{"episodes":[{"title":"Shameem Black, \"Flexible India: Yoga's Cultural and Political Tensions\" (Columbia UP, 2023)","subtitle":"","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYoga has offered the Indian state unprecedented opportunities for global, media-savvy political performance. Under Modi, it has promoted yoga tourism and staged mass yoga sessions, and Indian officials have proposed yoga as a national solution to a range of social problems, from reducing rape to curing cancer. But as yoga has gone global, its cultural meanings have spiraled far and wide. In \u003cem\u003eFlexible India: Yoga's Cultural and Political Tensions\u003c/em\u003e (Columbia University Press, 2024), Dr. Shameem Black travels into unexpected realms of popular culture in English from India, its diaspora, and the West to explore and critique yoga as an exercise in cultural power.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing on her own experience and her readings of political spectacles, yoga murder mysteries, court cases, art installations, and digital media, Dr. Black shows how yoga’s imaginative power supports diverse political and cultural ends. Although many cultural practices in today’s India exemplify “culture wars” between liberal and conservative agendas, \u003cem\u003eFlexible India\u003c/em\u003e argues that visions of yoga offer a “culture peace” that conceals, without resolving, such tensions. This flexibility allows states, corporations, and individuals to think of themselves as welcoming and tolerant while still, in many cases, supporting practices that make minority populations increasingly vulnerable. However, as Dr. Black shows, yoga can also be imagined in ways that offer new tools for critiquing hierarchical structures of power and race, Hindu nationalism, cultural appropriation, and self-help capitalism.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/securing-peace-in-angola-and-mozambique-9781350407930/\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e book\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on \u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/special-series/new-books-with-miranda-melcher\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew Books with Miranda Melcher\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e, wherever you get your podcasts.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","uid":"NBNK5388296429","audioUrl":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK5388296429.mp3?source=player\u0026updated=1776794476","imageUrl":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/7114b9e4-1041-11ed-b602-17089ed429e4/image/OTP_NBN_Logo.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1\u0026w=400\u0026h=400","duration":"2797.91","pubDate":"2026-04-23T08:00:00.000Z","facebookShareLinkHRef":"http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?quote=%27Shameem+Black%2C+%22Flexible+India%3A+Yoga%27s+Cultural+and+Political+Tensions%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2023%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026u=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK5388296429","twitterShareLinkHRef":"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%27Shameem+Black%2C+%22Flexible+India%3A+Yoga%27s+Cultural+and+Political+Tensions%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2023%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK5388296429","episodeUrlHRef":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK5388296429.mp3","dataClipboardText":"https://megaphone.link/NBNK5388296429"},{"title":"Yingyi Ma, \"Ambitious and Anxious: How Chinese College Students Succeed and Struggle in American Higher Education\" (Columbia UP, 2020)","subtitle":"","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c/strong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780231184588\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAmbitious and Anxious: How Chinese College Students Succeed and Struggle in American Higher Education\u003c/em\u003e \u003c/a\u003e(Columbia UP, 2020), sociologist Yingyi Ma offers a multifaceted analysis of a new wave of international Chinese students—mostly self-funded—who have transformed American higher education over the past decade. This privileged yet diverse group of young people, emerging from a rapidly changing China, must navigate the complications and confusions of their formative years while bridging the world’s two most powerful countries. How do these students come to study in the United States? What does that experience mean to them? And what does American higher education need to know—and do—in order to continue attracting these students and supporting them adequately?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing on research conducted in both Chinese high schools and American colleges and universities, Ma’s book offers illuminating insights into the experiences that define this new wave of students: above all, a duality of ambition and anxiety rooted in the transformative social changes of contemporary China. These students and their families are ambitious in seeking to navigate two very different educational systems and societies. Yet, at the same time, the complexity and pressure of these systems generate profound anxiety—from the challenges of applying to colleges, to studying and socializing on campus, to deciding what comes next after graduation. \u003cem\u003eAmbitious and Anxious\u003c/em\u003e also offers valuable policy implications for American colleges and universities, touching on recruitment, student life, faculty support, and career services.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbout the Author\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYingyi Ma is Professor of Sociology at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, where she also serves as Director of the Asian/Asian American Studies Program. She is a Fellow of the Public Intellectuals Program of the National Committee on United States–China Relations.\u003c/p\u003e","uid":"NBNK8592120088","audioUrl":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK8592120088.mp3?source=player\u0026updated=1776152898","imageUrl":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/7114b9e4-1041-11ed-b602-17089ed429e4/image/OTP_NBN_Logo.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1\u0026w=400\u0026h=400","duration":"3327.54","pubDate":"2026-04-15T08:00:00.000Z","facebookShareLinkHRef":"http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?quote=%27Yingyi+Ma%2C+%22Ambitious+and+Anxious%3A+How+Chinese+College+Students+Succeed+and+Struggle+in+American+Higher+Education%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2020%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026u=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK8592120088","twitterShareLinkHRef":"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%27Yingyi+Ma%2C+%22Ambitious+and+Anxious%3A+How+Chinese+College+Students+Succeed+and+Struggle+in+American+Higher+Education%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2020%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK8592120088","episodeUrlHRef":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK8592120088.mp3","dataClipboardText":"https://megaphone.link/NBNK8592120088"},{"title":"Ainehi Edoro, \"Forest Imaginaries: How African Novels Think\" (Columbia UP, 2026)","subtitle":"","summary":"\u003cp\u003eForests in fiction are often understood simply as settings, symbols, or remnants of a premodern past. Yet many African novelists have turned to the forest to experiment with worldbuilding and to imagine new futures. This groundbreaking book explores the life of the forest in African fiction, showing how writers have used it to reinvent the novel’s formal, aesthetic, and political possibilities.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Ainehi Edoro argues in\u003ca href=\"https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780231220750\"\u003e Forest Imaginaries: How African Novels Think \u003c/a\u003e(Columbia UP, 2026) that forests in African fiction are laboratories for unmaking and remaking the world, where writers break apart familiar forms to test alternate forms of life, knowledge, and power. Instead of treating the forest as a backdrop, these writers imagine it as a living structure: a space where politics, history, myth, violence, technology, the magical, and creativity animate fictional worlds. Spanning indigenous African narratives and contemporary science fiction, \u003cem\u003eForest Imaginaries\u003c/em\u003e traces the lineage of forest worlds in African literature: Chinua Achebe’s evil forest, the cosmic forest in Wọle Ṣóyínká’s mythic imagination, Thomas Mofolo’s forest of imperial dreams, Amos Tutuola’s endless fractal forest, and Nnedi Okorafor’s aquatic forest of new ecological futures. This book rethinks African literary history by showing how African writers draw on the forest—and the wealth of Indigenous ideas about time, space, and storytelling it conjures—to transform the novel’s aesthetic, political, and philosophical horizons.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAinehi Edoro is a Mellon-Morgridge Assistant Professor of English and African cultural studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the founding editor of \u003cem\u003eBrittle Paper\u003c/em\u003e, a leading platform for African literary culture.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos\"\u003eMorteza Hajizadeh\u003c/a\u003e is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYouTube Channel: \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","uid":"NBNK7422154522","audioUrl":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK7422154522.mp3?source=player\u0026updated=1774591485","imageUrl":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/7114b9e4-1041-11ed-b602-17089ed429e4/image/OTP_NBN_Logo.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1\u0026w=400\u0026h=400","duration":"3722.95","pubDate":"2026-03-29T08:00:00.000Z","facebookShareLinkHRef":"http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?quote=%27Ainehi+Edoro%2C+%22Forest+Imaginaries%3A+How+African+Novels+Think%22+%28%EF%BB%BFColumbia+UP%2C+2026%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026u=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK7422154522","twitterShareLinkHRef":"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%27Ainehi+Edoro%2C+%22Forest+Imaginaries%3A+How+African+Novels+Think%22+%28%EF%BB%BFColumbia+UP%2C+2026%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK7422154522","episodeUrlHRef":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK7422154522.mp3","dataClipboardText":"https://megaphone.link/NBNK7422154522"},{"title":"Zheng Liu, \"Cultural Mavericks: The Business and Politics of Independent Bookselling in China\" (Columbia UP, 2026)","subtitle":"","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn recent decades, self-proclaimed “independent bookstores” have arisen across China. In the West, such retailers represent an alternative to corporations and chains. In China, by contrast, they differentiate themselves from not only the state-owned Xinhua Bookstore but also other privately owned shops through an emphasis on intellectual independence and the free exchange of ideas.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780231200134\"\u003eCultural Mavericks: The Business and Politics of Independent Bookselling in China\u003c/a\u003e (Columbia UP, 2026) by Dr. Zheng Liu takes readers inside the world of independent bookselling in China, showing how a wide range of figures navigate the challenges of book retailing in the digital age amid rapidly shifting social, political, and economic dynamics. Drawing on more than a decade of immersive research—including interviews, observations, and extensive documentary analysis—Dr. Liu unveils how these bookstores carve out a unique identity and market position. She develops the concept of “culturally adapted strategy” to explain how independent bookstores—as both dedicated cultural institutions and resilient business enterprises—balance economic imperatives with a deep commitment to intellectual autonomy. Dr. Liu challenges the tendency to understand nonstate cultural institutions in China in terms of resistance, arguing that independent bookstores engage with politics as a strategic means of differentiation from the competition.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRichly detailed and compellingly written, \u003cem\u003eCultural Mavericks\u003c/em\u003e sheds new light on the interplay among culture, commerce, and politics in China, offering timely insights into the evolving dynamics of China’s book industry and wider cultural economy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/securing-peace-in-angola-and-mozambique-9781350407930/\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e book\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on \u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/special-series/new-books-with-miranda-melcher\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew Books with Miranda Melcher\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e, wherever you get your podcasts.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","uid":"NBNK3840050555","audioUrl":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK3840050555.mp3?source=player\u0026updated=1774509413","imageUrl":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/7114b9e4-1041-11ed-b602-17089ed429e4/image/OTP_NBN_Logo.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1\u0026w=400\u0026h=400","duration":"3602.84","pubDate":"2026-03-28T08:00:00.000Z","facebookShareLinkHRef":"http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?quote=%27Zheng+Liu%2C+%22Cultural+Mavericks%3A+The+Business+and+Politics+of+Independent+Bookselling+in+China%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2026%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026u=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK3840050555","twitterShareLinkHRef":"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%27Zheng+Liu%2C+%22Cultural+Mavericks%3A+The+Business+and+Politics+of+Independent+Bookselling+in+China%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2026%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK3840050555","episodeUrlHRef":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK3840050555.mp3","dataClipboardText":"https://megaphone.link/NBNK3840050555"},{"title":"Karima Moyer-Nocchi, \"The Epic History of Macaroni and Cheese: From Ancient Rome to Modern America\" (Columbia UP, 2026)","subtitle":"","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday, macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, a staple of weeknight dinners, family gatherings, and Soul Food restaurants. Humble though the dish may seem, its history is filled with surprising twists and turns. Renaissance cardinals and popes dined on elaborate pasta-and-cheese concoctions laced with costly spices. In the eighteenth century, wealthy young Englishmen made macaroni a symbol of continental sophistication. Black women, whose contribution has long been overshadowed, played a crucial role in establishing the dish as an American tradition from the nation’s founding through the Civil Rights Movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780231560733\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Epic History of Macaroni and Cheese: From Ancient Rome to Modern America\u003c/em\u003e \u003c/a\u003e(Columbia UP, 2026) by Dr. Karima Moyer-Nocchi is a delectable history of macaroni and cheese, tracing an extraordinary journey of cultural exchange and social change. Karima Moyer-Nocchi reveals the religious, political, and industrial forces that shaped its evolution alongside stories of the unsung figures who crafted the dish as we know it today: enslaved cooks who preserved and adapted traditions, immigrant chefs who introduced new variations, and practical homemakers looking to nourish their families with an affordable meal. She emphasizes the adaptability of macaroni and cheese, which in different times has served as both an indulgence on the elite table and sustenance to those struggling to survive, crossing borders, social classes, and cultural divides. Deeply researched and rich with enticing details, this book uncovers the creativity and resilience that brought a beloved food to our tables. \u003cem\u003eThe Epic History of Macaroni and Cheese\u003c/em\u003e also shares centuries of recipes—from ancient Roman authors to celebrity chefs, reworked for modern kitchens—that provide a hands-on way to experience the evolution of this iconic dish.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/securing-peace-in-angola-and-mozambique-9781350407930/\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e book\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on \u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/special-series/new-books-with-miranda-melcher\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew Books with Miranda Melcher\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e, wherever you get your podcasts\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","uid":"NBNK8493268592","audioUrl":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK8493268592.mp3?source=player\u0026updated=1773823854","imageUrl":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/7114b9e4-1041-11ed-b602-17089ed429e4/image/OTP_NBN_Logo.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1\u0026w=400\u0026h=400","duration":"4464.93","pubDate":"2026-03-20T08:00:00.000Z","facebookShareLinkHRef":"http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?quote=%27Karima+Moyer-Nocchi%2C+%22The+Epic+History+of+Macaroni+and+Cheese%3A+From+Ancient+Rome+to+Modern+America%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2026%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026u=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK8493268592","twitterShareLinkHRef":"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%27Karima+Moyer-Nocchi%2C+%22The+Epic+History+of+Macaroni+and+Cheese%3A+From+Ancient+Rome+to+Modern+America%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2026%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK8493268592","episodeUrlHRef":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK8493268592.mp3","dataClipboardText":"https://megaphone.link/NBNK8493268592"},{"title":"A.J. Bauer, \"Making the Liberal Media: How Conservatives Built a Movement Against The Press\" (Columbia UP, 2026)","subtitle":"","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ca href=\"https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780231218351\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eMaking the Liberal Media: How Conservatives Built a Movement Against The Press\u003c/em\u003e \u003c/a\u003e(Columbia UP, 2026), A.J. Bauer examines the history of the idea of a “liberal media bias.” Rather than trying to show whether or not “liberal media bias” is an accurate description, Bauer shows how this idea has been an animating force for conservative political activists and media figures. Bauer shows the lineage of “liberal media bias” criticism going back to early leaders in the modern conservative movement and press, as well as the conservative and right-wing grassroots. In addition to promoting this idea of media bias, these early conservative media pioneers taught their audiences \u003cem\u003ehow\u003c/em\u003e to be media critics themselves, a tradition that is still practiced today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA.J. Bauer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media at the University of Alabama.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou can find a \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BOXRJIvbhpQ6abhjQySsjLl250CGRvsF/edit?usp=drive_link\u0026amp;ouid=113785768998406476000\u0026amp;rtpof=true\u0026amp;sd=true\"\u003etranscript of the interview here.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","uid":"NBNK6215847404","audioUrl":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK6215847404.mp3?source=player\u0026updated=1773730532","imageUrl":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/7114b9e4-1041-11ed-b602-17089ed429e4/image/OTP_NBN_Logo.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1\u0026w=400\u0026h=400","duration":"4543.96","pubDate":"2026-03-18T08:00:00.000Z","facebookShareLinkHRef":"http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?quote=%27A.J.+Bauer%2C+%22Making+the+Liberal+Media%3A+How+Conservatives+Built+a+Movement+Against+The+Press%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2026%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026u=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK6215847404","twitterShareLinkHRef":"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%27A.J.+Bauer%2C+%22Making+the+Liberal+Media%3A+How+Conservatives+Built+a+Movement+Against+The+Press%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2026%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK6215847404","episodeUrlHRef":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK6215847404.mp3","dataClipboardText":"https://megaphone.link/NBNK6215847404"},{"title":"Renny Thomas and Sasanka Perera, \"Decolonial Keywords: South Asian Thoughts and Attitudes\" (Columbia UP, 2025)","subtitle":"","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9788197938306\"\u003eDecolonial Keywords: South Asian Thoughts and Attitudes\u003c/a\u003e (Columbia UP, 2025) presents a set of keywords and concepts embedded in the languages of South Asia and its vast cultural landscape. It reiterates specific attitudes, ways of seeing and methods of doing, which are embedded in the historical and contemporary experiences in the region. The words, concepts, ideas and attitudes in the volume explore the contexts of their production and how their meanings might have changed at different historical moments. The volume also attempts to work out if these words and concepts can infuse a certain intellectual rigor to reinvent social sciences and humanities in the region and beyond. Individual essays, which are creative, imaginative, ethnographic and historical, explore the possibility of South Asian intellectual \u003cem\u003eworlds \u003c/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003ewords \u003c/em\u003eto create a broader crossregional and global social science and humanities. The volume argues that it is important to move away from the intellectual shackles inherited from colonial and neo-colonial experiences while also not succumbing to the traps of local reductionist nativisms and cultural nationalisms.\u003c/p\u003e","uid":"NBNK3469862980","audioUrl":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK3469862980.mp3?source=player\u0026updated=1771920055","imageUrl":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/7114b9e4-1041-11ed-b602-17089ed429e4/image/OTP_NBN_Logo.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1\u0026w=400\u0026h=400","duration":"2130.69","pubDate":"2026-02-26T09:00:00.000Z","facebookShareLinkHRef":"http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?quote=%27Renny+Thomas+and+Sasanka+Perera%2C+%22Decolonial+Keywords%3A+South+Asian+Thoughts+and+Attitudes%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2025%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026u=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK3469862980","twitterShareLinkHRef":"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%27Renny+Thomas+and+Sasanka+Perera%2C+%22Decolonial+Keywords%3A+South+Asian+Thoughts+and+Attitudes%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2025%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK3469862980","episodeUrlHRef":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK3469862980.mp3","dataClipboardText":"https://megaphone.link/NBNK3469862980"},{"title":"Anne Mendelson, \"Spoiled: The Myth of Milk as Superfood\" (Columbia UP, 2023)","subtitle":"An interview with Anne Mendelson","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhy is cows' milk, which few nonwhite people can digest, promoted as a science-backed dietary necessity in countries where the majority of the population is lactose-intolerant? Why are gigantic new dairy farms permitted to deplete the sparse water resources of desert ecosystems? Why do thousands of U.S. dairy farmers every year give up after struggling to recoup production costs against plummeting wholesale prices?\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExploring these questions and many more, \u003ca href=\"https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780231188180\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eSpoiled: The Myth of Milk as Superfood\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c/em\u003e(Columbia UP, 2023) is an unflinching and meticulous critique of the glorification of fluid milk and its alleged universal benefits. Anne Mendelson's groundbreaking book chronicles the story of milk from the Stone Age peoples who first domesticated cows, goats, and sheep to today's troubled dairy industry. \u003cem\u003eSpoiled\u003c/em\u003e shows that drinking fresh milk was rare until Western scientific experts who were unaware of genetic differences in the ability to digest lactose deemed it superior to traditional fermented dairy products. Their flawed beliefs fueled the growth of a massive and environmentally devastating industry that turned milk into a cheap, ubiquitous commodity.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMendelson's wide-ranging account also examines the consequences of homogenization and refrigeration technologies, the toll that modern farming takes on dairy cows, and changing perceptions of raw milk since the advent of pasteurization. Unraveling the myths and misconceptions that prop up the dairy industry, \u003cem\u003eSpoiled\u003c/em\u003e calls for more sustainable, healthful futures in our relationship with milk and the animals that provide it.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/melek-firat-altay/\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eMelek Firat Altay\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e is a neuroscientist, biologist and musician. Her research focuses on deciphering the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","uid":"NBNK6665378751","audioUrl":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK6665378751.mp3?source=player\u0026updated=1700429257","imageUrl":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/7114b9e4-1041-11ed-b602-17089ed429e4/image/OTP_NBN_Logo.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1\u0026w=400\u0026h=400","duration":"3955.47","pubDate":"2026-02-22T09:00:00.000Z","facebookShareLinkHRef":"http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?quote=%27Anne+Mendelson%2C+%22Spoiled%3A+The+Myth+of+Milk+as+Superfood%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2023%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026u=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK6665378751","twitterShareLinkHRef":"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%27Anne+Mendelson%2C+%22Spoiled%3A+The+Myth+of+Milk+as+Superfood%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2023%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK6665378751","episodeUrlHRef":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK6665378751.mp3","dataClipboardText":"https://megaphone.link/NBNK6665378751"},{"title":"Jie-Hyun Lim, \"Victimhood Nationalism: History and Memory in a Global Age\" (Columbia UP, 2025)","subtitle":"","summary":"\u003cp\u003eNationalism today depends on the perception of victimhood. The historical memory of past suffering endows nationalist movements with political legitimacy and a sense of moral superiority. Koreans recall Japanese colonial atrocities, while Japan commemorates the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Israel sanctifies the Holocaust and Poland trumpets the Nazi and Soviet occupations. Even Germany and Russia, perpetrators of historical crimes, today cast themselves as victims by pointing to national suffering.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich book, Jie-Hyun Lim offers a new way to understand nationalism and its political instrumentalization of suffering, developing the concept of “victimhood nationalism” and exploring it in a range of global settings. \u003ca href=\"https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780231561396\"\u003eVictimhood Nationalism: History and Memory in a Global Age\u003c/a\u003e (Columbia UP, 2025) examines relations among Poland, Germany, Israel, Korea, and Japan, focusing on how memories of colonialism, the Holocaust, and Stalinist terror have converged and intertwined in transnational spaces. With an emphasis on memory formation, Lim scrutinizes how perpetrators in Germany and Japan transformed themselves into victims, as well as how nationalists in Poland, Korea, and Israel portray themselves as hereditary victims in order to rebut external criticism. He considers the construction of nations as victims and perpetrators, tracing the interaction of history and memory. Ultimately, the book contends, challenging victimhood nationalism is necessary to overcome the endless competition over national suffering and instead promote reconciliation, mutual understanding, and transnational solidarity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDr. Jie-Hyun Lim is the CIPSH Chairholder of Global Easts, Distinguished Professor, and founding director of the Critical Global Studies Institute at Sogang University. In 2025–2026, he is the Class of 1955 Visiting Professor in Global Studies at Williams College. His many books include Global Easts: Remembering, Imagining, Mobilizing (Columbia, 2022).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVisit the Critical Global Studies Institute’s homepage: \u003ca href=\"http://cgsi.ac/index_eng.php\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBuy \u003cem\u003eVictimhood Nationalism: History and Memory in a Global Age: \u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cup.columbia.edu/book/victimhood-nationalism/9780231216883/\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbout the host: Leslie Hickman is an Anthropology graduate student at Emory University. She has an MA in Korean Studies and a KO-EN translation certificate from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. You can contact her at leslie.hickman@emory.edu\u003c/p\u003e","uid":"NBNK1287865804","audioUrl":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK1287865804.mp3?source=player\u0026updated=1771577951","imageUrl":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/7114b9e4-1041-11ed-b602-17089ed429e4/image/OTP_NBN_Logo.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1\u0026w=400\u0026h=400","duration":"3246.45","pubDate":"2026-02-21T09:00:00.000Z","facebookShareLinkHRef":"http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?quote=%27Jie-Hyun+Lim%2C+%22Victimhood+Nationalism%3A+History+and+Memory+in+a+Global+Age%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2025%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026u=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK1287865804","twitterShareLinkHRef":"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%27Jie-Hyun+Lim%2C+%22Victimhood+Nationalism%3A+History+and+Memory+in+a+Global+Age%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2025%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK1287865804","episodeUrlHRef":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK1287865804.mp3","dataClipboardText":"https://megaphone.link/NBNK1287865804"},{"title":"Ted Striphas, \"Algorithmic Culture Before the Internet\" (Columbia UP, 2023)","subtitle":"","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn this episode, \u003ca href=\"https://www.colorado.edu/cmdi/people/college-leadership/ted-striphas\"\u003eTed Striphas\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https://www.uprm.edu/humanidades/jeffrey-herlihy-mera/\"\u003eJeffrey Herlihy-Mera\u003c/a\u003e and Alex Rivera Cartagena discuss \u003cem\u003eAlgorithmic Culture Before the Internet\u003c/em\u003e\n (Columbia University Press 2023), considering how some pre-digital \nhuman systems functioned through repetitive structures and automated \nprocesses that have similarities to electronic algorithms. They discuss \nhow cognition has become digitized, dispersed across algorithmic and \nbiological systems, and how digital tools attempt to overtake lived \nexperiences and knowledges. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir conversation traces the history of computation while engaging \nculture and language as analytical tools. Their dialogue connects analog\n media, cultural practices, and symbolic systems to reflect on the \nimportance of words in the human experience. Long before digital code, \nverbal narratives shaped (or attempted to shape) our relationship with \nknowledge and power; building on that insight, an important analytical \npoint to critique algorithms begins with culture, and that culture \nbegins in language.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis episode and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.uprm.edu/nuevoshorizontes/\"\u003eInstituto Nuevos Horizontes\u003c/a\u003e are sponsored in part by the Teagle Foundation.\u003cbr\u003eOur conversation in Spanish about \u003cem\u003eAlgorithmic Culture Before the Internet\u003c/em\u003e is available \u003ca href=\"https://newbooksnetwork.com/es/algorithmic-culture-before-the-internet\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTopics and scholars mentioned in this episode:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"https://hectorjosehuyke.com/\"\u003eHéctor José Huyke\u003c/a\u003e, \u003cem\u003eElogio a las cercanías\u003c/em\u003e: \u003cem\u003ecrítica a la cultura tecnológica actual \u003c/em\u003e(Editora Educación Emergente, 2024).\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eThe Late Age of Print: Everyday Book Culture from Consumerism to Control \u003c/em\u003e(Columbia University Press, 2011). \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eErik Hoel's notion of a “consciousness winter.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eLawrence Grossberg\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eMedium theory\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eJoshua Myerwicz\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eJanice Radway\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eScriptocentrism\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e“Things that different forms of media do to us.” -Ted Striphas\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eScott Kushner, \u003ca href=\"https://www.uprm.edu/humanidades/2023/03/21/what-does-media-studies-study/\"\u003eUniversity of Rhode Island\u003c/a\u003e, “A turnstile is more persuasive than a person saying 'go this way.’\" \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eAlan Touring\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eThe Late Age of Print: Blog and book\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\"The locus of cultural decision making [has been] shifting in the direction of computer systems and algorithms.\" -Ted Striphas\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e“Build different meanings of words so we can build different worlds,” -Ted Striphas.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e“What is culture when human beings are not the only one producing it?” -Ted Striphas\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"https://cup.columbia.edu/book/pluriverse/9788193732984/\"\u003ePluriverse, A Post-Development Dictionary\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c/em\u003e(Columbia University Press, 2019), edited by Ashish Kothari, Ariel Salleh, Arturo Escobar, Federico Demaria, and Alberto Acosta.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e","uid":"NBNK5038245313","audioUrl":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK5038245313.mp3?source=player","imageUrl":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/7114b9e4-1041-11ed-b602-17089ed429e4/image/OTP_NBN_Logo.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1\u0026w=400\u0026h=400","duration":"3529.73","pubDate":"2026-02-18T09:00:00.000Z","facebookShareLinkHRef":"http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?quote=%27Ted+Striphas%2C+%22Algorithmic+Culture+Before+the+Internet%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2023%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026u=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK5038245313","twitterShareLinkHRef":"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%27Ted+Striphas%2C+%22Algorithmic+Culture+Before+the+Internet%22+%28Columbia+UP%2C+2023%29%27+by+Off+the+Page%3A+A+Columbia+University+Press+Podcast\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fmegaphone.link%2FNBNK5038245313","episodeUrlHRef":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK5038245313.mp3","dataClipboardText":"https://megaphone.link/NBNK5038245313"}],"podcastTitle":"Off the Page: A Columbia University Press Podcast","podcastFeedUrl":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/NBN2998548382","podcastShareItunes":"","podcastShareSpotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/5d3QA6OMxCermG7GqSaiim","podcastShareGooglePlay":"","podcastShareGooglePodcasts":"","podcastShareIheart":"","hideBranding":false,"totalCount":480,"limit":10,"page":1}