race

This week we talk with Elijah Anderson, author of The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life. With urban ethnographies like Streetwise, A Place on the Corner, and Code of the Street, Anderson has captured the racial micropolitics that occurs in everyday urban life, highlighting the subtle rules and norms that guide interaction between whites, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups. In his new book, Anderson returns to familiar territory, though this time he calls attention to parts of the city where more inclusive street behaviors are taking form. “Cosmopolitan canopies” are unique urban spaces that have a street culture that celebrates civility and mutual respect for difference, and Anderson argues they contribute to a broader cultural acceptance around race and diversity.

Sorry, we had to remove this episode. Watch this post for a replacement in the future.

This week we talk with Shamus Khan about his new book Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School. One the one hand, elite social institutions—such as St. Paul’s—have opened up to women and minorities in recent decades, but on the other hand, inequality has increased and wealth is more concentrated now than since the 1920s. What explains this apparent contradiction between increasing openness yet rising inequality? Khan draws on his experiences as a student and then researcher at St. Paul’s to help answer this question.

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Doug McAdam chats with Jesse about why Freedom Summer was a transformative experience for those involved and why other youth activism efforts, such as Teach for America, tend to not be as transformative.

But first, Sarah shares a discovery about how incarceration shapes racial identity.

Download episode #34 now!

This episode we sit down with Walt Jacobs to discuss his Winter 2010 Contexts feature 30 Years of Black Presidents. During the interview, Walt and Sarah listen in on comic sketches by Richard Pryor and Dave Chapelle. If you prefer your audio/visual materials to include video as well as audio, you can watch the clips below!

But first, we have a discovery on segregation and crime presented by Arturo!

Download episode #32 now!

Videos in the Podcast

John Mayer skit from Tom on Vimeo.

Videos Discussed in the Article

Jesse and Jon give Peter Dreier a call to discuss his study, Manipulating the Public Agenda: Why ACORN Was in the News, and What the News Got Wrong. Dreier discusses ACORN, the study’s findings, and why ACORN has proven to be such an irresistable target for the Right. Jesse even convinces him to spill the beans about where he gets his amazing sociology powers. The study has recieved tons of media attention, but two good places to start if you want to learn more are Dreier’s article in Editor and Publisher and his appearance on the Rachel Maddow show.

First, Jesse shares an article that asks, Why do we remember Rosa Parks?

Download episode #25 now!

This week’s guest is Jessie Daniels, author of Cyber Racism and blogger at Racism Review and Contech. Cyber Racism is about white supremacist groups online, and Daniels tells us how white supremacy online is important for how we think about education, free spech and multiculturalism.

Also, Kia Heise discusses Karin Martin’s Normalizing Heterosexuality: Mothers’ Assumptions, Talk, and Strategies with Young Children.

If you haven’t taken the survey yet, please do! You can find it at thesocietypages.org/podcast/survey!

Download episode #20 now!

This episode’s guest is Lane Kenworthy, author of our Summer 2009 cover story, Tax Myths. In the article, Kenworthy address four myths about taxes and we go through each one and then some.

You can read Kenworthy’s article for free on thesocietypages.org. Go check it out and if you like it as much as we think you will, share it with your friends over email or on Facebook, Twitter, or on whatever social networking site all you cool kids are using this month.

Also, Kristin Haltinner stops by to discuss Jill McCorkel and Jason Rodriquez’ “Are You an African?” The Politics of Self-Construction in Status-Based Social Movements, from May 2009’s Social Forces.

Also: let us know what you think of the podcast so far by taking our survey!

Download episode #19 now!

What’s the difference between “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”? Both are terrible crimes, so why does the distinction matter? John Hagan addresses just this question in his new book, Darfur and the Crime of Genocide. While Hagan was on campus at the University of Minnesota for a lecture about the book, we sat down with him to discuss the meaning of genocide, the role of language in creating the conditions for genocide and the politics of numbers.

Also, Kristin Haltinner shares a fascinating discovery about how white power activists manage their identity.

Download episode #12 now!

This week we speak with Michelle Inderbitzen from the Public Criminology blog. We talk about the meaning of “Public Criminology,” and Michelle tells us about her participation in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, which informs much of her research, teaching and blogging.

But first, Jesse’s Discovery Pick: an article published in Criminology that compares the attitudes of whites and blacks toward our country’s high rate of black male imprisonment.

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Next week, we take a break from the bloggers and return to interviews with authors from our print publication. We’ll speak with Sandra D. Westervelt and Kimberly J. Cook about Coping with Innocence After Death Row from our Fall 2008 issue.