On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, our host Am Johal is joined by Dr. Ira Allen, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Writing, and Digital Media Studies at Northern Arizona University. Ira is the author of The Ethical Fantasy of Rhetorical Theory and Panic Now? Tools for Humanizing. Together, they chat about living in a system of Carbon-Capitalism-Colonialism (or CaCaCo), AI’s disruption to meaning-making, and panicking. Enjoy the episode!
Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-ira-allen.html
Resources:
Ira J. Allen: https://troubledfreedom.com/
Ira’s CV: https://directory.nau.edu/?person=ia298
The Ethical Fantasy of Rhetorical Theory: https://upittpress.org/books/9780822965367/
Panic Now? Tools for Humanizing: https://utpress.org/title/panic-now/
Bio:
Dr. Ira Allen (he/him) is Associate Professor of Rhetoric in the Departments of English and of Politics & International Affairs at Northern Arizona University. His scholarship on human meaning-making includes The Ethical Fantasy of Rhetorical Theory (U Pittsburgh P, 2018), alongside many articles and chapters, and undergirds his inquiry into the AI revolution and other features of polycrisis in Panic Now? Tools for Humanizing (U Tennessee P, 2024). With Scott Sundvall and Caddie Alford, he has a volume exploring our hypermediated and increasingly automated crisis of meaning forthcoming in 2026: Rhetoric Before and Beyond Post-Truth (U Pittsburgh P). Among other topics, Ira teaches undergraduate courses on digital argumentation and graduate courses on #datapolitics and humanizing rhetoric.
Cite this episode:
Chicago Style
Johal, Am. “Panic Now? — with Ira Allen.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 5, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-ira-allen.html.
