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What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. We explore how race affects every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between. This podcast makes all of us part of the conversation — because we're all part of the story. Code Switch was named Apple Podcasts' first-ever Show of the Year in 2020.

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Code Switch

Motherhood in the U.S. is revered. Actual mothers? Not so much. So where's a bedraggled mom to turn when she feels overworked, overwhelmed, and underappreciated? Turns out, momfluencers are stepping in to fill that void, including a particular category of momfluencer: the tradwife. We dive into that world to understand how it might intersect with the Trump administration, what it has to do with white supremacy, and where moms of color fit in.

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Tradwives and the pressures of modern motherhood

Over the past few weeks, there have been multiple high-profile incidents of Black men committing acts of violence against their loved ones, from a man in Shreveport killing his children, to the former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia killing himself and his wife. On this episode, we're asking: What does this violence have to do with patriarchy? What does it have to do with mental health? What does it have to do with race and gender? And what would it take to create a culture that actually protects Black women and children?

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Are Black men facing a mental health crisis, a patriarchy crisis, or both?

At most elite colleges and universities, affirmative action is a thing of the past. But admissions offices are still interested in building racially diverse incoming classes — which can mean looking at students' essays to help determine their background. In those essays, Black students have been often been encouraged to write about experiences of overcoming trauma in order to help underscore their race. Our guest, the sociologist Aya Waller-Bey, says that practice has troubling implications for how we understand what it means to have an authentic Black experience.

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In college admission, trauma is shorthand for Blackness

The Trump administration has been very candid about their disdain for all things DEI. But it's not just conservatives who have critiques. On this episode, we're talking to Jennifer C. Pan, author of Selling Social Justice: Why the Rich Love Antiracism, about why she thinks people on the left should be skeptical of DEI programs as well. We get into how DEI programs are frequently used as a tool for large corporations to assert their moral authority — without actually sacrificing their bottom line, or improving conditions for workers writ large.

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Hate it or love it, is DEI a distraction?

The Trump administration's recent military actions have had certain observers asking... are we going full empire? But Daniel Immerwahr, a historian and the author of How to Hide an Empire, argues that the U.S. has engaged in empire building for hundreds of years — we've just been sneakier about it than other countries. So on today's show, we're breaking down what that history of colonization has looked like, and how President Trump's international escapades are scrambling the global order.

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Is the U.S. 'empire' beginning to show cracks?

What makes people pay a lot of attention to some wars and crises, but not others? And what does that attention actually do for the people in those situations? We're looking at Sudan, which has entered its fourth year of a civil war this week. But, unlike in Gaza, the violence and famine there has struggled to break through headlines in the U.S. We talk to Sudanese journalist Isma'il Kushkush, political scientist Scott Straus, Sudan expert Alex de Waal, and political scientist Mai Hassan.

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Gaza commanded our attention. Why hasn't Sudan?

Do you vote Republican or Democrat? And why does that answer reveal so much about the rest of who you are? We talk to political scientist Lilliana Mason about how party affiliation has become a “mega-identity” — a lens through which we see all other aspects of identity — and how that shapes views on race, political behavior, and so much more.

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How your vote became your identity

The Trump administration has called more and more groups “terrorists,” from “narco-terrorists” in Ecuador to people who protest ICE to the entire Democratic party. But it’s also nothing new. We talk to Saher Selod, expert on the racialized surveillance of Muslims about the effects of the war on terrorism after 9/11, and historian Alex Lubin about how even since colonial settlers were fighting Indigenous people to establish frontier towns, the word “terrorist” has been used by the state to enact violence and surveillance against whoever they want.

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As the definition of “terrorist” expands, so does state violence

What do the women in Bama Rush, beauty pageants and President Trump's orbit have in common? Their look traces back to the beauty traditions of the white, antebellum South. We talk to Elizabeth Bronwyn Boyd, author Southern Beauty: Race, Ritual and Memory in the Modern South, about how nostalgia for a Southern past influences the aesthetics of today.

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From the Confederacy to the White House: How Southern beauty traditions went MAGA

The MAGA look — you know the one: dramatic eyeliner, long, wavy hair, sheath dresses — is a defining feature of President Trump's Republican Party. And it's about a lot more than appearances. Journalist Inae Oh joins us to talk about what the aesthetics of MAGA tell us about power, influence, race and femininity.

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'Mar-a-Lago face:' MAGA's aesthetic loyalty test

Hosts Shereen and Gene take on Chi-City with help from Chicago-natives Eve Ewing and Natalie Y. Moore, plus Code Switch's play cousin, Hari Kondabolu. Ewing opens the show with a poem from her new collection, Electric Arches. Kondabolu talks about his upcoming documentary, "The Problem with Apu." And Moore brings her Chicago-expertise to some tough questions from our listeners.

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Live From Chicago...It's Code Switch!

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