Severance Radio: A Nevada Reads Book Club

In this episode, two scholars of English literature, Katherine Fusco and Stephen Pasqualina, investigate one of the most unsettling signs of the apocalypse in popular culture: the rise of the undead. Join us for a conversation about the mythology of zombies and the zombie trope in Severance. 

Katherine Fusco writes about the way different media forms shape identity and encourage us to be either cruel or kind to one another. After completing a Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University, she spent several years working as the assistant director of the Vanderbilt Writing Studio. Since arriving at the University of Nevada, Reno, she has been proud to have her teaching honored by the Crowley Distinguished Professorship in the Core Humanities. She teaches courses on film, theory, and 19th and 20th century American literature at the University of Nevada, Reno. Katherine also writes about pop-culture for a number of national outlets.

Stephen Pasqualina is a postdoctoral fellow in the Core Humanities Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. He completed his Ph.D. in the department of English at the University of Southern California. While working toward his Ph.D., he attended the School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University and the Futures of American Studies Institute at Dartmouth College. His research focuses primarily on modernist literature and visual culture, transnational American studies, science and technology studies, critical race studies, and 20th century historiography and historical theory. His current research is focused on how Zora Neale Hurston's writing, film, and photography mediates the long history of colonial slavery. This work is part of a larger book project that examines the relationship between second-stage industrialization and the U.S. historical imaginary from 1880 to 1945.

DISCUSSED

Haitian zombie myth, French colonialism, slavery, The Serpent and the Rainbow (film) by Wade Davis, White Zombies (film) by Bela Lugosi, The Magic Island (book) by William Seabrook, 1915 - 1934 US occupation of Haiti, The Walking Dead, Tell My Horse (book) by Zora Neale Hurston, Night of the Living Dead & Dawn of the Dead (films) by George Romero, Get Out (film) by Jordan Peele, Dawn of the Dead (2004 film) by Zac Snyder

In this episode, Severance Radio host Heidi Kyser interviews two public health experts, Jennifer Carson and Marya Shegog, as they examine who is most vulnerable in a pandemic. 

Jennifer Carson works to envision and develop opportunities for individual and collective growth to combat ageism and ableism, and improve the inclusion and well-being of elders, with a particular interest in persons living with dementia. Jennifer is Director of the Dementia Engagement, Education and Research (DEER) Program in the School of Community Health Sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno. Jennifer also partners with the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine’s Sanford Center for Aging on a U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program grant. Her role is to provide comprehensive education for care partners of persons living with dementia and to conduct statewide outreach for the Improving Care of Elders through Community and Academic Partnerships (ICECAP Nevada) initiative, which includes interprofessional geriatrics and dementia care training for primary care providers, health professions students, long-term care professionals and family care partners.

Marya Shegog joined The Lincy Institute in September 2012 as its Director of Health Programs. She has worked as a research scientist for several federal and corporate entities and as director of a unique after-school program for children and emerging adults in urban, low-income communities. An advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness in minority communities, she has increased capacity among community-based organizations throughout the U.S. to better meet local needs while respecting each organization’s mission and vision. In addition to UNLV, she has held faculty/teaching positions at Hampton University, the University of South Carolina, and Cincinnati State College. She is a frequent speaker and facilitator at conferences, forums, and classes where she helps cultivate cultural competency among health care professionals. Her teaching and research interests focus on effectively identifying and addressing health disparities in order to eradicate them, developing cultural competency in health care, and shaping healthy communities through policy, programming, planning, and evaluation.

DISCUSSED

Loneliness, homelessness, mental health, ableism, the dehumanization of the “fevered”, rituals, structural oppression in public health, working conditions, economy vs human lives

For 14 weeks, Severance Radio will dissect a single book: Severance, the satirical, dystopian novel by Ling Ma. This book is a mixture of immigrant family story, corporate satire, and global health crisis. In this episode, producers Stephanie Gibson, Kathleen Kuo, and Sara Ortiz discuss how Severance Radio came to be, and how we relate to each other during a pandemic. 

Severance Radio is an on-air book club dissecting Ling Ma’s satirical, dystopian novel Severance. The novel is a moving family story that explores loneliness, corporate monotony, and survival in the midst of a global health crisis.

Severance Radio: A Nevada Reads Book Club is jointly produced by Nevada Humanities and the Black Mountain Institute, and is part of Nevada Reads, a statewide program of Nevada Humanities. This program is made possible with the support of Nevada Humanities, Black Mountain Institute, Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records, The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Nevada Center for the Book. The Nevada Center for the Book is a program of Nevada Humanities and is the state affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.