Nostalgia Trap

Latest Episodes:

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 189: Thank You for Your Service w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper Apr 14, 2020

Show notes

As we continue our series on the politics of COVID-19, Justin Rogers-Cooper takes aim at the absurd ideology of "sacrifice," as we explore how American sentimental mythology allows us to justify capitalism's indifference to deaths of its "essential" workers.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 188: Under the Heel w/ Mistress Snow, Ph.D. Apr 06, 2020

Show notes

Mistress Snow, Ph.D. is an academic in the humanities who was abruptly rejected by her mentor after coming out to her as a working dominatrix, an experience she documents in a recent Chronicle piece. In this conversation, she explains how her story connects with larger issues of class in academia, from the collapse of the job market and the humiliations of the adjunct hustle to the student loan nightmare and endless financial precarity. In the context of an accelerating economic and biological meltdown, we try to salvage what we love about academic work and the university, while looking ahead to a rapidly shifting future.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 186: Bodies and Power w/ Yasmin Nair Apr 01, 2020

Show notes

Yasmin Nair is a writer and activist who always says what's on her mind, and the results are consistently some of the most refreshing and challenging takes on modern American politics and culture. In this conversation, we talk about her most recent work, her outlook on the 2020 Democratic primary, the carceral politics of #MeToo, and why the U.S. left is often so hopelessly lost on issues of sex, race, and class.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 185: Ask Any Buddy w/ Evan Purchell Mar 25, 2020

Show notes

Evan Purchell is a film historian and archivist whose latest film project, Ask Any Buddy, presents excerpted bits from 126 different gay male "adult" films from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. The effect is an uncanny journey into a lost world of urban gay culture, depicting a kind of imagninative fantasy of gay life before the AIDS crisis. In this conversation, Evan tells us about the film's origins as a popular Instagram account, and details some of the stars (both in front of and behind the camera) of this extraordinary moment in the history of cinema, culture, and sexuality.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 184: History Accelerates w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper Mar 22, 2020

Show notes

With a nation in quarantine, Justin Rogers-Cooper joins us for a deep dive into the political opportunities presented by the COVID-19 moment, as we track the rapid evolution of capitalism in crisis. Now that the energy of apocalypse has been released into the discourse, where does it go? What new futures can we imagine as the old world shapeshifts before our eyes?

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 183: It Tolls for Thee w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper Mar 16, 2020

Show notes

Justin Rogers-Cooper returns to continue our series on the extraordinary historical moment created by the COVID-19 crisis. In this conversation we take on the rapidly evolving politics of the virus, reflecting on the public outrage at massive corporate bailouts while working people are saddled with unimaginable economic ruin. Can the left seize that energy to win electoral and ideological victories? We also speculate on the direction of U.S. government policy, social stability, and American popular culture as the crisis develops.

Preview of Episode 182: Contagion Mar 12, 2020

Show notes

Preview of bonus episode 182: Contagion with Justin Rogers-Cooper.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 181: Modeling the Future w/ Kevin Baker Mar 03, 2020

Show notes

Kevin Baker is a historian studying the ways policymakers use predictive computer models to map the future. In this conversation, he tells us about navigating the shock of class consciousness in the academy, describes his work researching artificial intelligence at Berkeley, and offers the peculiar story of The Limits to Growth, a 1972 study based on SimCity-like computer programs that predicted the collapse of industrial civilization by the year 2050.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 180: Vibe Check w/ KJ Shepherd and Bill Black Feb 24, 2020

Show notes

Trap favorites KJ Shepherd and Bill Black return for a much-needed election year vibe check, in which we discuss our individual and collective moods in the context of Bernie Sanders' continued success in the Democratic primary. From online battles with Marc Maron and other toxic centrist dorks to the wider view of academic work in a collapsing humanities job market, KJ and Bill bring their characteristically refreshing perspectives to an increasingly chaotic historical moment.

Subscribe to KJ's newsletter: https://keegan.substack.com/

Read and support Contingent Magazine: https://contingentmagazine.org/

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 179: Violence Girl w/ Alice Bag Feb 20, 2020

Show notes

Alice Bag is a punk icon, the lead singer of legendary 1970s L.A. punk band The Bags, and now a writer, educator, and feminist archivist. In this conversation, she tells her story of overcoming a childhood in East L.A. wracked by poverty and domestic abuse, finding an outlet for her personal and political rage in the burgeoning Hollywood punk scene. In the years since that initial explosion, she's become one of the movement's chief historians, recovering the voices of women and people of color who are often left out of the mainstream punk narrative.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected