The season 1 finale of Strange Customs brings Sasha Sagan to an extraordinary Chicago exhibition for a conversation with artist Dario Robleto. Situated at the intersection of art and science, the show also has its inspiration and roots in Sasha’s own family.
We’ll also hear from Harvard art historian Dr. Jennifer Roberts about the ways art and science share a mission to extend our vision beyond the horizon.
Host Sasha Sagan talks to NYT best-selling novelist KILEY REID (Such a Fun Age) about a tradition that has evolved out of necessity from family and community participation to an economic arrangement with strangers.
Sasha Sagan talks with actor-director LILY RABE about a supposedly heartwarming tradition that strikes terror and shame into both their hearts.
We’ll also hear from DR. ANDREA VOYER, a sociologist and historian of social norms at Stockholm University, about her research using etiquette as a lens on changing societies.
Sasha Sagan is joined by science communicator BILL NYE to discuss an ingenious solution to a planetary problem—plus historian of technology DAVID ROONEY on the faces that watch us, control us, and dice up our lives.
Sasha Sagan talks with humanist rabbi GREG EPSTEIN about an ancient tradition they participate in each year, with themes and messages they find both inspiring and abhorrent. How can a thoughtful person engage a tradition shot through with such contradictions?
We’ll also hear from historian of religion DR. CAROLE CUSACK about how this tradition and others like it connect with the deep cycles of the earth and its creatures.
Actor KIRSTEN DUNST tells Sasha about the big lie she told her husband, the constant lies that bond her to her son—and why it’s all good.
We’ll also hear from folklorist DR. JEANA JORGENSEN about the cross-cultural history of messing with each other.
Sasha Sagan talks to astrophysicist SARAFINA EL-BADRY NANCE and neuroscientist MARY HELEN IMMORDINO-YANG about the strange process of bringing external reality into our minds.
Sasha Sagan talks to actor TROIAN BELLISARIO (Pretty Little Liars, Life on Mars) about a tradition older than our species, and the unusual and slightly terrifying way Troian once experienced it.
We’ll also hear from professor and author RANDI HUTTER EPSTEIN (Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank) about the often strange and disturbing history of the tradition.
Sasha Sagan talks to author and linguist AMANDA MONTELL about our strange habit of making vibrations emanate from our faces in order to communicate.
Sasha Sagan sits down with actors KATIE LOWES and ADAM SHAPIRO to explore a common custom that seems rooted in antiquity but is actually younger than Cher.
We’ll also hear from author RACHAEL LENNON about the surprising origins of the custom, and how we might coax it away from its problematic features into the 21st century.
