Reconnaissance is an online podcast series exploring intersections between political realities and fictions. It was launched in September 2015 by Sarah Mendelsohn and Fred Schmidt-Arenales. In English, reconnaissance is primarily a military term: the gathering of strategic and operational intelligence. Scouting, getting the lay of the land. Not necessarily to find the enemy, but to see what is there. From the French reconnaissance (recognition). These meanings frame our approach. Each episode of Reconnaissance features oral narratives of recent histories. Through interviews, archival and field recordings, and audio performances, each episode is a process of reconnaissance and recognition: of the political ambiguities, experiences, and perceptions buried within language, and propagated by it.
