Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
How both of today’s guests became involved in higher education in prison.
Why this work is personal to them.
Funding and representation issues in higher education in prison.
The complexities of supporting students who are incarcerated without supporting the carceral system.
And a discussio ... Show More
Nov 22
Gracen Brilmyer and Lydia Tang eds., "Preserving Disability: Disability and the Archival Profession" (Library Juice Press, 2024)
A transcript of this interview is available [here]
Preserving Disability: Disability and the Archival Profession (Library Juice Press, 2024) weaves together first-person narratives and case studies contributed from disabled archivists and disabled archives users, bringing critic ... Show More
40m 26s
Nov 21
Janice M. McCabe, "Making, Keeping, and Losing Friends: How Campuses Shape College Students’ Networks" (U Chicago Press, 2025)
We’re all familiar with the sentiment that “college is the best time of your life.” Along with a newfound sense of freedom, students have a unique opportunity to forge lifelong friendships at a point in life when friendship is particularly important. Why is it, then, that so many ... Show More
51m 53s
Nov 18
Carlo Rotella, "What Can I Get Out of This?: Teaching and Learning in a Classroom Full of Skeptics" (U California Press, 2025)
At a time when college students and their parents often question the "return on investment" from humanities courses, accomplished feature writer and English professor Carlo Rotella invites us into the minds of a group of skeptical first-year students who are ultimately transforme ... Show More
47m 16s
Feb 2023
Inside Story: Life in Prison, As Told by Formerly Incarcerated People
For people who have not experienced it, life in prison can seem unimaginable. So reporters who have themselves been incarcerated can offer an important perspective when covering the prison system. NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Lawrence Bartley, host of the new series Inside Story ... Show More
10m 40s
Sep 2017
Sarah Haley, “No Mercy Here: Gender, Punishment, and the Making of Jim Crow Modernity” (UNC Press, 2016)
Recent popular and scholarly interest has highlighted the complex and brutal system of mass incarceration in the United States. Much of this interest has focused on recent developments while other scholars have revealed the connections between the development of the prison system ... Show More
55m 44s