12:00 PM Pacific Time: Mondays to Wednesdays
Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social, and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is co-produced and co-hosted by Sasha Lilley and C. S. Soong.
John Sanbonmatsu talks about the controversial theories of postmodernism and poststructuralism, associated with the likes of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Jacques Lacan, and their impact on left strategy. With host Sasha Lilley.
Jonathan Nitzan, author of The Global Political Economy of Israel, discusses how to understand imperialism in our time, with host Sasha Lilley.
Ursula Huws, author of The Making of a Cybertariat: Virtual World in a Real World, discusses the relationship between technology, gender and labor under capitalism with host Sasha Lilley.
A conversation about agrarian capitalism in the Golden State with geographer Richard Walker, author of The Conquest of Bread: 150 Years of Agribusiness in California. With guest host Sasha Lilley.
At least some people on the Left are moving to Canada. Others are thinking about seceding from the Union. Organizers of two such efforts, Second Vermont Republic and Move On California, discuss what they’re pushing for and why. C.S. also hosts a conversation about the play Take Me Out, about a baseball star who reveals … Continued
Born to be Good? Is the world in such turmoil because human beings are inherently, well, bad? Your convictions about the possibility of fundamental social change may hinge on your answer, on your beliefs about human nature. Psychology professor Dacher Keltner believes we’re hard-wired to be benevolent — and he has the evidence to back … Continued
A look at mediation — what it is, how it works, and which kinds of disputes and conflicts can be mediated. C.S. and his guests explore community mediation, mediation by attorneys, and mediation in the workplace.
Does lifelong monogamy make sense? Is it being imposed upon us as a form of social control? What if many people’s desires and interests aren’t consistent with marital coupledom? Laura Kipnis, author of Against Love: A Polemic, explores this turbulent terrain.
Chemicals, Cosmetics, Kleenex Is the holiday season hazardous to your health? As people buy their biggest purchases of the year at this time we may be getting more than we bargain for, according to EWG’s Sonya Lunder, including the exposure to toxic chemicals that permanently accumulate in our bodies. And Richard Brooks talks about Greenpeace’s … Continued
Militarizing the US-Mexico Border Jose Palafox, ethnic studies lecturer and an expert on the US-Mexico border, discusses the militarization of the border, the US’s role in forcing people into migration, and current border and immigrant rights organizing. A representative of the Tucson-based group No More Deaths describes that group’s efforts to assist migrants.
