The Trans-Atlanticist

In this episode, Lady Fiction returns to the First Lady mystique with a

In this episode, Douglas Cowie and Adrienne Brown (University of Chicago) discuss the life and poetry of Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks. They talk about her poems that document life in Chicago, "Kitchenette Building," "In the Mecca," "Chicago Picasso," and "The Wall," and unpack the social, economic, racial, cultural, and political history that informs her life and work.

Please see these links for further information about topics mentioned in the episode:

Gwendolyn Brooks and others reading her poetry:

The Library of Congress Audio: https://www.loc.gov/item/85755182/

The Wall of Respect (City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs):

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/wall_of_respect.html

History of The Mecca and IIT (Segregation by Design):

https://www.segregationbydesign.com/chicago/iit-and-the-mecca-flats

Andrew Sola provides a new introduction to this episode, originally published in 2021 to mark the end of the War in Afghanistan, by reflecting on the 20-year anniversary of the War in Iraq.

What lessons can we learn from America's blunders in Iraq and Afghanistan? Has Russia avoided the same mistakes in its war against Ukraine? And if Russian has learned nothing, are there reasons for Ukraine to be hopeful?

Please see the following sources for some fantastic scholarship on the theories discussed in the episode:

Graham T. Allison. Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (1971)

James Dobbins, et al. America's Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq (2003). https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1753.html

Our first politics podcast of 2024 begins on a tragic note after the mass shooting in Hamburg, which claimed the lives of at least 7 victims and injured many more. The Amerikazentrum would like to express its heartfelt condolences to the victims' families and friends, as well as to the all of the citizens of Hamburg. After a discussion of gun laws in Germany, Sola and Danner turn to the concept of feminist foreign policy and describe its place in wider foreign policy debates about power-based approaches and humanitarian or values-based approaches. Lastly, they provide analysis of recent developments in Ukraine and discuss the situation in Bakhmut, Chancellor Scholz's visit to DC, and the simmering crises in Moldova and Georgia.

In this special Women's History Month episode, Stefanie Schäfer discusses gossip with American Studies Scholar Katrin Horn, head of the research project www.archivalgossip.com. Following the trajectories of American artists in Rome, and specifically the making of actress Charlotte Cushman's celebrity persona, they read the functions of gossip in 19th-century US magazines between the intimate and the political, between escapism and nation building, and they also ponder the question of how gossip became gendered.

In Episode 2 of A Better Democracy Is Possible, Antoine Vergne from Missions Publique and our sortition expert Ahmed Radi Teleb continue the conversation about new democracy initiatives. They highlight current efforts by the European Commission to engage citizens throughout the European Union in the EU decision-making process regarding issues such as the reduction of food waste and the future of the internet. Other topics include the feeling of democratic euphoria that results when citizens participate in citizens assemblies as well as the evolutionary basis for democratic deliberation.

Additional resources about sortition and deliberation are listed in the show notes below:

US Citizen Juries/Assemblies

Eugen, OR Citizen Panel on Housing: https://healthydemocracy.org/what-we-do/local-government-work/2020-eugene-review-panel-on-housing/

Michigan's Lottery-based Independent Citizens' Redistricting Commission: https://www.michigan.gov/micrc

Center for New Democratic Processes (formerly the Jefferson Center): https://www.cndp.us/

US Organizations advocating for minipublics etc.

Democracy Without Elections: https://democracywithoutelections.org/

Healthy Democracy: https://healthydemocracy.org/

Belgian Permanent Citizens' Council:

https://www.buergerdialog.be/

https://www.buergerdialog.be/en

DE Citizen Juries/Buergerraete/Citizens' Assemblies:

Recent/Contemporary Buergerraete (non-exhaustive list): https://www.buergerrat.de/

Losland (lot-land in English): https://losland.org/

Mehr Demokratie: https://www.mehr-demokratie.de/

German Citizens' Assembly on Climate: https://buergerrat-klima.de/

Critiques of elections:

Against Elections, David Van Reybrouck: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/645360/against-elections-by-david-van-reybrouck/

Rebooting Democracy, Manuel Arriaga: https://www.rebootdemocracy.org/

Arguments for sortition

Open Democracy, Helene Landemore: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691181998/open-democracy

Hope for Democracy, Gastil and Knobloch: https://johngastil.com/hopefordemocracy/

Types of minipublics pdf (frp, New Democracy Foundation in Australia)

https://www.newdemocracy.com.au/2017/05/08/forms-of-mini-publics/

Critiques of sortition

Democracy without Shortcuts, Christina LaFont: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/democracy-without-shortcuts-9780198848189?cc=pl&lang=en&

Do-It-Yourself Democracy, Caroline Lee: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/do-it-yourself-democracy-9780199987269?cc=pl&lang=en&

Legislate by Lot, John Gastil et. al. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609638/legislature-by-lot-by-john-gastil-and-erik-olin-wright/

Political Agoraphobia

Hatred of Democracy, Jacques Ranciere: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/239222/hatred-of-democracy-by-jacques-ranciere/

Politics in the Pluriverse, Kennan Ferguson: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13762268-william-james

Podcasts & Podcast Series

https://realdemocracynow.com.au/

https://facilitatingpublicdeliberation.libsyn.com/

https://www.mehr-demokratie.de/podcast

https://machtlos.podigee.io/

https://www.wortfm.org/democracy-in-crisis-part-1-whats-wrong-with-democracy/

https://www.wortfm.org/democracy-in-crisis-part-2-mini-publics-citizens-assemblies-and-juries/

https://www.wortfm.org/democracy-in-crisis-part-3-alternatives-to-elections/

The year 2022 proved to be a hard test for the resilience of democracies, and 2023 continues to test the strength of democracies worldwide. Threats are both external and internal. Authoritarian governments seek to undermine democratic societies with disinformation campaigns from the outside. Or, as in Russia's case, they simply seek to conquer and obliterate their democratic neighbors. Meanwhile, home-grown groups seek to attack democracy from within, through election denialism, conspiracy theories, and political violence.

However, there is good news for democracy! It can be seen in a number of new and innovative democratic practices developing throughout the world. The two most important of these are sortition and deliberation, the practice of randomly selecting citizens to meet, learn, and discuss an issue of public importance, and then giving them the power to shape the solution to the problem.

In the first of this two-episode miniseries, deliberation expert Antoine Vergne from Missions Publique and sortition expert Ahmed Radi Teleb provide you with an introduction to these new democracy initiatives.

Please find links to information you heard in the podcast below:

Eugen, OR Citizen Panel on Housing: https://healthydemocracy.org/what-we-do/local-government-work/2020-eugene-review-panel-on-housing/

Michigan's Lottery-based Independent Citizens' Redistricting Commission: https://www.michigan.gov/micrc

Center for New Democratic Processes (formerly the Jefferson Center): https://www.cndp.us/

US Organizations advocating for minipublics etc.

Democracy Without Elections: https://democracywithoutelections.org/

Healthy Democracy: https://healthydemocracy.org/

Belgian Permanent Citizens' Council:

https://www.buergerdialog.be/

https://www.buergerdialog.be/en

DE Citizen Juries/Buergerraete/Citizens' Assemblies:

Recent/Contemporary Buergerraete (non-exhaustive list): https://www.buergerrat.de/

Losland (lot-land in English): https://losland.org/

Mehr Demokratie: https://www.mehr-demokratie.de/

German Citizens' Assembly on Climate: https://buergerrat-klima.de/

Critiques of elections:

Against Elections, David Van Reybrouck: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/645360/against-elections-by-david-van-reybrouck/

Rebooting Democracy, Manuel Arriaga: https://www.rebootdemocracy.org/

Arguments for sortition

Open Democracy, Helene Landemore: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691181998/open-democracy

Hope for Democracy, Gastil and Knobloch: https://johngastil.com/hopefordemocracy/

Types of minipublics pdf (frp, New Democracy Foundation in Australia)

https://www.newdemocracy.com.au/2017/05/08/forms-of-mini-publics/

Critiques of sorition

Democracy without Shortcuts, Christina LaFont: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/democracy-without-shortcuts-9780198848189?cc=pl&lang=en&

Do-It-Yourself Democracy, Caroline Lee: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/do-it-yourself-democracy-9780199987269?cc=pl&lang=en&

Legislate by Lot, John Gastil et. al. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609638/legislature-by-lot-by-john-gastil-and-erik-olin-wright/

Political Agoraphobia

Hatred of Democracy, Jacques Ranciere: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/239222/hatred-of-democracy-by-jacques-ranciere/

Politics in the Pluriverse, Kennan Ferguson: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13762268-william-james

Podcasts & Podcast Series

https://realdemocracynow.com.au/

https://facilitatingpublicdeliberation.libsyn.com/

https://www.mehr-demokratie.de/podcast

https://machtlos.podigee.io/

https://www.wortfm.org/democracy-in-crisis-part-1-whats-wrong-with-democracy/

https://www.wortfm.org/democracy-in-crisis-part-2-mini-publics-citizens-assemblies-and-juries/

https://www.wortfm.org/democracy-in-crisis-part-3-alternatives-to-elections/

Welcome to Season 4 of the Trans-Atlanticist at the Amerikazentrum in Hamburg. We are republishing this episode from 2021 (Season 2) in honor of African-American Heritage Month. In this episode, host of LadyFiction Dr. Stefanie Schaefer and her guest Prof. Alexandra Ganser from the University of Vienna discuss Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.

If you are interested in learning more about African-American culture, check out our specially curated OverDrive Reading List, which highlights African-American history and books by Black authors.

Browse the list here: https://ebooksusa.overdrive.com/collection/1415345

AS A MEMBER OF THE AMERIKAZENTRUM, YOU CAN USE THIS EBOOK SERVICE FOR FREE. PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION. BECOME A MEMBER TO GET YOUR FREE ACCESS TO THOUSANDS OF BOOKS AND MAGAZINES!

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In the final episode of 2022, Andrew and Günter discuss the important transatlantic events of 2022 and (mis)forecast the future. This episode's six topics include the war in Ukraine, the political climate in the USA, the continuing rise of the far right in Europe, the unfolding EU corruption scandal, general macroeconomic trends in Europe and the USA, and finally the evolution of the great global struggle between liberal democracies and autocracies. Happy New Year!

In this episode, host Douglas Cowie and his guest, Gregory Miller, discuss Stuart Dybek's 1990 book of short stories, The Coast of Chicago. In particular, they place Dybek's depiction of the shifting demographics of the Pilsen neighborhood into broader contexts, and also look at Dybek's lyrical, musical writing style, and the effects it accomplishes.