The Podcast for Social Research

In episode 16 of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Isi and Ajay discuss the return of Tony Gilroy’s Andor. Before departing for a galaxy far, far away, they stop by the world of gaming to chat about Hazelight Studio’s latest co-op title, Split Fiction, and the impact of Trump’s tariffs on the rollout of Nintendo’s Switch 2. Turning to the first three episodes of Andor’s second season, Isi and Ajay discuss the show’s improbable presence in the Disney universe, the promises and perils of thinking with all-too-timely cultural objects, and formal and technical differences between seasons one and two. They then evaluate Gilroy’s attempt to balance the tone and feel of the original trilogy with a plausible account of fascist and imperial rule–one that explores the minutiae of bureaucratic hierarchy, financial audits, counterinsurgency tactics, fascist youth culture, the exploitation of undocumented workers, communication blackouts, and the fragility of political resistance. Along the way, they discuss Gilroy’s historical and filmic references, and the show’s resonances with long-time PCM favorite, Franz Neumann’s Behemoth.

The Podcast for Social Research is produced by Ryan Lentini.

Learn more about upcoming courses on our website.

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Direct download: Andor_04.25.25_BISR_V3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:40pm EST

For episode 88 of the Podcast for Social Research, BISR’s Rebecca Ariel Porte welcomed special guests—translator Katrina Dodson and songwriter and vocalist Lacy Rose—for an evening of reading, musical performance, and conversation honoring the enduring legacy of Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector. Occasioned by the release of Rose’s concept album Lispector, featuring the Starling Quartet, and Dodson’s Covert Joy, a selection of her translations of Lispector’s short stories, the three intersperse between reading and performance a discussion of Lispector’s work and the passionate attachments it inspires. What makes Lispector such a touchstone? What are the challenges of adapting her work to another language and another medium? What does it mean to find one’s own idiom through the work of another?

The Podcast for Social Research is produced by Ryan Lentini.

Learn more about upcoming courses on our website.

Follow Brooklyn Institute for Social Research on Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Bluesky

 

Direct download: Lispector_04.18.25_BISR_FInal1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:59pm EST

In episode 87 of the Podcast for Social Research, recorded live at BISR Central, BISR’s Rebecca Ariel Porte and Dilettante Army Editor-in-Chief Sara Clugage sat down with Kyla Wazana Tompkins to discuss her latest book, Deviant Matter: Ferment, Intoxicants, Jelly, Rot. The conversation touches on, among other things: food and the early history of the War on Drugs, the racialization of sugar, jelly and cocaine, food as a means for diagnosing entrenched political problems, and how plantation capitalism—and later, industrial capitalism—altered the sensory quality of everyday life. Along the way, they ask: what are the political uses of disgust? How have coffee, rum and sugar production transformed human experience? And—with Sylvia Wynter—how do we reconcile the immateriality of ideology with the materiality of the body?

The Podcast for Social Research is produced by Ryan Lentini.

Learn more about upcoming courses on our website.

Follow Brooklyn Institute for Social Research on Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Bluesky

Direct download: Podcast_for_Social_Research_EP.87_Deviant_Matter.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:24pm EST

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