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Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

Bad Bunny exalts Puerto Rico in his music of resistance. Getty Images hide caption

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Code Switch

Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

Bad Bunny, the genre- and gender norm-defying Puerto Rican rapper, is one of the biggest music stars on the planet. He has also provided a global megaphone for Puerto Rican discontent. In this episode, we take a look at how Bad Bunny became the unlikely voice of resistance in Puerto Rico.

Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

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Meet Lori Lizarraga—Our Newest Co-host

Lori Lizarraga JerSean Golatt/NPR hide caption

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JerSean Golatt/NPR

Code Switch

Meet Lori Lizarraga—Our Newest Co-host

From the world of local TV news, meet Code Switch's newest co-host, Lori Lizarraga! Before she was born, her mother had the nickname "Lori" ready for her, even though her legal name is Laura. The story behind why starts more than a decade before she was born, when Lori's mom came to the U.S. as a kid and had to make a difficult decision.

Meet Lori Lizarraga—Our Newest Co-host

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Revisiting 'How The Other Half Eats'
Little, Brown and Company

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Revisiting 'How The Other Half Eats'

How do race and class affect the way we eat? What does it mean to "eat like a white person?" And if food inequality isn't about "food deserts," what is it really about? We're getting into all those questions and more with Priya Fielding-Singh, author of the book, How the Other Half Eats.

Revisiting 'How The Other Half Eats'

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Cumbia: The musical backbone of Latin America

Los Gaiteros De San Jacinto on the cover of its 2006 album Un Fuego de Sangre Pura. Jorge Mario Múnera/Courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways hide caption

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Jorge Mario Múnera/Courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways

Code Switch

Cumbia: The musical backbone of Latin America

Whether you're from Ushuaia or East Los Angeles, you've likely heard cumbia blaring from a stereo. From our play friends at NPR's Alt.Latino, Jasmine Garsd and Felix Contreras talk about their common love of the musical backbone of Latin America.

Cumbia: The musical backbone of Latin America

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Unlocking family history in 'Before Me'

Lan Phu and young Lisa Phu at Six Flags Great Adventure in 1982 Lisa Phu hide caption

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Lisa Phu

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Unlocking family history in 'Before Me'

It wasn't until Lisa Phu had her own child that she started unlocking her mother's history. In her new 5-part series called Before Me, Lisa asks her mother, Lan, the questions she should have asked years ago. Lisa tells us what she learned in getting to know Lan in this way.

Unlocking family history in 'Before Me'

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What we watched in 2022

There are a lot of TV shows to watch out there - so the Code Switch team isn't trying to bring you a list of the "best." But we are here to talk about some of the shows we watched this year that we loved. Sophia Pappas for NPR hide caption

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Sophia Pappas for NPR

Code Switch

What we watched in 2022

There are a lot of TV shows to watch out there - so the Code Switch team isn't trying to bring you a list of the "best." Instead, we're chatting about the shows we watched this year that we loved, and gave us something bigger to think about, from Abbott Elementary to Bel-Air.

What we watched in 2022

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Why some Republicans want to narrow who counts as Black

Republican state officials in Louisiana are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on which voters should be categorized as Black when testing whether a map of election districts dilutes the political power of Black voters. Smartboy10/Getty Images hide caption

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Smartboy10/Getty Images

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Why some Republicans want to narrow who counts as Black

Republican officials in Louisiana want to change how Black people are counted in voting maps. If their plan is successful, it could shrink the power of Black voters across the country — and further gut the Voting Rights Act.

Why some Republicans want to narrow who counts as Black

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Notes from America: 'Blackness (Un)interrupted'

"Racial imposter syndrome" is definitely "a thing," for many people. Shereen and Gene hear from biracial and multi-ethnic listeners who connect with feeling "fake" or inauthentic in some part of their racial or ethnic heritage. Social scientists weigh in the need basic need for belonging. Kristen Uroda for NPR hide caption

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Kristen Uroda for NPR

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Notes from America: 'Blackness (Un)interrupted'

So many of our perceptions of race have to do with color. How does that change if you've lived in both Black and white skin? Our Executive Producer Veralyn Williams, explores this question in conversation with her sister, Lovis. Lovis has vitiligo, a skin disease that causes loss of skin color in patches.

Notes from America: 'Blackness (Un)interrupted'

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How American Indian family separation leaves impacts generations later
NPR

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How American Indian family separation leaves impacts generations later

Bear Carrillo grew up knowing only a few details about his birth parents: when he was born they were university students, the first from their tribes to go to college, and they just couldn't afford to keep him. Decades later, a DNA test kit uncovers a new story.

A lost bird, a found treasure

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Live from Chicago: What makes a city home?
Atlan Arceo-Witzl for NPR

Code Switch

Live from Chicago: What makes a city home?

This episode is excerpted from the Code Switch Live show at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, featuring special guests José Olivarez, Sultan Salahuddin, Diallo Riddle and Adriana Cardona-Maguidad to talk all about Chicago. Musical guest KAINA provides music!

Live from Chicago: What makes a city home?

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Code Switch fam! Say hello to It's Been a Minute's new host, Brittany Luse!
Sarah Jacobs

Code Switch

Code Switch fam! Say hello to It's Been a Minute's new host, Brittany Luse!

Code Switch's host B.A. Parker, introduces us to our play cousin It's Been a Minute's new voice, Brittany Luse! In Brittany's first two episodes she talks about the representation and contextual history of Black women in politics and Hollywood.

Code Switch fam! Say hello to It's Been a Minute's new host, Brittany Luse!

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Fear, Halloween and the real-life horrors of the past
Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Code Switch

Fear, Halloween and the real-life horrors of the past

It's that time of year again: celebrations of the macabre hit a little too close to home and brush up against our country's very dark past. We talk about navigating fake horror amid what's actually terrifying and how scaring ourselves, on purpose, can help us. This episode first ran in October 2019.

Fear, Halloween and the real-life horrors of the past

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Skeletons in the closet, revisited

A young Native American woman sits in a museum display case alongside artifacts and human remains. Gabriella Trujillo for NPR hide caption

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Gabriella Trujillo for NPR

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Skeletons in the closet, revisited

More than 10,000 Native human remains are currently sitting in a storage facility in a Maryland suburb. This week, how one small tribe is fighting to get them back to Florida. This episode originally aired October 13, 2021.

Skeletons in the closet, revisited

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Black reality in a world of fantasy

Authors Tochi Onyebuchi (left) and Leslye Penelope (right) share their experiences building fantasy worlds in their latest sci-fi novels Goliath and The Monsters We Defy. PR Agency hide caption

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PR Agency

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Black reality in a world of fantasy

Why build a fantasy world that still has racism? B.A. Parker moderates a discussion on Black science fiction and fantasy with authors Tochi Onyebuchi and Leslye Penelope at the National Book Festival.

Black reality in a world of fantasy

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Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons
Thumy Phan for NPR

Code Switch

Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is one of the most popular tabletop roleplaying games of all time. But it has also helped cement some ideas about how we create and define race in fantasy — and in the tangible world. We take a deep dive into that game, and what we find about racial stereotypes and colonialist supremacy is illuminating.

Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons

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In 50 years, the Pell Grant has helped over 80 million people go to college

The Pell Grant has helped 80 million students go to college. Josie Norton for NPR hide caption

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Josie Norton for NPR

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In 50 years, the Pell Grant has helped over 80 million people go to college

The cost of college has been on everyone's minds, especially with student debt cancellation. Pell Grants are one way many low income students have managed to pay for college. And they exist in large part because of one Black woman who often goes unmentioned.

In 50 years, the Pell Grant has helped over 80 million people go to college

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What does it mean to "inherit whiteness?"

Author Baynard Woods writes about his family's history in South Carolina in his book Inheritance: An Autobiography of Whiteness. J. M. Giordano/XYZ Book Publisher Company hide caption

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J. M. Giordano/XYZ Book Publisher Company

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What does it mean to "inherit whiteness?"

In Baynard Woods' new memoir, Inheritance: An Autobiography of Whiteness, Woods reflects on how growing up white in South Carolina impacted his life. He argues that it is crucial for white people in the U.S. to reckon with their personal histories.

What does it mean to "inherit whiteness?"

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What makes a good race joke?

Comedians Brian Bahe, Maz Jobrani and Aparna Nancherla. Brian Bahe, Storm Santos and Aparna Nancherla hide caption

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Brian Bahe, Storm Santos and Aparna Nancherla

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What makes a good race joke?

When a comedian of color makes a joke, is it always about race, even if it's not about race? In part two of our comedians episodes, Code Switch talks to comedians Aparna Nancherla, Brian Bahe and Maz Jobrani about how and why race makes an appearance in their jokes.

What makes a good race joke?

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Three comedians share their thoughts on what makes a great joke about race

Comedians Ziwe, Joel Kim Booster and Anjelah Johnson-Reyes. Myles Loftin/SHOWTIME, Taylor Miller and East 2 West Collective hide caption

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Myles Loftin/SHOWTIME, Taylor Miller and East 2 West Collective

Code Switch

Three comedians share their thoughts on what makes a great joke about race

What makes a great joke about race? In the first of two episodes, Code Switch talks to comedians Ziwe, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes and Joel Kim Booster about their favorite race joke they tell: What's its origin story? Why is it so funny? And what does it say about race in America?

Three comedians share their thoughts on what makes a great joke about race

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Into the glittering neon universe of 'P-Valley' with Katori Hall

The cast of the Starz TV series P-Valley. Pari Dukovic/Courtesy of Starz hide caption

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Pari Dukovic/Courtesy of Starz

Code Switch

Into the glittering neon universe of 'P-Valley' with Katori Hall

The Starz hit show P-Valley takes audiences to a strip club in a fictional town in the Mississippi Delta. Part soap opera, part Southern Gothic, the show focuses on the interior lives of the Black women who work at the club — and the complex social dynamics that shape their lives.

Into the glittering neon universe of 'P-Valley' with Katori Hall

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