The overturning of Roe v. Wade has led to a flurry of commentary and wondering, "Where next?" But, it also begs deeper questions: what is the history of abortion and sex-positivity within the feminist movement, and how did Roe affect our views on sex? Feminist legal scholar Dr. Erika Bachiochi is the founder and director of the Wollstonecraft Project at the Abigail Adams Institute and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Here, she discusses these questions as well as her recent book on Mary Wollstonecraft, The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision (University of Notre Dame Press, 2021).
Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program’s podcast, Madison’s Notes.
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Reclaiming a Lost Vision of Feminism: A Conversation with Erika Bachiochi

Israeli political philosopher Yoram Hazony discusses the Enlightenment, the American Founding, his latest book, Conservatism: A Rediscovery (Regnery Publishing, 2022), and Conservatism's past and future.
Dr. Hazony is the President of the Herzl Institute, based in Jerusalem, and the chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, a public affairs institute based in Washington D.C., which recently hosted the popular National Conservatism Conference in Miami, FL. 
Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program’s podcast, Madison’s Notes.
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Where Did Conservatism Go? A Conversation with Yoram Hazony

With the Biden Administration's student loan relief coming down the pike, Annika sits down with Dr. Beth Akers, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in higher education finance. Beth discusses the issue of student debt, and what the Biden relief plan will and will not achieve.
You can find more information about Dr. Akers and her recent writing and appearances here.
Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program’s podcast, Madison’s Notes.
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Truth, Fiction, and Student Loan Forgiveness: A Conversation with Beth Akers

We live in a time of anger. Yet most of us feel guilty for getting angry, wishing we could stay calm and turn the other cheek. But though anger can never be fully morally pure, we still need it because it alerts us to injustice and catalyzes change.
Guests: 


Agnes Callard is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago and a columnist at The Point.


Myisha Cherry is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside.


This episode was produced in partnership with Boston Review.
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Anger Management: When Can Rage Be Good?

In the United States, unjust disparities in things like income, opportunity, health, safety, and education tightly track racial categorizations of the US population. An intuitive approach to social justice calls us to look to the sites of the greatest disadvantage, and take measures aimed at relieving them. This approach favors “race specific” policies for pursuing justice. However, that kind of rationale is increasingly vulnerable in a country that’s largely convinced that it has achieved a “post-racial” condition. Hence the remaining disparities remain, but are explained away by appeals to alleged faults of those who suffer under them.
In A Realistic Blacktopia: Why We Must Unite to Fight (Oxford UP, 2023), Derrick Darby defends a different approach. According to Darby, the psychological and social realities of the United States suggest that we must adopt a non-race-specific social justice agenda, explicitly tying our efforts to mitigate unjust inequalities that track racial categorization to “big tent” initiatives to broaden and deepen democratic inclusion for citizens as such.
﻿Robert Talisse is the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.
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Derrick Darby, "A Realistic Blacktopia: Why We Must Unite to Fight" (Oxford UP, 2022)

20 years ago at Concordia University in Montreal pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with police over whether Benjamin Netanyahu should be allowed to speak on campus. Windows were smashed, arrests were made, the talk was cancelled.
The fallout from that day defined how the school year proceeded, with heated council debates, media stunts, lawsuits, explosions, and a contentious student election.
This was captured in the film Discordia (2004), and while the fight had no influence over the conflict in the middle east, it was a major moment in the lives of those involved, so we tracked them down.
Henry Kissinger once said "the reason that university politics is so vicious is because the stakes are so small." Was he right? We investigate what university politics means, and how it has evolved in the two decades since Discordia.
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Discordia Revisited: The Concordia Netanyahu Riot of 2002

Many of the earliest time technologies were used to mark sacred time -- time set apart for the divine. But with the Industrial Revolution, efficient time use became its own sacred value. We now live in the age of capitalist time, where time is money and must be spent as productively as possible. As we struggle with a global pandemic, it’s time to rethink what we hold sacred.
Guests:


Ahmed Ragab, Richard T. Watson Associate Professor of Science and Religion, and affiliate associate professor of the history of science at Harvard University.


Mary Gray, associate professor of informatics at the University of Indiana at Bloomington, fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society and a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research.


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Out of TIme: Sacred Time and 'Time is Money'

What kinds of tools do we need to make big decisions, and why aren't our universities training us to make them? Are universities doing students a disservice by occupying them with myriads of boxes to tick? Are students right to prefer money to meaning? Madison Program alumni Ben and Jenna Storey discuss the philosophy of making choices and of restlessness, and critique the way universities treat those topics.
Ben and Jenna are senior fellows at the American Enterprise Institute in the Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies department, where they focus on political philosophy, classical schools, and higher education. Previously, they directed the Toqueville Program at Furman University in South Carolina. They are the authors of Why We Are Restless:On the Modern Quest for Contentment (Princeton UP, 2021).

Prof. Barba-Kay's tribute to Leon Kass mentioned during the episode is here.
Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program’s podcast, Madison’s Notes.
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Money or Meaning? A Discussion on Choice, Restlessness, and Higher Education

The work of Ibram X. Kendi distinguishes between two forms of racism: segregationism and assimilationism. Segregationists argue that some groups are inferior by nature; assimilationists, on the other hand, argue that some groups are inferior by 'nurture,' but can overcome this inferiority if they conform to another group's cultural standards -- in America, always a White cultural standard. Black leaders past and present have challenged these racist assumptions while revealing the liberatory potential of a cultural engagement based on equality and mutual exchange.
Guests:


Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, contributing writer to The Atlantic and author of "How To Be An Antiracist" and "Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America 1619-2019."


Max Mueller, assistant professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and author of "Race and the Making of the Mormon People."


Dr. Anika Prather, adjunct professor in the Classics Department at Howard University and author of "Living in the Constellation of the Canon: The Lived Experiences of African American Students Reading Great Books Literature."


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Above the Veil: Beyond Segregationism and Assimilationism

The China Nexus: Thirty Years In and Around the Chinese Communist Party's Tyranny (Optimum Publishing, 2022) brings together Benedict Rogers' 30 years of advocacy, research and work in and around China. Opening with his rollicking adventures as an 18 year old teaching English in Qingdao in 1992, the human element of this monograph, the real people and their lives are foregrounded. Rogers takes the reader through a nexus of the CCP's tyranny; from China's crackdown on its own citizens; through the repression and violence perpetuated in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong, to the way that the CCP props up and is complicit in crimes against humanity in Myanmar and North Korea. This book is essential to understanding both the domestic and global ramifications of the threat that the CCP poses to the free world. Rogers has been at the heart of advocacy for human rights in and around China during this period. His on-ground insights, countless meetings, interviews and direct encounters with those who live through the harrowing realities manifested by current CCP ideology, should operate as a wake-up to those who value democracy everywhere. 
Benedict Rogers is a human rights activist and writer specialising in Asia. He is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Watch, Senior Analyst for East Asia at CSW, an advisor to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, the Stop Uyghur Genocide Campaign and several other charities, and Deputy Chair of the UK Conservative Party Human Rights Commission. 
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Benedict Rogers, "The China Nexus: Thirty Years in and Around the Chinese Communist Party's Tyranny" (Optimum Publishing, 2022)

Linking morality and science can conjure up disturbing histories around social Darwinism, eugenics, and genetically engineered humans. But scientists today are making discoveries that moral agents shouldn’t ignore: how to overcome aggression and tribalism, and how to sustain cooperation in a modern pluralist world.
Guests:

Diane Paul, professor emerita of the University of Massachusetts, Boston and research associate at the Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Ben Allen, associate professor of mathematics at Emmanuel College.

Steven Pinker, professor of cognitive psychology at Harvard University and bestselling author of The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Language Instinct, The Blank Slate, and many others.


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Dissecting Morality: What do Scientists Have To Say About Ethics? (Part 1)

What does it mean to be Black in Scotland today? How are notions of nationhood, Scottishness, and Britishness implicated in this? Why is it important to archive and understand Black Scottish history?
In Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland (Bloomsbury, 2022) Dr. Francesca Sobande and layla-roxanne hill explore the history and contemporary lives of Black people in Scotland; reflecting on the past to make sense of the present. Based on intergenerational interviews, survey responses, photography, and analysis of media and archived material, this book offers a unique snapshot of Black Scottish history and recent 21st century realities. Focusing on a wide range of experiences of education, work, activism, media, creativity, public life, and politics, Black Oot Here presents a vital account of Black lives in Scotland, while carefully considering the future that may lie ahead.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.
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Francesca Sobande and layla-roxanne hill. "Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland" (Bloomsbury, 2022)

In the age of social media, athletes have a powerful influence like never before. Many Black athletes have used that power in positive ways, galvanizing their platforms to create impactful educational opportunities, donate to Black social causes, and raise political awareness on important issues. 
In The Black Athlete Revolt: The Sport Justice Movement in the Age Of #BlackLivesMatter (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023), Shaun M. Anderson examines the Black athlete's rise in advocating for social justice and how today's athletes have moved beyond protesting to create substantial change for Black Americans. Anderson reflects on the history and evolution of Black athlete activism, breaking down its importance during the civil rights movement, the commodification of athletes during the 1990s, and how twenty-first century athletes have utilized their wealth and influence to create lasting societal change in the age of #BlackLivesMatter. With fascinating portraits of notable individuals in the history of Black activism, as well as insights from athletes and allies who discuss the future of athlete activism, The Black Athlete Revolt reveals the ever-evolving and crucial role of Black athletes beyond the world of sports.
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Shaun M. Anderson, "The Black Athlete Revolt: The Sport Justice Movement in the Age Of #BlackLivesMatter" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023)

Donna Riley, professor and head of the school of engineering education at Purdue University, talks about her path, her work, and her 2008 book, Engineering and Social Justice, with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. If technologies and infrastructures embody moral and political values, what should engineering students be taught about their roles in society? Riley and Vinsel also talk about how universities have changed since Riley’s book came out and Riley’s hopes for social justice in engineering education going forward.
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Engineering and Social Justice

Davarian L. Baldwin is a professor of American studies and founding director of the Smart Cities Lab at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. His latest book, In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities (Bold Type Books, 2021) is a wake-up call to the reality that higher education is no longer the ubiquitous public good it was once thought to be. But as Baldwin shows, there is an alternative vision for urban life, one that necessitates a more equitable relationship between our cities and our universities.
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How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities

Religious people have played an important role in progressive politics in the US for its entire history. Contemporary leftists should look to build bridges and include religious voices in the pursuit of a more just and sustainable society. (Part Two of Two)
Guests:

Elizabeth Bruenig, Washington Post columnist

EJ Dionne, Washington Post columnist and Professor at Georgetown University

Dan McKanan, Professor at Harvard Divinity School


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Progressive Souls: Religion and the Pursuit of a Just Society (Part 2)

Religious people have played an important role in progressive politics in the US for its entire history. Contemporary leftists should look to build bridges and include religious voices in the pursuit of a more just and sustainable society.
Guests:

Elizabeth Bruenig, Washington Post columnist

EJ Dionne, Washington Post columnist and Professor at Georgetown University

Dan McKanan, Professor at Harvard Divinity School


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Progressive Souls: Religion and the Pursuit of a Just Society (Part 1)

In The American Imperative: Reclaiming Global Leadership through Soft Power (Bombardier, 2023), Washington insider Daniel Runde makes the case for building a new global consensus through vigorous internationalism and the judicious use of soft power.
Daniel F. Runde is Senior Vice President and the William A. Schreyer Chair in Global Analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Caleb Zakarin is the Assistant Editor of the New Books Network.
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Daniel F. Runde, "The American Imperative: Reclaiming Global Leadership through Soft Power" (Bombardier, 2023)

Many think modernity is about the rise of science, the spread of democracy and capitalism, or the decline of religion or superstition. But those stories ignore the bigger picture about colonialism and race.
Guests:
Mayra Rivera, professor of Religion and Latinx Studies at Harvard University.
Jared Hickman, professor of English at Johns Hopkins University. Author of the book, Black Prometheus: Race and Radicalism in the Age of Atlantic Slavery.
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The Myth of Modernity: Is There a Bigger Picture?

We have been ruled long enough. It is time to govern ourselves. If we are to get past the Constitution and all systems based on constitutions, we need to move past the nation state as the means by which we are governed from above.
– Robert Ovetz, We the Elites (2022, p. 167)
Written by 55 of the richest white men of early America, and signed by only 39 of them, the constitution is the sacred text of American nationalism. Popular perceptions of it are mired in idolatry, myth, and misinformation - many Americans have opinions on the constitution but have no idea what’s in it.
The misplaced faith of social movements in the constitution as a framework for achieving justice actually obstructs social change - incessant lengthy election cycles, staggered terms, and legislative sessions have kept social movements trapped in a redundant loop. This stymies progress on issues like labor rights, public health, and climate change, projecting the American people and the rest of the world towards destruction.
Robert Ovetz’s reading of the constitution shows that the system isn’t broken. Far from it. It works as it was designed.
From the introduction:
‘The Framers genius was in designing a virtually unchangeable system that provides the people with a semblance of participation and allows a few to select some representatives while the rest of us relinquish the power to self-govern. How and why they did that, why it still functions in that same way, and why we need to move past it is the focus of this book.’
Professor Ovetz is a senior lecturer in political science and public administration at San Jose State University and a lecturer in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. His first book, When Workers Shot Back: Class Conflict from 1877 to 1924, was published in 2018 by Brill/Haymarket Books. His second book was an edited volume in 2020 entitled, Workers’ Inquiry and Global Class Struggle: Strategies, Tactics, Objectives also published by Pluto Press.
Sydney Business School at Shanghai University - can be reached at keith.krueger1@uts.edu.au or keithNBn@gmail.com
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