John Gennari and Emily Bernard are both professors of English and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of Vermont. As academics, they explore the volatile interface of race, ethnicity, politics, literature, music and culture. As a married couple, they live the issues they teach: Gennari is Italian American, Bernard is African American. They discuss issues ranging from teaching the N-word, the relationship between Italian Americans and African Americans, their experience when their local high school in South Burlington, Vt. engaged in a heated debate over a mascot that evoked the Confederacy, and being an interracial couple. (June 7, 2017 broadcast)

John Gennari, Associate Professor of English & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, University of Vermont. Author, Flavor & Soul: Italian America at its African American Edge (University of Chicago Press, 2017)

Emily Bernard, Professor of English and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, UVM. Co-author, Michelle Obama: The First Lady in Photographs, and author, Black is the Body (forthcoming).