Russell Meeuf from the University of Idaho joins Johanna this week to talk about his book White Terror: The Horror Film from Obama to Trump. He argues that horror films are a form of social and political critique for both conservatives and liberals and discusses how that was seen in the Obama era and the election of Donald Trump.

Dr. Russel Meeuf is a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Media and the director of the film and television program at the University of Idaho. He received his doctorate from the University of Oregon and specializes in research on popular media and culture. In particular, his work focuses on celebrity culture, popular cinema, masculinity studies, and disability studies. His writings have appeared in journals. Reflecting these interests, he is the author of several books on media culture, including White Terror: The Horror Film from Obama to Trump (Indiana University Press, 2022), Rebellious Bodies: Stardom Citizenship, and the New Body Politics (University of Texas Press, 2017) as well as John Wayne's World: Transnational Masculinity in the Fifties (University of Texas Press, 2013). He is also the co-editor of several collections on film and popular culture.

Johanna is thrilled to be joined by Dr. Emily Wakild from Boise State University to learn more about one of Idaho’s most beloved governors, and the last Democrat to serve as governor of Idaho, Cecil D. Andrus.

Dr. Wakild is a professor of environmental studies and the Cecil D. Andrus Endowed Chair for the Environment and Public Lands at Boise State University. Raised in eastern Oregon, she earned her B.A. from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon in 1999 and her PhD from the University of Arizona in 2007. Dr. Wakild’s main academic research excavates documents, images, interviews, and fragments of the past to explain why and how large spaces for nature conservation were built throughout the Americas. She is the author of Revolutionary Parks: Conservation, Social Justice and Mexico’s National Parks (Arizona 2011), which received awards from the Conference of Latin American History, the Forest History Society, and the Southeastern Council on Latin American Studies. She has also written extensively about environmental pedagogy, including with Michelle K. Berry, A Primer for Teaching Environmental History, (Duke 2018) and the article "Pedagogy for the Depressed: Empowerment and Hope in the Face of the Apocalypse" in The Routledge Handbook of Environmental History. In 2024, her study of national parks in South America will be published. Her research has been supported by the Fulbright Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Wakild is currently working on several Idaho-based research projects including essays on "Mispronouncing Idaho" and work celebrating the ways conservation brings Idahoans together. Dr. Wakild is also a scholar for our Inquiring Idaho program and is available as a speaker at no charge. For more information, visit idahohumanities.org.

Johanna interviews Kim Madsen Dill about the veteran’s literature class she teaches at the College of Southern Idaho, that was inspired by her father’s military service.

Kim Madsen Dill has taught in the English Department at the College of Southern Idaho since 2004 and recently retired. She was the Writing Program Administrator for the English Department. Kim oversaw the writing program and was the Faculty Liaison for Dual Credit teachers. She also volunteered teaching English at the CSI Refugee Center.

If you are interested in the bibliography provided by Kim Madsen Dill for this episode, please email johanna@idahohumanities.org.