Listening to the news, it feels like there are more natural disasters than ever. This hour, we return to conversations about why flooding and droughts are becoming so common and how the word "disaster" affects the way we view an event. First, Connecticut State Historian Andy Horowitz explains why understanding disasters involves looking at the decisions people made before the devastation, sometimes decades before. And Professor Mohammed Ombadi breaks down the science behind how climate change is causing an increase in extreme weather.

GUESTS:


Andy Horowitz: Associate Professor of History at UConn, Connecticut State Historian, author of 'Katrina: A History, 1915-2015'


Mohammed Ombadi: Assistant Professor in the department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan

Special thanks to interns Lateshia Peters and Joey Morgan.

This episode originally aired on November 8, 2023. 

Listening to the news, it feels like there are more natural disasters than ever. This hour, we return to conversations about why flooding and droughts are becoming so common and how the word "disaster" affects the way we view an event. First, <a href="https://www.andyhorowitz.com/">Connecticut State Historian Andy Horowitz</a> explains why understanding disasters involves looking at the decisions people made before the devastation, sometimes decades before. And <a href="https://www.ombadi.com/">Professor Mohammed Ombadi</a> breaks down the science behind how climate change is causing an increase in extreme weather.
GUESTS:
<ul>
<li>
Andy Horowitz: Associate Professor of History at UConn, Connecticut State Historian, author of '<a href="https://www.andyhorowitz.com/">Katrina: A History, 1915-2015</a>'
</li>
<li>
Mohammed Ombadi: Assistant Professor in the department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan
</li>
</ul>
Special thanks to interns Lateshia Peters and Joey Morgan.
This episode originally aired on November 8, 2023.

Disrupted is about the changes we all encounter and the forces driving those changes. Some disruptions spark joy and possibility. Others move us to take action and re-evaluate our world. But the show isn't just about those disruptions; it’s about embracing them, exploring new perspectives, and feeling more connected to ourselves and our communities. Host and political scientist Khalilah Brown-Dean creates a place where changemakers come together to help us see the world differently and challenge us to grow together.

Visit ctpublic.org/disrupted for more! 

Disrupted is about the changes we all encounter and the forces driving those changes. Some disruptions spark joy and possibility. Others move us to take action and re-evaluate our world. But the show isn't just about those disruptions; it’s about embracing them, exploring new perspectives, and feeling more connected to ourselves and our communities. Host and political scientist Khalilah Brown-Dean creates a place where changemakers come together to help us see the world differently and challenge us to grow together.
Visit <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/disrupted">ctpublic.org/disrupted</a> for more!

Disrupted

Why 'natural' disasters aren't as natural as their name suggests

The Disrupted team is welcoming the new year by choosing a couple of the episodes we loved from 2024. We have so many favorites that we couldn't reair all of them, but these are some of the ones that we wanted to listen back to. This week, producer Kevin Chang Barnum chose our interview with James Forman Jr.

The United States imprisons more people than any other country in the world.

And Black people bear the burdens of mass incarceration the most. In 2019, Connecticut was one of seven states where Black people were incarcerated at overnine times the rate of white people. That’s according to an analysis done by The Sentencing Project.

These problems aren't new, but they also aren't going away. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Yale law professor James Forman Jr. hopes the new book he co-edited, Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change, will inspire readers to work towards change. It talks about finding solutions at every level of what he calls "the criminal system," from policing to prisons to courts.

GUEST:


James Forman Jr.: J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale University. His book Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. He recently co-edited Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change.

You can learn more about the prison system in the U.S. by listening to Disrupted's interview with Reginald Dwayne Betts.

Special thanks to intern Frankie Devevo.

This episode originally aired on October 25, 2024. 

The Disrupted team is welcoming the new year by choosing a couple of the episodes we loved from 2024. We have so many favorites that we couldn't reair all of them, but these are some of the ones that we wanted to listen back to. This week, producer Kevin Chang Barnum chose our interview with James Forman Jr.
The United States imprisons <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison-population-total?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All">more people</a> than any other country in the world.
And Black people bear the burdens of mass incarceration the most. In 2019, Connecticut was one of seven states where Black people were incarcerated at over nine times the rate of white people. That&rsquo;s according to an <a href="https://www.sentencingproject.org/app/uploads/2022/08/The-Color-of-Justice-Racial-and-Ethnic-Disparity-in-State-Prisons.pdf">analysis</a> done by The Sentencing Project.
These problems aren't new, but they also aren't going away. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Yale law professor <a href="https://www.jamesformanjr.com/">James Forman Jr.</a> hopes the new book he co-edited, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374614492/dismantlingmassincarceration">Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change</a>, will inspire readers to work towards change. It talks about finding solutions at every level of what he calls "the criminal system," from policing to prisons to courts.
GUEST:
<ul>
<li>
James Forman Jr.: J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale University. His book <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374537449/lockingupourown">Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America</a> won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. He recently co-edited <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374614492/dismantlingmassincarceration">Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change</a>. 
</li>
</ul>
You can learn more about the prison system in the U.S. by listening to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/disrupted/2024-12-06/the-power-of-books-in-prison-with-poet-reginald-dwayne-betts">Disrupted's interview with Reginald Dwayne Betts</a>.
Special thanks to intern Frankie Devevo.
This episode originally aired on October 25, 2024.&nbsp;

Our 2024 favorites: Rethinking mass incarceration with James Forman Jr.

In March of 1924, more than 100 Black and white attendees were at a dinner party in downtown Manhattan. The party was organized by prominent thinkers Charles S. Johnson and Alain Locke and included people like W.E.B. DuBois. Their goal was to bring together Harlem’s young Black writers with white publishers to help the writers’ work find a national audience. The party was a success. So much so that it’s often considered the start of the period known as the Harlem Renaissance.

The Harlem Renaissance saw a boom in the popularity of Black writers, just as the party’s organizers hoped. Writers like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston might get the most attention, but the period was not just about writing— music and visual arts also flourished.

This hour, we’re exploring the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance in honor of its 100th anniversary. UConn professor Erika Williams joins us to explain what the Harlem Renaissance was and to help us understand how people thought about queerness during the Harlem Renaissance.

We’ll also hear from Denise Murrell who curated a recent exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art called "The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism." She says exhibits like this one can help expand the museum-going public.

GUESTS:


Erika Williams: Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut.


Denise Murrell: Merryl H. & James S. Tisch Curator at Large at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She recently curated an exhibit called"The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism," which was on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art earlier this year.

To learn more about Zora Neale Hurston, you can listen to our interview with Tracy Heather Strain.

In March of 1924, more than 100 Black and white attendees were at a dinner party in downtown Manhattan. The party was organized by prominent thinkers Charles S. Johnson and Alain Locke and included people like W.E.B. DuBois. Their goal was to bring together Harlem&rsquo;s young Black writers with white publishers to help the writers&rsquo; work find a national audience. The party was a success. So much so that it&rsquo;s often considered the start of the period known as the Harlem Renaissance.
The Harlem Renaissance saw a boom in the popularity of Black writers, just as the party&rsquo;s organizers hoped. Writers like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston might get the most attention, but the period was not just about writing&mdash; music and visual arts also flourished.
This hour, we&rsquo;re exploring the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance in honor of its 100th anniversary. UConn professor <a href="https://english.uconn.edu/person/erika-williams/">Erika Williams</a> joins us to explain what the Harlem Renaissance was and to help us understand how people thought about queerness during the Harlem Renaissance.
We&rsquo;ll also hear from Denise Murrell who curated a recent exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art called "<a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/the-harlem-renaissance-and-transatlantic-modernism">The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism</a>." She says exhibits like this one can help expand the museum-going public.
GUESTS:
<ul>
<li>
Erika Williams: Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut.
</li>
<li>
Denise Murrell: Merryl H. &amp; James S. Tisch Curator at Large at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She recently curated an exhibit called "<a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/the-harlem-renaissance-and-transatlantic-modernism">The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism</a>," which was on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art earlier this year.
</li>
</ul>
To learn more about Zora Neale Hurston, you can listen to <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/disrupted/2023-01-18/beyond-her-novels-zora-neale-hurston-was-a-pioneering-anthropologist">our interview with Tracy Heather Strain</a>.

The legacy of the Harlem Renaissance 100 years later

We hear a lot of of debate around sex and sexuality from our political leaders these days. Proposed legislation in areas like reproductive rights and education are constantly in the news. And while that debate may seem intense today, it isn’t new. Americans have long argued over which kinds of sex are, and aren’t “acceptable.”

You need to understand the past to understand the present, as the saying goes. And according to historian Rebecca L. Davis, there are a lot of misconceptions about the past. She joins us today to talk about her new book Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America. She’ll explain the surprising ways Americans have understood intimate relations and even share a touching story that took place right here in Connecticut.

GUEST:


Rebecca L. Davis: Miller Family Endowed Early Career Professor of History at the University of Delaware and Professor of Women and Gender Studies. Her latest book is Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America.

You can listen to the interview with Jason Stanley that Professor Davis mentioned in this episode on our website.

We hear a lot of of debate around sex and sexuality from our political leaders these days. Proposed legislation in areas like reproductive rights and education are constantly in the news. And while that debate may seem intense today, it isn&rsquo;t new. Americans have long argued over which kinds of sex are, and aren&rsquo;t &ldquo;acceptable.&rdquo;
You need to understand the past to understand the present, as the saying goes. And according to historian <a href="https://www.rebeccaldavis.com/">Rebecca L. Davis</a>, there are a lot of misconceptions about the past. She joins us today to talk about her new book <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631496578">Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America</a>. She&rsquo;ll explain the surprising ways Americans have understood intimate relations and even share a touching story that took place right here in Connecticut.
GUEST:
<ul>
<li>
Rebecca L. Davis: Miller Family Endowed Early Career Professor of History at the University of Delaware and Professor of Women and Gender Studies. Her latest book is <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631496578">Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America</a>.
</li>
</ul>
You can listen to the interview with Jason Stanley that Professor Davis mentioned in this episode <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/disrupted/2024-10-11/exploring-connections-between-fascism-and-attacks-on-education-with-jason-stanley">on our website</a>.

Why 'natural' disasters aren't as natural as their name suggests

In 1 playlist(s)

Disrupted

Social links

Follow podcast

Recent clips