American Campus Podcast
a social and political history of US higher ed
American Campus Podcast
How dark money shapes the vernaculars of the culture war with Isaac Kamola
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Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
A lesson on dark money influence in campus culture wars
References and suggested readings:
- Isaac Kamola. Spring 2025. Understanding the Evolving Culture-War Vernacular. Academe Magazine.
- Isaac Kamola. 2019. Making the World Global: U.S. Universities and the Production of the Global Imaginary. Duke University Press.
- Ralph Wilson and Isaac Kamola. 2021. Free Speech and Koch Money: Manufacturing a Campus Culture War. Pluto Press.
- Roderick A. Ferguson. 2017. We Demand: The University and Student Protests. University of California Press.
- Nancy MacLean. 2018. Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America. Penguin.
- Christopher Newfield. 2011. Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the Middle Class. Harvard University Press.
- John K. Wilson. 1995. The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education. Duke University Press.
- Kendal Gerdes on the 2010s, safe spaces, and trigger warnings.
- AAUP Presents: Academic Freedom on the Line podcast and newsletter
- AAUP’s academic freedom syllabus, module, field guide, first aid kit, border crossing guide and international travel tips
- Benjamin Wallace-Wells. June 18, 2021. How a Conservative Activist Invented the Conflict Over Critical Race Theory. New Yorker.
- Percival Everett books
- James McBride. 2021. Deacon King Kong. Riverhead.
- Ethan Rutherford. 2025. North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther. Strange Object.
- ikamola@aaup.org and follow on Bluesky
Browse the American Campus bookshelf at https://bookshop.org/lists/american-campus-podcast
Get updates about the show at patreon.com/americancampuspodcast
Get in touch. Want to request a topic or pitch an episode? Email Lauren at shephell@iu.edu
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