Episodes
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On Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity
[For access, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast/membership]
We continue working through the 2024/25 syllabus with the first theme, The Future of Place, asking, is politics possible without a sense of place. We discuss Marc Augé's much-referenced 1992 work on 'non-places': airports, shopping malls, corporate hotels, motorways... We discuss:
Are non-places proliferating, and what would this mean for society and politics?
Are non-places the spatial accompaniment to post-politics, to the foreclosure of political contestation?
Is the distinction between non-places and places/spaces useful?
Is there anything to the notion of a hyper- or super-modernity?
Is Augé too deterministic? Does he miss how non-places can be places for culture or politics?
Links:
2024/25 Bungacast Syllabus (with links to readings)
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On immediacy, representation, and anti-politics.
Anna Kornbluh, professor of English and author of Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism talks to Alex about the cultural, political, and economic changes she refers to as 'immediacy'. We discuss:
Is 'immediacy' just a vibe, or is vibe itself non-mediated?
How does anti-representation in film, TV and books relate to anti-representation in politics?
And can we relate culture immediacy to the 'material base'?
How do Fleabag, Uncut Gems, and the turn to memoirs and autofiction exemplify immediacy?
Why does self-disclosure fit so well with the data economy?
In what way is contemporary anti-theory nihilistic and apologetic?
How does the style of immediacy relate to Frederic Jameson's understanding of postmodernism?
Is the desire to put everything private on show a response to alienation?
And is the professionalisation of 'theory' a problem or solution?
Links:
Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism, Anna Kornbluh, Verso
Has culture become pure vibe?, Anna Kornbluh, Spike Art Magazine
The Theory of Immediacy or the Immediacy of Theory?, Jensen Suther, Nonsite
Embracing Alienation: Why We Shouldn't Try to Find Ourselves, Todd McGowan, Repeater
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Episodes manquant?
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On your questions, comments & criticisms.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We're back with a final letters to the editor episode of 2024 in which we discuss:
the universalisation of 'anti-fascism' as a kind of politics
whether there are any actual 'family abolitionists' out there
humanitarian intervention in Palestine
the hard and less hard facts of US imperial decline
the legitimacy of 'existential' politics
whether anti-corruption politics are good, actually
and why Phil loves Hillary
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On Taiwan, semiconductors, and war.
[Full episode for subscribers only]
James Lin, Assistant Professor of International Studies at the University of Washington at Seattle, talks to Phil about Taiwanese politics and the country's place in the world, in terms of the global economy and Sino-American geopolitical rivalry. We talk about Taiwanese history and politics, from Japanese occupation and colonisation across the Cold War, to the present day, including:
Taiwanese politics in the shadow of the geopolitical crisis
The paradox of political divergence and economic convergence between China and Taiwan since the 1980s
How did Taiwan corner the market for manufacturing computer chips?
How successful is the ongoing US reshoring of chip production?
Will there be a Marco Rubio/Elon Musk divide on China in the Trump White House?
How might a war over Taiwan play out?
Links:
In the Global Vanguard: Agrarian Development and the Making of Modern Taiwan, James Lin, UC Press
What Works in Taiwan Doesn’t Always in Arizona, a Chipmaking Giant Learns, John Liu, NY Times
Will Trump take the Musk path or the Rubio path on Taiwan?, Lev Nachman, Nikkei Asia
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On Mothers and the institution of the family.
We're happy to bring you the recording of the launch event for the third issue of Damage magazine, with whom we're partnered. George and Alex were present for the event as part of a sequence of recordings on the future of place that will be released as a docu-series in the New Year.
For now, here is regular contributor Catherine Liu and friend of the pod Dustin Guastella debating the family to a packed-out bookstore at Moma's PS1 in Queens, NY.
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On the End of History and Europe.
[For full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
LSE professor Mike Wilkinson talks to Phil and Alex about how the history of European integration fits with constitutional theories and ideas of sovereignty. We discuss:
In what way are the conspiracy theories about the EU true?
What are the origins of European integration in the inter-war crisis?
How did European integration tie into the history of ideas and development of 20th century legal history?
How far does European integration overlap with counter-revolutionary theories and ideas?
And who is the Last European?
Links:
Authoritarian Liberalism and the Transformation of Modern Europe, Michael Wilkinson
Political Constitutionalism in Europe Revisited, Michael Wilkinson, Journal of Law and Society
The Rise and Fall of World Constitutionalism, Michael Wilkinson, Verfassungsblog
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On the maelstrom of the metropolis.
[Full episode only available to subscribers. Join at patreon.com/bungacast]
We kick of the 2024/25 syllabus with the first theme, The Future of Place, asking, is politics possible without a sense of place. We discuss Georg Simmel's short essay "Metropolis and Mental Life" and Marshall Berman's All That Is Solid Melts into Air (chapter 5, on New York).
How does Simmel relate the metropolitan condition to a historical passage from the 18th century to the 19th?
Is city life intellectual and blasé, versus small town emotionality?
Is narcissism built into modernity? Is there an aristocratic individualist revolt in evidence today?
Do we need places to hang out in before we can do political organising?
Are we nostalgic for top-down modernisation?
Readings:
"Metropolis and Mental Life"
All That Is Solid Melts into Air (chapter 5, on New York)
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On the military decline of the American empire.
[Patreon Exclusive]
The Swedish writer Malcom Kyeyune talks to Phil about what happens to the evil empire when the stormtroopers can’t shoot straight and the empire isn’t producing enough star destroyers. They discuss:
What happens to international politics in a world of new geopolitical rivalries?
How does American industrial decline affect US military capacity and strength?
Why is America unable to produce enough ships?
Why is the US unable to do conscription anymore?
Who would win in a showdown between China and America?
Links:
America will have to dodge the draft, Malcom Kyeyune, UnHerd
The Houthis now rule the Red Sea, Malcom Kyeyune, UnHerd
The West can no longer make war, Malcom Kyeyune, New Statesman
The American Empire’s Burning Peripheries, Malcom Kyeyune, Compact
/240/ Populist Interventions: Örebro Party ft. Malcolm Kyeyune | Bungacast
Facing war in the Middle East and Ukraine, the US looks feeble. But is it just an act?, Adam Tooze, The Guardian
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On pro-family politics, and the US election and labour.
[Patreon Exclusive - in association with Damage magazine]
Dustin Guastella talks to Phil and Alex about what the election of Trump will mean for US labour organisations. We then move on to Dustin's proposal for progressive pro-family policies.
What actually is "the family" today?
Social democrats are proud of policies but wary of encouraging family growth. Why?
What would pro-family policies look like, what would they do, and what might their negative effects be?
Is the family not a pillar for the reproduction of authoritarian norms?
How do we explain the fertility crisis in global terms?
How do we confront the growing marketisation of everything?
Links:
Damage issue #3 - MOTHERS - Bungacast subscribers get free access
NY live event: issue launch - Family Trouble
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On Trump's return and the end of the End of History (still!)
Historian and Jacobin contributing editor Matt Karp joins us to extract the true meaning of the US election. We discuss:
How Trump's victory explodes so many Democrat assumptions about demography and identity
How this election re-writes the past ten years' history
Whether Trump still retains an anti-political or anti-establishment charge
If the Democrats are preponderant in leading sectors of the knowledge economy, is this a political rejection of its assumptions?
How to place this election in the sweep of the global anti-incumbency wave
What the relationship is between inflation, labour and legitimacy
Links:
Power Lines, Matt Karp, Harper's
It’s Happening Again, Matt Karp, Jacobin
Democrats join 2024’s graveyard of incumbents, John Burn-Murdoch, FT
/262/ The Useless Past ft. Matt Karp
/447/ Brunch Back Better ft. Ryan Zickgraf & Amber A'Lee Frost
/445/ How I Hacked the US Election ft. Alex Gourevitch
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On your questions, comments, criticisms.
[Patreon Exclusive]
It's our letter to the episode show where we have a chance to answer you, the listener. We discuss:
Has Bungacast gone eco-austerian?
Are Marx and Freud in conflict?
Is abortion about healthcare or about freedom?
Why has the left abandoned liberty?
Did we underestimate Israel’s existential fears?
And what’s so “complex” about the Arab-Israeli conflict anyway?
Links:
2024/25 Reading Club on Place, Nation, Class
Direct link to the syllabus PDF
Our substack newsletter
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On Georgia's pivotal elections and its post-Soviet history.
[Full episode only for patrons]
Hans Gutbrod, who has been working in the Caucasus region since 1999 and now teaches at Ilia State University in Tblisi, talks to Alex about Georgia's choice between the EU and Russia. We discuss:
Who is Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose wealth is equal to 1/4 of GDP?
What is the ruling Georgian Dream's pitch to voters, and how has it turned 'rightward'?
Did Georgia witness the end of history, or merely the de-development of the post-Soviet years?
How has civil society become dominated by NGOs, and is this a problem?
Can Georgia flourish in a multipolar world, acting as an entrepôt between East and West?
Links:
In Georgia, a National Election Is a Geopolitical Struggle, Bryan Gigantino, Jacobin
Telling Time the New Way: 17 Years of Reform, Hans Gutbrod, Civil Georgia
Macbeth in the Caucasus: Omnipotence and Loneliness - Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream, Hans Gutbrod (PDF)
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On the US election, messaging and learning stupid lessons.
[Full episode only at Patreon]
We welcome Amber A'Lee Frost (California via Indiana and New York) and Ryan Zickgraf (Pennsylvania via Illinois and Georgia) to preview the US election. We discuss:
Why the campaigns have been so focused on micro-targeting demographics
Whether Russians or Brits are illegitimately swinging the election
How the Democrats have gone back to being smug
Why it feels like Pennsylvania is the only state voting (and not even there!)
Whether the US is going back to a pre-2016 period
How each side will react if they lose
Damage Magazine will hold a launch of its third print issue, "Mothers," in NYC on 23 November at 4-6pm at MoMA’s PS 1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Queens 11101. Catherine Liu will be in conversation with Dustin Guastella on the question of the family.
Links:
The Battleground State that Isn't, Ryan Zickgraf, Compact
The Gospel According to Elon Musk, Ryan Zickgraf, Compact
To win, Harris should talk more about working-class needs and less about Trump, Dustin Guastella, The Guardian
Obviousness, Scorn, and Losing Ground, Benjamin Fife, Damage
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On egg-freezing, 'having it all', and neoliberal liberty.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We welcome Damage editor and practicing psychologist Amber Trotter on to talk about "Frozen Freedom", Amber's piece on artificial reproductive technology and different kinds of freedom. Alex and George ask her about:
How empowering is female emancipation from biological limitations and compulsions?
Can women now "have it all"?
Do men feel the contradictions of this type of freedom too?
Is a proliferation of individual choice making us all neurotic?
The childhood fantasy of adulthood is of omnipotence – where did it come from?
What is the relationship between commitment, responsibility, collectivity, the individual, and freedom?
Links:
"Frozen Freedom", Amber Trotter – Damage issue #3
/440/ Dear Tradmother, Why Are You Sad? ft. Amber A'Lee Frost
/210/ Reading Club: Psychoanalysis & Spirit of Capitalism
/235/ Reading Club: Freedom – on mortality & freedom
Anti-Social Socialism Club, Dustin Guastella, Damage
Damage issue #3 launch event in NYC: Saturday 23 November, MoMA PS 1 Bookstore
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On the left-wing case for freedom.
Regular contributor Alex Gourevitch is back on to talk about how the Democrats are approaching the US presidential election. Alex talks us through an influential and widely-read article that he wrote in 2020 with Corey Robin on how the left needed to reclaim freedom as its own.
We discuss:
Why is the left suddenly talking about freedom?
When did it abandon freedom in favour of human rights, welfare, or identity?
What are the consequences of leaving "freedom" to the libertarians and oligarchs?
How would one critique what the Democrats are doing today from this perspective?
Plus: we hear about Alex’s debate with Tyler Cowen on whether capitalism is defensible.
Links:
Gaining freedom by escaping the unfreedom of the workplace - PNHP
Freedom Now, Alex Gourevitch & Corey Robin, Polity: Vol 52, No 3
The US presidential race will be fought over competing definitions of ‘freedom’, Eric Foner, The Guardian
The Story of American Freedom, Eric Foner
/298/ Working For Freedom ft. Alex Gourevitch
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On Israel's invasion of Lebanon and beyond.
Karl Sharro (Lebanese-Iraqi architect and satirist @KarlreMarks) and Iranian writer and historian Arash Azizi join us to discuss war in the Middle East. We ask:
Is Israel finally waging the great war that will rid it of all enemies?
Does Israel have any real plan? What motivates its actions in Gaza and Lebanon?
What is the impact on Hezbollah of losing its leadership layers?
How will Iran respond and what is the balance between moderates and hardliners there?
If Hezbollah is severely weakened, what happens to the Lebanese state?
What should we make of the global culture war around Israel, Palestine and the rest
Links
Lebanon in the heart of the storm, Akram Belkaïd, Monde Diplo
Israel is not ‘saving western civilisation’. Nor is Hamas leading ‘the resistance’, Kenan Malik, The Guardian
Iran Is Not Ready for War With Israel, Arash Azizi, The Atlantic
/225/ Wokeistan & Lebanonworld ft. Karl Sharro
/141/ Oh Lebanon, What Now? ft. Rima Majed
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On Nations & Nationalism since 1870.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We start by dealing with your questions regarding last month's RC, on Stalin, Zhukhov and WWII.
Then we read and discuss Eric Hobsbawm's classic work in which he emphasises that nations are exclusively modern constructions. We discuss:
How succulent Hobsbawm's account is
Whether he was wrong about globalisation eclipsing nationalism – and why he argued this
Whether the revolutionary-democratic aspects of nationalism can be rescued from its later ethnic-particularist elements
What the relationship is between citizenship, patriotism and nationalism
How nationalism intersected with revolution - and fascism
And whether the nation is any more solid an exit from our political vacuum than whatever other postmodern BS
Links:
Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality, Eric Hobsbawm
Film: Eric Hobsbawm: The Consolations of History, LRB
Some reflections on 'The Break-up of Britain', Eric Hobsbawm, New Left Review (pdf)
/421/ Who Are the Wrong Ukrainians? ft. Volodymyr Ishchenko
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On France's permacrisis.
[Patreon Exclusive]
French sociologist Nathan Sperber talks to George and Alex about his new essay in the New Left Review, "The French Crisis: Organic or Conjunctural". We catch up with what has happened in France since Macron gambled and called impromptu elections in the summer. We discuss:
Why does France always seem to be more in crisis than its neighbours?
How has France ended up with hollow "leaderist" parties?
Is Macron a true neoliberal or a reactive emergency politician?
Did the left-wing France Insoumise miss its shot?
How inevitable is a Le Pen government, and will it be co-opted by the French bureaucracy?
What's the difference between an organic and a conjunctural crisis – and which one is France in?
Readings:
The French Crisis: Organic or Conjunctural?, Nathan Sperber, New Left Review (pdf attached)An Introduction to Antonio Gramsci: His Life, Thought and Legacy, George Hoare & Nathan Sperber, Bloomsbury (Feb 2025) -
On liberal takes on the end of the End of History.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We start by discussing Yasha Mounk's dismissal of an end to the End of History. Does he underestimate liberal democracy's inability to legitimise itself anymore? Is the talk of populism a way of deflecting from liberalism's undoing?
We then deal with your comments and questions [for patrons only, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
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On tradwives, influencers, and boys.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Amber is back on the pod, talking to Alex and George about her forthcoming piece on neo-traditionalism and women, in Damage issue 3, which will be on Mothers. We discuss:
What are the models of 'tradwives' out there?
If homemakers make homes, do tradwives make content?
Does the tradwife phenomenon speak to sense of exhaustion with being a neoliberal girlboss?
When does internet crap start being real? Do influencers actually influence?
What is the political upshot of all this?
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