Show overview
Code Switch has been publishing since 2016, and across the 10 years since has built a catalogue of 612 episodes, alongside 4 trailers or bonus episodes. That works out to roughly 320 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence.
Episodes typically run twenty to thirty-five minutes — most land between 26 min and 36 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. It is catalogued as a EN-US-language Society & Culture show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 2 days ago, with 38 episodes already out so far this year. Published by NPR.
From the publisher
What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. We explore how race affects every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between. This podcast makes all of us part of the conversation — because we're all part of the story. Code Switch was named Apple Podcasts' first-ever Show of the Year in 2020.Want to level up your Code Switch game? Try Code Switch Plus. Your subscription supports the show and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/codeswitch
Latest Episodes
View all 612 episodesWhat the Savannah Bananas have to do with race and baseball
How the Supreme Court gutted Black voting power
The minefields of parenting and race
Tradwives and the pressures of modern motherhood
Are Black men facing a mental health crisis, a patriarchy crisis, or both?
In college admission, trauma is shorthand for Blackness
Hate it or love it, is DEI a distraction?
Is the U.S. 'empire' beginning to show cracks?
Gaza commanded our attention. Why hasn't Sudan?
How your vote became your identity
As the definition of “terrorist” expands, so does state violence
From the Confederacy to the White House: How Southern beauty traditions went MAGA
What do the women in Bama Rush, beauty pageants and President Trump's orbit have in common? Their look traces back to the beauty traditions of the white, antebellum South. We talk to Elizabeth Bronwyn Boyd, author Southern Beauty: Race, Ritual and Memory in the Modern South, about how nostalgia for a Southern past influences the aesthetics of today.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
'Mar-a-Lago face:' MAGA's aesthetic loyalty test
The MAGA look — you know the one: dramatic eyeliner, long, wavy hair, sheath dresses — is a defining feature of President Trump's Republican Party. And it's about a lot more than appearances. Journalist Inae Oh joins us to talk about what the aesthetics of MAGA tell us about power, influence, race and femininity.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Being an “ally” is kind of cringe. Why?
EPeople have been talking about being "allies" for a long time now. But what has that actually meant, over the years? And how performative should allyship be? One of our guests says, keep it to yourself. The other says, be loud and proud. So that's what we're getting into today with comedians Hari Kondabolu and Milly Tamarez — the many ways (good and bad) to be a so-called ally.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Markwayne Mullin is conservative, Christian, Cherokee, and the new head of DHS
On Monday, Sen. Markwayne Mullin was confirmed as the newest head of the Department of Homeland Security, replacing Kristi Noem. It's an enormously consequential role that involves taking charge of ICE, border patrol, and TSA. And Mullin is an interesting choice for the role — he's a conservative, Christian citizen of Cherokee nation, known both for his ability to reach across the aisle, and for being a political firebrand. So today on the show, we're asking: What will Markwayne Mullin's leadership of DHS mean for Indian Country? And what will it mean for the nation as a whole?To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
What Trump's language has in common with cult language
When President Trump says things like “fake news,” “witch hunt” or even “Make America Great Again,” he’s not just using catchy phrases -- he’s persuading people into a way of thinking and believing. This week on Code Switch, we talk to Amanda Montell, author of Cultish and co-host of the podcast Sounds Like A Cult, about what the language of MAGA shares with cult language, and why it matters.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
The Scouts are too woke, according to Pete Hegseth
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently put Scouting America — formerly known as the Boy Scouts — "on notice." The once great organization was becoming too woke, he said, and had been tarnished by embracing DEI. On this episode, we're talking to Benjamin René Jordan, author of Modern Manhood and the Boy Scouts of America, about the Scouts' surprisingly progressive history. And we ask him about the complex relationship between scouting and the military.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
The Black civil rights leader who sued to be called “Miss”
It’s Alabama, 1963. A black woman stands before a judge, but she refuses to acknowledge his questions until he addresses her by the same honorific given to white women: “Miss.” That woman's name is Mary Hamilton. Her case eventually reached the Supreme Court and changed the courts, and eventually broader culture, for good. We’re revisiting the largely forgotten story of Miss Mary Hamilton, a Freedom Rider who struck a blow against a pervasive form of disrespect.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
What the success of "Sinners" does (and doesn't) say about race and Hollywood
Sinners has already broken records — it's the most Oscar-nominated film in the history of the Academy Awards. But is the movie itself actually historic? And what will its success mean for the future of Black filmmaking? This week, we're joined by Aisha Harris, a host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, and NY Mag film critic Angelica Jade Bastién. We get into what we loved, what we hated, and how Sinners fits into the broader landscape of big, splashy films that are beloved...yet never quite seem to move the needle on how Hollywood greenlights and funds future projects.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Why Iranian perspectives often get flattened and caricatured
Iran has 90 million people of different ethnicities, faiths, and backgrounds, who have very different ideas about the country. Iranian American scholar Sina Toossi shares some of those varying perspectives with us to help complicate how Iranians feel about U.S. intervention, the war, and what should come next.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy