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Explore every episode of the podcast Thinking in the Midst

Dive into the complete episode list for Thinking in the Midst. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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1–50 of 81

TitlePub. DateDuration
65. On Democracy, Education, and Pluralism31 Jan 202500:54:56

Nicholas Tampio and Kathy Hytten join Cara and Derek to talk about Dewey, political saturation, democratic habits, and how expensive youth hockey is.

For Kathy's works, click here and here

For Nick's edition and intro to Democracy and Education, click here. And for his Common Core book, click here. And for public-facing work on Dewey, click here.

And use this form to recommend future guests and topics!

64. On Indoctrination (GroundWorks session)17 Jan 202501:11:32

A live episode! GroundWorks's 2024 edition features a piece on "Systemic Indoctrination" by Fedor Korochkin, and in an event held Tuesday, January 14th, he gave it as a talk, with Christopher Martin and Rebecca Taylor responding, and followed by a Q&A session.

Here is the paper at the GroundWorks website, and

Here is the form to recommend future topics and guests.

55. On Service to Academic Societies04 Oct 202400:57:24

With NEPES right around the corner -- tomorrow, in fact -- Siri Ranganath and Drew Chambers join Cara and Derek to talk about what motivates them to serve in organizational offices, what the work is like, and how they approach it.

To see the NEPES program, click here.

For Drew's personal website, click here.


To recommend future episodes and guests, use this form.

54. On Formative Higher Education, Part Two23 Sep 202401:01:41

Chris Higgins and Kristen Case are back with Cara and Derek to finish talking about Chris's new book, Undeclared: A Philosophy of Formative Higher Education.⁠

For Kristen's awesome work, visit ⁠her website⁠.

Here is ⁠the form to recommend guests and topics⁠!

53. On Formative Higher Education, Part One06 Sep 202400:52:00

Chris Higgins and Kristen Case join Cara and Derek to talk about Chris's new book, Undeclared: A Philosophy of Formative Higher Education.

For Kristen's awesome work, visit her website.

Here is the form to recommend guests and topics!

52. On Political Conversations in the Classroom23 Aug 202401:03:06

Paula McAvoy and Pablo Wolfe join us to discuss the whys and the hows of fostering conversations about even the most fraught political issues in educational spaces like classrooms.

LINKS:

Here is Paula's The Political Classroom (with Diana Hess). More recent work of hers to help practitioners with these issues can be found here and here.

And here is Pablo's The Civically Engaged Classroom. His organization, the Coalition of Civically Engaged Educators, is linked here.

Please use this form to recommend future topics and guests!


51. On Homeschooling and Self-Directed Learning09 Aug 202400:54:36

Krystal Dillard and Kyle Greenwalt talk about the hows and whys of doing schooling beyond the schools.

Here is Natural Creativity, the organization that Krystal co-directs.

The 74 covered Krystal's work, as well, in this piece.

Kyle's work is all available on his ResearchGate page, but these two pieces in Ed Theory and The Conversation are particularly worth highlighting.

As always, use this form to recommend future topics and guests!

50. On Presidential Addresses, Good Responses, and Imposter Syndrome26 Jul 202400:35:27

In a follow-up to episode 47, AG Rud and Sarah Stitzlein sit down with Cara and Derek to talk about the process of selecting a conference theme, writing a presidential address, composing a good response, and sharing one's ideas in public.


As always, recommend future episodes and guests to us using this form!

49. On Philosophy and/of Education Policy12 Jul 202401:15:11

Jon Shelton and Neil Kraus join Cara and Derek to talk about the way education policy imagines the relationship between schooling, workforce preparation, socioeconomic security, and individual fulfillment -- and why it is all a sham.

Jon's excellent book, The Education Myth

Neil's excellent book, The Fantasy Economy

Use this form to suggest future episodes and guests!

48. On Education in/and Popular Culture05 Jul 202401:03:02

Kip Kline and Jeff Dudas join Cara and Derek to talk discuss their work on the educative power of pop culture artifacts, the use of popular media in the classroom, and the fantasies of education (tm Winston Thompson) that certain films, in particular express.

For Kip's book on Baudrillard and film, click here.

For Jeffrey's most recent book, click here.

Tell us what topics/books we ought to be covering with this form!

47. "Challenges for Philosophers of Education in a Post-Truth Infosphere" (PES Presidential address)28 Jun 202400:56:19

In this special episode, we once again feature the most recent PES meeting's Presidential Address -- given by AG Rud, this year -- and the response, which is delivered by Sarah Stitzlein. We'll link to their recent work in a follow-up episode with them, where we'll discuss the address and the response, and what it's like to create and deliver that kind of thing.

Here is the form with which to recommend future guests and episodes!

46. On Responsibility (the concept and the book)14 Jun 202401:15:18

Barb Stengel, Kathy Hytten, and Deron Boyles join us to talk about Barb's brand new book Responsibility.

Deron and Kathy have worked out the positions they're coming from in work of their own, too, of course.

See Deron's John Dewey's Imaginative Vision of Teaching.

See Kathy's "On Building Islands of Decency."

Recommend future guests and topics with this form!

Other works mentioned in the course of the conversation include:

63. On (More) Books Worth Reading03 Jan 202501:03:36

Doctoral students Phoebe Gilpin, Martha Perez-Mugg, and Arham Kazi sit down with Cara and Derek to talk about the writings that drew them to philosophy in the first place, the books they've encountered through their studies, and the works that they find themselves drawing upon in their own writing, as well.

As always, please use this form to recommend future topics and guests.

Works we talked about in this episode:

    Plato's Euthyphro

    David Labaree, "Public Goods, Private Goods"

    bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress

    Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish

    Bruno Latour, Laboratory Life

    Sara Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life

    Sara Ahmed, On Being Included

    Natasha Myers, Rendering Life Molecular

    José Medina Epistemology of Resistance

    Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

    Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks

    Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

    Tithi Bhattacharya, ed. Social Reproduction Theory

    David Mitchell, Biopolitics of Ability

    Jess Calarco, Holding It Together

    Catherine Elgin, True Enough

    Naomi Oreskes, Why Trust Science?

    Savannah Shange, Progressive Dystopia







45. On the Dignity and the Indignities of Teaching31 May 202401:22:12

Kathy Schultz and Jerusha (Rue) Beckerman join Cara and Derek to talk about what attracted them to teaching in the first place, what anchors their thinking there, and where they see dignity emerging in practice and where they see it under threat.

For Kathy's most recent book, click here.

For more on the teaching program Rue runs, click here.

Here is the transcript for the episode.

Use this form to recommend future guests and topics!

44. On Reading, Only More So17 May 202400:57:51

Spurred by Adam Kotsko's piece on reading habits among college students (a similar piece appeared just this week in the Chronicle of Higher Ed), Cara and I invited David Hansen and Claudia Ruitenberg -- both esteemed and thoughtful readers -- to talk to us about how they think about reading in their own lives and as part of what they teach their students.

For David's books, click here and here.

For Claudia's books, click here and here.

The transcript of the episode is here.

Recommend future guests and topics using this form!

43. On Technologies Educational, Intellectual, and Governmental03 May 202401:03:40

Morgan Anderson and Ken Saltman sit down with Cara and Derek to discuss ed tech's penchant for innovating new forms of much older problems, even as they are promoted as presenting solutions. Solutions for whom?

See Morgan's critique of "technophilia" here.

See Ken's recent books here, here, and here.

Click here for the transcript.

Use this form to recommend future guests and topics!


42. On the Private/Public Divide in Early Childhood Education19 Apr 202401:09:45

Jess Calarco and Mark Nagasawa sit down with Cara and Derek to talk about public institutions and programs--and especially the lack thereof--for early childhood education, and the racialized and gendered ramifications of our policy choices.

LINKS:

Order Mark's collection, Transforming Early Years Policy in the US.

Preorder Jess's new book, Holding It Together: How Women Became America's Safety Net.

Here is a transcript of the episode.

Use this form to recommend future guests and episodes!

41. On How to Confer (in partnership with AERA Phil of Ed SIG)05 Apr 202401:10:13

Philosophical Studies in Education SIG officers Caitlin Murphy Brust, Jamie Herman, and Ka Ya Lee join Cara and Derek to share thoughts and advice about navigating conferences generally and AERA in particular.

Two events for grad students to note at AERA:

1.) Mentoring coffee chat (Sat Apr 13th, Elixr Coffee, 3-4:30pm)

2.) Graduate student social (Sat Ap 13th, Victory Brewing, 5-6:30pm)

LINKS

For more of Caitlin's work, click here

For more of Ka Ya's work, click here, here, and here

Here is a transcript of this episode.

And please recommend future guests and topics here.

40. On Culturally Just Assessments (PES panel)29 Mar 202400:53:00

In this episode, we present a symposium on the idea of culturally just assessments proposed and led by Joy Dangora Erickson, and featuring Winston Thompson, myself, and Cara.

It was convenient to put together because neither Cara nor Winston were able to be at PES in person and so had pre-recorded their comments already.

LINKS!

The two articles that started this conversation are here and here.

Here is a transcript of the episode!

And here is the form to recommend future topics and guests!


39. On LGBTQ+ Rights and Schools15 Mar 202401:05:18

"If you really analyze it, all bullying is gender policing," says one of our guests this week.

Cris Mayo and Elizabethe Payne join Cara and Derek to talk about the various forces at work making LGBTQ+ students and their institutional allies especially vulnerable in our current climate.

LINKS:

The transcript is here.

For more of Cris's work, click here and here.

For more of Elizabethe's work, click here and here.

To recommend guests and topics, use this form.

38. On Conspiracies01 Mar 202401:10:06

Michaila Peters, Ksenia Filatov, and Yuya Takeda join Cara and Derek to talk about their work on conspiratorial thinking and media literacy. All three guests are presenting work on this topic at the 2024 PES annual meeting, and this conversation broadly covers the genesis and context of the arguments they will make next week.

LINKS!

A transcript is here!

For Ksenia's ongoing work, click here.

For Yuya's work, click here and here.

For Michaila's work, come see her session at PES! We'll update this with the link as soon as it's published.

Here is the form to recommend future guests and topics!

37. On Spirituality and Education23 Feb 202401:00:31

Virginia Dearani, Adi Burton, and Clarence Joldersma speak to Cara and Derek about the mutual implications and shared concerns, both real and possible, of these two massively complex regions of human experience.

LINKS!

A transcript of the episode is here.

The form to recommend future guests/topics!

The Masha Gessen piece we briefly discussed is here.

Adi's dissertation is available here

For more on Virginia, see here.

For Clarence's work, click here, here, and here.

36. On the Question(s) of Conferences16 Feb 202401:07:13

Natasha Levinson and Chris Higgins join Cara and Derek to talk about the structures and practices of academic conferences--especially PES; registration remains open!--as well as the role of questioning in general and what makes for a good question in the context of PES, especially.

LINKS:

PES registration!

Transcript of the episode!

Chris's forthcoming book is here; see other good things here and here.

For more of Natasha's work, see here, here, and here.

62. The Philosophy of Education Finance20 Dec 202401:02:06

Dave Backer and Heather DuBois Bourenane join Cara and Derek to talk about how schools are funded, the way investment vehicles (as well as quantities) reflect certain social commitments, and what it all means for the way we (literally) value schooling.

For Heather's organization, WPEN, click here.

For Dave's forthcoming book, click here.

The Shanker Institute's School Finance Indicators Database

The bond statement search engine that Dave mentioned.

Use this form to recommend future topics and guests

35. On Philosophy and Curriculum Theorizing09 Feb 202401:08:33

Bill Pinar and Sam Rocha sit down with Cara and Derek to talk about the role that philosophical thinking and curriculum studies has played, so far, in their intellectual lives and their academic careers.


LINKS!

Here is the transcript.

For more of Sam's work, see here, here, and here

For more of Bill's work, see here, here and here.

To recommend guests and topics for future shows, use this form!

34. On Aesthetics and Education26 Jan 202400:53:01

Laura D'Olimipio and René Arcilla sit down with Derek and Cara to talk about the aesthetic dimensions of educational experience and how to defend or articulate the value of the arts in schools.

LINKS:

Here is a transcript of the episode.

You can find more of Laura's work here, here, here, and here.

René's work is available here, here, and here.

And here is the form you can use to recommend future topics or guests for the podcast!

33. On Math Education and Democracy12 Jan 202401:00:19

Elham Kazemi and Kurt Stemhagen join Cara and Derek to talk about the democratic affordances of mathematics classrooms.

LINKS:

Find more of Elham's work here, here, and here.

Find more of Kurt's work here, here, and here.

Here is the transcript of the episode,

and you can recommend future guests and topics with this form.

32. On Books Worth Reading29 Dec 202301:02:32

Addyson Frattura and Kierstin Giunco speak with Cara and Derek about the best things they've read in recent years -- including things they discovered through assigned coursework, independent research, and for pleasure.

LINKS!

The list of books we recommended and discussed

The transcript of the episode (with plenty of proper-name misspellings)

The form to recommend guests and topics for future episodes

31. On Public Revenue for Public Education15 Dec 202301:13:05

Historians Matthew Kelly and Andrew Kahrl join Cara and Derek to talk about racialized land values, the definition of "property" for the purposes of taxation, the history and power of local tax administration, and inequities in the funding of public services, including schools.

For Matthew's forthcoming book -- preorders available now -- click here.

For Andrew's forthcoming book, also available for preorder, click here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

And please use this form to suggest topics and guests for future episodes!

30. On Grading01 Dec 202301:01:44

Continuing a conversation that took place at OVPES 2023, Gabe Keehn, Kenneth Driggers, and Deron Boyles join Cara and Derek to discuss novel (as well as hackneyed) concerns around grading -- how worried should we be about grade inflation, and what does ChatGPT mean for us as teachers and learners?

We've solved our transcription issue! Here is a transcript of the ep.

For more of Deron's work, click here, here, and here.

For more of Kenneth's work, click here, here, and here.

To suggest future topics and guests, use this form.

On Gratitude (bonus episode #2)24 Nov 202300:52:24

So as to avoid dropping a regular episode during the US's thanksgiving holiday, Cara and I sit for an interview by one of the podcast's listeners--all about how doing the podcast influences our scholarship, how we hope that it is received, and where we hope it goes in the future.

29. On Women in Philosophy11 Nov 202300:51:08

Cristina Cammarano, Shapel LaBorde, and Ariana Gonzalez-Stokas join Cara and Derek to reflect on the theme of the 2023 North Eastern Philosophy of Education Society (NEPES), which was held on October 7th.

Relatedly, the Southeast Philosophy of Education Society will meet in February 2024; their call is here, submission deadline Nov. 15.

For Ariana's recent book, click here.

And for some of Cristina's recent work, click here and here.


28. On the Concept of Equity27 Oct 202300:59:40

Meira Levinson and Harry Brighouse join Cara and Derek to talk about their work in clarifying "equity" as it appears in policy documents and popular discourse -- the conversation ranges across the role of analytic philosophy in educational discussions, the nature and purpose of normative case studies, and whether we should just go ahead and drop the "practical implications" question we routinely ask our guests.

To read the paper at the center of our discussion, click here.

For more of Meira's work on normative case studies, click here and here.

For more of Harry's work on the responsibilities of philosophy and education, click here and here.

27. On Ecological Education13 Oct 202300:41:32

Annie Schultz and LeAnn Holland join us to discuss education in its ecological valence, which includes conversations about anthropocentrism and animality, aesthetics, the weather, and the crucial issue of whether Timothy Morton's work counts as "accessible" philosophy.

For more of LeAnn's work, click here and here.

For more of Annie's work, click here and here.

Here is the form to recommend future guests and topics!

61. On Teaching with Fidelity13 Dec 202400:35:21

This week, we present another cross-posted episode -- this time featuring Cara's podcast Teaching from an Ethical Center. This week's guest, Jia Lee, talks to Cara about the idea of adapting curriculum to fit her students, the idea of "fidelity" as policymakers and curriculum designers use the term, and what else it might mean, as well.

As always, please use this form to recommend future guests and topics!

26. On Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation06 Oct 202300:45:04

Jen Logue and Sarah Stitzlein join Cara and Derek to talk about the theme of the 2024 PES conference, to be held in Salt Lake City, March 7th-11th. See the conference website and submit a session or paper here. Submission deadline is November 1st, 2023.

Meanwhile, for more of Sarah's work, see her website.

And Jen's work is similarly findable on her website, as well.

To recommend guests or topics for future episodes, please use this form!


25. On School Violence29 Sep 202300:53:22

Samantha Deane and Bryan Warnick sit down with Cara and Derek to discuss the manifold overlap between schools, violence, and guns, which opens up onto the manifold ways that education reflects, reinforces, and potentially alters the way that we live with objects and with one another.

For more of Sam's work, click here and here.

For more of Bryan's work, click here, here, and here.

As always, please use this form to suggest future episodes and guests (including yourself!)


24. On Freedom and Belonging15 Sep 202301:10:04

Thea Abu El-Haj and Carla Shalaby sit down with Cara and Derek to discuss, in broad terms, what models of community-building might look like that do not strive to identify and accommodate exceptions to some presumed norm, but are rather oriented toward the various needs of all; and what efforts to imagine and practice such community building might teach us about our concepts of freedom and belonging; and--most importantly, perhaps--what we might learn from children in these regards.

For more of Thea's work, please click here, here, and here.

For more of Carla's work, please click here, here, and here.

As always, please use this form to suggest guests or topics for future shows!

We are getting our transcription issues solved and will have this and back episodes up soon!

23. On Philosophizing with Teachers01 Sep 202301:03:52

Sarah Campbell and Doris Santoro join us to talk about philosophy's place in the lives of working teachers, the kinds and origins of pressures that make thoughtful practice and reflection difficult, and the importance of creating and maintaining the space necessary to stop and think.

For more of Sarah's work, click here.

For Doris's book, click here.

22. On Games18 Aug 202300:52:20

Dave Waddington and Gideon Dishon speak with Cara about the educational uses and various misuses of games and gaming. What is the value, from a learning perspective, of structured play -- whether of sports, or cooperative tabletop games, or video games?

For more of Dave's work, click here and here and here.

For more of Gideon's work, click here and here and here.

To suggest future topics or guests for the show, please use this form.

We continue to face difficulties with our transcription tool; we will post transcripts as soon as it is resolved -- apologies for the delay!

21. On Early Childhood and Posthumanism04 Aug 202301:00:06

Marek Tesar and Karin Murris join Cara and Derek to discuss the nature of childhood, the nature of philosophy, and what it might mean to allow children's views of the world to instruct us rather than the other way around.

For more of Marek's recent work, please click here and here and here.

For more of Karin's work, please click here and here and here.

To recommend future topics and/or guests for us to cover, please use this form.

We are having some temporary trouble with our transcription software, so we will append a full transcript for this episode as soon as that problem is resolved!

20. On Cancellation21 Jul 202301:03:05

Sigal Ben-Porath and Mordechai Gordon join Cara and Derek to talk about the issue of "cancel culture" on campus. Both guests have recently published books on the topic, so the conversation is fascinating.

Find Sigal's book here, and Mordechai's here.

Please use this form to recommend future guests and topics.

And you can download a transcript of this episode here, as well.

19. On Patriarchy07 Jul 202300:57:40

Liz Jackson and Lauren Bialystok sit down with Cara and Derek to talk about navigating academic institutions and organizations, as well the world in general, while gendered in particular ways.

For Liz's paper we discuss, "The Smiling Professor," click here.

For Lauren's latest book we discuss, Touchy Subject, click here.

For a transcript of the episode, click here.

And as always, to suggest a topic or a guest for the show, please use this form!

18. On Language and Languaging23 Jun 202301:01:31

Cecilia Espinosa and Jonathan Rosa join Cara to talk about the way that languages show up in schools and how educational institutions and personnel encounter them and their speakers.

For Jonathan's work on these issues, click here and here and here.

For Cecilia's work, click here and here and here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

And to suggest topics and guests for future episodes, please use this form.

17. On Why Philosophy Needs Education and Vice Versa09 Jun 202301:01:43

Barb Stengel and Philip Kitcher talk with us and each other about the internal relation between philosophy and education, about pragmatism and its enduring relevance, and about the place of education within human life generally and contemporary political-economy arrangements in particular.

For Philip's book that we discuss throughout, click here. For other recent and relevant work of his, click here and here.

For some of Barb's recent and relevant work, click here and here.

For a transcript of the episode, click here.

We want your suggestions! If you've got topics you want to hear discussed, or folks you want to hear from, please use this form to tell us!

60. On Objects of/as Romantic Attachment06 Dec 202401:23:29

In this episode, we're featuring a philosophical conversation in a different register, re-releasing a conversation between Derek and Annie Schultz about the 1998 film You've Got Mail. Is Nora Ephron an early object-oriented ontologist? What can we expect or hope to learn from fictional characters?

The New Yorker article on Nora Ephron we referenced

The Atlantic piece on the gentrification of the self.

Please use this form to recommend future guests or topics!

16. On Attention26 May 202300:53:44

Cecilia Traugh and Kevin Gary speak with Cara and Derek about descriptive inquiry, the structures of schooling, the nature of boredom, and the cultivation in oneself and one's students of a capacity to attend.

For a transcript of the episode, click here.

For more of Kevin's work, click here.

For more on Ceclia's projects, click here and here.

To suggest guests or topics, use the form here.

15. On Conversations, Difficult and Otherwise12 May 202301:02:24

Rachel Wahl and Tony Laden come on the show to speak with Cara and Derek about their work on the dynamics of conversation and its role in the grand project of being with others.

For more of Rachel's work, click here, here, and here.

For more of Tony's work, click here, here, and here.

For the transcript of the episode, click here.

And to suggest authors or topics, please use this form here.

14. On Fascism05 May 202300:52:40

Tyson Lewis and Silas Krabbe sit down with Cara and Derek to discuss the rise and the nature of fascism, as well as what an antifascist education might look like, might involve, and might require.

For more of Tyson's work on the subject, click here.

For Silas's book, click here

For a transcript of the episode, click here.

To suggest future guests and topics, click here.

13. On School Leadership28 Apr 202301:02:08

Jessica Heybach and Mike Gunzenhauser join Cara and Derek to talk about the moral lives and daily burdens of school and system leaders, and the kinds of training and formation work required to develop good and thoughtful leaders.

For more of Mike's work on the subject, see here, here, and here.

For Jessica's work in this area, see here and here.

For the transcript of this episode, click here.

To suggest a guest or a topic, use this form.

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