The Hopkins Press Podcast: Why we #TeamUp to make academic research engaging and accessible

Since 2016, the Hopkins Press Podcast has produced a steady stream of interviews with scholars and editors about their research published in the Hopkins Press Journals. Through this podcast, we aim to make academic research engaging and accessible through conversation, in pursuit of our goal to enrich the life of every person. 

Every other Wednesday, listeners can enjoy a new discussion. Sometimes lively, sometimes sobering, each episode of the Hopkins Press Podcast offers a new opportunity to talk with the people behind the papers across the full range of subjects published in our journals—including the humanities, classics, history, political science, religion, science and technology.

In the last year alone, episodes have explored hidden histories of the Filipino Rough Riders who performed in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and the women of Baltimore’s Black Panther Party. 

We’ve talked with David Hollinger—Preston Hotchkis Professor of History, emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley—about the impact of evangelical Republicans on academia; and marine conservation biologist David Shiffman—author of Why Sharks Matter—about his recent research on how academic social media engagement has found a loft in Bluesky.

And it’s not just research: From time to time, we tap into the literary offerings within the pages we publish, such as when Alexis Pauline Gumbs read her poetry published in Feminist Formations. Gumbs recently served as one of the guest editors of a special issue of Callaloo, "Oya: The Wind is Our Teacher,” in which she interviews Omisade Burney-Scott.

Sometimes our interviews span publication in multiple journals, such as when we talked with Koritha Mitchell about the evolution of her concept of “know-your-place aggression,” the topic of an oft-cited article in African American Review that broke containment from the academic sphere, making appearances in mainstream media like Esquire and the Huffington Post. The influence of Mitchell’s work is a case study in how exciting it is when the research published in Hopkins Press Journals demonstrates real-world impact. 

The Hopkins Press Podcast is a true team effort, serving to celebrate and humanize the academic research we publish in the hopes of making the research engaging and accessible, within the academy and beyond. And perhaps the most important part of that team is you, the listener. Please listen, subscribe via your favorite podcast platform, explore the archives, and let us know how you think we’re doing.