SORAPOD

Today we are joined by Ebony Bailey & Lamont Pearley to deep dive into the film 'Sinners', exploring its themes of cultural appropriation, historical context, and the interplay of music and desire. We discuss the significance of the juke joint as a cultural space, the character dynamics, and the film's portrayal of black agency and freedom. Clarification note: at 36:46 Ebony would like to clarify that her wording wasn't equating working class to race/ethnicity. She would like to provide this clarified phrasing instead: "folklore, which at the time focused on documenting working class groups and racial & ethnic groups, was seen as a remnant..." If you want to support the SORAPod and help us stay caffeinated while we record and edit, you can buy us a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/sorapod

In this episode of SORAPod we are joined by Renata Yazzie - a Diné pianist and musicologist currently between New York City & New Mexico. Her research focuses on the intersections of Diné song and music with religion, theory, pedagogy, popular culture, and neurochemistry. Renata discusses the historical context of Navajo hymnals, the evolution of music within her culture, and the significance of language in expressing identity. The conversation explores the interplay between tradition and modernity, the role of voice in music, and the impact of historical events on cultural practices. Renata also reflects on her academic journey, the challenges of bridging Indigenous knowledge with academia, and her experiences living in New York City as a Navajo person. Music in this episode: Levi Platero's All I've Got Is The BluesIf you want to support the SORAPod and help us stay caffeinated while we record and edit, you can buy us a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/sorapod

Transcript In this episode, Annika Schmeding shares her journey exploring the multifaceted ways knowledge is produced and shared Through her experiences with circus performance and Sufi poetry, she highlights the importance of embodied knowledge and community engagement. Annika emphasizes the significance of joy, beauty, and solidarity in the face of adversity, and reflects on the evolving dynamics of Sufi practices and community leadership. This conversation delves into the complex realities of life in Afghanistan post-Taliban takeover, focusing on the experiences of women, the impact of cultural practices like Sufism, and the significance of poetry in Afghan society. We reflect on personal connections, the ethics of research, and the importance of resilience and hope amidst adversity. We discuss the challenges of navigating relationships and the emotional weight of loss in the context of ongoing political turmoil. Trigger Warning: Mention of suicide. If you would like to read Annika’s story about her friend and the teapot, you can find it HERE or on ResearchGate HERETo learn more about the Mobile Mini Circus for Children, you can find them at https://www.mmccglobal.org/ If you would like to support SORAPod, buy us a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/sorapod

In this episode we are joined by Jacien Carr, a military historian from The Ohio State University. The discussion traverses Jacien's unique upbringing in a diplomatic family, his experiences in the Marines, and the academic journey that led him to study military history and secret societies. The conversation delves into the significance of mentorship, the complexities of cultural institutions, and the intersection of magic and power in these societies. If you want to support the SORAPod and help us stay caffeinated while we record and edit, you can buy us a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/sorapod

The Society of Reluctant Anthropologists reunite with an original SORA member, Nadeem Karkabi, who is now a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Haifa. Our conversation explores themes of self-liberation, the Palestinian musical scene, and the changing dynamics of Haifa over time. Nadeem shares his personal experiences as a Israeli-Palestinian scholar living in a system of oppression and recurring violence. The conversation explores the impact of the right-wing government in Israel, the challenges faced by academics in the current political climate, and the personal experiences of being a parent in a conflicted region. It also delves into the power of collective transformation and the importance of creating spaces for individual and communal liberation.  For a transcript of the episode, check out ⁠⁠⁠sorapod.com⁠⁠ If you want to support the SORAPod and help us stay caffeinated while we record and edit, you can buy us a coffee here: ⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/sorapod

The three SORAteers are back together for a two-part episode looking back on Season 1 of SORA-pod and getting ready for Season 2! Part 2 of episode turns to the upcoming season’s focus on emancipation and knowledge. Building on the first season’s themes, and responding to the ongoing genocide in Palestine and elsewhere, the three hosts put forward their hopes and plans for Season 2. Thinking through the interconnectedness of global struggle and concepts like indigeneity and liberation, they outline their plans to include and amplify marginalized voices. By asking what knowledge can be recognized and for whom, and questioning what orientations toward violence and struggle reveal, the SORA-teers plant seeds for Season 2 to grow the discussion on radical imagination, hope, and action. For a transcript of the episode, check out ⁠⁠sorapod.com⁠ If you want to support the SORAPod and help us stay caffeinated while we record and edit, you can buy us a coffee here: ⁠https://ko-fi.com/sorapod

The three SORAteers are back together for a two-part episode looking back on Season 1 of SORA-pod and getting ready for Season 2! Reflecting on feedback and guests’ observations from the first season, part 1 of this episode considers how themes of power and knowledge, activism and scholarship, and community and imagination emerged interconnectedly across the episodes. The three hosts consider how this is reflected in everyday and academic contexts like the AAA, in what can be known and seen and what is not, and what alternative ways to organize and produce knowledge could be – time for SORA-com(mune)! For a transcript of the episode, check out ⁠sorapod.com Dr. Kisha Supernant E. Valentine Daniel's Book, Charred Lullabies If you want to support the SORAPod and help us stay caffeinated while we record and edit, you can buy us a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/sorapod

Jessica Turner and Cassie Rosita Patterson, Executive Director and Special Projects Consultant for the American Folklore Society (AFS), join us to explore how AFS fosters community through play, color, and active support of members within, outside, and in between academic institutions. They highlight the careful and joyful work of collaboration and accountability within an organization and show how organizations can reinvent themselves to be more inclusive, people-centered, and fun! For a transcript of the episode, check out sorapod.com Listen to Mickey Weem's Last Party on Earth on Spotify

The Society of Reluctant Anthropologists talks to Gregory Halbe about collective decision making, navigating group dynamics, and the wild side of academic conferences! Gregory Halbe’s academic career has been largely shaped by fortuitous accidents and moments of sudden inspiration. Only lately, in what David Brooks calls the Second Mountain phase of his life, has Gregory found and started to seize a guiding sense of purpose. It started with a family move the summer before his junior year in high school. All classes in his first choice of foreign language, German, were filled. He ended up studying Russian instead. His teacher was married to the local orchestra director, so Gregory’s first experiences with Russian and orchestra were inextricably linked. Four years later, up against a deadline to choose a major going into his junior year, Gregory peered into the orchestra pit of a production of Man of La Mancha, turned to his dad, and said “that’s where I want to be". Two years later, frustrated by his inability to master the lip trill on his instrument, the horn, Gregory sought the synergy of his two loves, music and Russian, in a Russian culture masters program. A few failures and happy accidents later, Gregory found himself working on a dissertation on Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera, Snowmaiden. Along the way, he and his advisor, Prof. Margarita Mazo, founded Rusalka, a choir in the Russian folk tradition, which is where he and Maureen met. After all that, Gregory has found his priorities for a happy and fulfilling retirement in family, church, and community. For a transcript and credits for the episode, check out sorapod.com

The SORAsians have a fun and deeply insightful conversation with Aimee Joyce, Senior Lecturer at the University of St. Andrews. We talk curses, ethics, traces, the academy (duh), and so much more. For a transcript of the episode, check out sorapod.com Links: Tracts Network: ⁠https://tractsnetwork.online/⁠ Aimee’s Website: https://aimee-joyce.com/ Terminology: Praxis: Praxis is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, realized, applied, or put into practice ARC: ARC literally stands for Advance Reader Copy. It is a means of reviewing a person or a department. Book List: Aimee Joyce, “Spectral Borders: History, neighbourliness and discord on the Polish-Belarussian Frontier” Forthcoming Gina Athena Ulysse “Because When God Is Too Busy” https://books.google.com/books/about/Because_When_God_Is_Too_Busy.html?id=l9YGEAAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description Deborah Levy “The Cost of Living” https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Cost_of_Living.html?id=JLlHDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description  Tressie McMillan Cottom “Lower Ed” https://books.google.com/books/about/Lower_Ed.html?id=m3QADAAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description  Jacques Rancière “Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics” https://books.google.com/books/about/Dissensus.html?id=mXPSsMk-71cC&source=kp_book_description 

We're joined by Daniel Sokol, a former university lecturer, medical ethicist, magician, and lead advisor for Alpha Academic Appeals. We discuss the issues students face, the creation of Alpha Academic Appeals, the lengthy and frustrating appeals process, and the improvements needed in university appeals processes. For a transcript, please visit www.sorapod.com Find Daniel on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/DanielSokol9 Alpha Academic Appeals: https://www.academicappeals.co.uk/ Daniels writings in The Times Higher Education: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/author/daniel-sokol

Barbie, Boat Brawls, and The Color of Resilience! The tripod is back to talk about the aesthetics of resistance. You can also follow Sahil's B-plot blanket gymnastics at our website This is an expansion of a conversation that was originally had for the American Anthropological Association, the abstract for which is below: For many marginalized and minority students, the Ph.D. can be a site of violence, mirroring and leveraging homophobia, racism, and misogyny under the cover of academic rigor. This situation is at times so bleak that students give up - some on the Ph.D., some on caring for their mental and physical health, and some have taken their own life. While this is widespread across the Ph.D. experience, anthropology, with its history as a tool of colonization, should be the site of reflection and transformation. So it is with great urgency that we ask: How can resistance and endurance be created through joy and aesthetics? This paper examines the case of a cohort who banded together in the face of academic and state violence. Rather than falling into a culture of toxic critique or allowing themselves to be divided by competition, they decided to cooperate. They baked and cooked to show care for each other. They came to seminars color-coordinated as a joyful show of solidarity with each other. In creating a herd aesthetic that confused those in positions of power who perpetrated violence, they protected each other. They created a fictive person who, with an email address and social media, accompanied each of them throughout their respective fieldwork. To the outside, it looked silly and nonsensical. But these acts of resilience grounded participants to their work and the self, despite the violence enacted on them (and which still has long-reaching implications to this day). Check out the original 40-minute convo, a transcript, and everything else you want to know about the Society of Reluctant Anthropologists check out our website sorapod.com

Maureen and Sahil talk to Leyla Jagiella about, well, a grand theory of everything (which they totally figured out)! Leyla Jagiella is a cultural anthropologist and scholar of religion who has worked on orthodoxy and heterodoxy in Islam and gender and sexuality in Muslim societies. As a Muslim trans woman, she has been a community activist for more than two decades and has held workshops on trans Muslim intersectionality and empowerment in Germany, the UK, Pakistan, Malaysia and South Africa, she has worked with LGBTQI refugees in Germany and is currently project coordinator of the Jewish-Muslim Cultural Festival (Jüdisch-Muslimische Kulturtage) at the Muslimische Akademie Heidelberg, Germany. Her book Among the Eunuchs: A Muslim Transgender Journey was published in 2021 by Hurst.  https://www.sorapod.com/ https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/among-the-eunuchs/

The first ever episode of the Society of Reluctant Anthropologists (SORA) Podcast - introducing who we are, why we’re on the mic, and a bit of our origin story. For a transcript of the podcast, check out sorapod.com/podcast/episode001 And visit our website at sorapod.com