
The American Vandal, from The Center for Mark Twain Studies
History Podcasts
An ever-growing collection of conversations and presentations about literature, humor, and history in America, produced by the premier source for programming and funding scholarship on Mark Twain's life and legacy.
Location:
United States
Genres:
History Podcasts
Description:
An ever-growing collection of conversations and presentations about literature, humor, and history in America, produced by the premier source for programming and funding scholarship on Mark Twain's life and legacy.
Language:
English
Email:
twaincenter@elmira.edu
Episodes
Working Conditions with Christopher Newfield & Anna Kornbluh (50th Episode #MLA2023 Special)
1/4/2023
On the eve of the largest annual gathering of literary scholars, the MLA convention in San Francisco, a discussion of this year's presidential theme, Working Conditions, with the MLA President. For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/WorkingConditions
Duration:00:59:06
The Twitter Elegies (& Mastodon Scolds) with Rebecca Colesworthy & Jeff Jarvis
12/19/2022
Two scholars embedded in publishing discuss the impact of chaos at Twitter and in social media more generally upon journalism and academic presses. Also, some brief discussion of "The Twitter Files" and Mastodon migration. For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheTwitterElegies
Duration:01:19:22
Reckless Monetization, Surveillance Kleptocracy, & Olivia Snow's Villain Origin Story
12/7/2022
As the Elon Musk era at Twitter descends ever further into chaos, we discuss the canaries in the coal mine of surveillance, shadowbanning, algorithmic censorship, data firesales, and deplatforming: sex workers. For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Bollocks
Duration:00:46:59
The Plausible End of Social Media, Downscaling, & The Latent Celebrity Mindset with Ian Bogost
11/23/2022
Earlier this month, The Atlantic published an essay by our guest, Ian Bogost, titled "The Age of Social Media is Ending." Since then there have been layoffs at several social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter, and collapsing stock prices throughout the industry. What's happening? And what's next? For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Downscaling
Duration:00:58:10
The Collapse of Twitter, Zombie Cyberlibertarianism, & Commercial Content Moderation with Sarah T. Roberts
11/18/2022
With the end of Twitter seemingly imminent, content moderation and social media expert, Sarah T. Roberts, discusses Elon Musk's ideology, the labor of social media, and the migration to Mastodon. For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheEndOfTwitter
Duration:00:56:44
Dance of the Cash Dragons with Aaron Bady, Michelle Chihara, & Sarah Mesle
11/4/2022
The series finale finds "Dear Television" correspondents joining the podcast to discuss the Fall 2022 franchise season, foremost HBO's "House of the Dragon," but also Disney+'s "Andor" and Amazon's "Rings of Power." For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/CashDragons
Duration:01:19:57
Industry Cringe & Reproductive Horror with Johanna Isaacson & Madeline Lane-McKinley
10/25/2022
A ranging conversation inspired by two forthcoming books about genre, work, and visual culture. The authors consider HBO series like "The Baby," "Barry," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and "The Larry Sanders Show." For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Cringe
Duration:01:08:00
Rooting For Everybody Black in the Issa Rae Extended Universe with Jalylah Burrell & Danielle Fuentes Morgan
10/14/2022
Inspired by HBO shows "Insecure" and "Rap Sh!t," as well as Yvonne Orji's new stand-up special and recent Emmy wins for Quinta Brunson's "Abbott Elementary" and Jerrod Carmichael's "Rothaniel," Matt Seybold discusses the often precarious role of Black comic creators with two scholars of race, gender, and comedy in the U.S. For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/RootingForEverybodyBlack
Duration:01:15:47
The Sopranos Revival (Remember The End of The End of History?) with Peter Coviello & Xine Yao
9/29/2022
No single program transformed the HBO brand like "The Sopranos," which became a hit all over again upon the launch of HBOMax in the midst of the 2020 lockdown. For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheSopranosRevival
Duration:01:17:07
The Rehearsal, Reality TV, & Warner Bros Discovery with J. D. Connor & Olivia Stowell
9/20/2022
Is Nathan Fielder's "The Rehearsal" a critique of Reality TV? Moreover, might it be read as an attack on HBO's new parent company, Warner Bros Discovery? A conversation about the show, the network, the conglomerate, and the streaming wars. For more about this episode, including a bibliography of works mentioned, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheRehearsal
Duration:01:21:30
Puzzles of Collective Intention, Corporate Authorship, Family Business Insurrection, & HBO's Succession with Lisa Siraganian & Michael Szalay
9/13/2022
Our sixth season - "HBO, From Pulp to Prestige" - kicks off with a discussion of conglomeration, collective intention, and corporate authorship through HBO's original programming and especially "Succession," the Emmy-winning tentpole drama produced by Jesse Armstrong and Adam McKay. For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Succession
Duration:01:16:12
Reconsidering Mark Twain Among The Indians with Herman Fillmore & Drew Lopenzina
8/8/2022
In the concluding episode of our series on Kerry Driscoll's field-shaping book, Mika Turim-Nygren seeks reception of the work in Native Studies and from Native communities. For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/ReconsideringTwain
Duration:00:52:58
Talking Mark Twain Among The Indians with Kerry Driscoll
8/1/2022
This seminal book in Twain Studies was a decades-long undertaking. Kerry Driscoll explains how she became "an accidental Twain scholar," and discusses with Mika Turim-Nygren the multifold archival discoveries - "good instincts and good luck" - which took Mark Twain Among The Indians from a short paper to a magnum opus. For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TalkingTwain
Duration:00:53:18
Reviewing Mark Twain Among The Indians with John Bird, Susan K. Harris, & Ann Ryan
7/25/2022
A new series hosted by Mika Turim-Nygren premieres with a discussion of Kerry Driscoll's 2019 book, "Mark Twain Among The Indians & Other Indigenous Peoples," featuring three established scholars in Twain Studies, all of whom regard in as one of the most important works in the field in the past quarter century. For more about this episode, including an extensive bibliography of works discussed, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/ReviewingTwain
Duration:01:04:02
Ministry For The Future (Worldwide Climate Teach-In Special Episode) with Sheri-Marie Harrison, Anna Kornbluh, & Min Hyoung Song
3/30/2022
Produced in observance of and solidarity with the Worldwide Teach-In On Climate & Justice taking place on many campuses today, including Elmira College, we host discussion of a CliFi novel by Kim Stanley Robinson which helps us get "Beyond Climate Despair." For more about this episode, include a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/MinistryForTheFuture
Duration:01:15:55
Bullshit Jobs, Fuck Work, & The Legacy of David Graeber with James Livingston & Corey McCall
3/18/2022
Is is possible to imagine a world without work? Or, at least, a world in which work is not romanticized, is not treated as defining element of social and individual achievement? James Livingston has predicted that we need to prepare for a postwork world, and David Graeber has challenged us to imagine alternatives to organization by bureaucracy, credit, and corporations. This episode features Livingston talking to Matt Seybold and Corey McCall about Graeber's posthumous book (The Dawn of...
Duration:00:22:43
Working For The New Yorker: Putting The Historicity Back In The French Dispatch with Nora Shaalan & Dan Sinykin
3/8/2022
Wes Anderson's acclaimed new movie, The French Dispatch, draws inspiration from the Golden Age of The New Yorker magazine, a period from roughly the early 1940s to the mid 1970s. This episode features two scholars researching that period in the publication's history. They are uniquely situated to consider the selections from the magazine's back catalog which make Anderson's cut, as well as what he chooses to leave out. For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit...
Duration:01:23:13
Decommodified Labor, Selling Out, & Other Compromises of The Great Resignation with Leigh Claire La Berge & Rachel Greenwald Smith
2/23/2022
How do we explain the Great Resignation? Or, for that matter, other mysteries of the contemporary economy, like the high price of culture work and the low wages of culture workers? Two scholars of Post45 literature and culture discuss the work of art and the art of work. For more about this episode, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/GreatResignation
Duration:01:22:01
Bootstrapping Across Dystopia: Autofiction, Autotheory, Autoeverything with Merve Emre & Anna Kornbluh
2/14/2022
A conversation about the personal essay boom, iterations of the memoir in other literary genres, the constructive use of social media, the style of "too late capitalism," and other means of self-indulgence with two decorated literary critics and theorists. For more about this episode, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/AutoEverything
Duration:01:10:34
Are We All Porn Workers Now?: Gigwork & Radical Flexibility with Heather Berg & Michelle Chihara
2/7/2022
A ranging conversation with two scholars - Heather Berg (Porn Work: Sex, Labor, & Late Capitalism) and Michelle Chihara ("Radical Flexibility: Driving for Lyft & The Future of Work in The Platform Economy") - about platform capitalism from the perspective of gigworkers. For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Gigwork
Duration:00:51:47