12:00 PM Pacific Time: Mondays - Wednesdays
Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is co-produced and co-hosted by Sasha Lilley and C. S. Soong.
As the political theorist Hannah Arendt watched the Nazi official Adolf Eichmann give testimony before the District Court of Jerusalem in 1961, she came up with a notion of evil that generated enormous controversy. Peter Burdon shares his understanding of what Arendt mean by “the banality of evil,” and discusses the contemporary relevance of Arendt’s ideas.
Peter Hudis discusses the Martiniquan philosopher, psychiatrist, and revolutionary Frantz Fanon, best known for his books The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks.
Agriculture in the Soviet Union had some colossal disasters — not the least of which was the near-destruction of the Aral Sea — and some significant successes as well. But most of the analysis of that experience has been through a Cold War lens. Historian Jenny Leigh Smith has taken a second look at Soviet … Continued
Large homeless encampments are sometimes dismantled, at times tolerated, and in some cases legalized. What accounts for the different ways in which local authorities treat homeless encampments, and how do camp residents view their situation? Chris Herring discusses the administrative logics of homeless seclusion as well as the adaptive strategies of campers.
Historian Greg Grandin reflects on the ideology and practice of Henry Kissinger.
Many people fleeing the violence in Syria have made their way to Europe, but more than a million Syrians have entered, and still reside in, the small nation of Lebanon. Hassan Ahmad and Tori Porell recently traveled to Beirut as part of an IRAP/Berkeley Law delegation. They spoke with Syrian refugees, visited schools for Syrian … Continued
The oceans are in turmoil, but unfortunately most of it is out of sight and therefore out of mind. Environmental sociologist Stefano Longo explores the multiple threats to the oceans, from overfishing to coral reef collapse to ocean acidification. He weighs in on whether the notion of the “tragedy of the commons” is sufficient to … Continued
What role does the U.S. academic boycott of Israel play in the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement? What kinds of resistance has the boycott movement encountered, and what’s happened to the academic freedom and human rights of Palestinian scholars and students? Sunaina Maira helped launch the U.S. academic and cultural boycott initiative. For more … Continued
Akhil Gupta sees a growing tendency to view global poverty as a threat not to the acutely poor but to elites in the global North. Unchecked migration, terrorism, and disease vectors are seen as manifestations of that threat, against which elites now seek to protect themselves. This, according to Gupta, makes meaningful action to alleviate … Continued
You’ve probably heard this before — and may even believe it yourself: Men are ambitious, rational, and inherently non-monogamous. Women, on the other hand, are nurturing, intuitive, and faithful. Scientist Rosalind Barnett and media critic Caryl Rivers discuss the questionable scholarship behind such claims about mental and psychological gender differences. They also talk about neo-Darwinism … Continued
