Michelle Obama is one of the most iconic women of our time and one of the most beloved First Lady in U.S. history. Her memoir “Becoming” has been a book that is giving us life in a year filled with crises. 

For this episode, hosts Ina and Afra invited Dr. Guo Ting at the University of Hong Kong to talk about Michell Obama’s memoir—the lessons we can and cannot learn from her journey. 

We talked about: 

• What’s Michelle’s source of power and faith that allowed her to defy societal expectations every step of the way? 
• Financial wealth vs. wealth in human capital in Black families 
• What’s the role of lifelong female friendships? Why is female friendship almost absent in so much of our cultural conversation and collective consciousness? 
• What does the role of First Lady mean in American politics, society? How has that role changed over the decades? 
• How did the Obamas manage to push the society’s understanding of race? How have they adjusted their goals throughout the eight years? 
• Has the book fallen short of addressing systemic, societal problems that affect individual accomplishments?

This episode is edited by: Joshua Ogden-Davis

Links：

The Social Sex: History of Female Friendship by Marilyn Yalom

郭婷︱闺蜜史：友情是磅礴的革命

田安（Anna Shields）：《知我者：中唐的文人友谊与文学文化》（One Who Knows Me: Friendship and Literary Culture in Mid-Tang）

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