Outsider Theory

Theory on the outside, theory of the outside, outside of the theory

About the show

Outsider Theory is an interview-based podcast exploring the mutations of theories outside of the authorized spaces of intellectual life as well as theories of that ever-alluring figure, the outsider, and related subjects.

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Episodes

  • The Great Debasement with Alice Gribbin

    June 10th, 2022  |  2 hrs 5 mins
    art, censorship, culture, institutions, john berger, literature, museums, poetry, propaganda

    Alice Gribbin joins me to discuss her recent essay in Tablet, "The Great Debasement," on the recent ideological transformation of our major cultural institutions.

  • Right Critical Theory with Jacob Siegel

    May 9th, 2022  |  1 hr 45 mins
    blake masters, critical theory, elon musk, frankfurt school, herbert marcuse, jd vance, paul gottfried, paul piccone, peter thiel, samuel francis, telos

    Jacob Siegel joins me to discuss the rightward trajectory of certain insights of critical theory, especially in light of the history of the journal Telos and its founder and editor, Paul Piccone.

  • Theorizing the Culture War with Michael Cuenco

    April 25th, 2022  |  1 hr 50 mins
    culture war, elites, george orwell, james burnham, marshall mcluhan, post-literate epistemology, postmaterialism, ronald inglehart

    Writer and policy researcher Michael Cuenco joins me to discuss his recent American Affairs essay "'Victory is not Possible': a Theory of the Culture War," and two related essays.

  • Subversive Mobility vs Academic Orthodoxy with Jacob Shell

    April 4th, 2022  |  2 hrs 19 mins
    academia, biopolitics, de-growth, elephants, environmentalism, geography, infrastructure, ivan illich, marxism, mobility, transportation

    Geographer Jacob Shell joins me to discuss the Canadian trucker convoy in light of his research on "subversive mobility," how academic radicals became establishment apologists, plus pipelines, Ivan Illich, de-growth, elephants, and more.

  • A Critique of "The Dawn of Everything" with Sam Biagetti

    March 21st, 2022  |  3 hrs 3 mins
    david graeber, david wengrow, dawn of everything, human origins, noble savage, rousseau, social evolution

    Sam Biagetti of Historiansplaining podcast joins me to discuss David Graber and David Wengrow's "The Dawn of Everything."

  • The Invention of Symbology; or, Dan Brown, Part 2 (Angels and Demons & The Da Vinci Code) with Pseud Dionysius MPH

    February 27th, 2022  |  3 hrs 6 mins
    angels and demons, bloodlines, da vinci code, dan brown, institutions, opus dei, pierre plantard, priory of sion, robert langdon, secret societies, security state, semiotics, succession, symbology, the holy blood and the holy grail

    Pseud Dionysius MPH returns for an epic exploration of Dan Brown's turn from post-Cold War techno-thrillers to a new sort of novel, centered around the adventures of Harvard professor Robert Langdon, and of the persistent themes of Brown's writing: institutional crisis, elite succession, secrecy and revelation, and the need to restabilize knowledge.

  • The Road to Wigan Pier with Angela Nagle

    February 13th, 2022  |  1 hr 45 mins
    capitalism, communism, futurism, george orwell, industrialization, progress, socialism, the left, unemployment

    Angela Nagle returns to discuss George Orwell's 1937 book "The Road to Wigan Pier" and its many contemporary resonances.

  • HR-Karenism and its Enemies with Malcolm Kyeyune

    February 6th, 2022  |  2 hrs 31 mins
    canadian trucker convoy, class conflict, covid-19, elite overproduction, meritocracy, misinformation, populism, professional-managerial class, vaccine mandates

    Malcolm Kyeyune joins me to map out the contours of class conflict today.

  • Romancing the Deep State; or, Dan Brown, Part 1 (Origins) with Pseud Dionysius MPH

    January 18th, 2022  |  2 hrs 14 mins
    alphabet agencies, dan brown, deception point, digital fortress, information bomb, nasa, nro, nsa, paul virilio, robert langdon, semiotics, symbology, the cathedral, the deep state, umberto eco, wasps

    Dan Brown is one of the best selling authors of all time, but is largely forgotten. Pseud Dionysius MPH returns to the show to investigate the unlikely rise of Brown, his protagonist, Harvard Professor Robert Langdon, and the fictional discipline of "symbology" out of the demise of the cold war techno-thriller and the new threats of the information age.

  • Hubbard, Burroughs, Foucault with Dr Benway

    January 7th, 2022  |  1 hr 41 mins
    dianetics, gilles deleuze, l. ron hubbard, michel foucault, psychoanalysis, scientology, technologies of power, technologies of the self, william s. burroughs

    Dr Benway returns to the show to discuss his extensive research on the vast oeuvre of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, as well as William S. Burroughs's prolonged engagement with Hubbard's doctrines and practices and their odd resonances with post-structuralist thought.

  • Plague and Myth with @fitnessfeelingz

    December 22nd, 2021  |  1 hr 57 mins
    coronavirus, covid-19, divinity, myth, pharmakon, pharmakos, religion, rené girard, ritual, sacrifice, scapegoating

    @fitnessfeelingz joins me to explore what René Girard can teach us about the Covid pandemic.

  • Monetary Long Covid with Fabio Vighi

    December 16th, 2021  |  1 hr 27 mins
    agamben, baudrillard, biopolitics, covid-19 pandemic, finance capital, marx, monetary stimulus, zizek

    "[The pandemic] is a monetary event aimed at prolonging the lifespan of our finance-driven and terminally ill mode of production."

  • The Very Online Novel with Timothy Wilcox

    December 8th, 2021  |  1 hr 39 mins
    donald trump, hari kunzru, hyperconnectivity, internet novel, lauren oyler, literature, patricia lockwood, social media

    Timothy Wilcox joins me to discuss three very online novels released in the past year: Hari Kunzru's Red Pill, Lauren Oyler's Fake Accounts, and Patricia Lockwood's No One is Talking about This.

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    Deep Internet History with Default Friend

    November 24th, 2021  |  1 hr 26 mins
    fandom, identity, multi-user domains, postmodernism, sherry turkle, the internet, theory, tumblr

    Default Friend joins me to discuss Sherry Turkle's early sociological studies of the effects of the internet on identity, community, and the popularization of theory.

  • The Paper of Record's Dismal Record

    November 18th, 2021  |  1 hr 19 mins
    1619 project, bari weiss, fake news, hitler, jayson blair, judith miller, misinformation, new york times, stalin, sulzberger family, walter duranty, wmds

    Ashley Rindsberg joins me to discuss his book "The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Times's Misreporting, Distortions and Fabrications Radically Alter History."

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    Postmodern Medicine with Dr Benway and Pseud Dionysius, MPH

    November 11th, 2021  |  1 hr 29 mins
    evidence-based medicine, medicine, postmodernism, postmodernity, science

    My native informants from the realm of Science make the provocative case that medicine is now postmodern.