Historians on Housewives: Season 1 Episode List
Season 1 Episode 1: “The Pilot” (August 1, 2019)
The Historians introduce themselves, play a game, and discuss the legacies of American slavery and the family histories on Bravo's Southern Charm.
Kacey Calahane Dissertation:
The General and Her Soldiers: How Phyllis Schlafly and Eagle Forum Mobilized the Conservative Movement
Jessica Millward Publications:
Finding Charity’s Folk: Enslaved and Free Black Women in Maryland
Wombs of Liberation: Petitions, Law, and the Black Woman’s Body in Maryland, 1780–1858
The World The Slaves Made: Black Cultural Production in the nineteenth century
Max Speare Dissertation:
Slavery, Surveillance and Carceral Culture in Early New York
Season 1 Episode 2: "Don't Start None, There Won't Be None": Gentrification, Segregation, and RHOP w/ Dr. Tikia K. Hamilton (August 15, 2019)
This episode the Historians on Housewives are joined by Tikia K. Hamilton to discuss her work on the history of school segregation in D.C., play Historians Hot Take: Lightning Round, explore the politics on RHOA and RHOP, and speculate about why Kim Fields produced a bounty hunters’ funeral.
Tikia K. Hamilton Dissertation:
A "Model" System: Race, Education, and Politics in the Nation's Capital Before Brown, 1930-1950
Season 1 Episode 3: “I’ve Got a Ph.D. in Shade and Tea”: Creating Community, the Politics of Party Planning, and the Ecosystems of Fashion w/ Dr. Tanisha C. Ford (September 1, 2019)
In which the Historians interview Dr. Tanisha C. Ford about the parallels between Karen Hueger and Molly Moon, the role of fashion in creating community and Project Runway, the politics of hosting parties, why clothes are so important to everyone’s day-to-day lives, why Million Dollar Listing LA is better than Million Dollar Listing New York, the ecosystem of fashion, and much much more!
Tanisha C. Ford Publications:
Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful
Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul
Season 1 Episode 4: “When in Doubt, Take a Page from One of My Books”: #HonH Year Zero, Book Publishing, and the Apology Economy w/ Dawn Durante (September 15, 2019)
In which the Historians talk about the #HonH origin story, conferences, speculate about who isn’t Andy Cohen’s favorite housewife, the Suffrage Centennial, learn about what goes into making books, gab about Housewives’ product lines, and Dawn educates the Historians about the Housewives’ “apology economy.”
Dawn Durante Publications:
Season 1 Episode 5: “Some People Think I’m Mean, F—- Them”: Peter Pan Syndrome, Extended Adolescence, and Comparatives in Toxic Masculinity w/ Dr. Emily Ryalls (October 1, 2019)
In which the Historians compare the men of Vanderpump Rules and Southern Charm, the privilege of extended adolescence, toxic masculinity, Bullying, feminist and LGBTQ+ representations on Bravo, Reiki therapy, guess “Who ‘Probably’ Did It,” the importance of female friendships to the project of feminism, and much much more!
Emily Ryalls Publications:
The Culture of Mean: Representing Victims and Bullies in Popular Culture
Camping the “post-” on Scream Queens
Ambivalent aspirationalism in millennial postfeminist culture on Gossip Girl
Season 1 Episode 6: “You’re Gonna Have to Work to Pass This Jen-Ed, and that’s Jen-Ed with a ‘J’!”: Shannon in the Woods, The Nuns of Saint Croix, and the Medieval Roots of the Housewives with Dr. Jennifer Edwards (October 15, 2019)
In which the Historians learn about the many connections between Medieval Europe and Bravo including the similarities between Roman sumptuary laws and the Housewives, comparisons between Erika Jayne’s glam squad and Lancelot preparing for battle, why a chair spread disease, the ways that a Thuringian princess and Frankish queen, Saint Radegund, was like LVP, Jill Zarin, Karen Huger and other matriarchs from the Bravo Housewife franchises, Bravo News launches with court reporter Dr. Jen Edwards down in South Carolina, and much much more!
Jennifer Edwards Publications:
Superior Women: Medieval Female Authority in Poitiers' Abbey of Sainte-Croix
#Femfog and Fencing: The Risks for Academic Feminism in Public and Online
Wiki Women: Bringing Women Back Into Wikipedia Through Activism and Pedagogy
Season 1 Episode 7: “Be Careful What You Say, I Might Write About It In The Future”: The Armenian Genocide, Oral Testimony, and The Politics of Memory w/ Nora Lessersohn (November 1, 2019)
In which the Historians learn about the Armenian Genocide, some of the implications and politics of genocide denial, how testimonials on the Housewives franchises can be great tools for understanding Life writing Theory, learn how shared grief helps shape community identity within the Armenian-American community, dig into the Kardiashians’ personal histories with the American Genocide, learn about Nora Lessersohn’s family history, speculate about a Real Housewives of Boston, learn how testimony resonates as a form of identity creation and how this relates to Bravo television, how Carol and Dorinda’s trip to London to recover Anthony’s ashes provides a window into the ways that memory and identity get imparted through narrative, and much, much more!
Nora Lessersohn Publications:
Season 1 Episode 8: “Don’t let the elbow patches fool you, I watch a lot of television”: Dennis the Hot Dog King, #FergusonSyllabus, and franchise culture in Black America with Dr. Marcia Chatelain (November 15, 2019)
In which the Historians discuss the ways that elite reality stars think about money, learn about the #FergusonSyllabus, interrogate the ways that Bravo discusses issues pertaining to race and racism in America, converse over Bethenny Frankel’s disaster relief work, learn about how people indicate their social class based on their consumption patterns, think critically about the connections between Dennis the Hot Dog King of Atlanta and the intersection of post-1968 civil rights struggle and the rise of the fast food industry, and converse about Tamara’s confrontation with her son Ryan over his support for Trump and The Wall.
Marcia Chatelain Publications:
Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America
South Side Girls: Growing Up in the Great Migration
Season 1 Episode 9: “Don’t try to fool me, I’m a historian and I know how to dig up the facts”: Housewife Politics, First Ladies, and the Reality-TV Presidency w/ Dr. Nicole Ansolver (December 3, 2019)
In which the Historians talk about BravoTV in the classroom, play politics with the Housewives, discuss the art of leveling criticism when someone’s got to go, the connections between BravoTV and the First Ladies, compare CSPAN notes, learn about how women inform male-centered presidential histories, grapple with some of the implications of a reality star president with Housewife supporters and detractors, analyze the Kavanaugh fight on RHOBH, the politics of silence with Kyle Richards and Eddie Judge, RHOA’s activism in BLM and Bravo’s depictions of “mainstream politics,” and much, much more!
Nicole Anslover Publications:
Harry S. Truman the Coming of the Cold War
Season 1 Episode 10: “I teach for a living, but I read as a hobby”: The Business of Reality TV, Santa Clause Andy Cohen and the #HonH Holiday Special with Dr. Martina Baldwin (December 15, 2019)
In which the Historians break out their textured jingle-bell sweaters for a special in-studio holiday edition of HonH to discuss the history of Santa Claus, put to rest the eternal question of whether Coto de Caza is the sticks, learn the long and storied history of BravoTV as well as about critical media literacy, the (lack of) guilty pleasures in watching reality television, hear about what interviewing two Bravolebs was like and get a little tea, discuss the technical expertise of WWHL, listen to Kacey jingle some bells, attempt to answer the oldest chicken and the egg question: do the audiences shape the shows or the shows shape the audiences, and much, much more!
Martina Baldwin Dissertation:
Buzz by Bravo: A Trendsetting Niche Network’s Place Within Contemporary Television
Season 1 Episode 11: “Come sit with me, I have time for all your nonsense”: RHONJ Feminism, John Legend, and the Politics of Immigration w/ Dr. Kumi Silva (January 16, 2020)
In which the Historians respond to John Legend being named sexiest man alive, discuss the ways that Bravo shows relationship to feminism, how the Guidice’s experiences with incarceration, immigration, and deportation take on a different tone than what we might see at the border, the now infamous Andy Cohen interview with Teresa and Joe after his deportation, and much, much more!
Kumi Silva Publications:
Brown Threat: Identification in the Security State
Feminist Erasures: Challenging Backlash Culture
Migration, Identity, and Belonging: Defining Borders and Boundaries of the Homeland
Season 1 Episode 12: “Three Kids Under Thirty? How About Three Degrees Before Thirty”: Race, Empire and Sonja Morgan w/ Haley Shrorer (February 2, 2020)
The Historians talk about the importance of fashion and material culture for denoting race and ethnicity, class, and religious associations in colonial Spain, the accuracy of RHOD’s portrayal of Dallas culture, debate the possibility of a Housewives cage match, discuss the importance of material culture, learn about how materiality and attire alter individual behavior both on Bravo and within the colonial Spanish empire, and much, more!
Season 1 Episode 13: “I might be wrong, but I seriously doubt it”: fertility, identity and The Fantasy of Reality w/ Dr. Rachel E. Silverman (April 1, 2020)
In which the Historians discuss representations and depictions of fertility and infertility in popular culture, BravoTV and in real life; learn about women's health practices, particularly well-women's exams; discuss Dr. Silverman’s edited volume titled The Fantasy of Reality: Critical Essays on The Real Housewives (2015), play a new game called “Cheeseburger in Paradise, and much, much more!
Rachel E. Silverman Publications:
The Fantasy of Reality: Critical Essays on The Real Housewives
Communicating Pregnancy Loss: Narrative as a Method for Change
Jewish Performativity on Sex and The City
Season 1 Episode 14: “I may study chocolate, but get on my bad side and I’m not so sweet”: Hershey Chocolate, US Capitalism and the Myth of the Self-Made Housewife w/ Dr. Catherine Koonar (April 18, 2020)
In which the Historians learn from Dr. Catherine Koonar about US capitalism, consumption, and food based on her research of chocolate and the Hershey company, the myth of the “self-made” man, and its relation to The Real Housewives, comparing Milton Hershey’s larger-than-life brand to Andy Cohen, Ramona, Bethenny, and Vicki play high-low with the Housewives’ reported net worth, use Karen Huger's La' Dame perfume drama to discuss the culture of entrepreneurship, and much, much more!
Catherine Koonar Publications:
Making Chocolate American: Labor, Tourism, and American Empire in the Hershey Company
Christianity, Commerce and Civilization’: Child Labor and the Basel Mission in Colonial Ghana
Using Child Labor to Save Souls: The Basel Mission in Colonial Ghana, 1855-1900
Season 1 Episode 15: “Thanks to Historians on Housewives, there’s no shame in my Bravo game”: Bravo Patriarchs, Housewife Mistresses, and the Legacies of Unfree Labor in Early America w/ Dr. Allison Madar (May 21, 2020)
In which the Historians learn about a Housewives connection in Chicago, discuss workplace power relations, surveillance, and employer policing on Below Deck and Below Deck Med, Flipping Out, and Vanderpump Rules, discuss some parallel and dissimilar treatment of unfree people in early America, play a round of ‘Foul on the Play’ and much, much more!
Allison Madar Publications:
An Innate Love of Cruelty’: Master Violence against Female Servants in Eighteenth-Century Virginia
Servitude in the Eighteenth-Century British Atlantic: Old Paradigms, New Directions
Season 1 Episode 16: “I don’t play the victim, I help empower them!”: Survival Stories, Leaving Abusive Relationships and the Reality TV Politics of Intimate Partner Violence w/ Rosie Jones (June 27, 2020)
In which the Historians learn about how issues surrounding Intimate Partner Violence are reflected on BravoTV, discuss dynamics of internalizing abuse and the manifold ways IPV arises on the shows and in domestic relationships, design a Yacht day, and much, much more!
Season 1 Episode 17: “Travel to Ghana for the year of return? My soul never left”: The Politics of Travel to Africa, Housewives Holding Babies, and the Year of Return w/ Dr. Jessica Millward (July 22, 2020)
In which one of the Historians own is in the hot seat discussing recent travels to Ghana, compare the RHOA women’s vacation to South Africa, Bravo depictions of Africa, explore Charity Folks and other Black women’s historic routes to freedom, converse about teaching and research methods that use the Bravo cannon, play the hardest Bonko Party yet, and much, much more!
Jessica Millward Publications:
Finding Charity’s Folk: Enslaved and Free Black Women in Maryland
Wombs of Liberation: Petitions, Law, and the Black Woman’s Body in Maryland, 1780–1858
The World The Slaves Made: Black Cultural Production in the nineteenth century