Episode 056 - Sophie Bjork - James

In this episode, we first hear a short, speculative fiction audio story by Vanderbilt undergraduate Sarah Saxton Strassberg called “Hagar Rising” that explores the future of gene editing. Sarah Saxton created this piece for a course on the politics of reproductive health taught by Vanderbilt anthropology professor Sophie Bjork-James. After Sarah’s audio piece, Derek Bruff talks with Sophie about the course and her podcast assignment. “Hagar Rising” originally aired as an episode of another Vanderbilt podcast, VandyVox, which features the best student-produced audio from around campus. The podcast also has student audio exploring names and identities at a Hispanic-serving nonprofit in Nashville, a narrative produced for a women’s and gender studies course called “Women Who Kill,” and an excerpt from a graduate student-produced podcast taking a critical look at video games, among other student work from around campus. To find these episodes, search for VandyVox in your favorite podcast app, or head to VandyVox.com. If you visit the website, you’ll also find some behind-the-scenes information about the assignments that led to these student podcasts, which should be of particular interest to the Leading Lines audio. Links • VandyVox, http://vandyvox.com/ • Sophie Bjork-James’ faculty page, https://as.vanderbilt.edu/anthropology/bio/sophie-bjork-james • “Sarah Saxton Strassberg: From Summer Camp to Student Author,” https://vanderbilthustler.com/life/sarah-strassberg-from-summer-camp-to-student-author.html