see if it was possible to put a human face on it; to understand why there is so much of it, and what motivates the people trying to soothe our desperate ears with sounds you're not really supposed to hear. In this episode, you'll hear from Elan Ullendorff, who writes the illuminating Substack Escape the Algorithm; Stéphane Pigeon, founder of myNoise; Brandon Reed, who runs Dwellspring; and Mack Haygood, author of Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control and host of the podcast Phantom Power. We'd also like to thank Dan Berlau, Sarah Anderson, and Ashley Carman. This episode was written by Katie Shepherd, Evan Chung, and Willa Paskin. It was produced by Katie Shepherd. We produce Decoder Ring with Max Freedman, and Evan is also our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com, or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281. Sources for This Episode Anderson, Sarah. The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet, Shambhala Publications, 2023. Blum, Dani. “Can Brown Noise Turn Off Your Brain?” New York Times, Sep. 23, 2022. Carman, Ashley. “Spotify Looked to Ban White Noise Podcasts to Become More Profitable,” Bloomberg, Aug. 17, 2023. Carman, Ashley. “Spotify to Cut Back Promotional Spending on White Noise Podcasts,” Bloomberg, Sep. 1, 2023. Hagood, Mack. Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Duke University Press, 2019. Pickens, Thomas A., Sara P. Khan, and Daniel J. Berlau. “White noise as a possible therapeutic option for children with ADHD,” Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Feb. 2019. Riva, Michele Augusto, Vincenzo Cimino, and Stefano Sanchirico. “Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 17th century white noise machine,” The Lancet Neurology, Oct. 2017. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Products often tell you exactly how they're intended to be used. But why leave it at that? As a culture, we have long had a knack for finding ingenious, off-label uses for things. In this episode, we take a close look at a few examples of products that are ostensibly meant for one thing, but are better known for something else entirely. We explore Q-tips, which we are explicitly told not to put into our ears; the Hitachi Magic Wand, the iconic sex toy marketed as a body massager; the musical washboard; and the children's electrolyte solution Pedialyte that many adults swear by as a hangover cure. You'll hear from Hallie Lieberman, author of Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy; Jacqui Barnett of the Columbus Washboard Company; Christopher Wilson, curator and chair of the Division of Home and Community Life at the Smithsonian; musician and educator Súle Greg Wilson; zydeco musicians C.J. Chenier and Steve Nash; Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall, author of Hungover: The Morning After and One Man's Quest for the Cure; as well as writers Roberto Ferdman, Dan Brooks, and Kaitlyn Tiffany. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin, Max Freedman, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, Decoder Ring's supervising producer. We had additional production from Sofie Kodner. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Special thanks to Kate Sloan, Dr. Carol Queen, Bryony Cole, Amber Singer, Molly Born, Laura Selikson, and Nell McShane Wulfhart. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com, or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281. Sources for This Episode Bishop-Stall, Shaughnessy. Hungover: The Morning After and One Man's Quest for the Cure, Penguin, 2018. Brooks, Dan. “Letter of Recommendation: Pedialyte,” New York Times Magazine, Jan. 26, 2017. Comella, Lynn. Vibrator Nation: How Feminist Sex-Toy Stores Changed the Business of Pleasure, Duke University Press, 2017. Dodson, Betty. “Having Sex with Machines: The Return of the Electric Vibrator,” Dodson and Ross, June 9, 2010. Feran, Tim. “Pedialyte Is Not Just For Kids,” Columbus Dispatch, July 19, 2015. Ferdman, Roberto A. “The strange life of Q-tips, the most bizarre thing people buy,” Washington Post, Jan. 20, 2016. Kushner, David. “Inside Orgasmatron,” Village Voice, March 26, 1999. Lieberman, Hallie. Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy, Pegasus Books, 2017. Lieberman, Hallie. “Selling Sex Toys: Marketing and the Meaning of Vibrators in Early Twentieth-Century America,” Enterprise & Society, June 2016. Russel, Ruth. “Hangover Remedies? I'll Drink to That!,” Idaho Statesman, Jan. 1, 1978. Sloan, Kate. Making Magic, 2024. Tiffany, Kaitlyn. “How Pedialyte got Pedialit,” Vox, Sep. 10, 2018. Williams, Dell. “The Roots of the Garden,” Journal of Sex Research, August 1990. Wulfhart, Nell McShane. “The Best Hangover Cure,” Slate, Aug. 29, 2013. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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