Episode via Podbean: S1:E1 “Economies of Misery and the Experience of the Queer Sober Academic”
Episode via YouTube: S1:E1 of Queerstories of Recovery on YouTube
Episode via Riverside FM: Queerstories of Recovery: Voices from the Margin, S1:E1 (Riverside FM)
“Economies of Misery and the Experience of the Queer Sober Academic”
About S1:E1
In Season 1 Episode 1 of the Queerstories of Recovery: Voices from the Margin podcast, Dr. Danielle Bacibianco (host) and Dr. Bryan J. McCann (guest) explore the intersection of recovery from addiction, queer identity, and the culture of academia, focusing on how universities often create environments that contribute to mental health struggles and substance abuse.
Dr. McCann introduces the idea of “economies of misery,” describing how academic institutions often depend on or normalize conditions that produce anxiety, depression, burnout, and substance misuse.
In the episode, Dr. Danielle Bacibianco and Dr. Bryan J. McCann discuss how drinking culture is deeply embedded in academia, from conferences, networking events, and departmental gatherings which always often revolve around alcohol. For people in addiction/substance use recovery, this pressure to participate can make sobriety socially isolating as an academic.
Dr. Bacibianco frames the podcast as part of a broader project of “queerstory,” using personal narratives and critical reflection to challenge dominant cultural norms.
Both Bacibianco and McCann argue that many academic systems quietly rely on environments that encourage burnout, mental health struggles, and substance abuse. By sharing their personal experiences as disabled, queer scholars in recovery, they challenge these norms and try to advocate for more humane, inclusive academic spaces.
About Dr. Bryan J. McCann
Bryan J. McCann, Ph.D.
Professor of Rhetoric & Cultural Studies, Department of Communication Studies
Affiliate Faculty: African and African American Studies; Women’s and Gender Studies
Louisiana State University
Bryan J. McCann is a leading voice in rhetorical and cultural studies, whose work illuminates how language, race, power, and trauma intersect in public life and institutions. A prolific author of both books and articles, his analyses critically expand boundaries across disciplinary and societal contexts. Whether deconstructing mass media, academic culture, or gendered violence, Dr. McCann’s scholarship consistently foregrounds the rhetorical structures shaping our collective understanding.
Dr. McCann’s work critically interrogates the intersections of public culture, race, and power. His scholarship specifically focuses on crime, criminality, and public culture, the cultural politics of higher education, and mental illness and addiction. Further, Dr. McCann often situates rhetorical critique within broader social and racial contexts, exploring the aesthetics and politics entwined in those dynamics.
For more information, please visit his faculty profile: Bryan J. McCann (LSU)