Uncommon Sense

How do we typically see fat, and how can thinking differently about it have emancipatory outcomes? Fady Shanouda of Carleton University’s Feminist Institute of Social Transformation introduces Fat Studies and their inextricable link to activism. Alert to the connection between living and other things, Fady unpacks his feminist new materialist approach, and explains what it means to say “I’m not fat in my house”, describing how our surroundings can liberate us or show bias. He also considers the harm caused by misconceptions of fat as simply “surplus”, “inanimate” or even “dead” material. How does such valuing get mapped onto whole bodies and lives? And what happens if, instead, we recognise fat as essential, pushing back against the idea that having a lower amount of body fat means somehow a more valuable life?Plus: how has fat come to be seen as a matter for psychiatry? And what are the manifestations of the “fat tax” in a world where things are made with certain bodies in mind and costs imposed on others?Featuring discussion on autoethnography in North America. Plus: celebration of TV drama “Shrill” and the gripping reality TV survival series “Alone”.Guest: Fady Shanouda; Hosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu Truong; Executive Producer: Alice Bloch; Sound Engineer: David Crackles; Music: Joe Gardner; Artwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon SenseEpisode ResourcesBy Fady ShanoudaFat Animacy (forthcoming book chapter)Fat and Mad Bodies: Under, Out of, and Beyond Control (chapter in Fat Studies in Canada)Disability Saves the World (podcast)From the Sociological Review FoundationSugar Rush by Karen Throsby – Lucy AphramorFat Activist PodcastsJust my size? Our bodies, our waistbands, our triggered selves – Nina SökefeldFurther resources“Fat Studies” – an Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society“Animacies: Biopolitics, Racial Mattering, and Queer Affect” – Mel Y. Chen“The Bodymind Problem and the Possibilities of Pain” – Margaret Price“Narrating the Closet: An Autoethnography of Same-Sex Attraction” – Tony E. AdamsThe “Pool” episode of the TV series “Shrill”The reality TV survival show “Alone”More on the “Obesity Paradox”“The impact of obesity on the short-term and long-term outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention: the obesity paradox?” – Luis Gruberg, et al.“‘Obesity paradox’ misunderstands the biology of optimal weight throughout the life cycle” – J. B. Dixon, et al.Read more about the work of Eli Clare on bodyminds and Hunter Ashleigh Shackleford.Support our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

From TV’s “The Bear” to the simmering restaurant thriller “Boiling Point” we seem drawn to angry-but-vulnerable chefs in pop culture. But how do such stereotypes shape who works in kitchens and how they treat their colleagues? Is “kitchen culture”, with its macho rough and tumble norms, always so different from the work culture so many of us face – including in academia? Sociologist Ellen T. Meiser joins us from Hawaii to discuss this and more, reflecting on her new book Making It: Success in the Commercial Kitchen. She tells us about her lifelong fascination with kitchens – from teenage shift work in Anchorage, Alaska, to studying baking and pastry at the Culinary Institute of America and entering the field of Food Studies.We ask: how do scars serve as a kind of currency in commercial kitchens amid values of stoicism, perseverance and pain? How does the transience of worker populations make kitchens sites of risk and low accountability? And how does “scarring” take place beyond the kitchen, in a traumatogenic society where individuals, but also our planet, face significant harm?With celebration of the late chef and author Anthony Bourdain.Guest: Ellen T. Meiser; Hosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu Truong; Executive Producer: Alice Bloch; Sound Engineer: David Crackles; Music: Joe Gardner; Artwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon SenseEpisode ResourcesBy Ellen T. MeiserMaking It: Success in the Commercial Kitchen“It Was, Ugh, It Was So Gnarly. And I Kept Going”: The Cultural Significance of Scars in the WorkplaceThe Social Breakdown (podcast co-hosted with Penn Pantumsinchai and Omar Bird) – including the episode Culture and Systems: An Intro to Food StudiesFrom the Sociological Review FoundationFood and Work – The Sociological Review Magazine issuesTaste, Performance, Success, Burnout, Toxic – Uncommon Sense episodesFurther resources“Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience” – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi“Food and Culture: A Reader” – ed. Carole Counihan, Penny Van Esterik, Alice Julier“Takeaway: Stories From a Childhood Behind the Counter” – Angela Hui“Scar Cultures: Media, Spectacle, Suffering” – Pramod Nayar“‘Yes Chef’: life at the vanguard of culinary excellence” – Robin Burrow, Chef John Smith, Christalla Yakinthou“The Forms of Capital” – Pierre Bourdieu“Body/Embodiment: Symbolic Interaction and the Sociology of the Body” – Phillip Vannini“‘I see my section scar like a battle scar’: The ongoing embodied subjectivity of maternity” – Sally JohnsonMore links to resources available at thesociologicalreview.orgSupport our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

What comes to mind when you think about joy? And can there be joy in protest and refusal? Someone who’s been asking and trying to answer questions about this is Akwugo Emejulu. She’s been investigating the relationship between Black feminist joy, ambivalence and futures, asking how Black feminists are remixing political media, meanings and messages to co-create manifestos for change. Akwugo has also been mapping the grassroots organising and activism of women of colour for more than 15 years, and in this episode shares her insights about the role of joy and other emotions in understanding society and social change. Plus: Akwugo introduces us to the work of bell hooks, including her take on Beyoncé’s album “Lemonade”, and gives her pop culture recommendation for some Japanese anime, much to Alexis’ delight!Guest: Akwugo EmejuluHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochGuest Producer: Chris GarringtonSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon SenseEpisode ResourcesRosie, Alexis and Akwugo recommendedThe works of psychologist Rollo May and poet Toi DerricotteThe anime TV series Orb: On the Movements of the Earth and Fullmetal Alchemist: BrotherhoodBy Akwugo EmejuluFugitive FeminismTo Exist is to Resist: Black Feminism in Europe (co-edited with Francesca Sobande)Minority Women and Austerity: Survival and Resistance in France and Britain (co-authored with Leah Bassel)The Black Feminism Remix Lab: on Black feminist joy, ambivalence and futures (co-authored with Francesca Sobande) Refusing politics as usual: mapping women of colour’s radical praxis in London and Amsterdam (co-authored with Inez van der Scheer)The politics of exhaustion (co-authored with Leah Bassel)From The Sociological ReviewThe lonely activist: On being haunted – Akwugo Emejulu, Leah BasselDissonant intimacies: Coloniality and the failures of South–South collaboration – Srila RoyFurther resources“Feminist Theory: From Margin To Center” – bell hooks“Feeling Race: Theorizing the Racial Economy of Emotions” – Eduardo Bonilla-Silva“The (Un)Managed Heart: Racial Contours of Emotion Work in Gendered Occupations” – Adia Harvey Wingfield“Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure” – Arlie Russell HochschildSupport our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

With so many platforms available to share information, there are more means than ever to make a noise. But in the spirit of free speech and academic freedom, those speaking and actually being heard remain grossly unequal. What are the links between voice and power and how can we amplify those voices that we can’t hear?In this special episode recorded at The Sociological Review Undisciplining II conference, Michaela Benson is joined by Claire Alexander (Professor of Sociology and Head of the School of Social Sciences at The University of Manchester), Dan McCulloch (Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Social Policy at The Open University) and Belinda Scarlett (Library Manager at the Working Class Movement Library) to talk about empowerment, representation and impact, under a common theme: VOICEGuests: Claire Alexander, Dan McCulloch, Belinda ScarlettHost: Michaela BensonExecutive Producer: Alice BlochGuest Producer: Emma HoultonSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon SenseEpisode ResourcesBy Claire Alexander Our Migration StoryThe Art of Being Black: The Creation of Black British Youth IdentitiesStuart Hall and ‘Race’By Dan McCullochCritical Reflections on Participatory Visual Methods and VoiceWhy Deaf Prisoners Have Been in a State of Lockdown Since Well Before COVID-19Homelessness and Mortality: an Extraordinary or Unextraordinary Phenomenon? (co-authored with Vickie Cooper)By Belinda ScarlettWorking Class Movement LibraryBig Flame ProjectFrom The Sociological ReviewAccent and the Manifestation of Spatialised Class Structure – Michael Donnelly, Sol Gamsu, Alex BarattaYouth Voices in Post-English Riots Tottenham: The Role of Reflexivity in Negotiating Negative Representations – Julius ElsterFurther resources“Sidewalk” – Mitchell DuneierBlack British Voices – report of project led by Kenny MonroseValuing Voices in the Digital Age – Sharath Srinivasan“Why Voice Matters: Culture and Politics After Neoliberalism” – Nick CouldryAt Home and Not at Home: Stuart Hall in conversation with Les Back; also available for listeningSupport our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

Life admin often refers to the overwhelming and mundane paperwork that surrounds contemporary living. However, Oriana Bernasconi, a sociology professor at the Alberto Hurtado University in Chile, joins Uncommon Sense to talk about a more serious side of the term – that of paperwork documenting human rights abuse – as well as a living, breathing archive and the analogue spreadsheet.Author of “Resistance to Political Violence in Latin America: Documenting Atrocity”, Oriana talks about her substantial research in human rights archives documenting the atrocities that took place during the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. She also talks us through “technologies of memory” and how archives have allowed the living to connect with the dead.Plus: Oriana introduces us to the works of Judith Butler and Jacques Derrida around performativity and gives her pop culture recommendation for the 16-part TV series “Una historia necesaria”.Guest: Oriana BernasconiHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochGuest Producer: Emma HoultonSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon SenseEpisode ResourcesRosie, Alexis and Oriana recommendedWINHANGANHA – film by Jazz MoneyInside/Out: A Prison Memoir – theatre production by Patrick KeatingUna Historia Necesaria – TV series by Hernán CaffieroBy Oriana BernasconiResistance to Political Violence in Latin America: Documenting AtrocityPolitical Technologies of Memory: Uses and Appropriations of Artefacts that Register and Denounce State Violence (co-authored with Elizabeth Lira and Marcela Ruiz)Archives of Violence: Case studies from South America (co-authored with Vikki Bell, Jaime Hernández-García and Cecilia Sosa)From The Sociological ReviewThe aesthetics of memory: Ruins, visibility and witnessing – Margarita PalaciosThe digital writing of human rights narratives: Failure, recognition, and the unruly inscriptions of database infrastructures – Josh BowsherFurther resourcesthe publications of the Tecnologías Políticas de la Memoria project“Documenting Dictatorship: Writing and Resistance in Chile's Vicaría de la Solidaridad” – Vikki Bell“Documentality: Why it is Necessary to Leave Traces” – Maurizio Ferraris“Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” – Judith ButlerRead more about the concept of Speeach Acts, as well as the work of Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt and Jacques Derrida.Support our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

What comes to mind when we think about toxicity in everyday life? It could be toxic relationships or masculinity – through to consumption, waste, governance and environmental harm. Alice Mah joins Uncommon Sense to discuss toxic expertise, waste colonialism and more.The author of “Petrochemical Planet: Multiscalar Battles of Industrial Transformation” and “Plastic Unlimited: How Corporations are Fuelling the Ecological Crisis and What We Can Do About It”, Alice reflects on what the petrochemical industry has to do with sociology. From the impact on marginalised communities often having no choice but to live in a toxic environment through to the concept of “waste colonialism”.She also introduces us to the work of Dr Max Liboiron and their work CLEAR (Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research) – an interdisciplinary plastic pollution laboratory whose methods foreground humility and good land relations. Alice explains how the work of CLEAR has impacted her and made her think a little differently when approaching her own work.Guest: Alice MahHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochGuest Producer: Emma HoultonSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon SenseEpisode ResourcesBy Alice MahPetrochemical PlanetPlastic UnlimitedToxic ExpertiseFrom the Sociological Review FoundationDeep Time, Intergenerational Knowledge, and Socio-Ecological Futures – The Sociological Review Annual Lecture 2024 by Alice MahInto the abyss: Monsters, minerals and deep-sea mining in Norway’s blue economy – Jennifer E. TelescaClimate Justice – magazine issueFurther resources“The Climate of History in a Planetary Age” – Dipesh Chakrabarty“Pollution Is Colonialism” – Max Liboiron“Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution” – Gerald Markowitz, David Rosner“The Unknowers: How Strategic Ignorance Rules the World” – Linsey McGoeyCivic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR)“The Blue Planet” – documentary TV series presented by David Attenborough“Dark Waters” – film directed by Todd Haynes – based on Nathaniel Rich’s New York Times article “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare”Production Note: This episode was recorded in July 2024.Support our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

What gets centred and what gets framed as marginal? Who decides? And what are the consequences? UN expert, feminist scholar and social historian Rhoda Reddock – Professor Emerita at The University of the West Indies – joins us from Trinidad and Tobago to discuss the theme of margins, reflecting on the importance of radical Caribbean thought, the contested meaning of the “global south” and the evolution and significance of Caribbean feminism from the 70s to today.As a member of the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Rhoda shares her reflections of moving between Switzerland and Trinidad and Tobago for her work. She also gives advice to scholars striving to make an impact – and to those questioning the necessity of moving to the “global north”. Why, Rhoda asks, does scholarship from the “global south” too often get perceived as regionally specific, while the “north” remains regarded as the centre of sociological thought? And how, Rosie and Alexis ask, has the Caribbean typically been regarded – or indeed, dismissed – by the discipline?Plus: Rhoda also shines a spotlight on Trinidadian-American scholar Oliver C. Cox, author of “Caste, Class and Race”, whose work was a precursor to Wallerstein’s “World Systems Theory” and also to women’s studies today. A fascinating discussion, also featuring celebration of thinkers including CLR James and Walter Rodney, author of “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”.Guest: Rhoda ReddockHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon SenseEpisode ResourcesBy Rhoda ReddockRadical Caribbean Social ThoughtWomen and Slavery in the Caribbean“Conceptualizing ‘Difference’ in Caribbean Feminist Theory” in New Caribbean ThoughtRhoda’s online profileFrom the Sociological Review FoundationEuropeans, with Manuela  Boatcă – Uncommon Sense podcast episodeGlobal Sociology – online magazine essay collectionDecolonising Methodologies, 20 Years On: The Sociological Review Annual Lecture – Linda Tuhiwai SmithFurther resourcesThe UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)“North-South: A Programme for Survival” – Willy Brandt“Southern Theory: The global dynamics of knowledge in social science” – Raewyn Connell“How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” – Walter Rodney“Caste, Class and Race: A Study in Social Dynamics” – Oliver C. CoxSupport our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

Kirsteen Paton, an insightful author focused on community and class, shares her knowledge on the multifaceted nature of community. She discusses how true membership requires active engagement rather than mere presence. Kirsteen examines the evolution of sociological thoughts on community from traditional concepts to modern complexities shaped by global issues like gentrification. Personal experiences from Liverpool and Glasgow highlight the interconnectedness of local and global communities, while she also reflects on historical narratives and the need for solidarity in social struggles.

Grazia Ting Deng, an anthropologist known for her research on Chinese-run coffee bars in Italy, shares insights on the paradox of 'Chinese Espresso.' She dives into how Chinese baristas have taken charge of these traditionally Italian spaces since 2008, not by changing but by preserving culture. Grazia discusses the dynamics of cultural integration, the convivial feel of coffee bars, and how these settings become sites of social interaction amidst challenges. She also touches on the resilience of cultural identity in a politically charged environment.

What does it mean to make things? Why are some people valorised as “makers”, while others are rendered invisible? And what duty do sociologists have as makers of knowledge and narratives? The “sewing cycling sociologist” Kat Jungnickel joins Uncommon Sense to discuss all this and more; including her years of research celebrating historic female cyclists as radical inventors, makers and hackers, responding to barriers to their freedom of movement and raising crucial questions about power and space.Rosie (no stranger to DIY) and Alexis (a lifelong fan of taking things apart) ask Kat: what exactly is “Science and Technology Studies” (STS) and what’s the idea of the “black box” all about? How are the factory workers who make “our” clothes regarded in academia and beyond? Aren’t we all “makers” now, feeding our “smart” devices? And what can we learn from “Do It Together” (DIT) communities, like those Kat studied for her doctoral work in Australia, where she met people building their own wi-fi networks? Are they performing radical resistance to capitalism, or simply dealing with its downsides?Plus: Kat celebrates the work of thinkers who inspire her, including Saidiya Hartman. Hartman’s “Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments”, Kat suggests, invites us to interrogate and remake established narratives, and to make space for those previously dismissed and denied a voice. Also discussed: John Urry, John Law, Angela McRobbie, Donna Haraway, Bruno Latour and more.Production Note: This episode was recorded before Kat Jungnickel's home institution of Goldsmiths, University of London announced organisational restructuring, which includes plans to make more than 50% of academic staff in the Department of Sociology redundant.Guest: Kat JungnickelHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon SenseEpisode ResourcesBy Kat JungnickelBikes and Bloomers and the project’s open-source sewing patternsPolitics of PatentsMaking Things to make Sense of ThingsMaking WiFiKat’s websiteFrom The Sociological ReviewWords failed us: Repairing sociology’s haunted past means finding new language to write about the social world – Gala Rexer“The Promises of Practice” – Christopher Gad, Casper Bruun Jensen“Fixing the future? How architects make time in buildings for later life care” – Siân M. Beynon-Jones, et al.Further reading“Science in Action” – Bruno Latour“Staying with the Trouble” – Donna Haraway“Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments” – Saidiya Hartman“A Social History of American Technology” (2nd edition) – Ruth Schwartz Cowan, Matthew H. HerschSupport our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense