In this week’s episode, Anurag discusses the history of colors, such as indigo and carmine, and how they can help us understand what the world was like in the past. Christina talks about a few incidents of white people in the West starting businesses related to Asian cuisine and the Twitter feuds that followed. We also discuss the Chinese reality TV show Street Dance of China and why it’s so much fun to watch. Links: The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair, a book which provides brie...

In this episode, Anurag and Christina talk to Dr. Samantha Chisholm Hatfield about Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). How do indigenous people develop and use TEK to thrive along with nature, rather than exploiting it? We also discuss things like how time is perceived differently in indigenous communities and how the global fight against climate change can greatly benefit by utilizing and learning from TEK. Dr. Samantha Chisholm Hatfield is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes...

Christina and Anurag talk to Dr. Teevrat Garg about how people are being affected by rising temperatures, and how they might adapt as temperatures around the world rise in the coming decades. Dr. Garg talks to us about various research studies from around the world that document how more days of extreme heat result in effects ranging from lower productivity to increasing levels of violence. We also discuss how social policy plays an important role in helping populations cope with climate chan...

This week, Christina and Anurag discuss how influencer and data-driven shopping apps have supercharged e-commerce around the world. Christina takes the example of fast fashion to illustrate how new technologies and parasocial relationships with influencers have been accelerating trends and consumption. They also discuss other ways influencers create desire in consumers, which Chinese apps like Shein, TikTok, Taobao Live and Xiaohongshu have mastered. Anurag talks about real life superheroes...

In this episode, we talk about the modern history of coffee, its relationship with the environment and the people who grow it, and how all this affects the coffee we drink. We speak to Dr. Stuart McCook, professor of world history at the University of Guelph in Canada. He is also the author of "Coffee Is Not Forever: A Global History of the Coffee Leaf Rust,” which is about the global coffee industry and how it was affected by a serious disease called coffee leaf rust. What is the...

In this episode, we speak to Kyle Moody, an associate professor of communications media at Fitchburg State University, about the role that local news played during the pandemic. We also discuss the decline of local news and closures of news outlets in the US over the course of the pandemic, as well as the past decade(s), and the lasting effects that has on local communities, the spread of misinformation, and political participation. What are potential solutions for reviving local news going f...

Christina and Anurag discuss how boba, or bubble tea, made its way from Taiwan to the US, and how chai has done the same from India. How has boba tea remained a drink mostly sold by and for Asians, while chai, like yoga and golden milk (turmeric milk), has become a symbol of gentrification and an elite lifestyle?

This week we're joined by anthropologist Dr. Sarah Besky of Cornell University to discuss the colonial history of tea and the people who produce it. Her research uses ethnographic and historical methods to study the intersection of inequality, nature, and capitalism. Her work on tea plantation and labour is focused on the Darjeeling and surrounding areas in NE India, and in the Himalayan region more broadly. This is part one of a two-part series on tea. In our next episode, we will focus ...

Why is everyone suddenly interested in GameStop stock, bitcoin, and NFTs? Why are people gathering in the millions to coordinate their investments? New apps like Robinhood have made investing simple for almost anyone. What does this tell us about 21st century capitalism? We speak to Gayle Rogers at the University of Pittsburgh, a scholar and author of a new book on the history and culture of speculation, about how and why people have made bets forever, and why it might be so popular now.

In this episode, we talk about three different fan cultures. We discuss how K-pop and C-pop fans organize online to support their idols. Then, we talk about Tollywood fans (that is, fans of the Telugu film industry in India) who are much smaller in number but equally fanatical in their support, and finally the tension between the local and global support of football (soccer) teams. Here are some videos of the fans we talk about in action: K-pop fans at airports to catch a glimpse of their ...