Best Tom Springer Podcasts (2025)

1
Andrea Gevurtz Arai ed., "Spaces of Creative Resistance: Social Change Projects in Twenty-First-Century East Asia" (Rutgers UP, 2025) 1:22:45

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6h ago1:22:45

1:22:45

An exciting collection of stories of change that most people don’t usually hear from the bottom up, from the grassroots, about what’s happening in East Asia. Spaces of Creative Resistance: Social Change Projects in Twenty-First-Century East Asia (Rutgers UP, 2025) brings together an exciting cross-regional interdisciplinary group of scholars, schol…

1
Nicholas L. Caverly, "Demolishing Detroit: How Structural Racism Endures" (Stanford UP, 2025) 49:56

1d ago49:56

49:56

In this episode, Nick Caverly talks about his new book, Demolishing Detroit: How Structural Racism Endures (Stanford UP, 2025). For decades, Detroit residents, politicians, planners, and advocacy organizations have campaigned for the elimination of empty buildings from city neighborhoods. Leveling these structures, many argue, is essential to makin…

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Suvi Rautio, "The Invention of Tradition in China: Story of a Village and a Nation Remade" (Springer Nature, 2024) 1:18:40

2d ago1:18:40

1:18:40

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 countryside carrying the promise of Xi Jinping’s “Chinese dream” as a ca…

1
Johnny Manziel Ghosts GameDay | Dodgers Luxury Tax Bill | Matt Stanton’s NFL Secret Santa Rankings 1:49:41

1d ago1:49:41

1:49:41

Johnny Manziel couldn’t make it to GameDay, but he did make it to Miami. The Dodgers are spending like there’s no cap, DraftKings had to eat a brutal betting glitch, and the Chiefs are moving from Kansas City to…Kansas City. Comedian Matt Stanton joins the show for a full breakdown of NFL teams in a White Elephant gift exchange, plus Sip/Chug/Drain…

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Karma F. Frierson, "Local Color: Reckoning with Blackness in the Port City of Veracruz" (U California Press, 2025) 49:56

4d ago49:56

49:56

The Caribbean port city of Veracruz is many things. It is where the Spanish first settled and last left the colony that would go on to become Mexico. It is a destination boasting the “happiest Carnival in the world,” nightly live music, and public dancing. It is also where Blackness is an integral and celebrated part of local culture and history, b…

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Leila Hudson, "Lines of Flight, Assemblages of Home: Syrian Women Displaced" (Syracuse UP, 2025) 52:13

8d ago52:13

52:13

While humanitarian organizations and media outlets often reduce Syrian refugees to statistics or brief anecdotes, the real story of displacement unfolds in the intimate spaces of family life. Through the interwoven narratives of five middle-aged sisters from Damascus, Lines of Flight, Assemblages of Home reveals how Syrian women navigate war, exile…

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Sharon Sliwinski, "An Alphabet for Dreamers: How to See the World with Eyes Closed" (MIT Press, 2025) 29:35

9d ago29:35

29:35

Borrowing from the traditional alphabet book genre for children, An Alphabet for Dreamers: How to See the World with Eyes Closed (MIT Press, 2025) by Dr. Sharon Sliwinski provides adult readers with a new grammar for dreams, or what neuroscientist Sidarta Ribeiro calls “oracles of the night.” In this book, Dr. Sliwinski restores dreaming to its pro…

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Is Burrow Done With Cincinnati? | Pressure's on Josh Allen | The Dennis Rodman Movie 1:39:19

8d ago1:39:19

1:39:19

Mike’s out, so naturally Mookie immediately starts messing with the background, and somehow that becomes a recurring issue all night. We kick things off with beer intros before diving headfirst into the Joe Burrow discourse. Is he hinting at retirement, or is he just completely done with Cincinnati? Fans don’t seem especially sympathetic, especiall…

1
Luis Felipe Murillo, "Common Circuits: Hacking Alternative Technological Futures" (Stanford UP, 2025) 41:20

10d ago41:20

41:20

A digital world in relentless movement—from artificial intelligence to ubiquitous computing—has been captured and reinvented as a monoculture by Silicon Valley "big tech" and venture capital firms. Yet very little is discussed in the public sphere about existing alternatives. Based on long-term field research across San Francisco, Tokyo, and Shenzh…

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Megan Tobias Neely, "Hedged Out: Inequality and Insecurity on Wall Street" (U California Press, 2022) 1:01:57

11d ago1:01:57

1:01:57

In Hedged Out: Inequality and Insecurity on Wall Street (U California Press, 2022) Megan Tobias Neely, a former hedge fund worker takes an ethnographic approach to hedge funds. Manager? A greedy fraudster, a visionary entrepreneur, a wolf of Wall Street? She gives readers an insider perspective on the phenomenon. Facing an unpredictable and risky s…

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Tom Kuhn on What Top-Performing Salons Do Differently: Benchmarks & Data-Backed Profitability Insights 52:14

10d ago52:14

52:14

[325] In 2024, Qnity’s research arm, the Qnity Institute, conducted a study. At the heart of it was one core question: ‘What does a financially successful salon look like?’ In this episode, Tom Kuhn, CEO of Qnity—an organisation offering education and tools for economic empowerment in the beauty industry—shares findings and insights from the subseq…

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Yasmin Cho, "Politics of Tranquility: The Material and Mundane Lives of Buddhist Nuns in Post-Mao Tibet" (Cornell UP, 2025) 53:29

10d ago53:29

53:29

Politics of Tranquility: The Material and Mundane Lives of Buddhist Nuns in Post-Mao Tibet (Cornell University Press, 2025) concerns the Tibetan Buddhist revival in China, illustrating the lives of Tibetan Buddhist nuns and exploring the political effects that arise from their nonpolitical daily engagements in the remote, mega-sized Tibetan Buddhis…

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Jerry Moore, "Cat Tales: A History" (Thames & Hudson, 2025) 38:22

13d ago38:22

38:22

For as long as cats have coexisted with humans, they have been feared, revered and respected. They appear as dynamic hunters in Palaeolithic carvings and cave paintings; were venerated as gods in ancient Egypt; and still have the power to fascinate and frighten us, as the popularity of Joe Exotic, the self-styled Tiger King, shows. How did we go fr…

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Notre Dame Snubbed | MLB Hot Stove | Hilarious Results for the World Cup Draw 1:48:06

15d ago1:48:06

1:48:06

Another week, another round of College Football chaos, and Notre Dame is at the center of all of it. We dig into why the Irish bailed on bowl season, why the committee bent over backwards for Alabama and the ACC, and how James Madison crashing the party might actually fix the Playoff moving forward. Marcus Freeman gets the MTV Cribs treatment, Duke…

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James Sears, "Queering Rehoboth Beach: Beyond the Boardwalk" (Temple UP, 2024) 56:04

18d ago56:04

56:04

“Create A More Positive Rehoboth” was a decades-long goal for progress and inclusiveness in a charming beach town in southern Delaware. Rehoboth, which was established in the 19th century as a Methodist Church meeting camp, has, over time, become a thriving mecca for the LGBTQ+ community. In Queering Rehoboth Beach: Beyond the Boardwalk (Temple UP,…

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“Rurality 2.0”: How City Migrants are Reshaping Norway’s Rural Regions with Tom Bratrud 1:11:07

19d ago1:11:07

1:11:07

In today’s episode, we talk to Tom Bratrud about his ongoing, long-term work with city-dwellers who migrate to rural parts of Norway. This research forms the basis of Tom’s forthcoming book project, which has the working title Rurality 2.0: Redefining Urban-Rural Divides in the Mountains of Norway. Tom Bratrud is Associate Professor in Social Anthr…

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Shilla Lee , "Crafting Rural Japan: Traditional Potters and Rural Creativity in Regional Revitalization" (Routledge, 2024) 1:04:36

18d ago1:04:36

1:04:36

Centering collaborations and frictions around a Japanese town’s pottery industry, Crafting Rural Japan: Traditional Potters and Rural Creativity in Regional Revitalization (Routledge, 2024)n discusses the place of creative village policy in the revitalization of rural Japan, highlighting how rural Japan is moving from a state of regional extinction…

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Lance Courtney on How Opportunity Lies Ahead of Co-Creation and Collaboration 57:36

19d ago57:36

57:36

In this episode, keynote speaker, business coach, and educator Lance Courtney explores what salon leadership looks like in an era shaped by Gen Z, shifting values, and rapid cultural change. Drawing on themes from his Salon Owners Summit 2026 workshop and blending real-world salon examples with coaching insight, he takes an educational “what works,…

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Anna Zhelnina, "Private Life, Public Action: How Housing Politics Mobilized Citizens in Moscow" (Temple UP, 2025) 52:01

22d ago52:01

52:01

Renovation, an urban renewal plan in Moscow that was announced in the spring of 2017, proposed to demolish thousands of socialist-era apartment buildings. In a country where it is rare under an authoritarian government, residents supported or opposed the redevelopment by mobilizing and organizing into local alliances. They were often shocked by the…

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Anna Shadrina, "The Babushka Phenomenon: Older Women and the Political Sociology of Ageing in Russia" (UCL Press, 2025) 44:50

21d ago44:50

44:50

The Babushka Phenomenon: Older Women and the Political Sociology of Ageing in Russia (UCL Press, 2025) by Dr. Anna Shadrina examines the social production of ageing in post-Soviet Russia, highlighting the role of grandmothers as primary caregivers due to men’s traditional estrangement from family life. This expectation places grandmothers, or babus…

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Kiffin's LSU Move | The Miami/ND Debate | Free Wieners Circle Hot Dogs 1:43:15

23d ago1:43:15

1:43:15

Lane Kiffin officially bailed on Ole Miss for LSU, and the villain era is fully back. Tonight we run through every piece of chaos: the podcaster line that set Kiffin off, the Jerry Maguire “who’s coming with me?” moment with his staff, fans booing him at the airport, and all the tea Ole Miss fans are suddenly spilling: dog rumors, yoga class storie…

1
Theresa Delgadillo, "Geographies of Relation: Diasporas and Borderlands in the Americas" (U Michigan Press, 2024) 55:52

23d ago55:52

55:52

Geographies of Relation: Diasporas and Borderlands in the Americas (U Michigan Press, 2024) offers a new lens for examining diaspora and borderlands texts and performances that considers the inseparability of race, ethnicity, and gender in imagining and enacting social change. Theresa Delgadillo crosses interdisciplinary and canonical borders to in…

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Is a River Alive?: A Conversation with Robert Macfarlane 34:00

24d ago34:00

34:00

Hailed in the New York Times as "a naturalist who can unfurl a sentence with the breathless ease of a master angler," Robert Macfarlane brings his glittering style to a profound work of travel writing, reportage, and natural history. Is a River Alive? (W.W. Norton, 2025) is a joyful, mind-expanding exploration of an ancient, urgent idea: that river…

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Marc Sommers, "We the Young Fighters: Pop Culture, Terror, and War in Sierra Leone" (U Georgia Press, 2023) 1:18:50

27d ago1:18:50

1:18:50

We the Young Fighters: Pop Culture, Terror, and War in Sierra Leone (U Georgia Press, 2023) by Dr. Marc Sommers is at once a history of a nation, the story of a war, and the saga of downtrodden young people and three pop culture superstars. Reggae idol Bob Marley, rap legend Tupac Shakur, and the John Rambo movie character all portrayed an upside-d…

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Paulette F. C. Steeves, "The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere" (U Nebraska Press, 2021) 40:01

25d ago40:01

40:01

The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere (U Nebraska Press, 2021) is a reclaimed history of the deep past of Indigenous people in North and South America during the Paleolithic. Paulette F. C. Steeves mines evidence from archaeology sites and Paleolithic environments, landscapes, and mammalian and human migrations to make the case that …

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Experience the Difference: A Case Study in Turning Service into Predictable, Consistent Retail Sales 1:10:09

30d ago1:10:09

1:10:09

[323] Featuring Derrick Rutherford (Co-Owner, Valentini’s), Arif Isikgun (CEO & Founder, Ai Beauty Consultancy), and Cole Marker (Founder & Builder in Chief, thync.c), this episode reimagines retail not as a “pushy add-on," but as an essential part of sustainable business growth, driven by client care and rooted in trust. Backed by data from the Ph…

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Allison Christine Meier, "Grave" (Bloomsbury, 2023) 50:17

28d ago50:17

50:17

Grave (Bloomsbury, 2023) by Allison C. Meier takes a ground-level view of how burial sites have transformed over time and how they continue to change. As a cemetery tour guide, Meier has spent more time walking among tombstones than most. Even for her, the grave has largely been invisible, an out of the way and unobtrusive marker of death. However,…

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Jay Paterno Hangs Out | NFL Hall of Fame Semi-Finalists | Investigate Stefanski 1:52:39

29d ago1:52:39

1:52:39

A packed Thanksgiving-week show that went completely off the rails in the best way possible. We kick things off with festive backgrounds, beers in hand, and the usual chaos before diving into Ohio high school athletes officially being allowed to cash in on NIL money. From there, it’s Brinner talk, Tulane highlights (way too many of them), and the i…

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Elizabeth Anne Davis, "The Time of the Cannibals: On Conspiracy Theory and Context" (Fordham UP, 2024) 1:30:48

1M ago1:30:48

1:30:48

In 2009, the body of a former president of the Republic of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, was stolen from his grave. The Time of the Cannibals reconsiders this history and the public discourse on it to reconsider how we think about conspiracy theory, and specifically, what it means to understand conspiracy theories “in context.” The months after Papa…

1
Sarah Hoiland, "Righteous Sisterhood: The Politics and Power of an All-Women's Motorcycle Club" (Temple UP, 2025) 44:53

1M ago44:53

44:53

A righteous sister identifies herself as a biker. She might wrench, or maintain, her own bike, and she prefers to ride with other righteous sisters. Righteous Sisterhood: The Politics and Power of an All-Women's Motorcycle Club (Temple UP, 2025) is Dr. Sarah Hoiland’s insightful ethnography about an all-women motorcycle club (MC). She recounts stor…

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Ja'Marr's Loogie Suspension | Kiffin Rumors Heat Up | Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua 1:45:14

1M ago1:45:14

1:45:14

Tonight’s show jumps all over the sports universe in the best possible way. We kick things off with weekend recaps and immediately derail into government files in Wingdings, because of course we do. Then it’s drinks up, and straight into Ja’Marr Chase appealing his suspension for spitting on Jalen Ramsey with the funniest excuse imaginable. Natural…

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Christina Jerne, "Opposition by Imitation: The Economics of Italian Anti-Mafia Activism" (U Minnesota Press, 2025) 56:40

1M ago56:40

56:40

For more than 150 years, Italy has been home to a resilient and evolving resistance against the pervasive influence of mafias. While these criminal organizations are renowned for their vast international business enterprises, the collective actions taken to oppose them are less known. In Opposition by Imitation: The Economics of Italian Anti-Mafia …

1
Heath Pearson, "Life Beside Bars: Confinement and Capital in an American Prison Town" (Duke UP, 2024) 1:05:01

1M ago1:05:01

1:05:01

In Life Beside Bars: Confinement and Capital in an American Prison Town (Duke UP, 2024), Heath Pearson showcases dynamic, interdependent community as the best hope for undoing the systems of confinement that reproduce capital in Cumberland County, New Jersey—a place that is home to three state prisons, one federal prison, and the regional jail. Pea…

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Nayma Qayum, "Village Ties: Women, NGOs, and Informal Institutions in Rural Bangladesh" (Rutgers UP, 2021) 1:02:46

1M ago1:02:46

1:02:46

Across the global South, poor women’s lives are embedded in their social relationships and governed not just by formal institutions – rules that exist on paper – but by informal norms and practices. Village Ties: Women, NGOs, and Informal Institutions in Rural Bangladesh (Rutgers UP, 2021) takes the reader to Bangladesh, a country that has risen fr…

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Trump Stadium | MLB Pitch Prop Scandal | Nico Out In Dallas 1:42:18

1M ago1:42:18

1:42:18

It's an all new Craft Brewed Sports, where we break down another week of chaos in the dumbest timeline in sports. Tonight’s episode includes: 🏟️ Trump reportedly wants the new Washington Commanders stadium named after himself, and somehow, it might actually happen. 🎙️ Who would make the better color commentator: Trump or Tom Brady? 🐬 Mike McDaniel …

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Karine Gagné, "Caring for Glaciers: Land, Animals, and Humanity in the Himalayas" (U Washington Press, 2019) 1:41:53

2M ago1:41:53

1:41:53

In her new book, Caring for Glaciers: Land, Animals, and Humanity in the Himalayas (University of Washington Press, 2019), Karine Gagné explores how relations of reciprocity between land, humans, animals, and glaciers foster an ethics of care in the Himalayan communities of Ladakh. She explores the way these relations are changing due to climate ch…

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Vania Smith-Oka, "Becoming Gods: Medical Training in Mexican Hospitals" (Rutgers UP, 2021) 49:05

2M ago49:05

49:05

In Becoming Gods: Medical Training in Mexican Hospitals (Rutgers University Press, 2021), Vania Smith-Oka follows a cohort of interns throughout their year of medical training in hospitals to understand how medical students become medical doctors. She ethnographically tracks their engagements with one another, interactions with patients, experience…

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Wafaya Abdallah on Leading With Heart and Becoming Fluent in the Silent Language of Energy 1:00:41

2M ago1:00:41

1:00:41

[322] For Wafaya Abdallah, owner of Oasis Curl Salon (@curlyoasis), real growth happens when we let go of control, release the need for perfection, and create a safe space for others to rise. In this episode, we explore the salon as a space for transformation and how her journey into energy medicine, holistic beauty, and cultivating trust has shape…

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Birgit Abels and Patrick Eisenlohr, "Atmospheric Knowledge: Environmentality, Latency, and Sonic Multimodality" (U California Press, 2025) 46:45

2M ago46:45

46:45

How do we know through atmospheres? How can being affected by an atmosphere give rise to knowledge? What role does somatic, nonverbal knowledge play in how we belong to places? Atmospheric Knowledge takes up these questions through detailed analyses of practices that generate atmospheres and in which knowledge emerges through visceral intermingling…

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Russell T. McCutcheon, "Our Primary Expertise: A Future for the Study of Religion" (Rutgers UP, 2025) 53:15

2M ago53:15

53:15

Our Primary Expertise argues counter to the longstanding trend in the field by seeing religion as mundane and not unique, which means that the field's research and teaching can have relevance all across human culture, and well beyond academia. Russell McCutcheon offers a timely argument by taking seriously threats to the humanities now happening al…

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Christopher Nelson, "When the Bones Speak: The Living, the Dead, and the Sacrifice of Contemporary Okinawa" (Duke UP, 2025) 1:08:00

2M ago1:08:00

1:08:00

Haunted by the past, ordinary Okinawans struggle to live with the unbearable legacies of war, Japanese nationalism, and American imperialism. They are caught up in a web of people and practices--living and dead, visible and immaterial--that exert powerful forces often beyond their control. In When the Bones Speak, Christopher T. Nelson examines the…

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Bengals Fans Turning on Burrow? | Tom Brady Did What With His Dog?! | Best World Series Moments 1:51:15

2M ago1:51:15

1:51:15

The Bengals defense is so bad that fans are actually starting to turn on Joe Burrow, all because Joe Flacco is balling out. We talk about how fast Cincinnati could turn Burrow into the next Carson Palmer if this keeps up. Mookie hijacks the show more than once, first by traumatizing everyone while breaking down Jayden Daniels’ injury, then by repea…

1
Patrick Brittenden, "Algerian and Christian: Christian Theological Formation, Identity and Mission in Contemporary Algeria" (Regnum Books, 2025) 1:10:02

2M ago1:10:02

1:10:02

Algerian and Christian are two words that many people do not put together. Dr. Patrick Brittenden does. In this episode, we talk with Patrick about his new book Algerian and Christian: Christian Theological Formation, Identity and Mission in Contemporary Algeria (Regnum Books International, 2025). He invites readers into the complex, often painful,…

1
Stephen Huard, "Calibrated Engagement: Chronicles of Local Politics in the Heartland of Myanmar" (‎Berghahn Books, 2024) 52:03

2M ago52:03

52:03

This episode of New Books in Southeast Asian Studies features Stéphen Huard talking about Calibrated Engagement: Chronicles of Local Politics in the Heartland of Myanmar (‎Berghahn Books, 2024), in which he takes a deep dive into the history and anthropology of village leadership in Myanmar’s central dry zone, or anya. In it, Stéphen develops “cali…

1
Claudia Gastrow, "The Aesthetics of Belonging: Indigenous Urbanism and City Building in Oil-Boom Luanda" (UNC Press Books, 2024) 58:19

2M ago58:19

58:19

After centuries of colonial rule, the end of Angola’s three-decade civil war in 2002 provided an irresistible opportunity for the government to reimagine the Luanda cityscape. Awash with petrodollars cultivated through strategic foreign relationships, President José Eduardo dos Santos rolled out a national reconstruction program that sought to tran…

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Pablo Meninato and Gregory Marinic, "Urban Labyrinths: Informal Settlements, Architecture, and Social Change in Latin America" (Routledge, 2025) 1:17:22

2M ago1:17:22

1:17:22

Urban Labyrinths: Informal Settlements, Architecture, and Social Change in Latin America examines intervention initiatives in informal settlements in Latin American cities as social, spatial, architectural, and cultural processes. From the mid-20th century to the present, Latin America and other regions in the Global South have experienced a remark…