Podcasts

Rendering Life Molecular: An Interview

After reading Natasha Myers’s new book, the world begins to dance in new ways. Rendering Life Molecular: Models, Modelers, and Excitable Matter (Duke University Press, 2015) is a sensory ethnography of protein crystallographers that is based on five years of fieldwork conducted between 2003-2008 at a research university on the East Coast of the US. “Protein modelers are the scientists to watch in order to see what forms … Continue reading Rendering Life Molecular: An Interview

Unknown's avatarCarla Nappi
Podcasts

Rice: An Interview

The new edited volume by Francesca Bray, Peter Coclanis, Edda Fields-Black, and Dagmar Schaefer is a wonderfully interdisciplinary global history of rice, rooted in specific local cases, that spans 15 chapters written by specialists in the histories of Africa, the Americas, and several regions of Asia. Rice: Global Networks and New Histories (Cambridge University Press, 2015) creates a conversation among regional and disciplinary modes of studying and narrating rice histories that have often been conducted … Continue reading Rice: An Interview

Unknown's avatarCarla Nappi
Podcasts

The Age of Irreverence: An Interview

Christopher Rea’s new book explores five kinds of laughter that emerged from the tumultuous first decades of China’s twentieth century: jokes, play, mockery, farce, and humor. The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in China (University of California Press, 2015) takes a playful approach to approaching play – it’s not every book of Chinese history and literature that comes with a blurb by Eric Idle … Continue reading The Age of Irreverence: An Interview

Unknown's avatarCarla Nappi
Stories

Elizabeth Turvey (Historian of Flame), Pt. 1: An Art of Conversion

Meet Elizabeth Turvey, historian of flame. Before reading her first stories, learn a little bit about her and her particular approach to material history by heading over to the the first part of her life history, 1. An Art of Conversion. For more on the Elizabeths project in conjectural early modern historiography, check this out. Continue reading Elizabeth Turvey (Historian of Flame), Pt. 1: An Art of Conversion

Unknown's avatarCarla Nappi
Stories

Elizabeth Woodfall (Historian of Wind), Pt. 1: Stories in Dust and Song

Meet Elizabeth Woodfall, historian of wind. You may have read her first story (“The History of Feathers”), and now you can learn a little bit about her and her particular approach to local history by heading over to the the first part of her life history, 1. Stories in Dust and Song. For more on the Elizabeths project in conjectural early modern historiography, check this out. Continue reading Elizabeth Woodfall (Historian of Wind), Pt. 1: Stories in Dust and Song

Unknown's avatarCarla Nappi
Podcasts

Horror of Philosophy: An Interview

Eugene Thacker’s wonderful Horror of Philosophy series includes three books – In the Dust of this Planet (Zero Books, 2011), Starry Speculative Corpse (Zero Books, 2015), and Tentacles Longer than Night (Zero Books, 2015) – that collectively explore the relationship between philosophy (especially as it overlaps with demonology, occultism, and mysticism) and horror (especially of the supernatural sort). Each book takes on a particular problematic using a particular form from the history of philosophy, … Continue reading Horror of Philosophy: An Interview

Unknown's avatarCarla Nappi
Podcasts

Writing, Publishing, and Reading Local Gazetteers: An Interview

In late imperial China, how did local elites connect with and influence the central government? How was local information made and managed? How did the state incorporate frontier areas into the empire? How were books produced and read, and by whom? In his new book, Joseph R. Dennis helps answer these questions and more by studying the genre of local gazetteers. Focusing on the Ming period, Writing, Publishing, … Continue reading Writing, Publishing, and Reading Local Gazetteers: An Interview

Unknown's avatarCarla Nappi