Outsider/Insider is an MIT Sloan podcast. It was developed to provide tools for members of the MIT community—as well as other communities that resemble MIT in that they are workplaces or schools and they aspire for their diversity to be a source of strength. Another goal is what the co-hosts—the MIT sociologists and management professors Ray Reagans and Ezra Zuckerman Sivan-- like to call “delight in discovery.”
Ray and Ezra are quite open and frank about the difficulties that MIT and other universities have faced in realizing this aspiration, with a particular focus on the challenges that emerged in the fall of 2023 when community members from two distinct communities—those with a “natural affinity” with one of the two sides of the war that began on 10/7 (many Jews and Israelis, many Middle Easterners and North Africans, especially Palestinians)—felt unsupported at time of great need.
Yet while Ray and Ezra’s conversations are meant to help address a pain point, they are also designed to be playful and inspiring. The playfulness is intellectual—the fun of wrestling with puzzles about the world and excitedly considering novel insights; but it’s also personal—the kind of teasing and poking at one another that good friends do. Ray and Ezra believe that the “outsider-insider” relationship they model is both rewarding and achievable for many people. Very likely, you too are blessed with cherished relationships like Ray and Ezra’s, even if you may not give call them by that name and even if you don’t reference academic research when you do so.
See show notes and learn more on the Outsider Insider Substack (https://substack.com/@outsiderinsiderpodcast) page.
Episode 8: The Importance of Robust Disagreement and the Value in Equality
We’re excited to share the eighth and final episode of season 1 of the Outsider/Insider podcast (https://outsiderinsiderpodcast.substack.com/publish/post/148535087), co-hosted by Ray Reagans (https://mitmgmtfaculty.mit.edu/rreagans/) and Ezra Zuckerman Sivan (https://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/directory/ezra-w-zuckerman-sivan) and produced by MIT Sloan School of Management, Kate O’Sullivan executive producer.
This episode features a conversation with Prof. Tarek Masoud, the Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Governance at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Tarek is on the faculty of Harvard’s Center for Middle East Studies (https://cmes.fas.harvard.edu/people/tarek-masoud) and is faculty chair of the Belfer Center’s Middle East Initiative (https://www.belfercenter.org/programs/middle-east-initiative); and the host of the Middle East Dialogues (https://www.youtube.com/@middleeastinitiative6154). Below, you can find the show notes and opportunities to provide input.
This episode was produced and edited by Lucie McCormick, with assistance from Hamad Al Badi. Audio mixing by Hansdale Hsu. Graphic design by Mimi Phan. Music from Blue Dot Sessions.
For complete show notes, please visit our Substack page: https://substack.com/home/post/p-155733075 (https://substack.com/home/post/p-155733075)
21 Nov 2024
Episode 7: Advocating for Outsiders Without Crowding Them Out
MIT Governance Lab Director Prof. Lily Tsai shares insights on advocating for outsiders without crowding them out in a conversation co-hosted by Ray Reagans and Ezra Zuckerman Sivan.
21 Nov 2024
Episode 6: "Perpetual outsider"? Or Wearer of Multiple Insider Lenses!
MIT Governance Lab Director Prof. Lily Tsai shares insights on navigating multiple insider lenses as a perpetual outsider in academia and beyond.
11 Oct 2024
Episode 5: Identifying with Each Side & with a Community that Transcends Sides
The second part of Ray & Ezra’s conversation with Lerna Ekmekcioglu focuses on the unique insights Lerna offers, as a scholar of Ottoman and post-Ottoman societies and as a Turkish Armenian, on the campus crisis that occurred in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza. Remarkably, Lerna is able to identify strongly with each side of this conflict (and with members of the campus community who identify strongly with each side), but the strongest identification is with the larger institution— MIT— and its potential for bridging and transcending seemingly irreconcilable divides. The discussion also adds new angles on key ideas from episode 3:
Inclusion failure
Primary identities (vs. university roles and identities)
Bonding in response to threat
We’re excited to share the fifth episode of the Outsider/Insider podcast (https://outsiderinsiderpodcast.substack.com/publish/post/148535087), co-hosted by Ray Reagans (https://mitmgmtfaculty.mit.edu/rreagans/) and Ezra Zuckerman Sivan (https://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/directory/ezra-w-zuckerman-sivan) and produced by MIT Sloan School of Management, Kate O’Sullivan executive producer. This is the second of a two-part episode, which features a conversation with Prof. Lerna Ekmekcioglu (https://history.mit.edu/people/lerna-ekmekcioglu/), the McMillan-Stewart Associate Professor of History and Director Women and Gender Studies Program at MIT. Below, you can find the show notes and opportunities to provide input.
This episode was produced and edited by Lucie McCormick, with assistance from Hamad Al Badi. Audio mixing by Hansdale Hsu. Graphic design by Mimi Phan. Music from Blue Dot Sessions.
Ray and Ezra are also grateful for input from many wonderful colleagues and friends in and outside MIT.
For complete show notes, please visit the substack page (https://open.substack.com/pub/outsiderinsiderpodcast/p/episode-5-identifying-with-each-side?r=4cvgur&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true) for this episode.
11 Oct 2024
Episode 4: Outsider/Insider Embodied
The first part of Ray & Ezra’s conversation with Lerna Ekmekcioglu offers historical and personal context for the identities that she encompasses as an Armenian Christian and Turkish national, and as an émigré to the United States. This discussion adds depth and nuance to the ideas developed in episode 1 (https://substack.com/home/post/p-148649631) and episode 2 (https://substack.com/home/post/p-148535628):
The invisible logic of collective bonding
The value of outsider-insider relationships
We’re excited to share the fourth episode of the Outsider/Insider podcast (https://outsiderinsiderpodcast.substack.com/publish/post/148535087), co-hosted by Ray Reagans (https://mitmgmtfaculty.mit.edu/rreagans/) and Ezra Zuckerman Sivan (https://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/directory/ezra-w-zuckerman-sivan) and produced by MIT Sloan School of Management, Kate O’Sullivan executive producer. This is the first of a two-part episode, which features a conversation with Prof. Lerna Ekmekcioglu (https://history.mit.edu/people/lerna-ekmekcioglu/), the McMillan-Stewart Associate Professor of History and Director Women and Gender Studies Program at MIT. Below, you can find the show notes and opportunities to provide input.
This episode was produced and edited by Lucie McCormick, with assistance from Hamad Al Badi. Audio mixing by Hansdale Hsu. Graphic design by Mimi Phan. Music from Blue Dot Sessions.
For complete show notes, please visit the substack page (https://open.substack.com/pub/outsiderinsiderpodcast/p/episode-4-outsiderinsider-embodied?r=4cvgur&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true) for this episode.
10 Sept 2024
Episode 3: The Promise and Challenge of Universities as Inclusive Communities
Episode 3 is the third of three in which Ray and Ezra sketch a framework for how universities can realize their great promise for creating deep, meaningful and impactful connections between diverse people and avoid situations where community members feel devalued or threatened due to how their social identities are impacted by situations that arise within the community or by events in the world.
For complete show notes, please visit the Substack page for this episode (https://open.substack.com/pub/outsiderinsiderpodcast/p/episode-3-the-promise-and-challenge).
Music from Blue Dot Sessions
10 Sept 2024
Episode 2: The Invisible Logic of Black Family Reunions
We’re excited to share the second episode of the Outsider/Insider podcast (https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/dffe8bc8-4ebb-4b93-bacc-34b34d4e3589?j=eyJ1IjoiNGN2Z3VyIn0.r1GnZfYd30l2GJE8N9RxXxfkvvQauizf7RIithh2Tn0), co-hosted by Ray Reagans (https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/1e3250d3-290e-4a54-9986-40dd10147695?j=eyJ1IjoiNGN2Z3VyIn0.r1GnZfYd30l2GJE8N9RxXxfkvvQauizf7RIithh2Tn0) and Ezra Zuckerman Sivan (https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/74906647-e928-49c3-9864-18e77b99056a?j=eyJ1IjoiNGN2Z3VyIn0.r1GnZfYd30l2GJE8N9RxXxfkvvQauizf7RIithh2Tn0) and produced by MIT Sloan School of Management.
Episode 2 of the Outsider/Insider podcast (https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/dffe8bc8-4ebb-4b93-bacc-34b34d4e3589?j=eyJ1IjoiNGN2Z3VyIn0.r1GnZfYd30l2GJE8N9RxXxfkvvQauizf7RIithh2Tn0) is the second of three in which Ray and Ezra sketch a framework for how universities can realize their great promise for creating deep, meaningful and impactful connections between diverse people and avoid situations where community members feel devalued or threatened due to how their social identities are impacted by situations that arise within the community or by events in the world.
For complete show notes, please visit the Substack page for this episode (https://open.substack.com/pub/outsiderinsiderpodcast/p/episode-2-the-invisible-logic-of).
Music from Blue Dot Sessions.
10 Sept 2024
Episode 1: The Invisible Logic of Jewish Peoplehood
We are very excited to share the pilot episode of the Outsider/Insider podcast (https://outsiderinsiderpodcast.substack.com/publish/post/148535087), co-hosted by Ray Reagans and Ezra Zuckerman Sivan and produced by MIT Sloan School of Management. Kate O’Sullivan is the executive producer. You can find the show notes and opportunities to provide input) on the Outsider/Insider Substack site for this episode (https://substack.com/@outsiderinsiderpodcast/p-148649631).
This episode was produced in the spring of 2004 by Nora CB, with support from Sheena Ozaki and Pete Langston; it was recorded by Chris McDonnnell. Ray and Ezra are also grateful for input from many wonderful colleagues and friends in and outside MIT.
For complete show notes visit: https://substack.com/@outsiderinsiderpodcast/p-148649631 (https://substack.com/@outsiderinsiderpodcast/p-148649631)
Music from Blue Dot Sessions
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