<description>On episode 42 we are joined by Mims —  an artist, abolitionist, and facilitator based in Los Angeles, CA. Mims is the mind behind “Uncle Ronnie’s Room,” an art-driven campaign to mobilize the general public and media around the story of Ronald (Ronnie) Coleman Jr. and Carl Coleman’s wrongful conviction over 20 years ago.

At 29 years old, Ronald Coleman Jr. was sentenced to two life sentences plus 65 years for a murder case that he was not involved in. Ronnie is currently incarcerated at Calhoun State Prison in Morgan, Georgia, where he has lost 22 years of his life and counting.

Through exploring his childhood, Uncle Ronnie’s Room takes us deeper into who Ronnie is as a person, information about his case, and the impact his incarceration has had on his family. The work invites attendees to imagine what he could have done with 22 years of his life, creates space to collectively tap into spiritual and ancestral guidance, and questions the system at large.

Learn more about the campaign and support here: https://www.uncleronniesroom.com</description>

On episode 42 we are joined by Mims —  an artist,…

On episode 42 we are joined by Mims —  an artist, abolitionist, and facilitator based in Los Angeles, CA. Mims is the mind behind “Uncle Ronnie’s Room,” an art-driven campaign to mobilize the general public and media around the story of Ronald (Ronnie) Coleman Jr. and Carl Coleman’s wrongful conviction over 20 years ago.

At 29 years old, Ronald Coleman Jr. was sentenced to two life sentences plus 65 years for a murder case that he was not involved in. Ronnie is currently incarcerated at Calhoun State Prison in Morgan, Georgia, where he has lost 22 years of his life and counting.

Through exploring his childhood, Uncle Ronnie’s Room takes us deeper into who Ronnie is as a person, information about his case, and the impact his incarceration has had on his family. The work invites attendees to imagine what he could have done with 22 years of his life, creates space to collectively tap into spiritual and ancestral guidance, and questions the system at large.

Learn more about the campaign and support here: https://www.uncleronniesroom.com

Episode 42: Mims on wrongful incarceration and the campaign "Uncle Ronnie's Room"

<description>This episode features our conversation with Destiny Mata, an NYC/San Antonio photographer and filmmaker whose work focuses on topics pertaining to subculture and community. Her photography book "The Way We Were" documents the alternative punks of color scene in NYC.  

Destiny is formerly the Director of Photography Programs at the Lower East Side Girls Club and her work has been published in Vogue, Vice’s Noisey, Vibe, The Source, and Mass Appeal. Her work has been exhibited on a multitude of occasions, including for the 2020 Photoville Festival, at the International Center of Photography, and at the Museum of the City of New York, to name just a few. 

Learn more about Destiny: 
http://www.destinymata.com  

Her book "The Way We Were" is available for purchase here https://www.theculturecrush.com/culture-crush-editions/the-way-we-were</description>

This episode features our conversation with Desti…

This episode features our conversation with Destiny Mata, an NYC/San Antonio photographer and filmmaker whose work focuses on topics pertaining to subculture and community. Her photography book "The Way We Were" documents the alternative punks of color scene in NYC.  

Destiny is formerly the Director of Photography Programs at the Lower East Side Girls Club and her work has been published in Vogue, Vice’s Noisey, Vibe, The Source, and Mass Appeal. Her work has been exhibited on a multitude of occasions, including for the 2020 Photoville Festival, at the International Center of Photography, and at the Museum of the City of New York, to name just a few. 

Learn more about Destiny: 
http://www.destinymata.com  

Her book "The Way We Were" is available for purchase here https://www.theculturecrush.com/culture-crush-editions/the-way-we-were

Episode 41: Destiny Mata on photography as community care

<description>Over the last decade, manifestation-based rhetorics to “love yourself,” “believe in yourself” and “feel good in your own skin” have become guiding social directives for people, and especially for women. We see these mantras in social media captions, advertising campaigns, and song lyrics that seem to promise that, through a confidence-based mindset, we will be able to transform our psychology, and therefore the material conditions of our lives.

Though it may seem harmless, or even empowering, the tendency to emphasize individual agency over the structural conditions we exist within and through is perhaps the core component of a culture of neoliberalism that also permeates and drives almost every part of our society. 

We spoke with sociologists Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill who are the minds behind "Confidence Culture," a new book that specifically examines how the entrenched social injustices of our time have been reframed as psychological blocks, and what this means for us. 

Shani Orgad is an associate professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Rosalind Gill is a professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at City, University of London. 

Purchase "Confidence Culture" here: 
https://www.dukeupress.edu/confidence-culture</description>

Over the last decade, manifestation-based rhetori…

Over the last decade, manifestation-based rhetorics to “love yourself,” “believe in yourself” and “feel good in your own skin” have become guiding social directives for people, and especially for women. We see these mantras in social media captions, advertising campaigns, and song lyrics that seem to promise that, through a confidence-based mindset, we will be able to transform our psychology, and therefore the material conditions of our lives.

Though it may seem harmless, or even empowering, the tendency to emphasize individual agency over the structural conditions we exist within and through is perhaps the core component of a culture of neoliberalism that also permeates and drives almost every part of our society. 

We spoke with sociologists Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill who are the minds behind "Confidence Culture," a new book that specifically examines how the entrenched social injustices of our time have been reframed as psychological blocks, and what this means for us. 

Shani Orgad is an associate professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Rosalind Gill is a professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at City, University of London. 

Purchase "Confidence Culture" here: 
https://www.dukeupress.edu/confidence-culture

Episode 40: The Confidence Cult

<description>Celebrity culture thrives on granting us vicarious access to our favorite stars. But rarely on display are the paparazzi and reporters whose hidden labor makes the story happen.  In "Manufacturing Celebrity: Latino Paparazzi and Women Reporters in Hollywood", anthropologist Dr. Vanessa Díaz brings us inside the world celebrity media production and reveals the complex racial and gendered power relations at play in the production of fame. On this episode, we are joined by Diaz, an interdisciplinary ethnographer, filmmaker, journalist &amp; Assistant Professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.

Learn more about Vanessa's research &amp; book here https://manufacturingcelebritybook.com</description>

Celebrity culture thrives on granting us vicariou…

Celebrity culture thrives on granting us vicarious access to our favorite stars. But rarely on display are the paparazzi and reporters whose hidden labor makes the story happen.  In "Manufacturing Celebrity: Latino Paparazzi and Women Reporters in Hollywood", anthropologist Dr. Vanessa Díaz brings us inside the world celebrity media production and reveals the complex racial and gendered power relations at play in the production of fame. On this episode, we are joined by Diaz, an interdisciplinary ethnographer, filmmaker, journalist & Assistant Professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.

Learn more about Vanessa's research & book here https://manufacturingcelebritybook.com

Episode 39: Professor Vanessa Diaz on the celebrity news machine

<description>We’re honored to have had the chance to interview a scholar whose work we’ve appreciated for a long time—lauded sociologist Jessie Daniels, who is a professor at Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center and a faculty affiliate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet &amp; Society. 

She is an expert on racism’s manifestations in the media and online, as well as the author of several books, including “White Lies”—a look at white supremacist extremist groups' printed newsletters—and “Cyber Racism,” which examines the ways in which far-right extremism has come alive on the internet.  

For this episode, we spoke with Jessie about her newest publication—“Nice White Ladies: The Truth about White Supremacy, Our Role in It, and How We Can Help Dismantle It” (2021)—and how the ideological constructions of gender and whiteness are detrimentally wielded within America’s cultural mythology.

Learn more about Jessie Daniels' work here: https://www.jessiedaniels.net</description>

We’re honored to have had the chance to interview…

We’re honored to have had the chance to interview a scholar whose work we’ve appreciated for a long time—lauded sociologist Jessie Daniels, who is a professor at Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center and a faculty affiliate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. 

She is an expert on racism’s manifestations in the media and online, as well as the author of several books, including “White Lies”—a look at white supremacist extremist groups' printed newsletters—and “Cyber Racism,” which examines the ways in which far-right extremism has come alive on the internet.  

For this episode, we spoke with Jessie about her newest publication—“Nice White Ladies: The Truth about White Supremacy, Our Role in It, and How We Can Help Dismantle It” (2021)—and how the ideological constructions of gender and whiteness are detrimentally wielded within America’s cultural mythology.

Learn more about Jessie Daniels' work here: https://www.jessiedaniels.net

Episode 38: Professor Jessie Daniels on gender, mythology, and whiteness

The Top Rank podcast - co-hosted by best friends Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas - is a process-oriented research platform, centered on highlighting people of diverse backgrounds who are driving, shaping and challenging their fields, and the world around them. Every month, Isabel (a journalist and editor) and Marcel (a cultural anthropologist) delve into insightful conversations with leading thinkers about cultural politics, consumer culture, and social justice.  

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