Theoryish

In this episode, we sit down with author Christopher Ewing to discuss his groundbreaking book The Color of Desire: The Queer Politics of Race in the Federal Republic of Germany after 1970. Together, we explore how race, sexuality, migration, and national identity intersected in post-1970 West Germany, and how queer communities both challenged and reproduced racial politics during a period of profo...

Today we bring you an incredible author interview with the lovely Erika Herrera Rosales, who released her book Ambivalent Humanitarianism and Migration Control Colonial legacies and the Experiences of Migrants in Mexico in 2025. This book explores the complex relationship between migrants and local aid organisations, unpacking the implications of humanitarian actors in migration governance and bor...

Hello all, welcome back to the Theoryish podcast! In this episode, we turn to Akhil Kang's Savarna Citations of Desire: Queer Impossibilities of Inter-caste Love to understand how caste, sexuality, and desire intersect in South Asian contexts. We are joined by our wonderful former guests dipbuk Panchal and Roshan Johri, who bring along with them their thoughtful perspectives on queer politics...

Did you miss us? Contact Us  You can get in touch with us via our email:  theoryishpodcast@gmail.com   Socials   We are on  Twitter   and  stagram  at theoryish_pod |  Facebook  at theoryishpod 

Hello all, apologies for the delay in releasing this episode! Hannah has been going through some medical issues and has recently had surgery. Hannah also recently passed her PhD Viva and so has been busier than usual. We have more episodes recorded for this season and we will work hard to get these to you much sooner than we did before.  In this episode, we dive in Carl von Clausewitz’s On War to...

Join us for a very special interview with Rustam Alexander, author of Red Closet: The Hidden History of Gay Oppression in the USSR . Alexander uncovers an overlooked area of 20th century history, tracing the roots and realities of the lives of queer people in the USSR. We explore how Alexander conducted the archival research for this book, how he felt writing the text, and some of the history disc...

We’re back from our mid-season break and diving fang-first into the Gothic! In this episode, we sink our teeth into Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872), the vampire novella that predates Dracula and oozes with queerness, gothic description, and Victorian sensibilities. Join us as we explore themes of desire, tension, obliviousness, and erotic friendship. Expect vampires, hand holding, and a lot of...

A little update on where we've been... Contact Us   You can get in touch with us via our email: theoryishpodcast@gmail.com   Socials   We are on Twitter , Instagram and TikTok at theoryish_pod and Facebook at theoryishpod  Music   Outro: Lori Beauty, Coma Studios  

This week we’re taking a deep dive into all things witchy by discussing The Malleus Maleficarum (edited by Peter Maxwell-Stuart). Originally written by Heinrich Kramer in the 15th century, this book played a pivotal role in the witch hunts across Europe. Utilizing Maxwell-Stuart's translation and introduction, we explore the Malleus’ origins, impact, and why women are often seen at the center of w...

In this episode we dive into the world of phenomenology, exploring its rich history and evolution from its roots with Edmund Husserl to its contemporary developments with thinkers like Sara Ahmed. Phenomenology, a complex yet fascinating philosophical movement, focuses on the study of consciousness and experience. Join us as we break down key terms, examine the central ideas and history that have...

In this episode, we dive into Clement Greenberg’s influential 1939 essay ‘Avant-Garde and Kitsch’. We explore and outline the concepts of avant-garde and kitsch, unpack their complex relationship, and examine how Greenberg connects kitsch with totalitarianism. Join us as we unpack these ideas and their continued relevance to the world of art and culture.   Sources and Media  You kind find all sour...

Welcome to the first theory episode of Season 3! Today we are joined by Matthew Bliss, a PhD researcher based in the History of Art department at the University of Warwick. The Arcades Project is the dreamlike and fragmentary unfinished project of Walter Benjamin which offers an enormous amount of writing on Paris in the 19th century. In the episode we unpack the architectural structure of arcades...

We are back (and better than ever!) Join us as we give some much needed life updates and chat about the upcoming season. Contact Us  You can get in touch with us via our email: theoryishpodcast@gmail.com   Socials  We are on Twitter , Instagram and TikTok at theoryish_pod and Facebook at theoryishpod  Music  Outro: Lori Beauty, Coma Studios  

Thank you for listening to Season 2 of Theoryish! In this episode we reflect on the season, give life updates, and chat about Season 3.   We will begin preparation for Season 3 soon, and have some really exciting episodes coming your way next year.   Until then, please don’t forgot to subscribe, comment, and rate our podcast 5 stars!   Contact Us  You can get in touch with us via our email: theory...

In this week’s incredible episode, we got the opportunity to speak to Migueltzinta Solís about his article Embodying the postcolonial perverse: mestizXXX sadomasochist performance methodologies (2021). In this episode we discuss consent, queer and trans methdologies, perversity, creative practice, land relations and more!   Migueltzinta Solís is a trans Chicanx interdisciplinary artist, writer, ed...

This week we provide an overview of intersectionality, a concept that gave a name to the ways in which individuals experience intersecting oppressions that combine to create varied modes of discrimination and privilege. This introduction to intersectionality covers the history of the term, Kimberlé Crenshaw's 1989 article, and some of the critiques and issues with applying intersectionality in...

This week, guest Meaghan Allen joins us to discuss Julia Kristeva’s 1980 book Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection . Join us as we discuss abjection, the allure of horror, final girls, the body, and Carol J. Clover’s Men, Women and Chainsaws. Towards the end of the episode, we use abjection to discuss the 1973 film The Exorcist. If you’re interested in horror, this is definitely an episode you...

We are back from our midseason break with an episode on Sigmund Freud’s 1920 essay Beyond the Pleasure Principle . In this essay Freud challenges some of his preconceived ideas about the pleasure principle through his exploration of the death drive. Join us as we break down Freudian terminology, deepen our understanding of psychoanalysis, and use the death drive to think about the Sopranos and Per...

In this week’s episode, we look at Linda Nochlin’s groundbreaking 1971 essay Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists. Join us as we investigate Nochlin’s examination of institutional and societal barriers that have prevented women’s access to artistic recognition and success. We discuss in detail who Linda Nochlin is, why this essay is so important to feminist art theory and art history and ref...

Welcome to our first ‘Introduction To...’ of the season! In this episode we introduce you to Poststructuralism, outline what this concept is, where it came from, and who the poststructuralists are (despite their insistence to the contrary).   Sources and Fan Fiction  You kind find all source material discussed in the episode here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PrI0L5dW-WKRDbMiNldAmNhATr2Zvjv...

Join us for our second ever author interview, in which we are joined by J. Daniel Luther and Roshan Johri to discuss Luther’s book Queering Normativity and South Asian Public Culture: Wrong Readings Only (2023). In this episode we discuss how normativity functions, and how difficult it can be to interrogate. We discuss how to find and create a queer archive, or an archive of ‘the normal’. Daniel a...

Join us as we experiment this week by looking not at academic theory, but at Sophia Amoruso’s (2014) book #GIRLBOSS. We use this text to discuss ethical work conditions, fashion, feminism under neoliberlism and girlboss feminism.   Sources and Fan Fiction  You kind find all source material and fan fiction discussed in the episode here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/143ZVl0Ow_vFqP9Ig6NAzo6UoRx...

Join us as we delve into The Seducer’s Diary, a section of writing from Søren Kierkegaard's 1843 collection Either/Or. We discuss the esthetism, ethics, religion, love, marriage, Christianity and more!   For this episode we were joined by special guest Igor Ahmedov, Estonian Kierkegaard research and junior research fellow in philosophical theology. Igor is writing a doctoral thesis at the Universi...

Following on from Part 1, this episode discusses the last three chapters of Eve Kosofsky Sedwick's seminal 1990 text, Epistemology of the closet. Join us as we discuss sentimentality, homosexuality in Renaissance England, and the idea of a closet made of glass. Sources & Fan Fiction You can find a list of all the sources and fan fiction discussed in this episode here: https://docs.google.c...

Join us as we dive into Walter Benjamin's 1935 essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction . In this episode we cover the history and context of this essay; the difference between mechanical production and traditional art production; Benjamin's changing relationship to Aura; film and the production of film. Sources   You can find any of the source material we discussed list...