Poli Sigh

We zone out with Netflix, HBO, etc. to get away from politics, right? But where is the line between political and apolitical? To close off season 2, we hear from Professor Lilly Goren about the relationship between popular culture and politics. We cover examples across television, cinema, and literature to illuminate what political themes we often consume in our everyday lives without even realizing. We work through themes of nostalgia, gender construction, and “the anti-hero” to begin considering how we should treat popular media and its appropriate role in politics today.

It’s election season! On this special episode of Poli Sigh, we talk with Courtney Nava about everything concerning the upcoming U.S. midterms. Coming from the perspective of American political behavior, we recap what voting behavior has looked like in the past, what we should expect later this month, and what the different possible outcomes indicate about larger U.S. politics.

What does it mean to be a feminist? What does feminism look like in a post-Roe era? On this episode, we talk with Professor Michaele Ferguson about feminist politics. Spanning the suffrage movement to Gaga feminism, we breakdown what has changed and what themes have continued across feminism. Within the context of the Dobbs decision, we pinpoint instances in which current feminisms may fall short, and attempt to identify which ones may be better equipped to meet today’s challenges.

Communication is as simple as talking, right? This month we hear from Professor John Barry Ryan about polarization in the United States and its significance to communication and compromise in politics today. Specifically highlighting the issues of gun violence and climate change, we explain why Americans appear so far apart and how this often results in policy inaction. We discuss the nature of American democracy and its limits in order to sort out its potential to mitigate collective action problems.

Humanity today has the technological means to annihilate itself ten times over. How do we make sure that doesn’t end up happening? We sit with Professor John Emery to discuss just that! Covering his research on war ethics, we list the ways in which war has become simultaneously dehumanized and never-ending within the 21st century. Considering the United States’ conceptualization of “enemy”, its interventions across the Middle East, and a growingly belligerent and nuclear armed Russia, could “feelings” maybe hold the answer?

It’s been over 4 months since Russia invaded and initiated war against Ukraine. How much longer will it last? To kick-off Season 2, we hear from Eastern European Politics scholar, Sarah Wilson Sokhey. Outlining Russian politics and citizenship, we discuss just how immune the Russian state is from public opinion. By examining past protest within Russia, we breakdown current public opinion in Russia and explore its potential to force an end to the war.

What does it mean to meaningfully produce environmental policy? On this episode, we chat with Professor Christina Boyes about why we should take a more holistic approach, considering both the human and non-human. Looking specifically at natural resources, we discuss where environmental technology might fall short both ecologically and along lines of social justice, pinpointing some non-obvious consequences that accompany greenwashing today.

Are digital technologies and social media relevant to politics? It’s not so much a question of “if” but “how”…. This month we talk with Professor Jennifer Forestal about how the digital world can both support and hurt democracy. Looking at the way platforms are structured and monitored, we discuss ways that social media can build meaningful communities instead of atomized ones, what’s required of democratic citizenship in the 21st century, and how digital technologies might just be a boogeyman that overshadows bigger political issues.

What is and isn’t terrorism, and why does the term matter? On our tenth episode, we talk with Kiela Crabtree to hear about her work on mass violence and racialized violence in both the past and present. Drawing parallels between 20th century Alabama and today, we ask what has changed and what hasn’t when it comes to violence against racial minorities, as well as against Americans in general. Despite their obvious harm, we attempt to raise the possibilities that might also arise to combat them.

Is war just politics by other means? We sit down with civil war experts Drs. Jess and Alex Braithwaite to get the scoop. Breaking down the roots of civil war, how they escalate, their consequences, and what to do about them, this episode applies poli sci theories to understand ongoing dilemmas in Haiti, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, …and possibly the United States.

CNN and Fox News definitely want you to believe their theories to explaining immigration. But when actually looking at the data, what truly causes migration, and in turn, what does migration cause politically? On episode 8, we speak with Professor Jesse Acevedo about his research on migration and remittances. Covering the movement of people and money across the Americas, we debunk assumptions behind migration and offer a path towards engaging questions of immigration in moving forward.

Environmentalism should be easy, right? On this episode of Poli Sigh we talk with Adriana Molina Garzon about the faux pas behind what seem like good, green policies. Covering the realities of balancing different interests and different institutions, we hear about the prospects of environmentalism in a world that's still struggling to figure out how equity fits alongside environmental necessity.

In the 21st century, the political environment and ecological environment might as well be the same thing. But if the planet is so important to everything, then why do we have trouble enacting sustainability? On episode 6, we talk with Dr. Emily Ray about how and why environmentalism still faces difficult hurdles, even in the face of impending doom.

Always been curious to know what Owen is busy doing when not podcasting?!? Well wait not longer! In this special episode, Molly sits down with Owen to hear about his work on performative citizenship and how respectability factors into the way race matters to U.S. citizenship today.

Group identities matter to politics, but just how much so? And what does and what doesn’t COVID have to do with politics these days? On episode 4, we hear from Dr. Tyler Reny regarding the way racial groupings, Trump’s rhetoric, Blue Lives Matter, and COVID all interact with one another to affect the way people feel about and participate in politics today….and potentially in a post-pandemic world.

Following the U.S. Capitol storming, is American democracy faltering? We talk with Dr. Carew Boulding about whether or not the United States is facing unprecedented challenges, and if Bolivia’s recent history holds any lessons for the United States' current democratic crisis.

Drama? Plot twists? Violence? Is American politics really just a TV series? In this episode we talk with Professor Elisabeth Anker about the theatrics behind U.S. politics, how morality has come to define political messaging, and whether there's benefit to holding on to normative values like freedom.

Just how much do Americans hate each other? Are political divisions worse now than ever? Can we blame social media or Trump? Is there any way out of this? In this episode we chat with political behavioralist, Courtney Johnson, to discuss partisan polarization and tolerance in the United States today. Check out Courtney Johnson's podcast, Fierce Fem, here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fierce-fems-podcast/id1522629429 Episode Citations: Brown, B. (2017). Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone . Random House. Campbell, Angus et al (1980). The american voter. University of Chicago Press. Gibson, J. (1998). "A Sober Second Thought: An Experiment in Persuading Russian to Tolerate". American Journal of Political Science, 42(3), 819-850. Leonhardt, D. (2020). "The Morning". New York Times, Oct 9, 2020. Mason, L. (2018). Uncivil agreement: How politics became our identity. University of Chicago Press.