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Searching for America with Robyn Curnow

Searching for America with Robyn Curnow

By: Robyn Curnow Bleav
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About this listen

A podcast about American culture, identity, and everyday life — seen through the eyes of an outsider. A South African foreign correspondent — who spent 20 years covering conflicts and change around the world, interviewing Mandela and presidents, and winning awards — moved to suburban Atlanta, looked around, and started taking notes. Searching for America is what she found. It's part cultural anthropology, part love letter, part field guide. If David Attenborough narrated suburban America — observing the rituals of the tailgate, the mating display of the sororities, the great seasonal migration to Costco — it would sound something like this. Except she's South African, she lives in it, and she's not whispering from behind a bush. She's in the drive-through line, observing and listening. New episodes every week. Subscribe now.2025 Robyn Curnow Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • America's Drinking Laws Make No Sense
    Apr 13 2026

    America is built on freedom. So why are there still more than 500 places where you can’t legally buy a drink?

    In this episode of Searching for America, Robyn Curnow explores the strange, contradictory world of American drinking laws - from Utah’s strict alcohol rules and ID checks to dry counties that still exist nearly a century after Prohibition.

    Why can you drive at 16 but not buy a beer until you're 21?
    Why do some towns still ban alcohol?
    And what do puritanical drinking laws reveal about American culture, religion, and power?

    From the infamous Zion Curtain in Utah to Prohibition, this is a story about alcohol - but really, it’s about how America works.


    Subscribe to http://robyncurnow.substack.com for sharp, global insights on the United States in a weekly newsletter

    • Got a great idea for an episode? Drop Robyn a message here with the subject line PODCAST IDEA
      Subscribe to Robyn's Substack.
    • Visit her website here.
    • To book Robyn to speak at your event, get in touch here.

    More about Robyn's public speaking
    Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations.

    She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

    She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more.

    She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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    9 mins
  • Where's the White House Dog?
    Apr 6 2026

    American presidents love dogs. The optics are perfect: loyal, friendly, impossible to fact-check.

    From White House photo ops to wartime morale, First Dogs have always helped sell the presidency.

    And then came the no-dog presidency.

    Which tells you… quite a lot about the Presidency of Donald Trump and why so many Americans voted for him.

    WANT MORE QUIRKS FROM AMERICA? SIGN UP

    http://robyncurnow.substack.com

    READ MORE ABOUT ROBYN

    http://www.robyncurnow.net

    • Got a great idea for an episode? Drop Robyn a message here with the subject line PODCAST IDEA
      Subscribe to Robyn's Substack.
    • Visit her website here.
    • To book Robyn to speak at your event, get in touch here.

    More about Robyn's public speaking
    Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations.

    She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

    She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more.

    She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Show More Show Less
    9 mins
  • Trump's America: The Mess is the Point
    Mar 30 2026

    Atlanta's pollen season arrives like a political crisis: overnight, everywhere, impossible to breathe through. At Easter-time, I'm thinking about what renewal actually looks like when it's happening to you - not the soft-focus version, but the detonation.

    Which means thinking about China's stranglehold on rare earths, Russia's gas leash on Europe, Iran's proxy franchise. Three decades of "order" produced strategic dependency on America's principal adversaries. Something had to change. Whether what's changing now produces something better, or just produces more mess, is the question none of us can answer yet.

    We're still in the pollen.

    sign up for a free weekly newsletter

    http://robyncurnow.substack.com

    more about robyn curnow

    http://robyncurnow.net

    http://instagram.com/robyncurnow

    • Got a great idea for an episode? Drop Robyn a message here with the subject line PODCAST IDEA
      Subscribe to Robyn's Substack.
    • Visit her website here.
    • To book Robyn to speak at your event, get in touch here.

    More about Robyn's public speaking
    Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations.

    She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

    She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more.

    She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Show More Show Less
    11 mins
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