When we talk about the things that define us--the things that make us who we are--, what do we show the world, and what do we keep to ourselves? How is art a tool that we can use to bridge gaps in providing care in medical treatments? These seemingly separate questions come together in this episode, as Irenae Aigbedion (LAC) and Mark Stephens (Penn State College of Medicine) discuss identity dissonance, the value of art in medicine, and discovering the self through the art of mask making. As...

In this episode, LAC members Müge Gedik and Camila Gutiérrez interview Dr. Eduardo Mendieta (Penn State, UP) about his project on the anthropocentric COVID-19 virus in terms of an apparatus of pandemic governmentality in the Anthropocene as well as the role of colonialism and slavery in the production of the Anthropocene, including European colonialism that initiated a process of extraction of resources and bodies that lead to the destruction of indigenous peoples and ecosystems. Topics...

In this episode, Merve Tabur (LAC) interviews Gidon Bromberg, Nada Majdalani, and Yana Abu Taleb, co-directors of EcoPeace Middle East. Gidon, Nada, and Yana introduce the environmental peacebuilding and conflict resolution strategies employed by EcoPeace Middle East in addressing transboundary water justice issues in the Jordanian-Palestinian-Israeli contexts. Co-directors of EcoPeace Middle East and Merve have a conversation about the significance of youth education programs like the "Good...

In this episode, Irenae Aigbedion (LAC) welcomes Dr. Jamie Lee Andreson (Penn State) to the series to discuss the latter's project, "Candomblé Temples in the Fight against Religious and Environmental Racism in Brazil." Through her personal stories and case studies, Dr. Andreson takes us to the main site of her work: Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, where a fierce battle for religious freedom and antiracism is taking place. She examines the threats that candomblé temples face today and unpacks that...

LAC member Hannah Matangos interviews Kristin Jacobson, Professor of American Literature, American Studies, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey.  Jacobson researches what she terms “adrenaline narratives,” or perilous adventure stories. She and Hannah have a conversation about the ways race, gender, the pandemic, and the climate crisis converge in the American adrenaline narrative.

In this episode, LAC member Camila Gutiérrez interviews David Van Ness (Northern University of Arizona) about his artistic production combining glitch art, digital 3D models, and 3D printing. David talks about his first encounters with glitch art, his personal trajectory, and seeing art as a collaboration between the human and the computer. Then, David discusses a project where he uses hate crime data to alter the 3D models of scanned Confederate monuments. Other projects involve creating 3D...

LAC member Hannah Matangos interviews Sacramento-based conceptual artist Jeff Musser. In the episode, Musser discusses how he came to tackle race, racism, and whiteness in his work, and the ways in which his perception of these topics - and their relationship to his own personal and family histories - has changed through his artmaking. In his artmaking practice, he figures himself an amateur historian in researching the history of racial categorization in the United States and beyond while...

In this episode, LAC member Irenae Aigbedion interviews Rob Gerhardt, a New York based photographer, on his series, "Mic Check." Focusing on the development of the #BlackLivesMatter movement across New York City, his series is an ongoing chronicle beginning in 2014 after the grand jury ruling in the case of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. The conversation asks us as listeners to consider what it means to write history and to use the tools at our disposal--in Rob's case, photography--to make an...

In this episode, LAC member Müge Gedik welcomes Dr. Margot Finn (University of Michigan) to talk about her project “Bellies Full of Stars: Feeding Multitudes of Multitudes in Apocalyptic Times.” This conversation begins with Margot Finn’s approach to the Anthropocene and her conceptualization of apocalypse. She underlines the importance of the ways we tell stories about time, the future, what it means to coexist. Coexistence and symbiosis become crucial tools for the discussion of...

In this episode, LAC members Irenae Aigbedion and Tembi Charles welcome Dr. Sinfree Makoni (Penn State) and Dr. Bassey Antia (University of the Western Cape) to have a conversation about their project, "Humor as a Semiotic Resource: Coping with COVID-19 Stress in Africa." The conversation branches out from a close examination of their work to a reflection on the ways that humor can be a tool to "speak back" to power, to critique histories of colonialism, and to shape a new identity for Africa...

In our pilot episode of “Unraveling the Anthropocene: Race, Environment, and Pandemic,” we introduce you to the team and discuss our interests in and goals for the project. We also discuss the history of the term “Anthropocene” and its significance in relation to our position at a land grant institution in Central Pennsylvania.