Podcasts by The Lit Review Podcast
Conversations with community organizers, activists, and cultural workers on the books that have shaped their theories of change. Think Spark notes in podcast form.
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Episode 57: The In-between Episode! from 2021-02-28T16:02:09
It’s a wrap for Season 3! In 8 episodes, we went deep on topics including colonization and land justice, civil rights history, and movement and organizing fundamentals. And in the midst of the pan...
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Episode 41 LIVE: Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago From Red Summer to Black Power from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this episode, we bring you the Lit Review LIVE from Hairpin Arts Center, the current site of For the People Artists Collective’s exhibition Do Not Resist? 100 Years of Chicago Police Violence. W...
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Episode 38: End of Year Recap! from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
We made it through 2017! In our final episode of the year, we recap and flashback to some of our favorite episodes with brilliant activists like Joey Mogul, Andrea Ritchie, Fannie Rushing, and many...
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Episode 33: Transgender History (Second Edition) with Susan Stryker from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
We’re back with another episode on Transgender History, this time, with the book’s author, Dr.Susan Stryker! With the 2nd edition just released last week, we thought it was a good time to revisit t...
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Episode 32: the Earthseed Series with adrienne maree brown from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Hosts: Monica Trinidad & Page May Guest: adrienne maree brown Date: November 6, 2017 Time: 1:22:32 Intro Song: Brujas by Princess Nokia Sound: Sarah Lu Recorded with a live audience! Apologies fo...
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Episode 31: Assata with Imani Council & Patricia Frazier from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
A former member of the Black Panther Party and political prisoner, Assata's words still bring hope & guidance to many in today's freedom struggle. This intensely personal and political autobiograph...
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Episode 20 - Part 4 - Fannie answers: What is organizing? from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this special episode, we sat down with Chicago's own freedom fighter, Fannie Rushing, for an extended conversation about her organizing experiences and the seven books that have helped define th...
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Episode 19 - The Boundaries of Blackness from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
The central question addressed in The Boundaries of Blackness is: Why, when faced with a disease that was threatening significant numbers of Black people, did Black leaders and dominant institution...
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Episode 18: Emergent Strategy from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
This week we sat down with Hannah Baptiste to talk about adrienne maree brown's newest book: Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. Inspired by Octavia Butler's explorations of our hum...
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Episode 10: Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
What happened to the American left after the sixties? LA Kauffman explores this in their first book “Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism.” Kauffman brings a long view...
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Episode 9: Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970 - Part 2 from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Episode 9: Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970 - Part 2 by The Lit Review
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Episode 8: Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970 - Part 1 from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Part 1 of our interview with Jasson Perez. Jasson is a Chicago-raised Black scholar and organizer with 16+ years of experience, from labor to the movement for Black Lives. On this episode, we begin...
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Episode 7: Earthseed Series from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
On this episode, we'll be chatting with our friend, Dominique. Born and raised in Chicago, Dom has spent the past several years living and organizing in London. She's back in Chicago now and curren...
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Episode 6 - Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
On this episode, we'll be chatting with B.Loewe! Originally from the Maryland suburbs of D.C., B was recruited into social justice work by his older sister, and was a key organizer of the 2010 Detr...
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Episode 5 - Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
On today's episode, we'll be speaking with Chicago-based intersex activist Pidgeon, about the book Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex by Alice Dreger. Pidgeon is a leader in the inters...
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Episode 4 - Transgender History from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this episode, we're talking with Benji Hart- a Black, mixed-class, queer femme currently living in Chicago. Benji is dedicated to combining arts and education to inspire direct action. They are ...
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Episode 3 - Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
On this episode, we'll be talking with Ramah Kudaimi, a Syrian-American activist and organizer currently living in D.C. Ramah serves on the board of the Washington Peace Center, is a member of the ...
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Episode 2 - Black Reconstruction from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
On today's episode, we'll be speaking with Nathan Ryan of Grassroots Collaborative, and Debbie Southorn, of the People's Response Team, about Black Reconstruction in America: 1860-1880, the most im...
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Episode 1 - I've Got the Light of Freedom from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
On today's episode, we'll be speaking with Tess Raser, organizer with Assata's Daughters and teacher in Chicago's Parkway Gardens, and Quinn Rallins, social activist, organizer, essayist, and poet....
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Episode 56: From the Ground Up with Juliana Pino from 2020-12-21T04:03:16
To close out the season, Monica and Page talk with Juliana Pino Alcaraz, Policy Director at the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, about From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and...
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Episode 55: Groundwork with Christian Snow from 2020-12-14T00:47:10
?Despite some truly 2020-style audio recording issues, our second to last episode of the season is here! Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements in America, edited by Jeanne Theoharis, Komozi Woo...
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Episode 54: Freedom Farmers with Vivi Moreno from 2020-12-01T05:14:07
Fannie Lou Hamer is increasingly recognized for her leadership with the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party, but did you know about the 600-acre Freedom Farm Cooperative she started? This is one o...
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Episode 53: Borderlands with Trina Reynolds-Tyler from 2020-11-24T01:53:35
?This was a hard book to talk about, but we’re so glad that we did. The late Gloria Anzaldúa’s book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza is beloved to many and considered a fundamental text in ...
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Episode 52: Discourse on Colonialism with Asha Ransby-Sporn from 2020-11-16T03:57:41
Originally published in 1950, Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire directly and dramatically influenced the liberation struggles happening in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. A blazing...
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Episode 51: Rules for Radicals with Maira Khwaja from 2020-11-09T04:20:15
Have you ever heard of the term “Alinsky-style organizing” and the rules that are involved? For example, “A tactic that drags on too long is a drag” and “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it,...
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Episode 50: Blood, Marriage, Wine and Glitter with Stephanie Skora from 2020-11-02T05:28:51
Ready to learn and get in your feelings? In this episode, Monica and Page connect with Stephanie Skora, Associate Executive Director of Brave Space Alliance and author of the Girl, I Guess Voter Gu...
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Episode 49: Hammer & Hoe with Bettina Johnson from 2020-10-26T02:37:19
There’s importance in collaboration and experimentation when it comes to organizing. But what does that work look like in a community you’re not from?
?Monica and Page chat with Bettina Jo...
Episode 48: The Revolution Will Not Be Funded with Joy Messinger from 2019-02-19T21:06:31
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence hands us a sharp critique of the toxic role that the non-profit industrial complex can play in managing our movements in The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, p...
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Episode 47: Green is the New Red with Brad Thomson from 2019-02-04T21:14:51
?In the U.S., it’s becoming increasingly trendier to “go green” and become more environmentally-conscious in our daily lives under capitalism. However, there’s a whole other movement of eco-conscio...
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Episode 46: Fascism Today with Kelly Hayes from 2019-01-14T21:51:54
What does fascism look like today in the U.S.? Where does the alt-right fit into this? How can it be fought?!
?Monica and Page sat down with Chicago-based Native abolitionist organizer, co...
Episode 45: Making the Second Ghetto with Lynda Lopez from 2018-12-31T18:00:25
Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago 1940-1960 by Arnold Hirsch is considered a premier text on the subjects of housing and displacement. However, at about 382 dense & jargon-fille...
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Episode 44: The Battle of Lincoln Park with Daniel Kay Hertz from 2018-12-17T13:58:04
A hyper-local conversation: Who knew that the Chicago neighborhood 'Old Town' was actually part of Lincoln Park? Who knew it was a site of transformation, displacement, resistance, gentrification, ...
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Episode 43: The New Jim Crow with Patrice Daniels from 2018-07-04T17:37:10
Monica has a phone conversation with dear friend, poet and incarcerated activist, Patrice Lumumba Daniels, currently serving life without parole in IDOC for a crime he committed at 18 years old. Pa...
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Episode 42: Black Reconstruction In America Part 2 with Frank Chapman from 2018-03-12T19:17:02
We’re back with one of our favorites! It’s Black Reconstruction - Part 2. On today’s episode, we’re talking with life long organizer and former political prisoner, Frank Chapman. Tune in to hear Fr...
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Episode 42: Black Reconstruction In America with Frank Chapman from 2018-03-12T19:17:02
Monica and Page revisit Black Reconstruction in America by W.E.B. Du Bois, this time with community organizer, Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression, a...
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Episode 41: Occupied Territory LIVE with Simon Balto and Toussaint Losier from 2018-02-05T14:21:28
In this episode, Monica and Page bring you the Lit Review LIVE from Hairpin Arts Center, the site of For the People Artists Collective’s first city-wide exhibition, Do Not Resist? 100 Years of Chic...
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Episode 40: Rethinking the American Prison Movement with Toussaint Losier & Dan Berger from 2018-01-29T04:45:33
Monica and Page sat down with Dan Berger via Skype and Toussaint Losier in Chicago to chat about their latest book, Rethinking the American Prison Movement, which provides a short and accessible ov...
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Episode 39: Kuwasi Balagoon - A Soldier's Story with Jason Lydon from 2018-01-22T21:05:11
So often we hear anarchy equated with chaos and collapse: a complete breakdown of society. This hour, we're rejecting that. We sat down with Jason Lydon to help us understand what anarchy is and is...
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Episode 38: Season 1 Finale from 2017-12-18T18:53:59
In the final episode of the first season, Monica and Page reflect on a year of the Lit Review podcast! They share some of their favorite episode excerpts from conversations in Season 1 with Joey Mo...
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Episode 37: This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed with Mia Henry from 2017-12-11T17:38:51
When we are taught about the civil rights movement, the narratives of communities trained up in armed self-defense and grandmas with guns sitting on their porch are definitely left out. In Charles ...
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Episode 36: Octavia's Brood with Tanuja Jagernauth from 2017-12-04T18:00:39
In Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, co-edited by adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha, we are gifted twenty short stories exploring the connections betwe...
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Episode 35: Resistance Behind Bars with Victoria Law from 2017-11-27T17:53:12
Did you know that the first mass clemency won in 1990 for 25 domestic violence survivors incarcerated for self-defense happened because of incarcerated women organizing themselves on the inside? Or...
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Episode 34: Pedagogy of the Oppressed with Hilda Franco from 2017-11-20T17:44:02
?There is a role for people who know things that others don’t, but how has our relationship with education and the teacher-student dynamic been shaped by colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy? In...
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Episode 33: Transgender History (2nd Edition) with Dr. Susan Stryker from 2017-11-13T17:26:16
With the 2nd edition of Transgender History by Dr. Susan Stryker just released, it was a good time to revisit the book, see what’s changed, and touch on parts that didn’t get covered in an earlier ...
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Episode 33: Transgender History (2nd Edition) with Susan Stryker from 2017-11-13T17:26:16
We’re back with another episode on Transgender History, this time, with the book’s author, Dr. Susan Stryker!
With the 2nd edition just released last week, we thought it was a good time to...
Episode 32: the Earthseed Series LIVE with adrienne maree brown from 2017-11-06T17:38:53
Do you have your “go bag” ready? Are you ready to lose everything and everyone in order to get free? Aren’t these intense questions?? These are just some of the themes that are explored in Parable ...
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Episode 31: Assata with Imani Council & Pat Frazier from 2017-10-30T16:44:43
A former member of the Black Panther Party and political prisoner, Assata Shakur's intensely personal and political autobiography continues to be a landmark text in many young Black peoples' politi...
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Episode 30: The Sympathizer (A Novel) with Van Huynh from 2017-10-23T18:45:55
For this episode, Page turns to fiction as a way to more fully understand the stories and truths of immigration, war, and identity.
Page sat down with Van Huynh, an immigration attorney & ...
Episode 29: From Deportation to Prison with Arianna Salgado from 2017-10-10T01:44:32
From Deportation to Prison: The Politics of Immigration Enforcement in Post-Civil Rights America by Patrisia Macías-Rojas unpacks how the incarceration of over two million people in the United Stat...
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Episode 28: Demand the Impossible with Bill Ayers from 2017-10-02T16:58:25
A manifesto for movement-makers in extraordinary times, Demand the Impossible! urges us to imagine a world beyond what this rotten system would have us believe is possible.
Monica and Page...
Episode 27: The Warmth of Other Suns with Walter May from 2017-09-25T16:59:52
?From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one...
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Episode 26: Exile & Pride with Alison Kopit from 2017-09-18T14:04:41
?First published in 1999, Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation by Eli Clare is a groundbreaking book in the political realm of disability politics, and essential reading for anyon...
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Episode 25: Steel Barrio with Corina Pedraza from 2017-09-11T16:13:03
When we think of Mexican communities, we think of Pilsen, Little Village, and in recent years, Albany Park. But who talks about the neighborhood of South Chicago? Monica and Page chat with powerful...
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Episode 24: Medical Apartheid with Martine Caverl from 2017-08-28T17:00:04
In this episode, Page talks with UMedics organizer and co-founder Martine Caverl, who breaks down the essential Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans fro...
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Episode 23: The Life & Struggles of Stokely Carmichael with Kofi Ademola from 2017-08-21T17:36:42
Most of us know Stokely Carmichael as the charismatic leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the 1960's and as the person who coined the term "Black Power," but what ...
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Episode 22: Black-on-Black Violence with Jasmine Adams from 2017-08-14T16:54:56
In his book, Black-On-Black Violence, Amos Wilson argues that "the criminalization of the Black American male is a psycho-politically engineered process designed to maintain the dependency and rela...
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Episode 21: Invisible No More with Andrea Ritchie from 2017-08-07T17:16:29
?Page and Monica sit with their dear friend, researcher, writer, advocate, activist, and organizer, Andrea Ritchie, to talk about her brand new book, Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Blac...
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Episode 20 - Part 5: Connecting the Dots from Civil Rights To Ecofeminism from 2017-07-31T16:58:38
?In this very special five-part episode, Page sat down with SNCC freedom fighter and Chicago-native, Fannie Rushing, for an extended conversation about her organizing experiences, and the seven boo...
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Episode 20 - Part 5 - Connecting the Dots From Civil Rights To Ecofeminsim from 2017-07-31T16:58:38
In this special episode, we sat down with Chicago's own freedom fighter, Fannie Rushing, for an extended conversation about her organizing experiences and the seven books that have helped define th...
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Episode 20 - Part 3 - Fannie Rushing On Fannie Lou Hamer from 2017-07-31T16:58:11
In this special episode, we sat down with Chicago's own freedom fighter, Fannie Rushing, for an extended conversation about her organizing experiences and the seven books that have helped define th...
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Episode 20 - Part 2 - Fannie talks Capitalism, Racism, Colonialism, and Haiti from 2017-07-31T16:58:02
In this special episode, we sat down with Chicago's own freedom fighter, Fannie Rushing, for an extended conversation about her organizing experiences and the seven books that have helped define th...
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Episode 20 - Part 1 - Fannie discusses her friend and mentor, Ella Baker from 2017-07-31T16:57:53
7 Books with Fannie Rushing: An Extended conversation
In this special episode, we sat down with Chicago's own freedom fighter, Fannie Rushing, for an extended conversation about her organi...
Episode 19 - The Boundaries of Blackness with Cathy Cohen from 2017-07-24T17:11:38
The central question addressed in The Boundaries of Blackness is: Why, when faced with a disease that was threatening significant numbers of Black people, did Black leaders and dominant institution...
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Episode 18: Emergent Strategy with Hannah Baptiste from 2017-07-17T16:58:30
Inspired by Octavia Butler's explorations of our human relationship to change, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds is a radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help book designed...
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Episode 17: The Next American Revolution with Sarah Lu from 2017-07-10T14:58:10
An inspiration to many activists, community organizers, and revolutionaries for decades upon decades and beyond, Grace Lee Boggs was a feminist, organizer, philosopher, and author, committed to Civ...
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Episode 16: Queer (In)Justice with Joey Mogul from 2017-06-26T17:00:44
Monica and Page sit down with Joey Mogul to talk about Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States, a book that she co-wrote with Andrea Ritchie and Kay Whitlock in 2...
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Episode 15: The Terror Factory with Muhammad Sankari from 2017-06-19T17:00:15
?Former FBI Director James Comey's recent assertion that "the FBI is honest, the FBI is strong," outraged all of us familiar with COINTELPRO. In this episode, Page sits down with Muhammad Sankari, ...
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Episode 14: Black is a Country with Charles Preston from 2017-06-12T15:08:16
The end of racism & anti-Blackness is not yet in sight. In this week's episode, Black is a Country, Nikhil Pal Singh asks what happened to the international & radical visions of equality that exist...
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Episode 13: The Underground Railroad (A Novel) with Dr. Eve Ewing from 2017-06-05T16:56:54
A magnificent story of a young Black women's journey through the Underground Railroad. Her story confronts the nature of slavery, with each stop along her way revealing a different aspect of bondag...
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Episode 13: The Underground Railroad (A Novel) with Eve Ewing from 2017-06-05T16:56:54
A magnificent story of a young Black women's journey through the Underground Railroad. Her story confronts the nature of slavery, with each stop along her way revealing a different aspect of bondag...
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Episode 12: At the Dark End of the Street with Mariame Kaba from 2017-05-29T05:08:33
At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance–a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power by Danielle L. McGuire traces the roots of the...
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Episode 11: Orientalism with Hoda Katebi from 2017-05-22T16:36:44
Written in 1978 by Palestinian intellectual Edward Said, Orientalism is a seminal text critiquing the cultural representations that are the bases of Orientalism - how the Western world perceives th...
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Episode 10: Direct Action with L.A. Kauffman from 2017-05-15T03:32:55
What happened to the American left after the sixties? L.A. Kauffman explores this in their first book Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism. Kauffman brings a long view...
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Episode 10: Direct Action: Protest & the Reinvention of American Radicalism with Author LA Kauffman from 2017-05-15T03:32:55
What happened to the American left after the sixties? LA Kauffman explores this in their first book Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism. Kauffman brings a long view o...
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Episode 9: Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency - Part 2 with Jasson Perez from 2017-05-08T06:52:01
Political Process and the Development of the Black Insurgency, 1930-1970 by Doug McAdam presents a political-process model that explains the rise and decline of the Black protest movement in the Un...
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Episode 8: Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency - Part 1 with Jasson Perez from 2017-04-24T01:33:34
Political Process and the Development of the Black Insurgency, 1930-1970 by Doug McAdam presents a political-process model that explains the rise and decline of the Black protest movement in the Un...
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Episode 7: Parable of the Sower with Dominique Barron from 2017-04-17T05:48:13
?Born and raised in Chicago, Dominique Barron has spent the past several years living and organizing in London. She's back in Chicago now and currently a member of Assata's Daughters and the People...
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Episode 6 - Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything with B Loewe from 2017-04-10T17:45:57
Originally from the Maryland suburbs of D.C., B. Loewe was recruited into social justice work by his older sister, and was a key organizer of the 2010 Detroit-based U.S. Social Forum, and currently...
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Episode 5 - Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex with Pidgeon from 2017-04-03T16:51:56
On this episode, we chat with Chicago-based intersex activist Pidgeon about the book Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex by Alice Dreger.
Pidgeon is a leader in the intersex m...
Episode 4 - Transgender History with Benji Hart from 2017-03-27T10:51:32
Page May and Monica Trinidad unite for an episode! We talk with Benji Hart- a Black, mixed-class, queer femme currently living in Chicago. Benji is dedicated to combining arts and education to insp...
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Episode 3 - Burning Country with Ramah Kudaimi from 2017-03-20T16:58:20
Monica Trinidad and guest host Bettina Johnson speak with Ramah Kudaimi, a Syrian-American activist and organizer currently living in D.C. Ramah serves on the board of the Washington Peace Center, ...
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Episode 2 - Black Reconstruction with Nathan Ryan and Debbie Southorn from 2017-03-13T16:43:35
Page May chats with Nathan Ryan of Grassroots Collaborative, and Debbie Southorn of American Friends Service Committee - Chicago about the book Black Reconstruction in America: 1860 - 1880, the mos...
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Episode 1 - I've Got the Light of Freedom with Tess Raser & Quinn Rallins from 2017-03-06T18:08:18
In this first episode, we speak with Tess Raser, an organizer with Assata's Daughters and teacher in Chicago's Parkway Gardens, and Quinn Rallins, social activist, organizer, essayist, and poet. We...
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Episode 0 - The Intro from 2017-03-06T17:45
Monica and Page talk about why they started the Lit Review Podcast, what they're reading now, and what to expect (and not expect) from this project!
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