Thorns Have Roses

In this week’s episode, Anurag discusses the history of colors, such as indigo and carmine, and how they can help us understand what the world was like in the past. Christina talks about a few incidents of white people in the West starting businesses related to Asian cuisine and the Twitter feuds that followed. We also discuss the Chinese reality TV show Street Dance of China and why it’s so much fun to watch.Links:The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair, a book which provides brief histories of many colors.--Indian yellowAn article about the history of indigoGandhi’s Champaran Satyagraha--Pippa Middlehurst’s cookbook Dumplings and Noodles'Queen of Congee'--A dance battle from Street Dance of China Season 4 (full episodes are available on the Youku channel on YouTube - subtitles available in multiple languages!)Jam's Germs on Instagram

In this episode, Anurag and Christina talk to Dr. Samantha Chisholm Hatfield about Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). How do indigenous people develop and use TEK to thrive along with nature, rather than exploiting it? We also discuss things like how time is perceived differently in indigenous communities and how the global fight against climate change can greatly benefit by utilizing and learning from TEK.Dr. Samantha Chisholm Hatfield is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and is also Cherokee. She has a Doctorate from Oregon State University in Environmental Sciences focusing on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and is a research scientist, author, and international speaker.Indigenous authors and scholars mentioned in the episode: Kyle Powys Whyte, Daniel Wildcat, Gregory Cecchetti, Vine Deloria Jr., Julie Maldonado, Kathy Lynn, Frank Lake, Winona LaDukeLink to study about the Haenyeo community.

Christina and Anurag talk to Dr. Teevrat Garg about how people are being affected by rising temperatures, and how they might adapt as temperatures around the world rise in the coming decades. Dr. Garg talks to us about various research studies from around the world that document how more days of extreme heat result in effects ranging from lower productivity to increasing levels of violence. We also discuss how social policy plays an important role in helping populations cope with climate change  while technological innovations help reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.Dr. Teevrat Garg is an Assistant Professor of economics at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at University of California, San Diego.His research is at the intersection of environmental and development economics with an emphasis on the role of public policy and institutions in helping the poor cope with environmental changes from climate change to water and air pollution.

This week, Christina and Anurag discuss how influencer and data-driven shopping apps have supercharged e-commerce around the world. Christina takes the example of fast fashion to illustrate how new technologies and parasocial relationships with influencers have been accelerating trends and consumption. They also discuss other ways influencers create desire in consumers, which Chinese apps like Shein, TikTok, Taobao Live and Xiaohongshu have mastered.Anurag talks about real life superheroes, people who don a costume and solve problems in society. He focuses on Mexican and other Latin American superheroes and the kinds of problems they solve and how they’re fundamentally different from those we read about in comic books and movies.Links:Shein ad Viya livestream with a C-pop star guest (to see how she sells products) Chinese farmers streaming their produce-Super Barrio’s Wikipedia articleVideo clip of Super Barrio leading a protestReal Life Superhero Wiki (tracks current superheroes)Obligatory superhero dog tax

In this episode, we talk about the modern history of coffee, its relationship with the environment and the people who grow it, and how all this affects the coffee we drink. We speak to Dr. Stuart McCook, professor of world history at the University of Guelph in Canada.  He is also the author of "Coffee Is Not Forever: A Global History of the Coffee Leaf Rust,” which is about the global coffee industry and how it was affected by a serious disease called coffee leaf rust.What is the impact of globalization and climate change on coffee growers and the plant itself, and how is it all connected in today's world?

In this episode, we speak to Kyle Moody, an associate professor of communications media at Fitchburg State University, about the role that local news played during the pandemic. We also discuss the decline of local news and closures of news outlets in the US over the course of the pandemic, as well as the past decade(s), and the lasting effects that has on local communities, the spread of misinformation, and political participation. What are potential solutions for reviving local news going forward?

Christina and Anurag discuss how boba, or bubble tea, made its way from Taiwan to the US, and how chai has done the same from India. How has boba tea remained a drink mostly sold by and for Asians, while chai, like yoga and golden milk (turmeric milk), has become a symbol of gentrification and an elite lifestyle?

This week we're joined by anthropologist Dr. Sarah Besky of Cornell University to discuss the colonial history of tea and the people who produce it. Her research uses ethnographic and historical methods to study the intersection of inequality, nature, and capitalism.Her work on tea plantation and labour is focused on the Darjeeling and surrounding areas in NE India, and in the Himalayan region more broadly.This is part one of a two-part series on tea. In our next episode, we will focus on the role that tea plays in our cultures, communities and identities. The book referred to in the episode: The Darjeeling DistinctionHer most recent book: How Nature Works: Rethinking Labor on a Troubled Planet

Why is everyone suddenly interested in GameStop stock, bitcoin, and NFTs? Why are people gathering in the millions to coordinate their investments? New apps like Robinhood have made investing simple for almost anyone. What does this tell us about 21st century capitalism? We speak to Gayle Rogers at the University of Pittsburgh, a scholar and author of a new book on the history and culture of speculation, about how and why people have made bets forever, and why it might be so popular now.

In this episode, we talk about three different fan cultures. We discuss how K-pop and C-pop fans organize online to support their idols. Then, we talk about Tollywood fans (that is, fans of the Telugu film industry in India) who are much smaller in number but equally fanatical in their support, and finally the tension between the local and global support of football (soccer) teams.Here are some videos of the fans we talk about in action:K-pop fans at airports to catch a glimpse of their idols.Tollywood fans celebrating their ‘heroes’ inside the movie theatre.Manchester United fans protest against the owners of the club outside their stadium.

We speak to Dr. Nidhi Gonnakuti and Rohith Vedira, a civil contractor building COVID-19 facilities, about their experiences as frontline workers during the deadly second wave in India. We also talk about the vaccine shortage, super-spreader events, and how government negligence led to where we are now.

In this episode, Christina and Anurag discuss the inadequacies of new terms in American English to describe life during the pandemic. If you’re also sick of ‘pandemic wall,’ Christina gives examples of words in other languages that better capture complex, emotional responses to world events.Anurag takes you on a 15 minute world tour of dumplings. We discuss the origin of dumplings and talk about some lesser known dumplings from around the world.Lastly, Christina talks about the most recent slate of food travel shows by American hosts trying to understand a “nation of immigrants” through its food. What are they trying to tell us, and what gets left unsaid?Links to words:Neijuan (内卷) WeltschmerzLinks to dumplings:Ethiopian dumplings: TihloGeorgian dumplings: KhinkaliLinks to recommendations:Salt Fat Acid Heat: Episode 2 on salt (on Netflix)Georgian folk singers: Trio MandiliChinese vlogger: Liziqi

This week, we're in conversation with Dr. Michael Svoboda, a professor of writing at George Washington University, to discuss how the climate crisis is depicted in movies and books. We talk about why movies aren’t exactly inspiring us to change the world through climate change stories, and how we can improve that. Dr. Svoboda regularly reviews most forms of climate related media, and he shares with us some of his favorite cli-fi films.

In this week's episode, we revisit surveillance systems with Karen Li Xan Wong and look at how governments and corporations use our data to track us. She explains how these systems are all around us and all around the world.There have been reports this week that the EU is planning to regulate the use of AI for mass surveillance and social credit systems.This episode is a good introduction to this topic, which we investigated thoroughly in our previous episode "One of many: China's social credit system."  

In this episode, we chat with psychiatrist Sharat Vallurupalli about his time treating patients during COVID-19 and how we should be rethinking what 'health' means. Is the rise of people seeking therapy because there is more awareness about mental health, or is there something about modern society that is making us ill?Warning: there is some discussion of physician suicide.

The ‘social credit system’ in China has people worried about the dystopian future that is unfolding. But what actually is the system in China, and what does Western media get wrong about it? Are there similar types of systems all around us that we don’t even notice? We talk about all of this and more with Xin Dai, a law professor at Peking University who has studied the ‘social credit system’ extensively.Link to Xin Dai's paper about the reputation systems and China's system from 2018: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3193577

This episode, Christina talks about anti-Asian violence as a Chinese American, the lack of cohesion in the Asian American community, and why she doesn’t think anti-Asian hate will end anytime soon. Anurag talks about how he thinks his years growing up in India were very different to kids who grow up in the US in one big way.Finally Anurag also talks about ghost forests, a climate change phenomenon leading to stretches of dead coastal forests.

We introduce ourselves, talk about why we're making this podcast, and go over some of the topics we'll be covering.