In this episode we discuss Todd's book, When They Blew the Levee: Race, Politics, and Community in Pinhook, Missouri, co-authored with Elaine Lawless and published by University Press of Mississippi in 2018. Winner of the 2019 Chicago Folklore Prize, the book examines the story of the people of Pinhook, Missouri who were displaced from their homes in 2011 when the US Army Corps of Engineers activated the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway, which diverted water to save the town of Cairo, Illinois but completely destroyed the African American town of Pinhook.

We talk to Todd about the challenges and dangers of ethnography, his experiences getting to know the people of Pinhook, the power of their faith in God and love for one another and the land, and the way the flooding of Pinhook exemplifies "how racism takes place" (G. Lipsitz). 

Hosts: Ry Siggelkow, Amy Finnegan, Kanishka Chowdhury, and Todd Lawrence.  Intro Music: Lord Jordan X.