history

Coriolanus

by Bedrosian Center

In Coriolanus, Shakespeare brings us to a Rome in a time of transitional government, leadership, citizenship. Great warrior Coriolanus returns from battle and is asked to run for office, his pride and disregard for the plebeians leads to ruin.

Can Shakespeare still teach us about leadership?

Host Jeffery A. Jenkins (@jaj7d) is joined by guests Carla Della Gatta (@CarlaDellaGatta ), Lisa Schweitzer (@drschweitzer), and Donnajean Ward (@DonnajeanWard).

To listen to the Bedrosian Book Club discussion of Coriolanus click the arrow in the player on this post. Or you can download it and subscribe through ApplePodcasts, Soundcloud, Google Play, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting app!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

by Bedrosian Center, Jonathan Schwartz

Our nerd quotient is rising with the discussion of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Listen now to our nerdy discussion of the continuing saga of Luke, Leia, Kylo, Rey, Poe, Finn, and new characters we meet along the way.

To listen to the Price Projection Room discussion of Star Wars: The Last Jediclick the arrow in the player on this post. Or download and subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, or Google Play.

Darkest Hour

by Bedrosian Center, Jonathan Schwartz

Gary Oldman is Winston Churchill in the new WWII film, Darkest Hour.

The first month of Churchill’s historic time as Prime Minister, he faced a great decision; one that would lead either to war or to a negotiated peace with Hitler. The compressed timeline of the film drops the viewer in the midst of the “darkest hour” of British history. The decisions made during these days could have changed the course of history.

To listen to the Price Projection Room discussion of Mudboundclick the arrow in the player on this post. Or download and subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, or Google Play.

City of Inmates

by Bedrosian Center

Historian Kelly Lytle Hernández brings us the absorbing history of how authorities in Los Angeles have used imprisonment as a tool to control both labor and migration. Our podcast features host Jeffery Jenkins with guests Robynn Cox, David Sloane, and Danielle Williams.

To listen to the Bedrosian Book Club discussion of City of Inmates click the arrow in the player on this post. Or you can download it and subscribe through ApplePodcasts, Soundcloud, Google Play, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting app!

Nathan Masters on LOST LA and mining LA’s digital archives

by Brettany Shannon

This conversation with Nathan Masters, like LA’s history, is wholly engrossing and because of its topic, touches on all of our themes this season, preservation, resistance, healing, and transformation. Because why study history at all if we are not to concern ourselves with the larger cultural-philosophical questions?

For more information and to find links to some of the things we talk about check out the showpage.

Stream the interview here on this page, or you can download it and subscribe through ApplePodcasts, Soundcloud, or Google Play.

Schweitzer, Southers discuss hate speech, policy implications after Charlottesville

by Bedrosian Center

USC Price Dean Jack H. Knott was joined by Bedrosian Faculty Affiliates Lisa Schweitzer and Erroll Southers (director of the Safe Communities Institute), in a discussion of the policy implications and responses to racism and extremism after the violence triggered by a white-nationalist rally in the Charlottesville, Virginia last month.

“White supremacy is not a historical construct we get to walk away from. We have to really interrogate how white supremacy informs public policies within the structures of our cities, within education and politics,” said Lisa Schweitzer. Erroll Southers indicated that he considered Charlottesville a pivotal moment for extremism in the country.

The Originalist

by Bedrosian Center

John Strand’s The Originalist shines a light onto a polarizing Supreme Court Justice; Antonin Scalia. When a bright, liberal law school graduate embarks on a nerve-wracking clerkship with Justice Scalia, she discovers him to be both an infuriating sparring partner and an unexpected mentor.

Listen as Jody David Armour, Oliver Mayer, Jon Sonego, and Jade Wheeler delve into the politics of individual court members, Originalism, civil rights, civic duty, and what it means to be an American.

To listen to the Price Projection Room discussion of The Originalist, click the arrow in the Soundcloud player at the top of this post. Or download and subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, or Google Play.

Hidden Figures

by Bedrosian Center, Jonathan Schwartz

This episode of the Price Projection Room features a conversation on the popular film, Hidden Figures directed by Theodore Melfi and starring the dream team of Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, among many others.

We discuss how the film both illustrated the racial divide in America while showcasing the work & struggle of African American women. Though we all have some criticism of the work, in the end it may be the representation of strong, smart black women that matters the most.

To listen to the Price Projection Room discussion of Hidden Figures click the arrow in the player on this post. Or download and subscribe through ApplePodcasts, Soundcloud, or Google Play.

The Underground Railroad

by Bedrosian Center

*Warning: Spoilers!*

In Colson Whitehead’s award winning novel The Underground Railroad, Cora, daughter and granddaughter of slaves, flees her plantation after a horrific punishment. She heads out with a fellow slave Caesar, who takes her to the underground railroad – in this novel, a real RR. She is passionately pursued by Ridgeway, a slave catcher while she experiences the horrors of American racism and the courage of the RR personnel. The book compares a mythological Southern narrative of slavery with Cora’s truths and Ridgeway’s version of the “American imperative.” Beautifully written, full of horrific incidents, the book reminds us of the power of racism, the government’s complicity in its implementation and persistence, and reminds us freed African Americans carried with them the legacy of violence, oppression, suppression, and more violence whether from the police, physicians, or any other institution.

To listen to the Bedrosian Book Club discussion of The Underground Railroad click the orange arrow in the Soundcloud player here – or you can download it and subscribe through iTunes, Soundcloud, or Google Play

White Trash

by Bedrosian Center

In White Trash: The 400-year Untold History of Class in America, historian Nancy Isenberg traces white poverty and class from the earliest British settlements through to the 21st century. What she finds is that the mythology of social mobility and classlessness of American Exceptionalism is just that, a myth. By taking a deep dive into a sub-class of Americans, Isenberg hopes that Americans can face a truth about the enduring poverty on inequality that has shaped the American consciousness. That not only do we have classes, but these classes have been built by policies going back to the very reason British citizens came to the colonies. Our discussion of the book looks at where this history contributes to our current political conversation and where it could have been more focused to tell the story in a more cohesive way.

Featuring Aubrey Hicks, Anthony Orlando, Lisa Schweitzer, and John Sonego