Bungacast Bungacast

On melodrama and the bourgeois subject.
 
[Patreon Exclusive]
 
We're back with the next installment of our series on the "emotional turn". Alex talks to Catherine Liu about whether politics is staged in a "melodramatic" fashion today.
What is the bourgeois subject, why was it good, and where did it go?
What is melodrama?
Does public crying make us feel connected? Is it all Oprah's fault?
Why is psychoanalysis the solution to, not the cause of, therapy culture?
How is indignation used today? Is the political scene just villains and victims?
Links:
Emotion Sickness I ft. Nina Power
Emotion Sickness II ft. Ashley Frawley
Emotion Sickness III ft. Alex Hochuli
Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery, Eva Illouz
Interview with Christine Gledhill, from the book Melodrama After the Tears 

On President AMLO and the rebuilding the working class.
 
[Patreon Exclusive]
 
We continue our discussion with anthropologist Roger Lancaster who has lived and researched in Mexico for decades, on the past and present of Mexican radicalism.

How has popular conservatism served as a boost for radicalism and revolution 


Is there any basis for a 'romantic' anti-capitalism, in Mexico, or in the Global North?


Is President AMLO synthesising a new politics? 


Has he “ended neoliberalism” or on the way to it?


How socially conservative is AMLO really?

On A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics
 
[Patreon Tier III & IV Exclusive]
 
Continuing our theme of "the intelligentsia & the public," we discuss German critical theorist Jürgen Habermas's 2023 book, asking what sort of political culture is required for democracy.


What role do the institutions of the public sphere and the media have in producing, sustaining or undermining this culture?


How does Habermas' account contrast with B. Anderson on print capitalism?


Is 'deliberative' democracy a trap? Who sets the rules of deliberation?


Is a good media structure a 'constitutional imperative'?


How do interests fit into Habermas' model? Do we need to leave our interests at the door?

 

Links:

A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics, Jurgen Habermas


Jürgen Habermas is a major public intellectual. What are his key ideas?, Duncan Ivison, The Conversation


/362/ Life Doesn’t Have to Zuck ft. Cory Doctorow - on social media

On Mexico, class, and sexuality. 
 
We welcome anthropologist Roger Lancaster onto the pod to talk about his new book, The Struggle to Be Gay – in Mexico, for Example.  
 
We discuss:


How much is being gay tied to being modern? And conversely, how much of globalized culture is itself "gay"?


Do you need to be middle class to be gay?


Why did neoliberalism provide more sexual freedom than corporatism in Mexico? 


How was Mexico ahead of the US in introducing ‘progressive neoliberalism’?


Is now a time of freedom, or should we think of it differently?


In part two, we discuss AMLO's "synthetic" presidency, and the way peasant conservatism in central America has traditionally provided a boost to radicalism – and ask whether this is still the case.
 
Only available at patreon.com/bungacast.
 
See also: /180/ Bunga Bunga (but Gay) ft. Mark Simpson & River Page

On Portugal's elections, 50 years since the revolution
 
Catarina Príncipe, a long-time activist on the Portuguese left and a doctoral student of political economy, is back on the podcast to talk through what happened as Portugal went to the polls.

How does Portugal see itself, with regard to Europe, and its own history?
How did the right-populist Chega party break through amid high turnout?
What kind of anti-politics did Chega bring to the table?
Is there nostalgia for the dictatorship?
How did immigration become an issue in a country where emigration is the big problem?
What is going on with Portugal's huge housing crisis?
Why has the EU disappeared as a political issue, 10 years on from the peak of the crisis?
Bungacast is expanding, with new regular contributors, partnership with Damage magazine and more. Read about it here or see the video.

Links:
In Portugal’s Election, the Center Left Struggles to Hold On, João Murta & Guilherme Rodrigues
Europe After Brexit, Bungacast live event, ft. Catarina Principe + others

On what comes next: in politics, ideas, economy, subjectivity
 
To commemorate seven years of the podcast and four-hundred episodes, we got all our new Contributors in to examine the oppositions and tensions that we think will characterise the next decade. We say hello to Amber A'Lee Frost, Alex Gourevitch, Catherine Liu, and Leigh Phillips.
 
For all Bungacast shows, including our Contributors, the Damage magazine episode, Reading Club and more, go to patreon.com/bungacast
 
 
Politics

Right-populism: insurgency or incorporation
The Left: engagement or reclusion
Multipolarity: opportunity or restriction
War: inertia or action

Industry & Economy

Work: precarity or militancy
Green Capitalism: industry or austerity
Tech: exhaustion or enchantment

Ideas & Art

Truth: the image or the word
Belief: reason or romanticism

Individual & Society

Subjectivity: vulnerability or resilience


Sex: liberation or puritanism


Sociability: virtuality or embodiment