In this pop-up podcast episode by Isom graduate assistant Julia Kraus, we explore the history of Oxford Pride, tracing its roots and celebrating its vibrant evolution. Julia dives into interviews and stories that highlight the courage and resilience of Oxford's LGBTQ+ community. From Pat Miller's pioneering spirit in the early '90s to contemporary initiatives led by voices like Matt Kessler and Loki Francis Swain, this episode captures the essence of struggle, solidarity, and celebration. Join u...
Apr 30, 2024•22 min•Season 8Ep. 5
In this Swerve South Student Popup, Paul Mora presents two student podcasts that work together to present a multifaceted look at gender and sexuality. The episode features two segments: the first examines LGBTQ+ representations in popular TV shows, while the second dives into the complexities of LGBTQ+ health care and its portrayal in the media. Special guest Vanessa Charlotte joins the discussion, offering her expert insights.
Apr 25, 2024•51 min•Season 8Ep. 4
Join us for the latest installment of Swerve South's Student Popup series, where Sophia Purvis delves into the iconic New York saga of friendship, fashion, and finding oneself in "Sex and the City" and its modern-day continuation, "And Just Like That...". In this episode, Sophia, under the guidance of Dr. Jaime Harker’s English 384: The Queer ’90s course, explores the intricate relationship these series have with the queer community, highlighting both their contributions and missteps over the ye...
Apr 04, 2024•22 min•Season 8Ep. 3
In the inaugural “Swerve South Student Popup,” Jaleah Walker takes us on a captivating journey through the evolution of roller skating. Crafted as a project for Dr. Theresa Starkey’s Gender Studies 201 course, this episode delves into how roller skating has historically provided an avenue for women to challenge and transcend societal norms. From its inception in the 19th century to the adrenaline-packed realm of roller derby, Walker illuminates the role of roller skating in empowering women. Mor...
Mar 07, 2024•12 min•Season 8Ep. 2
Theresa gives an introduction to the 2024 Isom Student Gender Conference with the theme Intersections of Inequality. Mississippi’s longest continuously running student conference, it will take place March 20-22 on campus, featuring the work of undergraduate and graduate students and offering opportunities to engage and converse. Jaime announces the Conference’s keynote speaker, Dr. Alex Ketchum, who will present on how gender and sexuality research circulates in public forums on Thursday, March ...
Feb 22, 2024•13 min•Season 8Ep. 1
Welcome to another engaging episode of Swerve South! Today, Jaime Harker is in conversation with Julie Enszer, discussing the indomitable spirit and legacy of the late poet Minnie Bruce Pratt. Journey through their personal experiences with Pratt's poetic world and reflect upon her pivotal role within feminist communities. For full details, visit: https://sarahisomcenter.org/swerve-south/2023/10/26/season-7-episode-3-remembering-minnie-bruce-pratt
Oct 26, 2023•41 min•Season 7Ep. 3
Welcome to this episode of Swerve South! Join Jaime and Theresa on a nostalgic journey as they discuss the recent documentary, "Judy Blume Forever." This documentary delves deep into Blume's life and the indelible mark her books left on countless young readers. Our hosts reminisce about the pivotal role Blume's books played during their adolescence, especially growing up in conservative Christian households. The tales offered a rare understanding of their own bodies amidst an environment where s...
Oct 05, 2023•25 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Welcome to Season Seven of Swerve South Podcast! In this inaugural episode, Jaime Harker and Theresa Starkey unravel a captivating discussion about the revolutionary impact of online communities on the publishing industry. They also touch upon the crucial topic of bypassing traditional gatekeepers and its implications on the literary ecosystem. But the conversation doesn't end there; listen as Jaime and Theresa delve into the Sarah Isom Center's initiatives, highlighting the challenges in addres...
Sep 21, 2023•25 min•Season 7Ep. 1
From early women’s liberation’s goal in the “ Declaration of Sentiments ” of rethinking the role of the body to the western philosophy of the mind/body split, the body has been theorized, politicized, and policed. Despite this history of oppression, the body has also been a site of resistance and power. Our hosts discuss various myths, like that of the vaginal orgasm, about the body and landmark texts that have shaped our thinking about embodiment. While the title and inspiration for this episod...
Nov 17, 2022•37 min•Season 6Ep. 1
For further reading, see http://www.sarahisomcenter.org/swerve-south/queering-oxford. Code: Pink Oxford Pride Small Town Gay Bar Eric GoDiva Holliday Matt Kessler
Apr 21, 2022•36 min•Season 5Ep. 6
torrin a. greathouse Jericho Brown Beth Ann's website Kate Leland's website
Apr 07, 2022•25 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Dr. Julie Enszer's publications can be found here here: https://julierenszer.com/ Sinister Wisdom The Lesbian South: Southern Feminists, the Women in Print Movement and the Queer Literary Canon
Apr 07, 2022•36 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Associate Professor of English and African- American studies Senior Fellow Luckyday Residential College Chair of African- American Studies Interim Dean of Sally Barksdale Honors College Pastor - Alvis Grove Missionary Baptist Church, Oakland First United Baptist, Batesville
Feb 24, 2022•32 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Click here to read more, visit http://www.sarahisomcenter.org/swerve-south/2022/2/10/season-5-episode-1
Feb 17, 2022•37 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Listen as Gillespie shares his journey from being a professional writer to discovering an unexpected love for teaching writing to first-year students and the possibility of exposing students to their own unexpected love of writing. Gillespie speaks about his fondness for teaching in the FASTrack program, which focuses on first-generation college students, who often have difficulty otherwise acculturating to campus. He also discusses how his involvement with the UM Pride Network helped him connec...
Dec 02, 2021•35 min•Season 4Ep. 4
McKee shares how the interdisciplinary work of the Center has created space for different ways to imagine The South, and Thomas discusses how her theatre background enables her to envision programs that also foster those world-making possibilities. The host and guests also share suggestions for bringing those interdisciplinary world-making ideas into the classroom, including using a former CSSC student and musician’s original song about The Outsiders, entitled “Do it for Johnny,” to broaden stud...
Nov 11, 2021•40 min•Season 4Ep. 3
The ghoulish trio explains how the film fits into a larger canon of horror films from the 1970s that expose cultural anxieties around displaced manhood, the dread of second wave feminism, and monstrous wives/children run amok. Drawing upon Linda Williams’s theoretical framework about body genres in film—such as horror, pornography, and melodrama—our guests discuss The Brood ’s fun combination of reproductive horror and domestic melodrama that explores masculine anxiety, feminine monstrosity, and...
Oct 29, 2021•40 min•Season 4Ep. 2
This conversation looks at both Theresa’s experience in ready-made queer spaces in Atlanta in the late 80s and early 90s and Jaime’s experience in the early 90s with queer world-building in the suburban town of Provo, Utah, while attending graduate school at Bringham Young University. Find out about the DIY ethos that Theresa found alluring in those spaces and how those punk and queer and alternative ideas impacted the programming, like Sarahfest, that the Isom Center offers. And learn how Jaime...
Sep 30, 2021•32 min•Season 4Ep. 1
In this week’s edition of Swerve South , Jaime is joined by special guests Hilary Coulson and La Shonda Mims to discuss the complicated women featured in season 4 of The Crown . We talk about how the latest season grapples with the complexities of gender presentation and thorny female relationships. This conversation unpacks the divisive legacy of Margaret Thatcher, the brilliance of Gillian Anderson’s performance (and hair), the spell of Princess Diana, and how the show falls short of capturing...
Apr 08, 2021•45 min•Season 3Ep. 5
In this edition of Swerve South , Jaime and Theresa discuss the campy delight of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga , Will Ferrell’s spoof/celebration of the international song competition Eurovision. Our hosts share some of their favorite moments from the film: cameos from former Eurovision winners like Conchita Wurst, outrageous costumes and performances, and the surprisingly moving ending. The episode explores Eurovision’s odd combination of artificial, schlocky camp and absolute...
Mar 25, 2021•21 min•Season 3Ep. 4
In this final installment of our “decades” series, Theresa, Jaime, and special guest Kevin Cozart dive into the 1990s, an era that saw LGBTQ culture burst out of the closet and into the mainstream. We reflect on the many milestones in queer literature, music, television, and film achieved in the ‘90s—from Angels in America winning the Pulitzer Prize to Ellen DeGeneres coming out on national television. Our hosts discuss how these pop culture moments shaped their own relationships to queerness an...
Mar 11, 2021•39 min•Season 3Ep. 3
On this episode of Swerve South, Jaime and Theresa follow up the last episode’s discussion of proto-feminist 1970s television with a conversation about the surprising outpouring of queer representation in 1980s pop culture. While the ’80s—a decade defined by the conservatism of the Reagan administration and the devastation of the AIDS crisis—is typically viewed as a low point for LGBTQ acceptance, this episode celebrates the many expressions of queerness in 1980s music, film, television, sports,...
Feb 25, 2021•32 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Welcome to a new season of Swerve South! Join Jaime and Theresa on a nostalgia trip to the world of 1970s pop culture as they discuss the female-centered television shows that helped shape their nascent ideas of feminism. From Charlie's Angels to The Bionic Woman , this upbeat conversation explores how ’70s “girl power” television offered young women a sense of power and possibility, even as it was laden with contradictions. Whether you grew up with these shows or are just being introduced to th...
Feb 11, 2021•30 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Welcome to another special Sarahfest bonus episode of Swerve South! In this episode, Theresa is joined by author William Boyle to discuss Vincente Minnelli’s 1956 “male-centric” melodrama, Tea and Sympathy . The film centers on Tom Robinson Lee, a sensitive young man who finds himself at odds with the hyper-masculine, conformist culture of his all-boys boarding school. Struggling to fit in with his classmates, Tom instead finds companionship with his headmaster’s wife, Laura, and over the course...
Nov 11, 2020•44 min
Welcome to a special Sarahfest bonus episode of Swerve South! This week, Theresa is joined by novelist, television writer, and showrunner Megan Abbott to discuss their shared pop cultural obsession: coming-of-age stories. Theresa and Megan dive into the subversive coming-of-age touchstones of their own adolescence and interrogate why, even as adults, they keep returning to complicated narratives of girlhood and growing up. This leads into a fascinating conversation about the 1969 film The Prime ...
Oct 28, 2020•38 min
Join Jaime, Theresa, and special guest Hilary Coulson for this week’s episode of Swerve South! Hilary is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Mississippi and has a joint appointment with the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies and the History Department. In this episode, Hilary shares her route to academia, her research on prisons, and new pathways and questions for scholars. In this conversation the hosts take pause to honor mentors and engage in discussion about the p...
May 28, 2020•29 min
Welcome to this week’s edition of Swerve South! Join Jaime and Theresa as they take a deep dive into a troubling sociological phenomenon: the obsession with women’s terror. In this revealing discussion, our hosts examine films that left them unsettled in their formative years and analyze the implications for our broader culture. This is a relatable and informative episode that will make you think of those lasting images and their impact on our psyches. From The Seduction and female terror to Sil...
May 07, 2020•34 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Welcome to Swerve South! Join your hosts Jaime and Theresa as they welcome special guest Nancy Balach to the program. This episode is packed with great conversation about the power of music, collaboration, and feminism! First, you’ll hear a little bit about Nancy’s background which helps lay the groundwork for her career path as the founder of the Living Music Resource (LMR). Nancy pioneered the LMR effort through the University of Mississippi’s music department and the program continues to grow...
Apr 30, 2020•36 min•Season 2Ep. 5
If you love all things Louisa May Alcott , you will love this edition of Swerve South! Join hosts Theresa and Jaime as they analyze the latest Little Women (2019) film and share information about Alcott, her life, and the parallels of her writing with her own experiences. In this episode, Jaime and Theresa share their experiences reading Little Women and how film adaptations have enriched or disappointed their take on the classic novel. This fun, fast-paced segment delves into identity, coming o...
Apr 22, 2020•30 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Welcome to Swerve South! This week the hosts delve into their religious backgrounds and discuss some of the ways their religious upbringing informed their decisions to pursue gender studies. Do you have a pervasive fear of the devil? What are your thoughts on patriarchy and how does this relate to theology? You will ask these questions and dive into some buried thoughts that will help you consider the power of religion in social constructions and pop culture. This week’s conversation is personal...
Apr 16, 2020•22 min•Season 2Ep. 3
