American Campus Podcast

By Lauren Lassabe ShepherdEducation Arts Books History

American Campus Podcast episodes

June 17The right’s attempt to capture Western Civ and Jewish Studies with Emmaia Gelman
A nice companion episode to last week's on The West with Curtis Dozier.
References and suggested readings:
Emmaia Gelman. 2026. The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State. University of California Press.
Alice Speri. April 24, 2026. US universities are seeing an influx of ‘antisemitism centers’. Some Jewish scholars are worried. The Guardian.
Lauren Lassabe Shepherd. May 7, 2025. Old Project, New Vehicle: Conservative Civics and Leadership Institutes in Historical Context. Frontiers of American Reaction.
Sabri Jiryis. 2025. Foundations of Zionism, translated by Fida Jiryis. Ebb Books.
Rana Barakat. 2026. Ongoing Return: Mapping Memory and Storytelling in Palestine. University of North Carolina Press.
Emmaia Gelman’s website
Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism website
Peer-Reviewed Journal: JCSZ
Instagram: @institutecsz
Podcast: Unpacking Zionism
Follow Emmaia Gelman on Instagram and Bluesky
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39 min
June 14The West with Curtis Dozier
Athens, Jerusalem, and sometimes Rome.
References and suggested readings:
Curtis Dozier. 2026. The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate. Yale University Press.
Why white nationalists love Plato with Curtis Dozier
Anders Stephanson. 2025. American Imperatives: The Cold War and Other Measures. Verso.
Naoíse Mac Sweeney. 2023. The West: A New History in Fourteen Lives. Dutton.
Stephen Graham Jones. 2021. The Only Good Indians. S&S/Saga Press.
Dozier’s website, Pharos: Doing Justice to the Classics, Pharos on Facebook
Curtis Dozier on BlueSky
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33 min
June 10What are universities for? with Marc Spooner
A small question!
References and suggested readings:
Marc Spooner and James McNinch, eds. 2026. Knowledge Under Siege: Charting a Future for Universities. University of Regina Press.
Marc Spooner and James McNich, eds. 2018. Dissident Knowledge in Higher Education. University of Regina Press.
Ellen Schrecker. 1986. No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities.
AAUP’s 1915 Declaration and 1940 Statement
Michael Atzmon, John Cheney-Lippold, Gary D. Krenz, and Melanie S. Tanielian, eds. 2026. In the Spirit of H. Chandler Davis. Disobedience Press.
Brian Soucek. 2026. The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education. University of Chicago Press.
The Opinionated University episode with Brian Soucek
Creating the AAUP episode with Hank Reichman
Marc Spooner’s faculty page
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35 min
June 07Quentin Deranque, the French Charlie Kirk with Jonathan Hauser
References and suggested readings:
The Wild Robot
Hoppers
Jonathan Hauser’s website and LinkedIn
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35 min
June 03Alpha Kappa Alpha with Deborah E. Whaley
On all things AKA
References and suggested readings:
Deborah E. Whaley. 2010. Disciplining Women: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Black Counterpublics, and the Cultural Politics of Black Sororities. SUNY Press.
Twenty Pearls: The Story of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority documentary
Stephanie Y. Evans. 2021. Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace. SUNY Press.
Deborah Whaley’s website, faculty page, and on Instagram at @dewhaley and @afrovegan.in.the.world
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42 min
May 31How class is reproduced in elite private schools with Emma Taylor
References and suggested readings:
Emma Taylor. 2026. An Elite Education: How Privilege Is Produced in a Private School. Princeton University Press.
Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison. 2020. The Class Ceiling: Why It Pays to Be Privileged. Policy Press.
Michael Foucault. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.
Pierre Bourdieu and Loïc J D Wacquant. 1992. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. University of Chicago Press.
Karen Gravett. 2024. Relational Pedagogies: Connections and Mattering in Higher Education. Bloomsbury Academic.
Lauren White, Will Mason, Vicky Grant, Alison Romaine, Grace Cleary, and Shona Tulloch. April 2026. Towards a Pedagogy of Joy. British Journal of Sociology of Education.
Emma Taylor’s LinkedIn
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33 min
May 27Yuppies with Dylan Gottlieb
On good cheese and how the career services office destroyed the American economy
References and suggested readings:
Dylan Gottlieb. 2026. Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York. Harvard University Press.
Sam Tanenhaus. 2025. Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America. Penguin Random House.
God and Man at Yale episode with Sam Tanenhaus
Who Makes Cents: A History of Capitalism podcast
Check out Dylan’s website and follow him on Bluesky and Twitter
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32 min
May 24Teaching ‘80s and ‘90s pop culture to Gen Z with Austin McCoy
Ready to feel old?
References and suggested readings:
Austin McCoy. 2026. Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age: The Music, Culture, and World De La Soul Made. Simon and Schuster.
De La Soul. 1989. Me, Myself, and I.
Flo Rida ft. T-Pain. 2009. Low (Apple Bottom Jeans).
Hip-Hop Evolution. Netflix.
OutKast. 2000. B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad).
Keith Jopling. 2026. Body of Work: How the Album Outplayed the Algorithm and Survived Playlist Culture. Repeater.
Liz Pelly Mood Machine. 2025. Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist. Atria/One Signal Publishers.
Austin McCoy’s website
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37 min
May 20The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy with AJA Woods
References and suggested readings:
AJA Woods. 2026. The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West. Verso Books.
Paul Hanebrink. 2020. A Specter Haunting Europe: The Myth of Judeo-Bolshevism. Belknap.
The Frankfurt School Comes to US episode with Jonathan Fine
Matt Bernstein. May 15, 2026. The Tucker Carlson Problem (with Naomi Klein). A Bit Fruity.
Anton Jäger. 2026. Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences. Verso.
Julian Barnes. 2026. Departure(s). Knopf.
Follow AJ on Twitter @adubwoods, Bluesky @ajawoods.bsky.social
Anticapitalist Resistance Brighton on Instagram @acrbrighton
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37 min
May 17Institutional Review Boards with Marco Antonio Ramos
And why the IRB exempts humanities research.
References and suggested readings:
Marco Ramos’s faculty page
Community Histories Lab Yale University Lab
Laura Stark. 2012. Behind Closed Doors: IRBs and the Makings of Ethical Research. University of Chicago Press.
Annika Norlin. 2025. The Colony (translated by Alice E Olsson). Europa Editions.
Courtney E. Thompson and Kylie M. Smith, eds. 2025. Do Less Harm: Ethical Questions for Health Historians. Johns Hopkins University Press.
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45 min