The Importance of Institutions in Shaping Stories

Last week, West Virginia University announced that it would abolish its World Languages, Literatures, & Linguistics Department, proposing to replace it with automated digital instruction. This is the apotheosis of trends going back decades. In this episode we talk about the effects of monolingual education, the case study in Ponzi Austerity at WVU [5:00], alternative paths for literary studies [11:00], the cosmopolitan cultural abundance that is sometimes overlooked by Anglophone criticism [50:00], and Matt Seybold interviews Joe Locke about "Makram" and jazz education [57:00]. Cast (in order of appearance): Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera, Ignacio M. Sanchez Prado, Matt Seybold, Joe Locke Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram" For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/GeeGordonPonzi, or subscribe to our newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.SubStack.com, where you will also receive episode transcripts.