In the aftermath of the 1992 LA Uprisings, Anna Deavere Smith crafted TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, a play based on Smith’s interviews with over 200 Los Angeles residents. 

30 years later, through the lens of TWILIGHT, we ask: how can the arts advance social justice? Can they help us understand structural racism, as more than individual prejudice? Can they provide models for working through conflict? Can they show us both possibilities and limits to our strategies for social change?

Today we are in conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, distinguished poet and President of the Mellon Foundation.  Dr. Alexander was one of the dramaturgs on Twilight; at the time she was teaching at the University of Chicago. Dr. Alexander shows us the transformative power of the arts, humanities, and progressive philanthropy to transform the present and help to create more just, more equitable futures. 

The Arts of Racial Reckoning is executive produced by Dorinne Kondo.

This episode was edited by David Badstubner.

The Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Public Culture is generously funded by USC Dornsife and the Mellon Foundation.

In the aftermath of the 1992 LA Uprisings, Anna Deavere Smith crafted TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, a play based on Smith’s interviews with over 200 Los Angeles residents. 

30 years later, through the lens of TWILIGHT, we ask: how can the arts advance social justice? Can they help us understand structural racism, as more than individual prejudice? Can they provide models for working through conflict? Can they show us both possibilities and limits to our strategies for social change?

Today we speak with two other dramaturgs who are prominent figures in their respective fields of theater, journalism, and literature: Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival and Héctor Tobar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist. What was their experience with the making of TWILIGHT? What changes do they see since 1993, both in their fields and in terms of race relations in this country? 

The Arts of Racial Reckoning is executive produced by Dorinne Kondo.

This episode was edited by David Badstubner.

The Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Public Culture is generously funded by USC Dornsife and the Mellon Foundation.

In the aftermath of the 1992 LA Uprisings, Anna Deavere Smith crafted TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, a play based on Smith’s interviews with over 200 Los Angeles residents. 

30 years later, through the lens of TWILIGHT, we ask: how can the arts advance social justice? Can they help us understand structural racism, as more than individual prejudice? Can they provide models for working through conflict? Can they show us both possibilities and limits to our strategies for social change?

The Arts of Racial Reckoning is executive produced by Dorinne Kondo.

This episode was produced and edited by Allyson M. Holley.

The Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Public Culture is generously funded by USC Dornsife and the Mellon Foundation.

Evelyn Alsultany interviews Belquis Elhadi Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan on “Muslims Firsts,” particularly Muslim women who wear the hijab and are celebrated for being “the first” to do something. We talk about Noor Tagouri, the first Muslim woman to pose in Playboy magazine, what it means to be a first, and how it works in the market. 

Editor: Esteban Ramirez

Producer: Allyson M. Holley

The Muslims as Seen on TV podcast is produced and distributed by the Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Public Culture, a faculty-led initiative spearheaded by Professor Karen Tongson at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College that brings together researchers exploring shifts in gender, race, and sexuality in popular culture, while also translating that research for the public square. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Consortium is functioning as a start-up podcast network within the Department of Gender & Sexuality Studies, and working with both faculty and students to produce informative audio stories in multiple genres. 

Evelyn Alsultany interviews Kam Copeland, Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California on representations of Black Muslims in the US media. The focus is on how images of Black Muslims have changed over time, from the 1959 documentary “The Hate That Hate Produced,” the 1977 TV miniseries, “Roots,” the 1993 feature film “Menace II Society,” to the 2005 TV drama “Sleeper Cell.”  

Editor: Esteban Ramirez

Producer: Allyson M. Holley

The Muslims as Seen on TV podcast is produced and distributed by the Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Public Culture, a faculty-led initiative spearheaded by Professor Karen Tongson at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College that brings together researchers exploring shifts in gender, race, and sexuality in popular culture, while also translating that research for the public square. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Consortium is functioning as a start-up podcast network within the Department of Gender & Sexuality Studies, and working with both faculty and students to produce informative audio stories in multiple genres. 

Playwright and Vida showrunner Tanya Saracho joins USC professor Elda María Román to talk about how Latinx representation on the stage, page and screen (both big and small) are never an easy task. Instead they invite writers to think and work through all sorts of nuance, "messiness," and breadth. Their discussion affirms how and why our identities can never be seen as monolithic.   Produced and distributed by The Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Popular Culture, a faculty-led initiative at USC Dornsife. 

Julien and Sofia, the founders of “the Loft,” find their first flatmates, and transform their messy rental into a dream space for all sorts of creative endeavors. Also, we ask the “Loft Kids” how 7-14 street dancing strangers coming from all over the world, speaking different languages, with different cultures, racial backgrounds and sexual orientations, how they all got along together in a space with no locks on doors, one bathroom, and a stranger on every couch. How did the Loft Kids create a way of surviving and thriving across their differences and how did the experience impact their professional and personal journey?

Hosted by Edwin Hill. Dance Hubs is produced and distributed by The Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Popular Culture, a faculty-led initiative at USC Dornsife. 

It’s summer 2010. Julien and Sofia, two street dancers, one from France the other from Italy, find themselves in desperate need of a space to live, move, and breathe in New York City. That’s when Julien decided to look into some lofts available in the old industrial Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Hosted by Edwin Hill. Dance Hubs is produced and distributed by The Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Popular Culture, a faculty-led initiative at USC Dornsife. 

Welcome to Dance Hubs, an audio series about spaces of creative movement where dancers assemble and exchange, dwell and get down, and pass through, as they navigate the national borders and global intersections of culture.

Hosted by Edwin Hill. Dance Hubs is produced and distributed by The Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Popular Culture, a faculty-led initiative at USC Dornsife. 

Evelyn Alsultany, Associate Professor in the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity at USC and author of Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11 interviews Sue Obeidi, Director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s Hollywood Bureau about the Obeidi-Alsultany Test, criteria they co-authored to assess representations of Muslims in Hollywood.    The Muslims as Seen on TV podcast is produced and distributed by the Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Popular Culture, a faculty-led initiative spearheaded by Professor Karen Tongson at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College that brings together researchers exploring shifts in gender, race, and sexuality in popular culture, while also translating that research for the public square. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Consortium is functioning as a start-up podcast network within the Department of Gender & Sexuality Studies, and working with both faculty and students to produce informative audio stories in multiple genres. This podcast is produced by audio engineer Allyson M. Holley.