The Short Fuse Podcast

Adam Kuper

Professor Adam Kuper  is an anthropologist and public intellectual. He has held positions at a number of universities  and is a recipient of the Huxley Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Kuper is the author or editor of 19 books and  has published over 100 journal articles focusing on anthropological theory, the history of anthropology in the US and Britain, and southern African societies and cultures. He has made numerous appearances on BBC TV and radio, and reviewed regularly for the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, and the Wall Street Journal. 

The Museum of Other People

Published by Penguin Random House, in this deeply researched, immersive history, Adam Kuper tells the story of how foreign and prehistoric peoples and cultures were represented in Western museums of anthropology. Originally created as colonial enterprises, their halls were populated by displays of plundered art, artifacts, dioramas, bones, and relics. Kuper reveals the politics and struggles of trying to build these museums in Germany, France, and England in the mid-19th century, and the dramatic encounters between the very colorful and eccentric collectors, curators, political figures, and high members of the church who founded them. He also details the creation of contemporary museums and exhibitions, including the Smithsonian, the Harvard’s Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, and the famous 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago which was inspired by the Paris World Fair of 1889.

Listen to an excerpt from The Museum of Other People 

Elizabeth Howard  

The Short Fuse Podcasts, hosted and produced by Elizabeth Howard, are conversations with artists, writers, musicians, and others who have a lens on contemporary thought and stir us to seek change. With their art, their music, their performances, and their vision they lead us through the social and environmental transformations sweeping across the globe.

“Artists are here to disturb the peace.” James Baldwin.

The Short Fuse is distributed through the Arts Fuse, a journal of arts criticism and commentary.
 

The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and the Reclamation of Their Groundbreaking History   By:  Karen Valby

The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas, the first principals in the Dance Theatre of Harlem, who traveled the world as highly celebrated stars in their field and whose legacy was erased from history until now.

At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarça was a Black prima ballerina with a major international dance company—the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She was the first Black ballerina on the cover of Dance magazine, an Essence cover star, cast in The Wiz  and on Broadway with Bob Fosse. She performed in some of ballet’s most iconic works with her closest friends—founding members of the company, the Swans of Harlem, Gayle McKinney, Sheila Rohan, Marcia Sells, and Karlya Shelton—for the Queen of England and Mick Jagger, with Josephine Baker, at the White House, and beyond.

Some forty years later, when Lydia’s granddaughter wanted to show her own ballet class evidence of her grandmother’s success, she found almost none, but for some yellowing photographs and programs in the family basement. Lydia had struggled for years to reckon with the erasure of her success, as all the Swans had. Still united as sisters in the present, they decided it was time to share their story themselves.

Captivating, rich in vivid detail and character, and steeped in the glamor and grit of professional ballet, The Swans of Harlem  is a riveting account of five extraordinarily accomplished women, a celebration of their historic careers, and a window into the robust history of Black ballet, hidden for too long. During Covid, five ballerinas met weekly on Zoom and formed the 152nd Street Black Ballet Legacy Council. Karen Valby joined them and wrote their story

“Karen Valby’s The Swans of Harlem brings to life the stories of Black dancers whose contributions to the world of ballet were silenced, marginalized, and otherwise erased. Karen introduces readers to important figures of our past, while inspiring us to courageously chase our dreams.”Misty Copeland

“These five original Dance Theatre of Harlem ballerinas fell in love with an art form that most of America believed was white and should remain so. Upon Arthur Mitchell’s founding of an all-Black company in 1969, they eagerly took their places at the barre and challenged themselves to the utmost. They triumphed. They showed that Blacks could not only excel at classical ballet but could also shape the art in their own vibrant image. Karen Valby weaves their stories together as a choreographer would: the women form an ensemble, yet each gets her own riveting solo. It’s thrilling to watch as they join forces at last and claim their unique place in American ballet’s past, present and future.”—Margo Jefferson

152nd Street Black Ballet Legacy Foundation

The 152nd St. Black Ballet Legacy is an independent non-profit organization created by five trailblazing Black ballerinas.  Their professional careers began at the founding of Dance Theatre of Harlem, where their sisterhood was born.  They have enjoyed and nurtured their sisterhood for over 50 years and continue to thrive for the sake of preserving our their rich history.

Lydia Abarca Mitchell is a founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and their first prima ballerina. She danced leading roles in George Balanchine’s Agon, Bugaku, Concerto Barocco, Allegro Brillante, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and Swan Lake, Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, Ruth Page’s Carmen and Jose, William Dollar’s Le Combat, and Arthur Mitchell’s Ode to Otis, Holberg Suite, and Biosfera. She was featured on the cover of DanceMagazine, in the movie The Wiz, and on Broadway in Bob Fosse’s Dancin’.  It was a stunning career on the world stage.

Karen Valby 

Author of Welcome to Utopia, and contributor to The New York Times; O, The Oprah Magazine; Glamour; Fast Company; and Entertainment Weekly

Dance Theater of Harlem
The Dance Theater of Harlem was founded in 1969, during the Civil Rights movement by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook.

Harlem School of the Arts

Elizabeth Howard, Producer and Host of the Short Fuse Podcast 

Elizabeth Howard is the producer and host of the Short Fuse Podcast, conversations with artists, writers, musicians, and others whose art reveals our communities through their lens and stirs us to seek change. Her articles related to communication and marketing have appeared in European Communications, Investor Relations, Law Firm Marketing & Profit Report, Communication World, The Strategist, and the New York Law Journal, among others.  Her books include Queen Anne’s Lace and Wild Blackberry Pie, (Thornwillow Press, 2011), A Day with Bonefish Joe (David Godine, 2015) and Ned O’Gorman:  A Glance Back (Easton Studio Press, 2016). She leads reading groups at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York.  @elizh24 on Instagram

Yoknapatawpha and Faulkner Conference in Oxford, Mississippi 

This is the longest continually running literary conference in the United States dedicated to the work of one author. This is the 50th Anniversary of the Conference, first held in 1974. 

Square Book Store, Oxford, Mississippi

 Square Books is a general independent bookstore in three separate buildings (about 100 feet apart) on the historic town square of Oxford, Mississippi, home of the University of Mississippi and many great writers, including William Faulkner, Barry Hannah, Larry Brown, and, for a time, both Willie Morris and John Grisham. The main store, Square Books, is in a two-story building with a cafe and balcony on the second floor; Off Square Books is a few doors down from the main store and has lifestyle sections such as gardening and cookbooks; Square Books, Jr., the children's bookstore, is in a building on the east side of the square; above it (in the site of the original bookstore) is the more recently opened Rare Square Books, which feature collectible, vintage, first edition books across a broad price range. Square Books is known for its strong selection of literary fiction, books on the American South and by Southern writers, a large inventory of reduced-price remainders, and its emphasis on books for children. The store hosts the popular Thacker Mountain radio show and over 150 author events a year.

University Press of Mississippi

University Press of Mississippi tells stories of scholarly and social importance that impact our state, region, nation, and world. We are committed to equality, inclusivity, and diversity. Working at the forefront of publishing and cultural trends, we publish books that enhance and extend the reputation of our state and its universities.

Dr. Jay Watson

Howry Professor of Faulkner Studies Jay Watson, a native of Athens, Georgia, received his B.A. degree from the University of Georgia (1983) and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University (1985, 1989). He joined the English department at the University of Mississippi in 1989, was promoted to Professor of English in 2007, and became UM’s second Howry Professor in 2010. During the 2002-2003 academic year he served as Visiting Fulbright Professor of American Studies at the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, and he has since been honored with the UM Faculty Achievement Award (2012), the UM Liberal Arts Professor of the Year award (2014), and the UM Humanities Teacher of the Year award (2014). In 2013 he was a finalist for the Southeastern Conference Professor of the Year Award, and in 2018 he was the fall convocation speaker at UM.

Elizabeth Howard, Producer and Host of the Short Fuse Podcast 

Elizabeth Howard is the producer and host of the Short Fuse Podcast, conversations with artists, writers, musicians, and others whose art reveals our communities through their lens and stirs us to seek change. Her articles related to communication and marketing have appeared in European Communications, Investor Relations, Law Firm Marketing & Profit Report, Communication World, The Strategist, and the New York Law Journal, among others.  Her books include Queen Anne’s Lace and Wild Blackberry Pie, (Thornwillow Press, 2011), A Day with Bonefish Joe (David Godine, 2015) and Ned O’Gorman:  A Glance Back (Easton Studio Press, 2016). She leads reading groups at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York.  @elizh24 on Instagram

Elizabeth Howard began hosting and producing the Short Fuse during the pandemic years. Those days when we were shuttered in our rooms. Displaced. Disoriented. Since then she has hosted 33 conversations, created a YouTube channel for online Short Fuse reading groups, and held live events at P&T Knitwear in New York, the Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, and at the Portsmouth Athenaeum in New Hampshire.  You can find all of the Short Fuse conversations  on the Short Fuse website.

Dell'Aria Cafe is at 232 East 111th Street in East Harlem.  An authentic cafe with roasted Italian coffee ... and conversation.

Jasmine Rice LaBeija is a Drag Queen, who can often be found performing in New York City.

Rev. Michael Curry is the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States.  He spoke at the memorial held for Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

Ann Kjellberg is the founder of Book Post. 

Bill Marx is the founder and Editor of the Arts Fuse, the online journal of arts commentary and criticism.

Kyle Dacuyan is a poet and the director of the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery.

Valena Beety is the author of Manifesting Justice and works with Tasha Shelby.

Frank Young is the artist who created the collage for this episode. 

The Arts Fuse is  an on-line magazine designed to preserve the craft of professional arts criticism,  while also looking for ways to explore new and innovative ways to evolve the cultural conversation and bring together critics, readers, and artists. Substantial criticism -- by sparking lively, contentious dialogue about the strengths, weaknesses, and contributions of the arts -- plays an indispensable role in the cultural ecology. Smaller, newer organizations are fostered by debate and evaluation. When they are ignored, as they are by the mainstream media, they fade away.

SUBSCRIBE to the Arts Fuse weekly e-newsletter

LIKE the Arts Fuse on  Facebook, FOLLOW on Twitter

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Justice Malala, is one of South Africa’s foremost political commentators and commentators and the author of the bestseller We Have Now Begun Our Decent:  How to stop south Africa losing its way.   He has been a columnist for the Times in SA, and written for the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian and the Financial Times. He now lives in New York.

Jonny Steinberg is the author of several books about everyday life in the wake of South Africa’s transition to democracy. He is a two-time winner of the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award, South Africa's premier literary prize, and an inaugural winner of the Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes. Until 2020, he was professor of African studies at Oxford University. He currently teaches part-time at the Council on African Studies at Yale University's MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies and is visiting professor at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) in Johannesburg.

Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living.  He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries. 

Ann Kjellberg founded Book Post, a newsletter-based book review, in 2018. Book Post publishes short book reviews by distinguished figures in literature, history, science, social sciences, and the arts. Kjellberg also reports for Book Post on the book industry, journalism, and the state of writing and ideas. Her essays have appeared in The New York Review of Books, The Observer, The Browser, and LitHub. She was on the editorial staff of the New York Review of Books from 1988 to 2017, and from 1985 to 1987 she was an editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She is the literary executor of the poet Joseph Brodsky and editor of several editions of his work. She  founded the literary magazine Little Star and has taught literary journalism at Bryn Mawr College.

The Short Fuse Podcast  hosted and produced by Elizabeth Howard, are conversations with artists, writers, musicians, and others who have a lens on contemporary thought and stir us to seek change. With their art, their music, their performances, and their vision they lead us through the social and environmental transformations sweeping across the globe.

“Artists are here to disturb the peace.” James Baldwin.

The Short Fuse is distributed through the Arts Fuse, a journal of arts criticism and commentary.

Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living.  He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries. 

Jasmine Rice LaBeija  the International Godmother of the Royal House of LaBeija is  an iconic and respected entertainer. In 2017, she was one of the leading cast members in the documentary series Shade, Queens of New York City, on Fusion Network. She has been a  host of Dragged, which won a Shorty Award in Diversity and Inclusion for Verizon's network In the Know and she was the face of New York City's 2020 Pride. Jasmine is a graduate of the Juilliard School and made her opera debut at the Shell with the San Diego Symphony as a special guest soloist with Megan Hilty, Rob Fisher conducting. This year, she was invited back to the Guggenheim Museum for a solo recital and she appeared at Lincoln Center. 

Works & Process    Described by The New York Times as “an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,” for 35 years as New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers.

Elizabeth Howard, host and producer of the Short Fuse Podcast. 

Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for The Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living.  He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries. 

Justice Malala is one of South Africa’s foremost political commentators and the author of the #1 bestseller We Have Now Begun Our Descent: How to Stop South Africa Losing its Way. A longtime weekly columnist for The Times (South Africa), he has also written for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and Financial Times, among other outlets. The former publisher of The Sowetan and Sunday World, he now lives in New York.

Kyle Dacuyan is a poet, performer, and translator. His poem have appeared in DIAGRAM, Lambda Literary, Foundry, and Best New Poets, among other places. He is the recipient of scholarships from Poets House, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Academy of American Poets. Prior to joining The Poetry Project, he served as co-director of National Outreach and Membership at PEN America, where he led the launch of a nationwide community engagement fund for writers. Previously, he served as associate director at the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America.

The Poetry Project

American Academy of Poets

St. Mark's in the Bowery Church

Poetry Foundation

The Paris Review 

O, Miami

Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living.  He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.