The Chauncey DeVega Show

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 130: Peter Bebergal Explains How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll/Jared Yates Sexton Previews Wrestlemania 33 Mar 31, 2017

Show notes

Peter Bebergal is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is the author of the new book Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll.

During this week's show, Peter and Chauncey discuss the appeal of magic and the occult for musicians and artists, the moral panics about Satanism and heavy metal music during the 1980s in America, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, as well as how African trickster figures and other cultural practices influenced black music in America and across the Black Atlantic. Peter and Chauncey also talk about digital versus analog culture and the history of pen and paper as well as tabletop role-playing games.

Friend of the podcast Jared Yates Sexton, contributing writer for publications such as The New Republic as well as The New York Times, also stops by to make his predictions (and share some concerns) about this weekend's WWE Wrestlemania 33 event.

On this week's show, Chauncey also shares his thoughts about some new data from this year's General Social Survey which shows that Republicans still believe that black people are dumb, lazy, and stupid. During this week's podcast, Chauncey also reads the obituary of Bill Minor, a journalist and a great white brother in the Black Freedom Struggle who passed away several days ago.

Ep. 129: Jane Elliott Explains the Blue-Eyed/Brown-Eyed Teaching Exercise, Racism, and the Rise of Donald Trump Mar 24, 2017

Show notes

Jane Elliott is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. Elliot is an anti-racism educator and activist who is most well-known for her Blue-Eyed/Brown-Eyed teaching exercise. During this week's show, Jane and Chauncey discuss Donald Trump and his racist movement, the origins of the Blue-Eyed/Brown-Eyed teaching exercise and the problem with language such as "white privilege". Jane Elliott also shares a powerful story about overcoming fear and confronting death threats. On this week's show, Chauncey also shares his thoughts about how the Republican Party, Donald Trump and Paul Ryan want to kill the "useless eaters", the flood of developments that further implicate the Trump administration as being pawns of Vladimir Putin, and reads a personal story about the Meals on Wheels food program. During this week's podcast, Chauncey also warns the public about a child con artist who looks like Gary Coleman that scammed him out of money.

Ep. 128: Andrew Gelman Clarifies Some Misconceptions About the 2016 Election, Mama DeVega Returns, and Jane Elliott Chimes In Mar 17, 2017

Show notes

This week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show features three great guests. Political scientist and statistician Andrew Gelman is the first guest. He is a professor at Columbia University and the author of several books including Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans Vote the Way They Do. He recently wrote a great piece for Slate called "19 Lessons for Political Scientists from the 2016 Election". During this week's episode, Dr. Gelman does some great teaching and sharing about the 2016 presidential election and what the so-called "smart people" got right and wrong. Civil rights activist and educator Jane Elliott chimed in for the second segment of this week's podcast. She is most famous for her much discussed and documented Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes teaching and learning exercise from the 1960s. In the five decades since, Sister Elliot has not stopped speaking speak truth to power about the color line, prejudice, and bigotry in America and around the world. This is a preview of next week's full episode with Jane Elliott. Mama DeVega also makes her return to The Chauncy DeVega Show. She gives thanks for the kind birthday gifts that the friends of the podcast and Chauncey DeVega sent her way. Mama DeVega and Chauncey also debate the merits of attending one's own funeral while still alive and how best to fake a death. Mama DeVega also shares a story about her encounter--or so she believes--with one of the 9-11 hijackers. During this week's podcast, Chauncey talks about Sean Spicer's press conference where he defended Donald Trump's lies about wiretapping, the evil Trump 2018 budget and its plans to kill the "useless eaters", and gives out a "you big dummy award" to Rachel Maddow.

Ep. 127: Malcolm Nance Explains How Russia Hacked the 2016 Election and Manipulated the Traitor Donald Trump Mar 09, 2017

Show notes

Malcolm Nance is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is a frequent contributor to MSNBC and other media outlets such as CNN, ABC News, FOX News, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, and Al Arabiya. Malcolm Nance is also the author of numerous books including The Plot to Hack America: How Putin's Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election.

Nance was a career counterterrorism and intelligence officer for the U.S. government's Special Operations, Homeland Security, and Intelligence agencies, with over 33 years of experience in combating radical extremism. An honorably retired U.S. Navy Arabic-speaking intelligence collections operator, field interrogator, Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape specialist and founder of the Advanced Terrorism, Abduction and Hostage Survival School, he spent more than two decades on clandestine antiterrorism and counterterrorism intelligence operations in the Middle East North Africa, the Balkans, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa in direct support of the Special Operations and Intelligence Community.

During this week's show Malcolm and Chauncey discuss how Vladimir Putin hacked and manipulated the 2016 presidential election as well as the United States corporate news media and Right-wing voters, map out how Donald Trump has likely been compromised by Russian intelligence agencies, the role of white supremacists such as Stephen Bannon and Sebastian Gorka in Trump's White House, spy craft, and the ways that Vladimir Putin's efforts to undermine American democracy are part of a larger global gambit. On this week's show, Chauncey also shares his thoughts on the the new movie Logan, last week's WWE pay-per-view Fastlane, and digs up some little known history about the role of African-American spies and other covert agents during the Civil War.

Ep. 126: Colin Dickey Discusses Ghosts, Trauma and American Cultural Memory Mar 03, 2017

Show notes

Colin Dickey is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is the author of several books including Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places. During this week's show Chauncey and Colin channel the Art Bell show as they discuss hauntings and collective memory, why skepticism is a requirement, the Winchester ghost sightings, the TV show American Horror Story, Native American burial grounds, as well as the color line, slavery and the spectral imagination. Colin and Chauncey also debate the merits of the recent Ghostbusters reboot and the very problematic gender politics of the original film.

During this week's podcast, Chauncey talks about his trip home to see Mama DeVega for her birthday, what it was like to shoot an AR-15 at the gun range, and offers an assessment of the recent revelations about the traitors in the Trump White House. Chauncey also does a little research and shares an audio recording of a former black American slave telling the WPA project the ghost stories he learned as a child.

Ep. 125: Cornel Belcher Explains Trump's Victory and the Racist Backlash Against Barack Obama Feb 17, 2017

Show notes

Cornell Belcher is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He served as Pollster for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) under Chairman Howard Dean making him the first minority to lead in that role for either national Party. He also served on the polling team for both Obama presidential campaigns. Over the years, Cornell has worked with both Senate and House Democrats as Senior Political Advisor to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Cornell is the author of the new book, A Black Man in the White House: Barack Obama and the Triggering of America's Racial-Aversion Crisis.

During this week's show, Chauncey and Cornell discuss Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton, what the polling data predicted (or not) about that outcome, the errors that the Democratic Party is making strategically in terms of outreach to young black and brown voters, the power of demographics, and how the white racial backlash against Barack Obama gave Donald Trump the White House. During this week's podcast, Chauncey offers some comments on the Michael Flynn "scandal" and what the real hustle is, reads from a great profile of Trump adviser and white supremacist Stephen Miller as a young man, and shares some hate mail from a Trumpthuglican.

Ep. 124: John Kinder on World War One, Disabled Veterans, and Technological Fetishism Feb 11, 2017

Show notes

John Kinder is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is the author of Paying with Their Bodies: American War and the Problem of the Disabled Veteran.

During this week's show, Chauncey and John discuss "human waste" and the other language that was used to describe disabled veterans, America's worship of technology and human improvement, the lies and other propaganda that were used to glorify the harm (and supposed recovery) of American soldiers during war, and why World War One matters in the present. Dr. Kinder and Chauncey also talk about historical memory and the color line in cities such as Tulsa and Birmingham while reminiscing about their childhoods and a time before subcultures such as skateboarding and DJ culture had fully "sold out".

During this week's podcast, Chauncey gloats about the epic New England Patriots Superbowl victory, talks about seeing George Takei's show here in Chicago, loses at the casino, and also ponders "Bootycandy". Chauncey also delivers an acceptance speech for the "IntellNigentsia" award which was bestowed on him by a prominent white supremacist website.

Ep. 123: Monkey Madness with Anthropologist Agustin Fuentes Feb 03, 2017

Show notes

Agustin Fuentes is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is a professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame and is one of the leading experts on human social evolution, primate behavior, human and non-human interaction, and communication. Dr. Fuentes is also the author of many books including the forthcoming, "The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional". During this week's show, Chauncey and Agustin talk about the biological fiction that is race, how humans are not "naked apes", DNA testing and ancestry, debunk the "killer ape" hypothesis, and try to make sense of Donald Trump's voters. Professor Fuentes also breaks Chauncey's heart by explaining that "humanzees" such as Oliver the Chimp do not actually exist.

During this week's podcast, Chauncey shares some of the recent articles about Donald Trump's junta and subsequent coup and reads some angry email from a Trumpthuglican. Chauncey also makes his obligatory Superbowl 51 prediction.

Ep. 122: William Smith Explains Racial Battle Fatigue Jan 27, 2017

Show notes

William Smith is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is a professor at The University of Utah and author of numerous articles on race, identity, psychology, and higher education. He is most well-known for his contributions to the study of what is known as "racial battle fatigue". During this week's show, Chauncey and Professor Smith talk about racism and trauma, "racial battle fatigue" and learning, how colleges and universities are failing students of color, police brutality, and if videos of police violence against black people are a type of contemporary lynching photography.

During this week's podcast, Chauncey shares his thoughts on the new movies "Split" and "The Founder". Chauncey also reinforces the importance of the little things in life and then does some dream interpretation that involves toilets, religion, and Donald Trump. A warning: the latter does not go well.

Ep. 121: A Special Donald Trump Inauguration Day Episode Jan 21, 2017

Show notes

This week's podcast is a special episode focusing on the inauguration of The Fascist in Chief of the United States Donald Trump. To help him reflect on these ominous days, four guests stop by to offer their thoughts on the installation of Donald Trump.

Irv Muchnick, investigative journalist and sports writer commiserates about the role of professional wrestling in the election of Donald Trump and the WWE's Linda McMahon's nomination for the American Il Duce's cabinet. "Champion" Joe Lansdale, author extraordinaire of the "Hap and Leonard" series and other goodness chimes in with his thoughts about Trump's inauguration and Russian interference with the election. "Werner Herzog's Bear", friend of many years of Chauncey DeVega stops by to talk about teaching in this moment, having children, and how they will remember Barack Obama. Professor Adilifu Nama closes out the show by sharing his thoughts about Barack Obama and John Henry, how black folks will--as we always do--survive this moment, and has a good laugh about the movie "Candyman".

In this week's special episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Chauncey reflects on his failed efforts to warn the American people about the threat posed by Donald Trump and his fascist movement, is frustrated about the lack of fire and energy in the Chicago protests on inauguration day, and demands that so-called "liberals" and Democrats get a spine and truly fight back against the Trumpthuglicans.

To close out this week's special inauguration themed podcast, Chauncey also shares some stories about ghosts in the White House and how he hopes that they torment Donald Trump and his apparatchiks.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected