You Have More Influence Than You Think

Bourgeois Coldness (Divided Publishing, 2025) refers to an affective strategy that offers an explanation for how self-preservation works. Bourgeois coldness is one of the most advanced affective and aesthetic forms of preserving the structure of the colonial status quo. It crea ...  Show more

Today, anthropologist Professor Anru Lee is joining NBN as a guest host to interview me, Suvi Rautio, on my new book, The Invention of Tradition in China: Story of a Village and a Nation Remade published by Palgrave in 2024. In China, heritage projects are sprouting across the co ...  Show more

Do you think your ex is probably a narcissist? Do you worry that your boss is gaslighting you? In recent years, these words and others have entered the vocabularies of millions of Americans. Dr. Taisha Caldwell-Harvey, PhD, and Dr. Erin Parks, PhD, discuss the rise of “therapy sp ...  Show more

With the U.S. election swiftly approaching, the political divide can feel overwhelming. But what happens when we recognize the limits of our knowledge? 

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/83a5wbkp  

Episode Summary

Is it just us, or does American culture have narcissism fever? Thanks to factors like the rise of therapyspeak, TikTok mental health diagnoses, and badly behaving reality stars-turned-world leaders, discourse about this buzzy, yet poorly understood phenomenon has exploded. Are we ...  Show more

Today’s book is: The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World (Princeton University Press, 2024), by Dr. Allison Pugh, which explores the human connections that underlie our work, arguing that what people do for each other is valuable and worth preserving. D ...  Show more