OMNIA Podcast

When Covid-19 delivered a disproportionate blow to communities of color, environmental hazards like air pollution, that are all too frequently present in these communities, was one of the contributing factors cited by experts. The idea that race is a factor in determining who has access to resources that allow a community to thrive is not so much news as it is a part of the American story. Today, there is a wider recognition that environmental racism is one of many forms of systemic racism, and that environmental justice and climate change are interconnected problems.

Guests:

Herman Beavers, Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt President's Distinguished Professor of English and Africana Studies

Daniel Aldana Cohen, Assistant Professor of Sociology

Tsemone Ogbemi, C'21, Penn Program in Environmental Humanities Public Research Intern

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Produced by Loraine Terrell

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein and Loraine Terrell 

Interviews by Susan Ahlborn, Blake Cole, Lauren Rebecca Thacker

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions 

Illustration by Adriana Bellet

Logo by Drew Nealis

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first season of In These Times. 

To hear the full 1.5 Minute Climate Lectures mentioned in this episode visit the series website. 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni. 

Follow Penn Arts & Sciences on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

During the worldwide protests that followed the death of George Floyd, demonstrators mobilized to challenge the representations of history presented by some of the monuments and memorials that occupy our public squares. In this episode we hear from an anthropologist, a sociologist, and an art historian, who reflect on why there has been such a focus on these symbols in this moment, how they shape our historical narrative and myths, and how we should move forward.

Guests:

Margaret Bruchac, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Coordinator of Native American and Indigenous Studies

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Class of 1940 Bicentennial Term Associate Professor of History of Art

Tukufu Zuberi, Lasry Professor of Race Relations in the Departments of Sociology and Africana Studies

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Produced by Susan Ahlborn

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein, Brooke Sietinson, and Loraine Terrell 

Interviews by Susan Ahlborn, Loraine Terrell, and Alex Schein

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions 

Illustration by Adriana Bellet

Logo by Drew Nealis

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first season of In These Times. 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni. 

Follow Penn Arts & Sciences on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

Racism and discrimination are more than individual problems—they are part of institutions that have far-reaching impact. In this episode we hear from a professor of sociology, education, and Africana Studies who delves into discusses discrimination in higher education and explores how modern racial attitudes shape and are shaped by the places in which people live. We also drop in on a conversation between two criminologists who discuss policing procedures like stop and frisk and examine disparities in the criminal justice system.

Guests:

Camille Zubrinsky Charles, Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor in the Social Sciences, Professor of Sociology, Africana Studies & Education

John MacDonald, Professor of Criminology and Sociology

Charles Loeffler, Associate Professor of Criminology

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Produced by Blake Cole

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein, Brooke Sietinson, and Loraine Terrell 

Interviews by Blake Cole and Loraine Terrell

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions 

Illustration by Adriana Bellet

Logo by Drew Nealis

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first season of In These Times. 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni. 

Follow Penn Arts & Sciences on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

As we worked on our third episode, the news broke about the shooting in Atlanta that left eight people dead, including six women of Asian descent. This tragic event comes after more than a year of rising violence against members of Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities. In this special episode, we talk to Josephine Park, Professor and Undergraduate Chair of English and Director of the Asian American Studies Program, about the shooting, the history of anti-Asian racism in U.S. politics and culture, and the formation of the Asian American identity as an explicitly political act.

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Produced by Lauren Rebecca Thacker

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein 

Interview by Lauren Rebecca Thacker

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions 

Illustration by Adriana Bellet

Logo by Drew Nealis

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first season of In These Times. 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni. 

Follow Penn Arts & Sciences on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

The enslavement of Black people was supported by a legal system that including everything from laws preventing legal marriage to those restricting movement and access to education. When slavery was abolished, this system did not go away. Instead, it evolved to include Jim Crow laws and 20th centuries policies including redlining and urban renewal. In this episode, we speak to two historians and an anthropologist about the violence embedded in our shared history and legacies that persist.

Featuring:

Heather Williams, Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought and Professor of Africana Studies

Brent Cebul, Assistant Professor of History

Deborah Thomas, R. Jean Brownlee Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Experimental Ethnography

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Produced by Lauren Rebecca Thacker

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein and Brooke Sietinsons 

Interviews by Lauren Rebecca Thacker, Jane Carroll, and Blake Cole

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and  Lobo Loco 

Illustration by Adriana Bellet

Logo by Drew Nealis

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first season of In These Times. 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni. 

Follow Penn Arts & Sciences on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

Last fall we launched our podcast, “In These Times” with an examination of COVID-19 and its far-reaching impacts. We spoke with students and faculty who shared their personal experiences with the epidemic, along with perspectives drawn from history, science, politics and beyond. 

A recurring theme of our first season was the crisis within the COVID crisis: how racial inequality was playing out in the context of the pandemic, revealing itself in unequal health outcomes and boiling over with the death of George Floyd. 

This season, we wanted to dive more deeply into this theme, to focus on Black Lives and the Call for Justice. We’ll explore the nation’s complex history with race and consider some challenging questions: Who controls the narrative about the U.S.? How far have we moved beyond our history of enslavement and Jim Crow? Are we at a moment of reckoning? 

We wanted to begin season 2 of In These Times with a focus on that explosive moment of last summer, when millions of Americans of all races and ethnicities, in cities across the nation, joined in the Black Lives Matter movement. Shortly before we began our interviews, the Capitol was attacked by supporters of the former president, who sought to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election. 

In this episode, we’ll hear some reactions to this moment from faculty speakers who will be featured later in our season. We’ll also hear from two students who reflect on the events of the past year, and share a glimpse of their experiences, as young Black adults finding their path in a nation that has yet to come to terms with its legacy of racism and white supremacy. 

Featuring:

Heather Williams, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and a professor of Africana Studies

Camille Charles, Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor in the Social Sciences

Herman Beavers, Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt President’s Distinguished Professor of English and Africana Studies

Jelani Williams, C'20

Breanna Moore, C’15, Ph.D. candidate, Department of History

***

Produced by Loraine Terrell

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein and Loraine Terrell

Interviews by Loraine Terrell, Jane Carroll, and Lauren Rebecca Thacker 

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

Illustration by Adriana Bellet

Logo by Drew Nealis

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first season of In These Times. 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni. 

Follow Penn Arts & Sciences on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, as legislators counted and confirmed the votes in the Electoral College, rioters breached the Capitol building, forcing an evacuation of the House floor, including Vice President Pence. The events unfolded amidst President Trump having urged his supporters to fight against the ceremonial counting of the votes. The rioters, who could be heard calling police officers "traitors," eventually forced their way into the Senate chambers. The standoff resulted in five deaths.

In this bonus episode we talk to a constitutional scholar and a professor of sociology and Africana Studies about the events and what comes next.

Featuring:

Rogers Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science

Tukufu Zuberi, Lasry Family Professor of Race Relations, Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies

***

Produced by Blake Cole, Alex Schein, and Loraine Terrell

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein and Loraine Terrell

Interviews by Blake Cole, Alex Schein, and Loraine Terrell

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

Illustration by Nick Matej

Logo by Drew Nealis

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first season of In These Times. 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni. 

Follow Penn Arts & Sciences on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

The worldwide scale and scope of discontinuity, loss, and uncertainty has made the year of the pandemic like no other in recent memory. How are we processing this moment, and how do we move forward? In this episode, we talk to three students, who share how the COVID crisis has reshaped their undergraduate experience at Penn and their visions for the future. We also hear from a professor of English on the parallels between the traumas of the early 20th century and our current challenges, and an expert in the science of resilience offers her thoughts on coping with crisis.

FEATURING:

Omar Husni, C'22

Samira Mehta, C'21

James Nycz, C'21

Karen Reivich, Director of Resilience and Positive Psychology Training Programs, Penn Positive Psychology Center

Paul Saint-Amour, Walter and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor in the Humanities and Chair, Department of English

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Produced by Loraine Terrell

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein and Loraine Terrell

Interviews by Loraine Terrell, Susan Ahlborn, Alex Schein

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

Illustration by Nick Matej

Logo by Drew Nealis

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first season of In These Times. 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni. 

Follow Penn Arts & Sciences on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

COVID-19 wasn’t the only health crisis of 2020. In June, the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association declared that police violence, particularly against Black and brown communities, is a public health crisis that demands attention and action. Widespread protests drew attention this summer, but where do we go from there? In this episode, a lawyer and doctoral candidate in philosophy talks about placing the idea of repair at the center of conversations about justice, and Penn’s Chaplain and Vice President for Social Equity and Community tells us about his experiences as a Penn student and what he thinks about the future.

FEATURING:

Daniel Fryer, Doctoral Candidate in Philosophy and former Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia

Charles L. "Chaz" Howard, C'00, University Chaplain, and Vice President for Social Equity and Community

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Produced by Lauren Rebecca Thacker

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein and Brooke Sietinsons

Interviews by Lauren Rebecca Thacker

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

Illustration by Nick Matej

Logo by Drew Nealis

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first season of In These Times. 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni. 

Follow Penn Arts & Sciences on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

With rates of diagnoses and death disproportionately affecting racial minorities and low-income workers, experts in this episode address how COVID-19 has further exposed already dire health outcome inequalities.

We begin with a political scientist discussing how governmental policy drives health inequality, especially during times of crisis. Then, a Ph.D. student in history and sociology of science talks about how infectious microbes like the coronavirus can affect communities of people with genetic vulnerabilities. And finally, a professor of sociology, Africana studies, and law, discusses how the biological concept of race was invented as a way to justify racism and influence outcomes.

FEATURING:

Julia Lynch, Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies

Rebecca Mueller, doctoral candidate in the Department of History and Sociology of Science

Dorothy Roberts, George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology, Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights, and Professor of Africana Studies

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Produced by Blake Cole

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein and Brooke Sietinsons

Interviews by Blake Cole and Jane Carroll

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

Illustration by Nick Matej

Logo by Drew Nealis

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first season of In These Times. 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni. 

Follow Penn Arts & Sciences on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.