Based on extensive interviews and field research in the homes and kitchens of a diverse group of American families, the new book Pressure Cooker by Sarah Bowen, Joslyn Brenton and Sinikka Elliot challenges the logic of the most popular foodie mantras of our time, showing how they miss the mark and up the ante for parents and children. Romantic images of family meals are inviting, but they create a fiction that does little to fix the problems in the food system.

Some jobs have relationship at their core, depending upon a personal, emotional connection between practitioners and recipients. Efforts to make such “connective labor” more standardized, predictable, even automated, often depend on the premise that checklists or apps are “better than nothing.” The expansion of data needs shrinks the available time practitioners have to pursue the relationships they view as integral to their success. Yet perhaps surprisingly, low-income people sometimes prefer the alternatives.

A panel discussion exploring how the roles of race, religion and gender are influencing American politics, and particularly the 2016 elections. Perspectives from a variety of fields across the University of Minnesota looking at the current political climate, and its impact on the future of American government. Confirmed panelists include Jeanne Kilde (Religious Studies), Enid Logan (Sociology, African American Studies), Mary Vavrus (Communication Studies, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies), and moderator Eric Schwartz (Public Affairs).