We zone out with Netflix, HBO, etc. to get away from politics, right? But where is the line between political and apolitical?

To close off season 2, we hear from Professor Lilly Goren about the relationship between popular culture and politics. We cover examples across television, cinema, and literature to illuminate what political themes we often consume in our everyday lives without even realizing. We work through themes of nostalgia, gender construction, and “the anti-hero” to begin considering how we should treat popular media and its appropriate role in politics today.

It’s election season! On this special episode of Poli Sigh, we talk with Courtney Nava about everything concerning the upcoming U.S. midterms. Coming from the perspective of American political behavior, we recap what voting behavior has looked like in the past, what we should expect later this month, and what the different possible outcomes indicate about larger U.S. politics. 

What does it mean to be a feminist? What does feminism look like in a post-Roe era?

On this episode, we talk with Professor Michaele Ferguson about feminist politics. Spanning the suffrage movement to Gaga feminism, we breakdown what has changed and what themes have continued across feminism. Within the context of the Dobbs decision, we pinpoint instances in which current feminisms may fall short, and attempt to identify which ones may be better equipped to meet today’s challenges.