Best USC Bedrosian Center Podcasts (2024)

1
The 1619 Project 1:27:50

2+ y ago1:27:50

1:27:50

This is the last episode of the Bedrosian Bookclub in this incarnation, it's been a blast. We discuss the importance of The 1619 Project, the book, the project, and it's impact on our political discourse. Why should we pay attention to history, how does the historical narrative of a country affect the way we face the future? Aubrey Hicks is joined …

1
Eat the Mouth That Feeds You 1:03:25

2+ y ago1:03:25

1:03:25

Three votes for Carribean Fragoza’s Eat the Mouth that Feeds You to be something every high school senior is exposed to. This debut collection of short stories is genius, this is late 20th early 21st century Southern California. This is Chicanx, this is Latinx, this is SoCal, this is women, this is body horror, magic realism all in 120 pages. Ten s…

1
Anna Harvey 21:15

2+ y ago21:15

21:15

Jeff speaks with Anna Harvey, Professor of Politics; Affiliated Professor of Data Science and Law; Director, Public Safety Lab at NYU about research and more. Harvey’s research focuses on criminal justice, policing, judicial politics, and political economy. Email: bedrosian.center@usc.edu Twitter: @BedrosianCenter…

1
Covered With Night 1:20:21

2+ y ago1:20:21

1:20:21

Now, in the tail end of 2021, discourse about restorative justice and public safety lack imagination. We tend to “do what we’ve always done.” NYU Historian Nicole Eustace brings us the story of the search for justice following the 1722 murder of a Native American man at the hands of two White men. Covered With Night is a detailed history of how the…

1
Michael Olson 20:37

2+ y ago20:37

20:37

Jeff speaks with Michael Olson, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Washington University at St. Louis about research and more. Olson’s research focuses on political representation using historic and contemporary observational data. Email: bedrosian.center@usc.edu Twitter: @BedrosianCenterBy USC Bedrosian Center

1
House of Leaves 1:57:14

2+ y ago1:57:14

1:57:14

Ostensibly, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, is about a young man who finds a manuscript in a dead man’s apartment. This experimental novel, released in 2000, takes a cinematic approach to the novel – creating a novel experience in time and space. The dead man, Zampano, was an elderly blind man writing an academic critique of The Navidson Re…

1
Not a Nation of Immigrants 1:13:20

2+ y ago1:13:20

1:13:20

In Not a Nation of Immigrants, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz strives to look at the ever morphing population of the United States, to uncover the why and how of the mythology that pervades political discourse on American history. In part, Dunbar-Ortiz recognizes that the looming problems of climate change, polarization, and authoritarianism cannot be fought…

1
Zhao Li 20:22

2+ y ago20:22

20:22

Jeff speaks with Zhao Li, Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Li studies institutional and behavioral factors in donor decision making in contemporary American Politics. She recently gave a research talk at USC Price, looking at the connections between Fox News and GOP campaign rallies and finances. Recent wo…

1
Unconventional Combat (Author Interview) 35:08

2+ y ago35:08

35:08

An interview with author of Unconventional Combat, Michael A. Messner. Messner's latest book is an intimate look at 6 historically excluded veterans and their post military careers as activists in intersectional peace movements. Explore the ways these veterans are taking their situated knowledge to create a better future.…

1
The Atmospherians 1:29:24

2+ y ago1:29:24

1:29:24

A "canceled" influencer. A lonely man looking for attention. White men adrift in hoards, no memory of the violence or good they've done. Enter The Atmosphere, a new retreat where men can detox from social media and learn to become human again. A cult. This first novel from Alex McElroy is a doozy; capturing the manic craziness of the last decade, t…

1
The Brutish Museums 1:37:53

3y ago1:37:53

1:37:53

The Brutish Museums by Dan Hicks is a necrography wherein each stolen item from Benin City is an ongoing event: each event a story of colonial violence told and retold through daily viewings by tourists and school children. It is also a "calling in" for museum curators to work toward a future of restitution; a future of museums free of stolen objec…

1
The Shadow of the Wind 1:15:47

3y ago1:15:47

1:15:47

This month we're thinking about history, collections, and stories. How do stories evolve over time, how do stories shape history, how do they make their way through time and space? Carlos Ruiz Zafón's novel The Shadow of the Wind is one of the best-sellingist books of all time. A story within a story, young Daniel finds a novel, The Shadow of the W…

1
The Fact of a Body 1:24:11

3y ago1:24:11

1:24:11

The Fact of a Body by *Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich is a true crime memoir. After encountering the child murderer Ricky Langley, Alexandria's desire to work as a lawyer to fight against the death penalty is up-ended. They spend several years investigating Ricky's story as a way to confront the story of their own child abuse. This is a deeply moving…

1
Emergent Stategy 1:36:58

3y ago1:36:58

1:36:58

Polarization is at a high point, political violence surrounds us, joblessness, homelessness, the country's need to face the great wrongs of the past, and the specter of climate change hanging over all of this. What if ...? What if we imagined a different future? How can we rethink leadership for a new age? How can we relate to one another amidst co…

1
All We Can Save 1:18:24

3y ago1:18:24

1:18:24

Activists, scientists, most of us ... we know that the truth of the climate crisis is monumental. It's overwhelming the size, scope, interconnectedness of the problem. All We Can Save asks us to rethink, reimagine, and co-create a possible future. It's easy to imagine the worst ... in this collection of essays and poems, the authors bring a unique …

1
The Nature of Desert Nature 1:13:17

3y ago1:13:17

1:13:17

Ostensibly, editor Gary Paul Nabhan's collection of friends' essays, The Nature of Desert Nature is about the desert. Rather ... it's human nature that we encounter delving into this collection of essays. The writers reminisce on their own beingness as they encountering one specific desert: the Sonoran. The Sonoron is the desert covers vast area in…

1
Twilight of Democracy 1:40:28

3y ago1:40:28

1:40:28

Twilight of Democracy is a memoir. It is also a condemnation of the many intellectuals and opportunists who have not only given up on democracy, but given up on truth. Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize winning author, recalls the last 20 years in Poland, Hungary, the United Kingdom, and briefly, the United States. What drew many of people she thought …

1
Caste 1:15:46

3y ago1:15:46

1:15:46

In direct contrast to the myth of the "American Dream," we live in a society in which factors outside of our control determine our fates. From skin color to zip code, only the lucky or exceptionally determined are able to break free of the invisible chains binding them to their caste. In Isabel Wilkerson's latest book, Caste, the Hindu caste system…

1
Miguel Pereira 22:35

3y ago22:35

22:35

Jeffery speaks with new USC Dornsife assistant professor Miguel Pereira about research and experiments in political science. Pereira's research focuses on political representation and the behavior of political elites in established democracies, with a focus on causal inference. In addition, he shares some new research looking at responsiveness of l…

1
One of Us 1:14:36

3y ago1:14:36

1:14:36

What does it mean to belong? What does it mean to be an individual, to have an identity? How does one become normal? Who gets to decide what is normal? In One of Us, Alice Domurat Dreger uses stories of conjoined twins to help readers through questions of identity, othering, and belonging. Aubrey Hicks is joined by Christine Beckman, Liz Falletta, …

1
Rachel VanSickle-Ward and Kevin Wallsten 24:31

3y ago24:31

24:31

In this episode, Jeff speaks with Rachel VanSickle-Ward and Kevin Wallsten. In The Politics of the Pill, the two authors explore how gender has shaped contemporary debates over contraception policy in the U.S. Within historical context, they examine the impact that women and perceptions of gender roles had on media coverage, public opinion, policy …

1
Solutions and Other Problems 52:52

3y ago52:52

52:52

"The first time I can remember feeling truly powerless, I was three, and I was trapped sideways in a bucket in the garage." The first line of Allie Brosh's latest illustrated memoir, Solutions and Other Problems, lets the audience know that we still can know what to expect her to say. Using short illustrated essays, stories of her life, Brosh walks…

1
A Promised Land 1:32:53

3y ago1:32:53

1:32:53

Reading A Promised Land by Barack Obama in January 2021 is a bit of a trip. In some places, the reader feels the swell of nostalgia, the remembrance of governance and a time free of COVID-19. Other times, the juxtaposition Obama's words, with a deep reverence for democracy, and the insurrection of January 6th feels painful. A Promise Land is part o…

1
Accelerating Fair Chance Hiring 44:11

3y ago44:11

44:11

In our new series on Community Impact we speak with Victoria Ciudad-Real, John Roberson III, Gary Painter, and Jeffery Wallace about findings from their collaborative project Accelerating Fair Chance Hiring among Los Angeles employers. The project, in which the Price Center partnered with LeadersUp and the State of California Workforce Accelerator …

1
Parable of the Sower 1:21:54

3y ago1:21:54

1:21:54

Octavia Butler's 1993 novel, Parable of the Sower, was listed as a New York Times bestseller for the first time in September 2020. Parable is the story of a 15-year-old Black girl with plans to save civilization. Lauren was brought up in a small walled community in Southern California. America is in the middle of a heated election and facing deep e…

1
Economic Roundtable’s Locked Out Report 57:24

3+ y ago57:24

57:24

For this bonus episode, we’re talking with Daniel Flaming & Anthony Orlando on the new report on homelessness in the time of COVID (and after). The Economic Roundtable report uses past pandemic and past recession data to predict how COVID joblessness will translate into homelessness over the coming years. Looking at joblessness as well as the housi…

1
The Book Truck & Teen Literacy 1:11:24

3+ y ago1:11:24

1:11:24

In today's bonus episode, we speak with Elizabeth Dragga (Founder of The Book Truck) and Julie Sandor about the work they do to support young book nerds throughout LA County. "The future is limited for teens with low literacy skills. Underserved teens face tremendous barriers to reading. Fortunately, that’s where The Book Truck comes in. We improve…

1
A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear 2:00:23

3+ y ago2:00:23

2:00:23

What better way to end a hard year than to visit Grafton, New Hampshire as author Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling as he reports on the people who lived there during the Free Town Project? In the new book, A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear, Hongoltz-Hetling follows Graftonites and some "colonizers' who saw it as the perfect place to build a utopian community…

1
How Do Renters Cope with Unaffordability? 1:05:05

3+ y ago1:05:05

1:05:05

This episode is a bit different but we decided this was too good to pass up. We aren’t discussing a book today, rather we’re going to cover another important report out of the USC Price School of Public Policy. In October we spoke to folks from the Price Center for Social Innovation and the Safe Communities institute about criminal justice. Today .…

1
Just Us: An American Conversation 1:25:33

3+ y ago1:25:33

1:25:33

In Citizen, Claudia Rankine wrote: “Because white men can’t / police their imagination / black people are dying." In her follow-up book, Just Us: An American Conversation, Rankine comes back to her exploration of conversation and the racial imaginary of the United States. Through the practice of making conversation, creating an entangled empathy, t…

1
Melissa Lee 24:09

3+ y ago24:09

24:09

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins speaks with Melissa Lee, Assistant Professor of Politics & International Affairs, Princeton University. They begin discussing a recent project in which Lee and co-author study the change in civic language reflecting the change in thinking about the U.S. as a collection of states to …

1
Clayton Nall 22:40

3+ y ago22:40

22:40

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins speaks with Clayton Nall, Assistant Professor UCSB. Nall looks to explain how spatial policies change American politics. These discuss Nall's research on housing policy preferences and party affiliation and how building highways in the 1950s worked to build Republican suburbs (incre…

1
The Auctioneer 1:35:06

3+ y ago1:35:06

1:35:06

The Auctioneer was released in 1976 with a campaign that likened it to "The Lottery.” That the novel reflects an ongoing fascination with the broken dream of a peaceful rural life. Set in a farming community in New Hampshire, the Joan Samson creates a town of residents bracing for change, unsure of the future and looking toward an understood past. …

1
NDSC Criminal Justice Data Report 49:22

3+ y ago49:22

49:22

This episode is a bit different but we decided this was too good to pass up. We aren't discussing a book today, rather we're going to cover an important report out of the USC Price School of Public Policy. Given recent events, the findings of this report can help us understand why and how the dialogue between communities and law enforcement is so f…

1
Jared Rubin 38:07

3+ y ago38:07

38:07

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins speaks with Jared Rubin, Professor in the Argyros School of Business and Economics at Chapman University. Rubin is an economic historian interested in the political and religious economies of the Middle East and Western Europe. His research focuses on historical relationships betwee…

1
The Ghost Map 1:12:15

3+ y ago1:12:15

1:12:15

The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson, focuses on an outbreak of cholera in central London in 1854. John Snow, a doctor who theorized that cholera was waterborne, used the opportunity to collect data to prove his theory. Meanwhile the neighborhood vicar, Henry Whitehead, wanted to prove him wrong. Johnson argues that the work of these two men ushered in…

1
Christian Fong 28:12

3+ y ago28:12

28:12

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins speaks with Christian Fong, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. Fong's research focus is legislative politics. Recent work is on reciprocity in Congress questions the motivation for cooperation. They discuss recent research, Congressional leadership, as well as method…

1
The Affordable City (Author Interview) 59:31

3+ y ago59:31

59:31

An interview with author of The Affordable City by Shane Phillips. (Follow Phillips on Twitter: @ShaneDPhillips) Shane Phillips believes that effectively tackling the housing crisis requires that cities support both tenant protections and housing abundance. There is no single solution to the housing crisis—it will require a comprehensive approach b…

1
The Address Book (author interview) 42:16

3+ y ago42:16

42:16

An interview with author of The Address Book, Deirdre Mask. The Address Book is a broad look at the invention and proliferation of the address. Relatively new, addresses were first a way for royals to count their subjects. Today, addresses can reflect our identity, our history, our race, and our access to opportunity. With the postal service in jeo…

1
Michael Hankinson 20:54

3+ y ago20:54

20:54

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins talks with Michael Hankinson, Assistant Professor of Political Science at George Washington University. Hankinson's work focuses on how institutional spatial scale affects political behavior to undermine democratic representation. They discuss institutional scale and how institution…

1
The Address Book 1:20:31

3+ y ago1:20:31

1:20:31

The Address Book is a dive into the deep waters of the meaning of addresses, often with tangents into the weird and interesting lives of people throughout history. Beginning with some of the first addressing projects in Europe, we get the sense that something as simple as a number and street name can mean more than we could possibly imagine. 🎧 Host…

1
The City We Became 1:26:27

3+ y ago1:26:27

1:26:27

Hey! It's our 100th episode! Thanks so much for listening! Today we're discussing award winning novelist N.K. Jemisin's The City We Became, bringing New York City alive in the first of a new series. It is the story of New York City: the story of its history, its people, the land, the place, and the layers that build to become something greater than…

1
Care (author interview) 38:50

4y ago38:50

38:50

An interview with author of Care: Stories, Christopher Records. (Follow Records on Twitter: @cdrecords001) Care: Stories is the fiction debut by USC Price alum, Christopher Records. Records aims to show "ordinary queer people living ordinary lives in an ordinary place." The ordinary place in question is the Inland Empire, which depending on who is …

1
The Murmur of Bees 1:21:27

4y ago1:21:27

1:21:27

Our host, Dr. Lisa Schweitzer, chose Sofía Segovia's The Murmur of Bees (translated by Simon Bruni) in August of 2019. It seemed like it would be a good sprawling family saga to read the next summer. Come June 2020, the choice would be prescient. The novel is, indeed, a sprawling family saga ... one set in the midst of the Mexican Revolution and th…

1
No Turning Back 1:38:39

4y ago1:38:39

1:38:39

An 18 year old Mohammad Darwish cries out, "We want freedom!" A revolution begins in the city of Rastan, Syria. April 1st, 2011. For many years, journalist Rania Abouzeid spends time near or inside Syria to interview the Syrian people through the many years of internal (with added external) conflict in the country. No Turning Back is the story of t…

1
Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968 49:50

4y ago49:50

49:50

Another bonus episode! Host Lisa discusses the book Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968 by Center Director, Jeffery Jenkins and Boris Heersink (Fordham). Heersink and Jenkins examine how National Convention politics allowed the South to remain important to the Republican Party after Reconstruction. They trace how Republican …

1
Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger 1:26:56

4y ago1:26:56

1:26:56

We spent #EarthDay2020 talking about environmental justice. We spoke about an intriguing new book by UCDavis Prof. Julie Sze. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing the results of persistent injustices, as the virus affecting marginalized communities harder, with more dire consequences. What must we learn from environmental justice struggles …

1
Betraying Big Brother 1:25:58

4y ago1:25:58

1:25:58

Can a groundswell of feminist activism threaten an authoritarian patriarchal regime? Author, Leta Hong Fincher looks at this question through the study of women in China. In Betraying Big Brother, Fincher examines the current feminist movement in China. Following the "feminist five," the reader is exposed to the history of the changing roles of wom…