“Mouthful of Ghosts” is an immersive exploration of grief, memory and the things that haunt us. In each episode, host Maria Maddox speaks with artists and thinkers about their work—and, when it surfaces—their own encounters with loss.

“What does it mean for a historian to grieve her subjects?” Poet and historian Rachel Kaufman takes on the question, tracing the quiet demands of ghosts in the archive.

Along the way, the conversation turns to Kristallnacht remembered through a child’s eyes, poetry as a means to translate historical violence, and the intertwined legacies of trauma and resilience.

At its heart, though, this is an immersive listening experience—best experienced through headphones 🎧

Part I: 

• 2:12- 4:50: Childhood, Sanibel Island. 
• 4:51- 6:37: Music & poetry.
• 6:38- 8:31: A pearl ring.
• 08:32 -14:46: Kristallnacht.

Part II:

• 15:40-26:27: Crypto-Jews & women in the archive.
• 26:28-28:58: “Witchcraft” poem.

Part III:

• 29:00-37:39: Ghosts, grief & historical trauma. 
• 37:40-41:20 “From His Jewish Lover” poem. 

🎵 Music by Ryan Fiegl, Epidemic Sound, Moby, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Library of Congress.

➡️ You can explore more of Rachel Kaufman’s work at rachel-kaufman.com.

📕 Referenced:

• “Many to Remember” by Rachel Kaufman.
• Lost Highways: “From Sefarad to the San Luis Valley: Crypto-Judaism in the Southwest.”
• “Venus in Two Acts” by Saidiya Hartman.
• Black Studies Podcast
• “Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny” by PBS.

Created & produced by María José Maddox.

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https://mouthfulofghosts.substack.com/

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