Conjuncture: Leyla McCalla on 'Breaking the Thermometer' S3 | Ep1

Conjuncture

Jordan T. Camp speaks with award-winning musician Leyla McCalla about her work on New Orleans, Haiti, capitalism, and her most recent album, 'Breaking the Thermometer,' out now on ANTI- Records.

Conjuncture is a web series and podcast curated and co-produced by Jordan T. Camp and Christina Heatherton with support of the Trinity Social Justice Institute. It features interviews with activists, artists, scholars, and public intellectuals. Taking its title from Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall’s conceptualization, it highlights the struggles over the meaning and memory of particular historical moments.

Leyla McCalla is an award-winning musician and singer-songwriter. A member of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops as well as the band Our Native Daughters, McCalla has also produced four solo albums of her own: 'Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes' (2014), 'A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey' (2016), 'Capitalist Blues' (2019), and, most recently, 'Breaking the Thermometer' (2022).

Jordan T. Camp is an Associate Professor of American Studies and Co-Director of the Social Justice Institute at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and a Visiting Fellow in the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute.