The American Surfer and Capitalism with Kristin Lawler

For this episode, I interview sociologist Dr. Kristin Lawler about her book, The American Surfer: Radical Culture and Capitalism; we also chat about her essay on the Nietzschean connections between early twentieth century surfers and the hobos of the Industrial Workers of the World–an essay that will be published in the forthcoming book, Roll and Flow: The Political Ontology of Surfing and Skateboarding; and finally, I get her thoughts on the current state of critical surf studies as a field of academic inquiry.

Dr. Lawler is a professor of sociology at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York City. Her first book, The American Surfer, was published by Routledge in 2011, and her new book, co-edited with Michael Roberts and David Cline, entitled Roll and Flow, is being published by San Diego State University Press and should be available this fall. The American Surfer, however, is featured on surfinghistorian.com.

Artwork by Nacer Ahmadi: IG @nacerfilez

Production by TwistedLogix and Morrisound Studios