bedrosiancenter

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins talks with Ryan Hübert, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Davis. Hübert's recent research has been on bias within the judicial system in the U.S. His research uses game theory, machine learning, and text analysis to study political institutions.

They discuss the use of text analysis to study the judiciary and Hübert's new work using a theoretical model of behavior to look at discrimination in policing (though we think it might be a useful tool in looking at discrimination broadly!).

Email: bedrosian.center@usc.edu
Twitter: @BedrosianCenter

For more information, see the showpage.

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins talks with J. Andrew Sinclair, Assistant Professor of Government, Claremont McKenna College. In his research, Sinclair is interested in relationships between voters, elected politicians, and bureaucrats.

They discuss the politics of the DMV, top-two primary elections (such as those in California), and accountability in public officials.

Email: bedrosian.center@usc.edu
Twitter: @BedrosianCenter

In today’s episode we're briefly gorgeous, or possibly briefly monstrous. We're pretty sure both are true.

What we are sure of is that Ocean Vuong's magnificent novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is just that; gorgeous and painful, heart fulfilling and heart breaking.

Poet Ocean Vuong's debut novel is ostensibly a letter from the narrator, Little Dog, to his mother, Rose. Our narrator is a young man in his 20s. As a Vietnamese American, Little Dog writes of war, abuse, first love, exploration of language and the struggles of coming of age.

Listen as our host Aubrey Hicks discusses the novel with Liz Falletta, Jeff Jenkins, Stacy Patterson, and David Sloane.

Read along with us! Next month we’re reading Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamin Ansary.

Join the conversation about each episode on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Or email us at bedrosian.bookclub@usc.edu.

In today’s episode we’re thinking about racism, sexism, misogynoir, and the journalism. We're reading Trailblazer, a memoir by journalist giant Dorothy Butler Gilliam.

Gilliam shattered the barriers of race and gender as the first black female reporter at The Washington Post. She had to transform the way the Post viewed what was worthy of space on the pages, leaving a trail for more journalists to follow.

Listen as Professor Lisa Schweitzer discusses the book with Caroline Bhalla, Brettany Shannon, and Donnajean Ward.

Read along with us! Next month we’re reading Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamin Ansary.

Join the conversation about each episode on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Or email us at bedrosian.bookclub@usc.edu.

An interview with author of Children of the Dream: Why School Integration Works, Rucker C. Johnson. (Follow Rucker on Twitter: @ProfRucker)

Rucker stopped by USC for a conversation with the Gary Painter, Director of the Sol Price Center for Social Innovation. While on campus, Rucker was also gracious enough to spend some time with our Executive Director, Aubrey Hicks. The conversation covers the goals behind the book and the hopeful idea that we can provide good education for our children given what we've learned in the 65 years since the Brown v. Board of Education decision.

Read along with us! For December, we’re reading Trailblazer by Dorothy Butler Gilliam and in January we're reading On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong.

Join the conversation about each episode on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Or email us at bedrosian.bookclub@usc.edu.

In today’s episode we’re thinking about the patriarchy, and Mona Eltahawy’s tools for women and girls. Tools to take down the premise by which prevents so many women from living full human lives. The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls is a memoir, a manifesto, and a toolkit for women to retrain themselves to take up space in the world. To live fully, and without guilt for that humanness. 

Listen as Professor Nicole Esparza, Marisa Turesky, and Aubrey Hicks delve into the book.

@nicolephd, @AubreyHi, @mturesky, @BedrosianCenter

Read along with us! Next month we're reading Trailblazer by Dorothy Butler Gilliam.

Join the conversation about each episode on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Or email us at bedrosian.bookclub@usc.edu.

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins talks with Danielle Thomsen, Assistant Professor of Political Science at UC Irvine. Her research in American Politics primarily falls into looking at Congress, parties, and gender & politics.

They discuss why pipelines to primaries (and then to elected office) matter so much in terms of representation in this highly partisan era.

Email: bedrosian.center@usc.edu
Twitter: @BedrosianCenter

What is a summer book club without a good detective novel?

Our conversation today dives into Robert Galbraith's third installment of the Cormoran Strike novels, Career of Evil. Today's host is convinced that Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling) might have the best descriptions of the complexity of London since Dickens!

Host Richard Green is joined by Lisa Schweitzer and Aubrey Hicks.

Join the conversation about each episode on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Or email us at bedrosian.bookclub@usc.edu.

If models of the world are all wrong, why are they critical to understanding our complex world?

Today, host Pamela Clouser McCann discusses the book The Model Thinker with guests Jeffery A. Jenkins and James Lo.

For links to some of the things we discuss, check out the showpage!

Join the conversation about each episode on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Or email us at bedrosian.bookclub@usc.edu.

Can the way a person plays golf really explain their whole personality? Famed golf writer Rick Reilly aims to make the case in Commander in Cheat. Detailing with excruciating detail and humor the myriad of ways President Trump cheats in the golf world.

Does Reilly make the case for using golf as a metaphor for President Trump's governance? Listen as we hash that out.

Host Lisa Schweitzer is joined by Anthony W. Orlando, David Sloane, and Richard Green.

Join the conversation about each episode on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Or email us at bedrosian.bookclub@usc.edu.

Layli Long Soldier is the author of our book for June 2019, Whereas, winner of the National Book Critics Circle award, and finalist for the National Book Award. She is a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

Whereas in response to an "apology" to Native Americans which was buried in a department of defense appropriations bill during the Obama administration. It is a stunning use of language to build and re-build America, the land of the Plains Indians as others before the colonizers. 

The book is at turns devastating, celebratory, adept, clever, playful and always unique. 

Apologies for our terrible attempts at Lakota, while we tried to find proper pronunciation we failed. Our failure is another record of the violence perpetrated in our name again our Native brothers and sisters. 

David Sloane and Deborah Natoli join host Aubrey Hicks in discussion of this work by Layli Long Soldier, Lakota and American. 

In today's episode, we discuss Nnedi Okorafor's Afrofuturist novel Who Fears Death. A young woman, named Onyesonwu meaning Who Fears Death learns she is a child of rape, deals with being an outcast, and after a trauma finds out she has special powers. She learns she is at the center of a prophecy that could change the world. 

We discuss some themes of the book: gender, friendship, love, hatred, violence, nature, the desert, cities, and life during and after genocide. 

Joining host Aubrey Hicks for this discussion are Marisa Turesky and David Sloane. 

Join the conversation about each episode on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Or email us at bedrosian.bookclub@usc.edu. 

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins talks with Pamela Ban, Assistant Professor of Political Science at UC San Diego. Ban discusses her recent research. First, she looks at how policy outcomes might change as Congress has a bit more gender representations. Then they discuss the revolving door and lobbying - how the cool off period has affected the lobbying industry. Finally, she thinks about how to use empirical data from newspapers to think about political power. 

Email: bedrosian.center@usc.edu
Twitter: @BedrosianCenter

Host Aubrey Hicks is joined by professors Chris Redfearn and Liz Falletta in a discussion of the New York Times bestselling book White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo.

On today's podcast, we talk about how white fragility works to sustain and reproduce the racist institutions & socialization which we all inherited. 

Scheduling in the Spring semester is always hard. We decided to go ahead with a three white person panel for this particular book. We hope to model the kinds of conversations we hope are happening across the country in predominately white communities. To echo DiAngelo, this isn't about guilt, it is about the responsibility we have to make the world better for our fellow citizens.

We make mistakes and welcome feedback. 

Thanks to all of you who have shared feedback with us before & to those of you brave enough to share with us in the future.  

Join the conversation about each episode on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Or email us at bedrosian.bookclub@usc.edu. 

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins's guest is Elisabeth R. Gerber, Associate Dean for Research and Policy Engagement; Jack L. Walker, Jr. Collegiate Professor of Public Policy (UMich). They discuss the move from Political Science departments to public policy departments - how the focus has moved from theory development to theory application, and how engagement with community stakeholders outside of the university can help solve real world problems. Plus they look at some of the other questions Gerber asks in her research ... including her interest in the future of work. 

Email: bedrosian.center@usc.edu
Twitter: @BedrosianCenter

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

This month, host Lisa is joined by David Sloane, Denise McIver, and Aubrey Hicks to discuss An Unkindness of Ghosts, the science fiction novel about a young neuroatypical woman on a generation ship in search of the "promised land" looking for evidence her mother had discovered something important about the ship and its journey.

We talk about slave allegories, generation ships, spatial hierarchies, gender, autism ... so much to talk about with this debut novel from Solomon.

Warnings: spoilers & triggers, and we apologize for any misgendering speakers may have done on this podcast.

Other things we're reading:

Lisa: Mueller, She Wrote, State of Resistance by Manuel Pastor
Denise: Quicksand and Passing, by Nella Larsen
Aubrey: The Savage Shore, by David Hewson

Read along with us! Let us know what you think of the book & our podcasts on Facebook or Twitter.

Our April read: White Fragility: Why It's So hard for White People To Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo

Bonus episode: an interview with Professor Manuel Pastor on his book State of Resistance: What California's Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Means for America's Future, coming soon.

Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes by Anne Elizabeth Moore

This month, Lisa is joined by Marisa Turesky, Chris Redfearn, and Aubrey Hicks to discuss Body Horror, a book of essays on the interaction between the abnormal, frail, resilient, squishy bodies of women and the world, from journalist Anne Elizabeth Moore.

Warnings: spoilers, cursing, & triggers.

Read along with us! Let us know what you think of the book & our podcasts on Facebook or Twitter.

Our March read: An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Email: bedrosian.center@usc.edu

Twitter: @BedrosianCenter, @drschweitzer, @AubreyHi

When do leaders pay penalties for backing down on promises?

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins's guest is Philip Potter, Associate Professor of Politics (UVA), and the Founding Director of the National Security Policy Center. Potter's work looks at how public opinion effects foreign policy, when do policymakers have leeway, and when does public opinion constrain policy?

Email: bedrosian.center@usc.edu
Twitter: @BedrosianCenter

National Party Committees and Political Power

In this episode of the PS You’re Interesting podcast, Jeff Jenkins and political Boris Heersink, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Fordham University, look at the national party committees. What kind of power do the national committees have? What is the role of the committees, outside of the conventions? What role does the President play?

Email: bedrosian.center@usc.edu
Twitter: @BedrosianCenter

@jaj7d
@Boris_Heersink

by Sophocles, Paul Woodruff (Translator)

This month, Lisa is joined by Carla Della Gatta and Richard Green to discuss the timeless play by Sophocles: Antigone. 

The play has clear connections to political struggles we face thousands of years later. The struggle between law and norm, the struggle to define what the state can control, and more. Listen as our three scholars discuss the necessity of reading Antigone today.

Read along for next month: Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes by Elizabeth Anne Moore.

For links and more, check out the showpage.