Public Intellectual
180 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 months ago - ★★★★★ - 118 ratingsComplicated conversations with complicated people about complicated topics. Let's get into the real mess of gender, feminism, punishment, class, politics, and culture and leave easy rhetoric and jingoism behind. Hosted by Jessa Crispin.
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Episodes
The Rich Getting Richer, with Ashley Mears
July 20, 2020 13:11 - 44 minutes - 50.4 MBBU Professor Ashley Mears details the leisure of the wealthy in her new book, Very Important People, but also the men and "girls" who live in their periphery. Examining the nightlife of the moneyed, from the ecstatic destruction of wealth to the exclusive locales they circulate around, we discuss the gender of money and why being "chosen" will always feel good. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
The Journalist as Moral Arbiter, with JoAnn Wypijewski
July 13, 2020 11:54 - 1 hour - 70.6 MBWith all the media struggles lately, a conversation has emerged: should the journalist strive to be an objective observer, or should they be the moral arbiter? Who better to come on to help Jessa figure this out than JoAnn Wypijewski, who has been covering media moral panics for years? Author of the new collection of essays and reporting What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About MeToo, we discuss this tricky new media landscape. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual...
The Bechdel Test Returns, with Vincent Chabany-Douarre
July 06, 2020 12:11 - 1 hour - 81.4 MBSomehow, the conversation around historical racism and bigotry and police brutality turned into a series of... resignations by white voice actors in cartoons? Yes, we're talking about representation in film yet again, and Vincent Chabany-Douarre, creator of the new Katharine's Kapital project, comes on to discuss what Depression-era films have to teach us, and why watching Katharine Hepburn films is praxis. http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
Housing is a Public Health Issue, with Tara Raghuveer
June 29, 2020 11:22 - 49 minutes - 56.7 MBWhile many cities and states offered protection from evictions during the beginning months of the pandemic, many of those protections have expired and people are losing their houses. Tara Raghuveer of KC Tenants speaks to Jessa about making housing the central issue for all local government, about the tenant bill of rights, and the spitefulness of landlords. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
Re-Release: A Conversation with Brandon Scott, the Presumed Next Mayor of Baltimore
June 22, 2020 12:11 - 37 minutes - 42.9 MBI know, we're all against voting and progress through elections right now, but the triumph of Brandon Scott over Sheila Dixon and assorted other neoliberal powerbrokers in Baltimore is potentially significant. I'm re-releasing the conversation I had with Brandon Scott before he announced he was running for mayor, about trying to turn leftist rhetoric and idealism into real policy in a troubled city. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
The Feminist City (with Leslie Kern)
June 15, 2020 14:41 - 48 minutes - 55.3 MBWhat does a fully inclusive city look like? With issues like policing, housing, child care, surveillance, and education in the news, due to the uprising and the pandemic, Leslie Kern and I consider what a city that is built for the use of all people -- not just the professional class -- could look like. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
The Relationship Between Disease and War, with Frank A Von Hippel
June 08, 2020 11:24 - 36 minutes - 41.5 MBFrank A von Hippel takes us through the surprising relationship of disease and war, from how the treatment of malaria facilitated colonialism, how weapons against disease carrying pests were used against human beings in war and riot, the development of tear gas, and the coming insect apocalypse. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
Your Doctor is Going to Kill You, with Caren Beilin
May 26, 2020 11:19 - 1 hour - 59 MBExcuse the click-baity title. Caren Beilin had a copper IUD implanted, and was overwhelmed with health issues almost immediately. Six days later, the IUD was removed, but the damage, including the sparking of an autoimmune disorder, was done. Many women report similar serious problems, yet this information is very hard to come by in the consultation room. Beilin joins Jessa to talk about medicine's women problem, but also medicine's general sickness problem, and why disorders that affect cer...
New Atheists, Flat Earth, and the History of Doubt (with Alec Ryrie)
May 18, 2020 12:55 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MBAlec Ryrie, the author of Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt, joins Jessa to discuss how faith and doubt operate together, skepticism as a contagion, and the legacy of the New Atheists. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
Reading The Topeka School (with Christopher Piatt)
May 11, 2020 12:03 - 59 minutes - 68 MBBen Lerner's The Topeka School was recently shortlisted for the Pulitzer, and critics have been raving about its insight into Trump Country. But... how good is it? Christopher Piatt and Jessa, two former small town, rural Kansans, read the Topeka School and discuss all of its hot takes on red state culture, its shallow research on the deep weirdness of Kansas, and why it is no longer expected for Kansans to be the audience, let alone the creators, of art these days. http://patreon.com/publ...
No NYTimes There Won't Be a Rona Baby Boom (with Maxine Eichner)
May 04, 2020 11:49 - 45 minutes - 52.4 MBFor all of the think pieces about why Millennials aren't having as many children as previous generations -- maybe they are too selfish blah blah blah -- very few ever hit on how very difficult it is to raise a child in America right now, where every resource from decent schooling and child care, must not only be sought out but competed for. Jessa speaks with Maxine Eichner, author of The Free Market Family, about how America started to prioritize the market over the family, and asks an essen...
Tiger King, A Morality Play (with Eileen G'Sell)
April 27, 2020 11:45 - 1 hour - 68.7 MBTiger King was a sensation, so a million words had to be spilled in response. Most of those words accused the Netflix docuseries itself of being immoral, misogynistic, exploitative. Rather than just depicting immorality, misogyny, and exploitation. Why do we look to our entertainment to teach us moral lessons, why do we need so many strong female heroines, why do we need our filmmakers, writers, and artists to talk to us like we are children? Cultural critic and poet Eileen G'Sell joins Jess...
Red State Culture (with Jason Pine)
April 20, 2020 11:37 - 38 minutes - 44.2 MBJason Pine (The Alchemy of Meth) joins Jessa to discuss the invisibility of America's drug crisis. Pine spent a year in Missouri to research his book on the overwhelming presence of meth, an extremely common and yet almost entirely invisible issue. But this is also a conversation about creativity under late capitalism, the health care crisis, and exploitation vs representation. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
The Feminist Response (with Breanne Fahs)
April 06, 2020 11:34 - 48 minutes - 55.2 MBThe shelter in place and work from home orders are straining domestic spaces, and it feels like the most professional and public feminist speakers are not up the task of imagining how to respond. What is the "feminist angle" on the coronavirus? It's not just that men need to do more housework. We need to re-imagine the domestic sphere now that this crisis is showing its weaknesses. Breanne Fahs (Firebrand Feminism, Burn It Down) joins Jessa to discuss material feminism and the revolutionary ...
Deaths of Despair, with Anne Case
April 01, 2020 11:57 - 51 minutes - 59.2 MBAnne Case and Angus Deaton released Deaths of Despair this year, the culmination of their study into how your education level determines how much pain you'll experience in life, how long you'll live, and your ability to fend off addiction and despair. Basically: if you lack a college degree, you will die sooner and live harder. Anne Case joins Jessa to discuss these "forgotten" men and women. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
How is Your Self-Isolation Going (with Jim Behrle)
March 23, 2020 15:36 - 56 minutes - 65 MBJim Behrle reports from the tumbleweeds of Time Square to discuss eco-fascism, why the bees should just take over, how to get through this sheltering-in-place with arts and crafts, and the respective strengths of our wills to live. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
Pete Buttigieg is from the Suburbs (with Joe Kennedy)
March 16, 2020 11:52 - 50 minutes - 58 MBJoe Kennedy, author of Authentocrats: Culture, Politics and the New Seriousness, swings by to talk about the parallels between the UK and US elections, how everyone loves to be pandered to, why the "forgotten" white working class voter is more complex than the politician pretending to be one, why American politicians absolutely must be photographed eating corn dogs, animosity toward the cosmopolitan class, and James Bond. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http:...
Bonus Episode: Sinead O'Connor is the Kassandra of Our Time, with Margaret Howie
March 12, 2020 13:27 - 45 minutes - 52.6 MBWe're releasing this bonus episode from the Patreon vaults. Come subscribe to our Patreon and get content like this all the time! (Or, you know, on a semi-regular basis, we have jobs and so on.) Regular bonus episode co-host Margaret Howie joins Jessa to talk about the outspoken career of Sinead O'Connor, and how she has paid the price for that outspokenness. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual
Twilight Moms and the Indignity of Female Desire (with Jennifer Hodgson)
March 09, 2020 12:45 - 1 hour - 78.1 MBWhy are celebrity crushes so embarrassing? Critic and editor Jennifer Hodgson joins Jessa to overintellectualize their shared crush on Bill Hader, to think about female desire, how celebrity crushes are labor, and why we suddenly find ourselves attracted to a middle aged father of three from the American midwest. http://jessacrispin.com Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual
Weinstein the Monster (with JoAnn Wypijewski)
March 02, 2020 07:49 - 1 hour - 88.1 MBJoAnn Wypijewski joins Jessa to discuss the Weinstein trial and conviction, after writing about it for the Nation. We discuss how trials for sexual violence have changed rapidly over the last few years, how the media gave a misleading account of how the trial was going, and why the sexual predator has such a fairy tale-like quality in our culture. http://jessacrispin.com Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual
On Creepy Men (with Heidi Matthews)
February 24, 2020 09:17 - 51 minutes - 59.1 MBProfessor of Law at York University Heidi Matthews has been writing about "creepiness," particularly as it relates to gender relations. What causes a man to be labeled a creep? What do we do about the creeps in our neighborhood? Why, with all we know about police violence, do we turn to the cops when we encounter someone we consider creepy? Are we just trying to increase marginalization on already marginalized populations, like the homeless, the mentally ill, the poor, and the neurodivergent...
Writing from the Margins (with Susan Ellen Finlay)
February 17, 2020 08:53 - 49 minutes - 56.3 MBJessa talks to writer Susan Ellen Finlay (Objektophilia) about the difficult position of small, independent publishers in today's cultural climate. http://jessacrispin.com Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual
The American Story is a Story of Grievance (with John Biguenet)
February 10, 2020 11:44 - 43 minutes - 50.1 MBWith all of the publishing scandals going on, I thought it made sense to re-up this conversation with novelist John Biguenet. Why is the standard narrative in American writing the narrative of victimhood? How do we move past seeing creativity as only a form of personal expression? http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
Social Capital, with Richard Davies
February 05, 2020 08:55 - 38 minutes - 53.4 MBRichard Davies is the author of "Extreme Economies: And What They Can Teach Us." He visits places like Santiago, Chile to examine income inequality, Akita, Japan to see what happens when a population starts to age dramatically, refugee camps and prisons, and environmental disaster zones. What causes resiliency? How does a city or a community create a shared project? Support: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com
You Can Talk to a Conservative Like a Normal Human Being (with Gerald Russello)
January 27, 2020 01:45 - 1 hour - 91.7 MBGerald Russello, the editor of University Bookman and conservative intellectual, joins Jessa Crispin to talk about the growing political divide in American politics, and how the left is just as annoying as the right. Support this podcast: patreon.com/publicintellectual
The Most Important, Dangerous, Thrilling Year in Film (with Eileen Jones)
January 19, 2020 22:05 - 1 hour - 83 MBIf the year in film went the way film critics said it was, Joker would have caused an incel uprising and Little Women would have solved misogyny. This was a year that hyperbole and Think Pieces took over film criticism, with every film being touted as the Most Important Ever or the Best Ever or You Will Definitely Die If You See This in the Theater. Jacobin film critic and co-host of the podcast Filmsuck Eileen Jones joins Jessa Crispin to discuss the year that was in film, the year that def...
Against Relentless Cheer (with Jim Behrle)
December 16, 2019 13:10 - 1 hour - 86.6 MBPoet and well known curmudgeon Jim Behrle talks to Jessa about this season of cheer, hope, and friendliness and how terrible all of that is. You don't have to be grateful, you don't have to list your accomplishments like a trained puppy, you can feel bad about the world. http://jessacrispin.com Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual
Deprogramming Trump Voters, with Robert Jay Lifton
December 09, 2019 02:42 - 43 minutes - 59.7 MBThe legendary cult expert and psychologist Robert Jay Lifton joins Public Intellectual to explain what the totalitarian experience shares with the religious cult, how Trump functions as a cult leader, and why deprogramming via intervention and logical debate never works. His most recent work is Losing Reality, and is an overview into cultist thought. http://jessacrispin.com Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual
Facebook is Death (with Jacob Silverman)
November 18, 2019 13:43 - 43 minutes - 60.2 MBTwitter is full of Nazis, Facebook is facilitating genocide, YouTube is, well, also full of Nazis but also child pornography. How did social media get here, or was it always this bad? And why are we all still on it? And what the hell is wrong with Mark Zuckerberg? Jacob Silverman is the author of Terms of Service, and he joins us to discuss. http://jessacrispin.com Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual
Listening to Politics, with Brandon Scott
November 11, 2019 12:44 - 37 minutes - 51 MBJessa talks to Brandon Scott, currently the City Council President and hopefully the next mayor of Baltimore, to talk about how the language of politics can become the language of exclusion. We discuss how to treat gun violence as a public health issue, why we should lower the voting age to 16, and how to think about the prison abolition movement in a city like Baltimore. http://jessacrispin.com Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual
"Capitalizing on MeToo (with Laura La Rosa)"
November 04, 2019 12:10 - 44 minutes - 60.4 MBWith the revelations about the abuses of Harvey Weinstein and others like him came a scramble to uncover the misdeeds of other powerful men. Some people did this for noble reasons. Others wanted to make a name for themselves. In this episode, Jessa talks with Laura La Rosa, a Darug and Calabrian writer in Australia, about a controversy that overtook the MeToo movement there, and how it relates to larger problems within the feminist community. http://jessacrispin.com Support this podcast:...
What is a Feminist Artist (with Jen May)
October 28, 2019 10:33 - 59 minutes - 82.1 MBWhat makes a feminist artist feminist? Is it just by being a woman and political? Is it something to do with the art itself, must it carry a specific feminist message? Jessa speaks with artist Jen May about how her politics align -- and don't -- with her collages, and how her political development coincided with her artistic development. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual
Impossible Fathers (with Nara Milanich)
October 21, 2019 12:27 - 49 minutes - 68.1 MBBefore DNA testing, the father was, ultimately, a question mark. Because paternity was always in question, there were legal, familial, societal, and national interest in finding ways either to definitely prove paternity or to disprove it. Nara Milanich joins Jessa to discuss how while patriarchy is dependent on the father to reproduce itself it is mostly myth and supposition, how America both sentimentalizes and forcibly breaks up families and has for decades, and the destabilizing force 23 ...
The New Culture Wars (with Nathalie Olah)
October 16, 2019 12:32 - 54 minutes - 74.6 MBJessa speaks with Nathalie Olah about her new book, Steal As Much As You Can and the bland cultural landscape, created by upper classes and dominated by middle class taste. They talk about the rising power of the university, the growing hostility of the alt-right toward art, and the how the new culture wars aren't between left and right but between the classes. Support this podcast. Go to http://patreon.com/publicintellectual
Why I Quit Writing (with Yasmin Nair)
October 07, 2019 11:36 - 1 hour - 98.6 MBJessa speaks with cultural critic, academic, and leftist thinker Yasmin Nair about the exploitative, dumbed down, and click-baity hot take culture in which we all consume. They discuss trying to write and think in a sea of opinion, the way leftist magazines take advantage of young writers, and how readers can take responsibility for the world created. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual
The Disappearance of the Working Class Journalist (with Justin Ward)
September 30, 2019 13:14 - 56 minutes - 77.6 MBJessa speaks with Justin Ward about the disappearance of the working class journalist. With local, small, and alternative newspapers folding, there are fewer avenues for people who want to be journalists to learn the trade except for in expensive, exclusive, and elitist university systems. How has that changed media coverage of politics and the economy? Why does the New York Times only know four Trump voters? How do we go about reforming a journalism culture that is cozy with power and devot...
Teaching Consent (with Laura Kipnis)
September 25, 2019 23:46 - 38 minutes - 43.9 MBOn the inaugural episode of “Public Intellectual,” Jessa Crispin invites writer & cultural critic Laura Kipnis to discuss her book, “Unwanted Advances: Sexual Paranoia Comes to Campus,” the visceral political responses the book created, and the misinterpretations of Kipnis’ newest ideas.
The Feminist Bogeyman (with Breanna Fahs)
September 25, 2019 23:44 - 42 minutes - 49 MBJessa invites Breanne Fahs, Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University and author of Out for Blood: Essays on Menstruation and Resistance, onto Public Intellectual to discuss Radical Feminism and it’s place in the canon of Feminist thought. Together, they talk about the Feminist Bogeyman, “too–muchness,” and the legacy of polarizing feminist figures like Valerie Solanas.
The New Tarot (with Michelle Tea)
September 25, 2019 23:41 - 33 minutes - 38.8 MBJessa invites Michelle Tea, author of “Modern Tarot: Connecting with Your Higher Self through the Wisdom of the Cards” and “Black Wave,” onto the show to discuss Tarot’s relevance and application in the modern era. They get into the Patriarchal origins of Tarot, its representations of masculinity and femininity, and how Tarot’s been redesigned to better reflect our world today.
Heterosexuality is a F**king Nightmare (with Indiana Seresin)
September 25, 2019 23:39 - 53 minutes - 60.8 MBJessa made a joke on twitter saying that she wanted to write a book called “Heterosexuality is a Fucking Nightmare.” She received an e-mail from another user intrigued by the idea, Indiana Seresin, encouraging her to write the book. They began corresponding on the topic, discussing things like desire, love, sociology, consent, personal stories of heartbreak and sexual regret. Their paths crossed in Berlin earlier this summer and Jessa invited Indiana onto Public Intellectual to make some of ...
Straight White Men (with Zak Mucha)
September 25, 2019 23:37 - 39 minutes - 45.7 MBJessa invites Zak Mucha, author of Emotional Abuse: A Manual For Self-Defense, onto Public Intellectual to discuss straight white men and the crisis of masculinity. They talk about masculine expectations, the nature and nurturing of masculinity in our society, the role of women in men’s lives, the relationship between class and masculinity, and more.
Missing Dames (with Bruce Benderson)
September 25, 2019 23:35 - 51 minutes - 58.8 MBJessa invites author Bruce Benderson onto the show to discuss the disappearance of the spinster/grandma in film and how women’s roles have changed with the rise of feminism. In film and in real life, why are all women now supposed to have it all? Why do they have to be sexually, financially, & romantically fulfilled? Why is the romantic love the end-all-be-all of a women’s story line? How does that storyline hijack our imagination of how we are supposed to live our lives? And most essentiall...
Queering the Military (with Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore)
September 25, 2019 23:34 - 46 minutes - 53.5 MBJessa invites author Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore (The End Of San Francisco) onto Public Intellectual to discuss the transgender military ban & the role of marginalized people in challenging dominant institutions of oppression, specifically the American Military & marriage. Does being accepted into these institutions count as social progress? Is it furthering the cause of equality? Or is it strengthening the institutions that have always and will continue to oppress marginalized people?
Writing for Our Strange Times (with Mia Gallagher)
September 25, 2019 23:32 - 55 minutes - 63.4 MBJessa invites Irish author Mia Gallagher (Beautiful Pictures of the Lost Homeland) onto Public Intellectual for a thoughtful discussion on what it means to be a fiction writer in these strange times. Together, they talk about Mia's work, identity and consequences in writing, gender, historical responsibility, and the brilliance of post-war German writers. Jessa even talks about drinking from a contaminated well in Ireland!
The Woman Genius Problem (with Pamela Bannos)
September 25, 2019 23:29 - 42 minutes - 48.1 MBJessa invites Pamela Bannos, author of the upcoming book “Vivian Maier: A Photographer’s Life and Afterlife” to discuss Vivian Maier’s life, the exploitation of her work, and the manufacturing of her image after her death in 2009. Their conversation addresses the suppression of women’s art, the prevailing discomfort with the “women genius” archetype, and the relationship and struggle between authorship & ownership
Welcome to the #Resistance (with Neal Pollack)
September 25, 2019 23:27 - 50 minutes - 57.6 MBJessa invites writer Neal Pollack onto the show to discuss the opportunism and profiteering of #Resistance writers in the age of Trump. They talk about the state of literature and journalism since the 2016 election, the abrupt shift of “literary power” from the Obama administration to the Trump administration, the role of the novel in our culture, the modern publishing industry, and whether or not we’re, in fact, living under tyranny. Plus, Jessa and Neal dish on some of their favorite and l...
Canonize Tori Amos (with Common Gore)
September 25, 2019 23:25 - 1 hour - 72.7 MBAs we approach the 20th anniversary of Tori Amos’s “Boys for Pele,” Jessa invites her friend, Common Gore, onto the show to discuss Tori Amos, the importance of her work, and her omission from the pop culture cannon, despite being one of the weirdest, wildest artists of the 90s. Together, they talk about her lasting legacy as an artist (especially as a live performer), the differences between our current music scene and the one Amos occupied in the 90s, the negative influences that reshaped ...
The Forgotten Occult History of Art (with Padraic E Moore)
September 25, 2019 23:22 - 48 minutes - 56 MBRecently, Jessa attended a fascinating exhibition of mysticism and art at the IMMA in Dublin called “As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics.” Pádraic E Moore, writer/curator/art historian from Ireland based in Brussels, was a curatorial advisor for the exhibition. He joins Jessa via Skype to discuss the secret history of the occult and modernism and the role it played in art, writing, and revolution. Pádraic E. Moore (b. 1982) is a writer, curator, and art historian. He hold...
Witchcraft Capitalism (with Katelan Foisy)
September 25, 2019 23:13 - 51 minutes - 59.2 MBThere is a strong market for witchcraft these days. As practices such as astrology, tarot, crystals, and herbal medicine enter the mainstream, the use of witchcraft to sell stuff has increased dramatically. Jessa sits down with writer, artist, and witch, Katelan Foisy, to discuss what happens when a serious religious practice becomes commodified. Katelan Foisy is a multimedia artist, writer, and witch. Her fine art pieces have been displayed at The Worcester Art Museum, Ohio History Museum, ...
Abolish Marriage (with Jessica Stites)
September 25, 2019 23:10 - 52 minutes - 60.1 MBJessa invites Jessica Stites, executive editor of In These Times, onto the show for a conversation about the institution of marriage and why it should be abolished. Together, they talk about marriage as an alienating force against stigmatized groups, its modern association with love & romance, the legal constraints placed on individuals and partners seeking an alternative to marriage, and ways to challenge marriage's social and legal framework. Jessica Stites is executive editor of In These ...