In this episode, conducted by The Surfing Historian producer, Taylor Ramone, she talks with podcast host and historian, Dr. Jason Old, about his research on the surfing history of Nicaragua, as well as the motivations behind writing his dissertation, “The Politics of Waves: A Transnational and Cultural Surfing History of Popoyo, Nicaragua.”

For this episode, I interview Dr. Steve Estes. Steve is a history professor at Sonoma State University and in this episode we talk about his book, Surfing the South: The Search for Waves and the People Who Ride Them. This book explores the varying ways that surfing intersects with business, music, race, gender, environmentalism, and politics in the American South.

Dr. Aaron James is a philosophy professor at the University of California in Irvine. In this episode, he and I talk about his book, Surfing with Sartre: An Aquatic Inquiry Into a Life of Meaning. This is a book on philosophy that grapples with surfer’s know-how as it relates to questions about freedom, control, flow, happiness, being, transcendence, society, and the meaning of life more broadly– Simply put, Aaron argues that we should work less and go surfing instead.

Welcome back for Season Two! This season we’ll explore the origins of surfing itself, from its roots, rituals, and the existential allure of the waves, to the stigmas of being a surf studies scholar—all of which underscore the personal motivations for writing my dissertation, “The Politics of Waves: A Transnational and Cultural Surfing History of Popoyo, Nicaragua.” 

A huge shout out to our loyal listeners from last season, and to all of the new listeners just tuning in! We’re stoked to have you all as part of another amazing season of The Surfing Historian. So let’s paddle out together and ride through the world of academia!

In this last episode of the season, I chat with Dr. Donald Wright. Don is a Canadian historian at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, a small city in Atlantic Canada. His research interests include Canadian political, intellectual, and cultural history. For this episode, Don and I will be talking about his book Canada: A Very Short Introduction , which is a book he published as part of Oxford University Press's Very Short Introduction series.

In this follow up episode, Dr. Ruttenberg and Dr. Brosius discuss critical surf studies as a field of academic research, speak to the merit of surf-related experiential learning programs, and share highlights from our research into decolonizing sustainable surf tourism.

In this episode, Dr. Tara Ruttenberg and Dr. Pete Brosius discuss different types of surf localism in the context of surfscape colonialism in the Global North and Global South, based on our recent work related to critical localisms of resistance in occupied surfscapes. We explore localisms of entitlement and resistance, as well as girl localisms in a range of well-known surfscapes to highlight the ways surfers are using localism as a means of both perpetuating and contesting the colonial, patriarchal and racialized neoliberal state of modern surfing and its surf tourism industrial complex.

In this episode, Cold War and Latin American historian, Dr. Rob Koch, talks about guerrilla movements and counterinsurgencies in Latin America, starting with the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

In this episode, historian of Latin America and combat veteran, Dr. Rob Koch, talks about his research on Juan Perón, Fascism, and the Global Cold War.

In this episode, I chat with my friend and colleague Frederique Carey about her research on Ireland’s surf culture and its links to identity formation through storytelling, something that draws from the country’s ancient bardic traditions, popular culture, and poetry.