Novel Climate

In this episode, Meghan reflects on Hurricane Katrina and the social and political aspects of natural disasters. Political scientist Cedric G. Johnson recaps the events before and after the storm, including continued political effects. Literary scholars Carlyn Ferrari and Stefanie Dunning unpack Jesmyn Ward’s novel Salvage the Bones, which tells the story of a rural family preparing for Katrina and builds upon the pastoral and Southern gothic traditions.

In this episode, Meghan explores the stories we tell — and don't tell — about the extraction and production of oil. Nigerian-British writer Ben Okri's short story What the Tapster Saw leads to discussions of magical realism, African literature and the environment, and the geopolitics of oil. She talks with political and environmental anthropologist Omolade Adunbi about the history of oil in the Niger Delta; postcolonial literature scholar Rose Casey about Okri's short story; and African literature scholar Cajetan Iheka about representations of the environment in African literature.

In this episode, Meghan reflects on popular themes in post-apocalyptic literature — and how those traditions are reimagined in Octavia E. Butler's novel Dawn (book 1 of the Xenogenesis series). The novel, and the episode, invite you to consider how we imagine world-ending disasters and what that says about our culture. Guests include literary scholar Justin L. Mann, on Afrofuturism and national security in Dawn; curator Natalie Russell, on Octavia Butler's archives; and anthropologist Joe Masco, on the connections between nuclear warfare and climate change. 

In this episode, Meghan explores the history of seafaring literature — and how that tradition is updated by Monique Roffey's novel, Archipelago. The novel, and the episode, invite you on a meandering, island-hopping adventure in the Caribbean that create linkages of meaning across various histories and geographies. Guests include literary scholars Parker Krieg and Ali Glassie, archaeologist Konrad Antczak, cultural studies scholar Giuseppe Sofo, sociologist Mimi Sheller, and climate scientist Michael A. Taylor.

In this pilot episode, Meghan reflects on competing origin stories of the Anthropocene, ranging from post-WWII all the way back to 1452. She talks with Rachel Ramirez, an environmental justice reporter, Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, a social scientist, and Min Hyoung Song, a professor of English with a focus on the environment and race. Topics include the connections between redlining, environmental injustice, and the coronavirus; the history of the U.S. environmental movement; how readers are impacted by climate fiction; and how to read with an attunement to racial and environmental issues. Future episodes will dig into specific novels and their cultural and historical contexts.