Podcasts
Marion Nestle
Recorded Mar 1, 2012
Advice about diet and health is extraordinarily controversial for reasons of science and politics. Human nutritional science is difficult to conduct and interpret. Advice about what to eat affects the ability of food companies to sell products. The result is cacophony in the marketplace and unnecessary confusion about dietary matters. Will better science solve this problem? Does the food industry have a role to play in promoting healthful food choices? Or are food companies analogous to cigarette companies in the way they deal with nutrition advocacy? Food expert Marion Nestle addresses such questions through relevant examples in this presentation. Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, which she chaired from 1988-2003. She is also Professor of Sociology at NYU and Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. She is the author of three prize-winning books: Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health; Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety; and What to Eat. She also has written two books about pet food, Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine and Feed Your Pet Right (with Malden Nesheim). Her most recent book, released in March 2012, is Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics (also with Dr. Nesheim).
ListenVoices of a Women’s Health Movement
Recorded Feb 15, 2012
The recently published anthology Voices of A Women's Health Movement (Seven Stories Press, 2012), co-edited by women's health advocate Barbara Seaman (1935-2008) and her longtime collaborator Laura Eldridge, brings together an essential collection of essays, interviews, and commentary by leading activists, writers, doctors and sociologists on topics ranging across reproductive rights, sex and orgasm, activism, motherhood, and birth control. In this panel discussion, some of the book's contributors discuss the rich history of this movement and its continued significance in struggles for reproductive health today. Panelists include Laura Eldridge '01, Helen Lowery, Lauren Porsch '01, Leonore Tiefer, and Irene Xanthoudakis '01.
ListenWhat’s On Your Plate? The History and Politics of Food
Recorded Nov 1, 2011
How much do you know about the food you eat? Food production and the politics surrounding it have an enormous impact on our environment and economy. In recent years, scientists and activists have raised concerns about the sustainability and security of our food systems here in the US and around the world, but food has always been a driving force in international and domestic policy. Barnard faculty members Kim F. Hall, Deborah Valenze, Paige West, and Hilary Callahan engage in an interdisciplinary conversation about the past and present social, geopolitical, rhetorical, and environmental factors that influence how food—including items as seemingly ordinary as sugar, coffee, milk, and corn—shapes culture and politics in this discussion moderated by Elizabeth Castelli.
ListenRebecca Jordan-Young
Recorded Oct 11, 2011
Since the women's health movement blossomed in the 1970s, there has been an ever-increasing trend toward examining all aspects of human health for evidence of sex differences. But some of the movement's major achievements—such as a federal mandate to collect and analyze data by sex in all health research—may paradoxically turn out to be obstacles for understanding health differences between and within sex/gender groups. Building on her earlier work in Brain Storm: The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences and using examples from both physical and mental health research, this 2011 Silver Science lecture by Rebecca Jordan-Young reviews some basic questions about measurement in "sex-specific" medicine that could revolutionize the field and yield research and clinical practice that is actually far more specific and scientific than the current approach. What kind of variable is "sex," and can it be measured separately from "gender"? When we have information on specific biological mechanisms underlying health differences, what does the variable "sex" add to our analyses? BCRW Acting Director Elizabeth Castelli introduces Rebecca Jordan-Young delivering the lecture "'Sex' is Not a Mechanism: Making 'Sex-Specific Medicine' More Scientific."
ListenActivism and the Academy: Building and Rebuilding Societies in Africa
Recorded Sep 24, 2011
From writing new constitutions to serving in local and national governance to sustaining NGOs and grassroots organizations to making policy changes, women and feminist groups in Africa are doing the difficult work of pushing local, state and international bodies to implement and guarantee gender equality and justice at every level. A group of scholars and activists draw on their experience in multiple regions of Africa, discussing how women are participating in the rebuilding of their societies - whether in post-conflict contexts or in times of deep political transformation during revolutions, post- revolutionary periods and transitions to democracy. Panelists include Lila Abu-Lughod (Columbia University), Rabab El Mahdi (American University in Cairo), Jane Bennett (African Gender Institute), and Penelope Andrews (CUNY School of Law) in this discussion moderated by Rosalind Morris (Columbia University).
ListenActivism and the Academy: The Feminist Ethnographer’s Dilemma
Recorded Sep 24, 2011
Does a feminist perspective limit researchers' abilities to see and interpret empirical realities? What happens when these perspectives clash with the reality of field observations? A group of ethnographers discuss how their feminist perspectives can both limit and enhance their ability to analyze power structures and evaluate social change. Panelists include Orit Avishai (Fordham University) and Lynne Gerber (University of California, Berkeley) in this discussion moderated by Margot Weiss (Wesleyan University).
ListenActivism and the Academy: Activist Research – Working in Communities
Recorded Sep 24, 2011
What does it mean to be an activist researcher? What are some of the challenges of conducting research about social movements and within activist communities? Drawing on ethnographic and teaching experiences, panelists discuss their research on different communities and social movements, and how their roles as activist researchers affect this work. Panelists include Roberta Villalon (St. John's University), Jennifer Rogers (Long Island University), Nikki McGary (University of Connecticut), Barbara Gurr (University of Connecticut), and Kathleen Coll (Stanford University) in this discussion moderated by Nancy Naples (University of Connecticut).
ListenActivism and the Academy: Campus Activism
Recorded Sep 24, 2011
Colleges and universities are experiencing the effects of the economic downturn and our political climate in numerous ways. This panel of students and faculty discuss how activists on their campuses are working to combat budget cuts and the undermining of the public sector, provide alternatives to neoliberal restructuring in higher education, and fight against racism and gender inequities. Panelists include Abigail Boggs (University of California, Davis), Debanuj Dasgupta (Ohio State University), Stephanie Luce (Murphy Institute, CUNY), Sandra K. Soto (University of Arizona), and Jesse Kadjo (Loyola University) in this discussion moderated by Catherine Sameh (BCRW).
ListenActivism and the Academy: Academic / Activist Partnerships in Mexico
Recorded Sep 24, 2011
What types of projects are possible when scholars and activists work together? Scholars in the Gender Studies Program at the National Autonomous University of Mexico have formed partnerships with activist groups to address issues like state oppression and violence, struggles for land rights and indigenous rights, and gender equity both within the University and in the community at large. Scholar and activist participants in these projects discuss how they've combined traditional academic tools with new ways of intervention to create change. Panelists include Marisa Belausteguigoitia Rius, Rian Lozano de la Pola, Lorena Wolffer, and Helena Lopez in this discussion moderated by Margaret Cerullo.
ListenActivism and the Academy: Using Knowledge, Advancing Activism
Recorded Sep 24, 2011
How can activists use knowledge to advance their campaigns? How can scholars and activists work collaboratively to produce and promote knowledge that is grounded in feminist and social justice frameworks? Activists who have been able to produce and use knowledge to initiate change across numerous issues contribute to this conversation about the uses of knowledge in activist work. Panelists include Rinku Sen (Applied Research Center), Dean Spade '97 (University of Seattle School of Law), and Jamia Wilson (Women's Media Center) in this discussion moderated by Laura Flanders '85 (GRITtv).
ListenActivism and the Academy: Social Justice and Civic Engagement in the Classroom
Recorded Sep 24, 2011
Colleges and universities across the country are increasingly interested in adding opportunities for civic engagement to their curricula, seeking to expose their students to new ways of practicing and researching social justice. Educators from several institutions will look at the ways in which these projects can build feminist awareness and community on college campuses. Panelists include Dara J. Silberstein (SUNY Binghamton), Jerilyn Fisher (Hostos Community College), Leslie Simon (City College of San Francisco) and Stephanie Gilmore (Dickinson College) in this discussion moderated by Susannah Bartlow (Dickinson College).
ListenActivism and the Academy: Mamphela Ramphele
Recorded Sep 24, 2011
In "Forwarding Feminism," her keynote lecture at Activism and the Academy: Celebrating 40 Years of Feminist Scholarship and Action, South African academic, activist, and writer Mamphela Ramphele offers an inspiring and thought-provoking vision for the future of feminism and activism.
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