Unsettled Crossings

Lila Abu-Lughod on Power, Feminism, and Migration

This episode explores the groundbreaking work of Lila Abu-Lughod, focusing on her critique of ethnographic methods, feminist approaches to objectivity, and the importance of individual complexities in migration narratives. Using examples like Egyptian television and Bedouin women's stories, we examine how power, identity, and media shape perceptions of marginalized communities, particularly refugees. Abu-Lughod's insights offer a fresh perspective on global migration and cross-cultural representation.

Jason W. Moore on Capitalism and Ecological Breakdown

"History as if Nature Matters" – A deep dive into Jason W. Moore’s Capitalism in the Web of Life, this podcast critically examines the entanglement of capitalism and nature, challenging the traditional Nature/Society binary. Through the lens of world-ecology, we explore how capitalism reorganizes planetary life, the historical mechanisms of Cheap Nature, and the ecological limits of capital accumulation. From the Anthropocene vs. Capitalocene debate to the metabolic shifts shaping global crises, this podcast unpacks Moore’s radical intervention in environmental history, political economy, and Marxist ecological thought.

Nixon - Slow Violence, Anthropocene Inequities, and Global Justice

This podcast critically examines the work of Rob Nixon, a leading voice in environmental humanities, as he interrogates the dominant narratives of the Anthropocene. We explore his concepts of slow violence—a form of environmental harm that unfolds over time and disproportionately affects the poor—and the Great Divergence, the increasing chasm between the superrich and the ultrapoor in an era of ecological crisis. By synthesizing Nixon’s critiques of the Anthropocene, neoliberalism, and environmental injustice, this episode challenges the grand narrative of humanity as a singular geological force, revealing how planetary change is shaped by deeply entrenched inequalities.

Arjun Appadurai and the Geographies of Globalization

This episode unpacks the groundbreaking work of Arjun Appadurai, a leading theorist of globalization, modernity, and cultural flows. Engaging with his seminal essays Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy and How Histories Make Geographies, we explore how Appadurai theorizes globalization as a dynamic and fractured process, shaped by complex cultural and economic disjunctures. We interrogate his fivefold framework of -scapes (ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes, financescapes, and ideoscapes) that challenge static models of cultural transmission, as well as his argument that histories actively produce geographies, rather than the other way around. By examining how modernity, migration, and global media reconfigure local identities, this podcast critically engages with Appadurai’s interventions into the study of globalization, cultural change, and the power of the imagination in shaping our collective futures.