Tag Archives: Society and Culture

Scholars’ Circle – Book Author interviews : “L.A. Rebellion – Creating a New Black Cinema” ; “Breaking Down the Walls of Segregation : Mexican American Grassroots Politics in Orange County, CA.” – March 1, 2026

March 2, 2026 host

In the 1960s and 70s, a group of black filmmakers at UCLA produced a diverse collection of films to challenge Hollywood’s depiction of black communities.

Book title L.A. Rebellion - Creating a New Black Cinema

The LA Rebellion presented films with uniquely black stories. What was this movement and what did it accomplish? [ dur: 30mins. ]

Allyson Nadia Field is Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago. She is the author of Acts of Love: Black Performance and the Kiss that Changed Film History and co-editor of L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema.
Bernard Nicolas holds a Master of Fine Arts in Film Production from UCLA during L.A. Rebellion era. He is a writer, producer, director, actor. Films he directed include Daydream Therapy and Gidget Meets Hondo.

UCLA archive of L.A. Rebellion for Black Cinema can be found here. Some films from this collective :

Killer of Sheep ( Charles Burnett )
Daughters of the Dust ( Julie Dash )
Bush Mama ( Haile Gerima )

Diary of an African Nun ( Julie Dash )
Grey Area ( Monona Wali )
A Day in the life of Wille Faust or Death on Installment Plan ( Jamma Fanaka )

book cover of Breaking Down The Walls of Segregation - shows orange picking kids posing for a photo in the orange orchard and below center photo of Mexican American leaders of grassroot politics. Both photos from 1930's.

California’s historic segregation of Mexican-Americans contrasted with the South’s version of segregation. In California, who did this segregation serve? Our guest confirms it was the interests of “citrus capitalism” in Orange County. The famous Supreme Court Case Broad v Board of Education challenged segregation in public schools. But there was another precedent, the Mendes et al case, that challenged segregation and education in California against Mexican-Americans. [ dur: 28mins. ]

David-James Gonzales is Assistant Professor of Histroy at Brigham Young University. He is the author of the book of discussion – Breaking Down the Walls of Segregation: Mexican American Grassroots Politics and Civil Rights in Orange County, CA.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.

Arts and Humanities, Family / Education, Politics and Activism, Society and Culture, Film, Civil Liberties, Racism, Schools

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Corporation of Public Broadcasting funding cuts – August 3, 2025

August 4, 2025 host

Congress has now clawed back the funding it had allocated for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. What does this mean for the future of publicly funded broadcasting in the USA? How will it affect news, public affairs and other vital information delivery?

We will explore the role of public broadcasting in a democracy. What role does money play at ensuring an independent media? What is the status of public funding and even government owned media throughout the democratic world? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Victor Pickard is the C. Edwin Baker Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy and also the co-director of the Media Inequality and Change Center At the University of Pennsylvania. He’s the author of Democracy Without Journalism, Confronting the Misinformation Society. And America’s battle for media democracy, the triumph of corporate libertarianism, and the future Of media reform.
Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin is Associate Professor with the School of Public Service’s Global Studies program and the Frank and Bethany Church Endowed Chair of Public Affairs for the Frank Church Institute at Boise State University. She has written, Decoding the Digital Church, Evangelical Storytelling and the Election of Donald J. Trump and last month published PBS and NPR are generally unbiased, independent of government propaganda And provide key benefits to U.S. Democracy.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

Arts and Humanities, Politics and Activism, Society and Culture, Communication, Radio Arts

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Book author interviews: The fight for black literacy, women intellectuals of the civil rights movement – February 23, 2025

February 24, 2025 host

We honor Black History Month.

The South outlawed black literacy all the way until the Civil War. What was this war on black literacy and how did educators resist this law? [ dur: 32mins. ]

Derek Black is professor of law in the Ernest F. Hollings chair in constitutional law at the University of South Carolina’s School of Law. He’s the author of numerous articles, and his book is Dangerous Learning The South’s long war on Black Literacy.

Then, Black women have long been at the forefront of black empowerment. What were their intellectual contributions during the civil rights era? we discuss the women intellectuals of the civil rights movement. [ dur: 26mins. ]
This interview was recorded February 2023.

Ashley Farmer is Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies & History at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era and co-editor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition. She is also the Co-Editor and Curator of the Black Power Series with Ibram X. Kendi.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – LGBTQ communities and their impact on global politics – November 3, 2024

November 3, 2024 host

LGBTQ communities are marginalized in so many places around the world. While their presence in international politics is growing, they still face quite a lot of threats and challenges. We explore LGBTQ communities and their impact on global politics.

S. N. Nyeck is Associate Professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is the author of African(a) Queer Presence: Ethics and Politics of Negotiation (Palgrave 2021) and co-author of Frontiers and pioneers in (the study of) queer experiences in Africa Introduction.
Nick Mulé is Professor in the School of Social Work and the School of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies at York University, Canada. He is the author of Mental Health Issues and Needs of LGBTQ Asylum Seekers and Refugee Claimants, and Refugees in Toronto, Canada, The Growing Presence of LGBTQIs at the UN: Arguments and Counter Arguments and Politicized Priorities: Critical Implications for LGBTIQ Movements.
Manuela Picq is Senior Lecturer in the Departments of Political Science and Sexuality, Women’s and Gender Studies at Amherst College and Professor of International Relations at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador). She is the author of Vernacular Sovereignties: Indigenous Women Challenging World Politics (University of Arizona Press 2018) and (with our other guest) Sexualities in World Politics: How LGBTQ Claims Shape International Relations , co-editor with Markus Thiel (New York: Routledge, 2015).
Markus Thiel is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University, Miami and director of FIU’s Jean Monnet Center of Excellence. His publications include ‘The EU’s international LGBTI rights promotion: promises & pitfalls’ (Routledge, 2021) and co-author of The Politics of Social In/Exclusion in the EU: Civic Europe in an Age of Uncertainty.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Ways to Stop violence among Kids ; Addressing generational traumas experienced by children – September 15, 2024

September 15, 2024 host

School shootings have sadly become a part of American life over the last two decades. From the 2000–01 to 2021–22 school years, there were 1,375 school shootings at public and private elementary and secondary schools, resulting in 515 deaths and 1,161 injuries. What are the causes of all of this violence? What are the best ways to address this epidemic of violence, and stop these shootings? How effective can citing parents as liable and even bring charges against them when children shoot other children. [ dur: 34mins. ]

Ron Avi Astor holds the Marjorie Crump Chair Professorship in Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs with a joint appointment in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He is the co-author of Bullying, School Violence and Climate in Evolving Context and An eighteen‑year longitudinal examination of school victimization and weapon use in California secondary schools.

Mass shootings in the Unites States are unprecedented in advanced industrial democracies. We explore the psychological impact of these shootings on the survivors and witnesses, with a particular attention to the children who experience this trauma. What are effective actions to confront the traumas experienced by the children who survive school shootings? Overwhelming the response of mass shootings is to “do something.” But what should we as a society and as an electorate do in response to these mass shootings? [ dur: 24mins. ].

This is an excerpt from our June, 2022 interview, listen to the complete interview visit the post here.

Karla Vermeulen is the Deputy Director of the Institute for Disaster Mental Health and an Associate Professor of Psychology at SUNY New Paltz.She is the author of Generation Disaster: Coming of Age Post-9/11 and co-editor of Disaster Mental Health Case Studies: Lessons Learned from Counseling in Chaos.
Robin Gurwitch is a Professor in the Duke University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and is Senior Advisor for the Terrorism and Disaster Program of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. She is the co-author of Children in Disasters and Trauma-Directed Interaction (TDI): An Adaptation to Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Families with a History of Trauma. Resource – National Child Traumatic Stress Network – Talking to children about shooting.
Heather Littleton is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado, at Colorado Springs, and Research Director at the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience. She is the co-author of “PTSD near and far: Symptom networks from two to 12 months after the Virginia Tech campus shootings.” And “Can people benefit from acute stress? Social support, psychological improvement, and resilience after the Virginia Tech campus shootings” as well as numerous publications on sexual violence and the trauma of the LGBTQI+ community.

More resources are available at:

https://www.newpaltz.edu/idmh/

https://www.nctsn.org/resources/talking-children-about-shooting

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – The dangerous political rhetoric of Donald Trump – March 24, 2024

March 23, 2024 host

Donald Trump’s political rhetoric is becoming more apocalyptic, more dehumanizing, and more violent. What does this mean for the future of American politics and its institutions? Will Trump-ism die with Donald Trump or will it survive after he passes on? [ dur: 58mins. ]

David Livingstone Smith is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of New England. He is the author of Less Than Human: Why we Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others, The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War and Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization.
Roger Petersen is the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science at MIT. He is the author of Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, Resentment in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe, Death, Domination, and State-Building: The US in Iraq and the Future of American Military Intervention, and Emotions and backlash in US society and politics.
David L. Altheide is a Regents Professor Emeritus on the faculty of Justice and Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. He is the author of Terrorism and the Politics of Fear, The Media Syndrome and Gonzo Governance: The Media Logic of Donald Trump.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – MLK legacy on Politics and BLM movement of 21st century ; Book Author interview – By the Numbers – January 14, 2024

January 13, 2024 host

To commemorate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. we explore the impact of Dr. King and his memory on contemporary issues, including the role of women in the movement and the security of people of color as embodied in the Black Lives Matter movement. What is the meaning of Dr. King’s dream today? [ dur: 30mins. ]

*This was part of a panel discussion recorded January 2023. To hear the entire discussion please visit: here.

David Garrow is Professor of History and Law at the University of Pittsburgh and Former Senior Research Fellow at Cambridge University. He is the author of Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. His website is www.davidgarrow.com.
Keith Miller is Professor of English and Professor, Affiliate Faculty, at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University. He is the author of Martin Luther King’s Biblical Epic: His Great, Final Speech and Voice of Deliverance: The Language of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Its Sources. His website is: drkeithdmiller.com.
Jared Clemons is Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University. He is the author of “Freedom Now!” to “Black Lives Matter”: Retrieving King and Randolph to Theorize Contemporary White Antiracism.
Dewey M. Clayton is Professor of Political Science at the University of Louisville. He is the author of The presidential campaign of Barack Obama: A critical analysis of a racially transcendent strategy, African Americans and the politics of congressional redistricting and Black Lives Matter and the Civil Rights Movement: A Comparative Analysis of Two Social Movements in the United States .

How did better understandings of mathematical concepts and the rise in numeracy rates change society, politics, philosophy and science? And what did it mean for religion? We explore how educating ordinary people, the adoption of Arabic numerals, alongside related changes transformed early modern England. [ dur: 28mins. ]

Jessica Otis is an Assistant Professor of History and the Director of Public Projects at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. She is the author of BY THE NUMBERS: NUMERACY, RELIGION, AND THE QUANTITATIVE TRANSFORMATION OF EARLY MODERN ENGLAND.

This program is produced by Maria Armoudian, Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – COP28 meeting outcome – December 24, 2023

December 24, 2023 host

The latest climate change meetings, Cop-28, just ended in Dubai. After an initial pessimism about an agreement, with controversies over leadership and the location of the meetings, there were some intriguing breakthroughs. The meeting yielded new agreements on a loss and damage fund and a transition from fossil fuels. But many of previous agreements have yet to be implemented. What does that mean for addressing climate change? What exactly was accomplished by this meeting, and what remains on the agenda for future meetings. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Pamela Chasek is Professor of Political Science at Manhattan College. She is the co-founder and Executive Editor of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin. She is the author of Transforming Multilateral Diplomacy: The Inside Story of the Sustainable Development Goals, Global Environmental Politics, and The Global Environment in the 21st Century: Prospects for International Cooperation.
Shannon Gibson is Associate Professor of Political Science, International Relations, and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. She’s also the author of a recent article in the Conversation Throwing soup on a Van Gogh and other ways young climate activists are making their voices heard over Egypt’s climate summit protest suppression.
Lauren Gifford, Associate Director of the Soil Carbon Solutions Center and faculty in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability at Colorado State University. She’s the author of numerous articles published in Safe and Just Earth System Boundaries and impacts of meeting minimum access on critical Earth systems amidst the great inequality and “You can’t value what you can’t measure”: a critical look at forest carbon accounting.

This program is produced by Maria Armoudian, Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Insight into LGBTQ+ communities impacted by global politics – November 12, 2023

November 12, 2023 host

S. N. Nyeck is Associate Professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is the author of African(a) Queer Presence: Ethics and Politics of Negotiation (Palgrave 2021) and co-author of Frontiers and pioneers in (the study of) queer experiences in Africa Introduction.
Nick Mulé is Professor in the School of Social Work and the School of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies at York University, Canada. He is the author of Mental Health Issues and Needs of LGBTQ Asylum Seekers and Refugee Claimants, and Refugees in Toronto, Canada, The Growing Presence of LGBTQIs at the UN: Arguments and Counter Arguments and Politicized Priorities: Critical Implications for LGBTIQ Movements.
Manuela Picq is Senior Lecturer in the Departments of Political Science and Sexuality, Women’s and Gender Studies at Amherst College and Professor of International Relations at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador). She is the author of Vernacular Sovereignties: Indigenous Women Challenging World Politics (University of Arizona Press 2018) and (with our other guest) Sexualities in World Politics: How LGBTQ Claims Shape International Relations , co-editor with Markus Thiel (New York: Routledge, 2015).
Markus Thiel is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University, Miami and director of FIU’s Jean Monnet Center of Excellence. His publications include ‘The EU’s international LGBTI rights promotion: promises & pitfalls’ (Routledge, 2021) and co-author of The Politics of Social In/Exclusion in the EU: Civic Europe in an Age of Uncertainty.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi and Sudd Dongre.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Tag Archives: Society and Culture

Scholars’ Circle – Book Author interviews : “L.A. Rebellion – Creating a New Black Cinema” ; “Breaking Down the Walls of Segregation : Mexican American Grassroots Politics in Orange County, CA.” – March 1, 2026

Scholars’ Circle – Corporation of Public Broadcasting funding cuts – August 3, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Book author interviews: The fight for black literacy, women intellectuals of the civil rights movement – February 23, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – LGBTQ communities and their impact on global politics – November 3, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – Ways to Stop violence among Kids ; Addressing generational traumas experienced by children – September 15, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – The dangerous political rhetoric of Donald Trump – March 24, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – MLK legacy on Politics and BLM movement of 21st century ; Book Author interview – By the Numbers – January 14, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – COP28 meeting outcome – December 24, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Insight into LGBTQ+ communities impacted by global politics – November 12, 2023

By Maria Armoudian