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ODYSSEY
Audio Library
Odyssey—August 31, 2005
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Prejudice
Originally broadcast March 2, 2005
Christopher Lane—Professor of English, Northwestern University
Rogers Smith—Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
History and politics can produce animosity among groups, but the ability to hate also seems to be an enduring characteristic of human behavior. What are the foundations of prejudice?
Political scientist Rogers Smith and literary scholar Christopher Lane join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Smith is author of Stories of Peoplehood: The Politics and Morals of Political Membership and Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History. Lane is author of Hatred and Civility: The Antisocial Life in Victorian England. He's also editor of The Psychoanalysis of Race.
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Odyssey—August 30, 2005
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The Audience for Murder
Originally broadcast March 14, 2005
Joel Black—Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Georgia, Athens
Martha Umphrey—Associate Professor of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought; Amherst College
High-profile murders—and the trials they produce—rivet our attention. The media certainly feed our fascination with such crimes, but why do we have an appetite for murder in the first place?
Literary scholar Joel Black and legal studies scholar Martha Umphrey join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Black is author of The Aesthetics of Murder: A Study in Romantic Literature and Contemporary Culture. Umphrey is working on the book, Dementia Americana: Narrating Responsibility in the Trials of Harry K. Thaw. |
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Odyssey—August 29, 2005
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The Legacy of Radical Feminism
Originally broadcast April 21, 2005
Alice Echols—Associate Professor of Gender Studies and English, University of Southern California
Judith Grant—Associate Professor of Political Science, Ohio University
In the 1960s, radical feminists argued that the only way to truly liberate women was through a complete transformation of society. The movement has faded, but its ideas continue to influence feminism. How did radical feminism shape the women's movement?
Political theorist Judith Grant and historian Alice Echols join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Grant is finishing the book, Dworkin and Mackinnon. Echols is author of Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967–75. |
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Odyssey—August 26, 2005
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The History of the Senses: Vision
Originally broadcast June 14, 2005
Jessica Riskin—Assistant Professor of History, Stanford University
Srdjan Smajic—Professor of English, Furman University
We use all of our senses to navigate and understand the world, but we seem to insist that seeing is believing. Our eyes can play tricks on us—through optical illusions or hallucinations—so what are we to make of the things we see?
Literary scholar Srdjan Smajic and historian of science Jessica Riskin join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Smajic is working on the book, Genres of Sight: Vision and Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century Ghost and Detective Fiction. Riskin is author of Science in the Age of Sensibility: The Sentimental Empiricists of the French Enlightenment, and she's finishing the book, Mind Out of Matter: A History of the Quest for a Conscious Machine.
Learn more about and hear other installments in our series, The History of the Senses >>
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Odyssey—August 25, 2005
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The History of the Senses: Touch
Originally broadcast June 7, 2005
Steven Connor—Professor of Modern Literature and Theory, Birkbeck College, London
Elizabeth Harvey—Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto
We feel our way around the world using touch. But a poem or movie can be touching. And we try to stay in touch with friends and family. What kind of relationships—physical, emotional, even imaginary—do we establish through touch?
Literary scholars Elizabeth Harvey and Steven Connor join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Harvey is author of Sensible Flesh: On Touch in Early Modern Culture. Connor is author of The Book of Skin and Dumbstruck: A Cultural History of Ventriloquism.
Learn more about and hear other installments in our series, The History of the Senses >> |
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Odyssey—August 24, 2005
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The History of the Senses: Smell
Originally broadcast May 31, 2005
William Cohen—Associate Professor of English, University of Maryland, College Park
Mark Smith—Carolina Distinguished Professor of History, University of South Carolina
We're pretty comfortable dividing the world into good and bad smells. But noses aren't impartial. Things that smell bad are often feared and associated with filth, disease, even foreignness. What kind of cultural baggage do our noses carry?
Historian Mark Smith and literary scholar William Cohen join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Smith is author of Listening to Nineteenth Century America, and he's finishing the book, How Race Is Made: Slavery, Segregation, and the Senses. Cohen is coeditor of the anthology, Filth: Dirt, Disgust, and Modern Life.
Learn more about and hear other installments in our series, The History of the Senses >>
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Odyssey—August 23, 2005
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The History of the Senses: Taste
Originally broadcast May 24, 2005
Denise Gigante—Assistant Professor of English, Stanford University
Carolyn Korsmeyer—Chair, Department of Philosophy; State University of New York, Buffalo
Our sense of taste isn't just about food. It's also about preferences: someone can have good taste in art or bad taste in clothes. What kinds of connections exist between our gustatory pleasures and aesthetic judgments?
Carolyn Korsmeyer and Denise Gigante join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Korsmeyer is author of Making Sense of Taste: Food and Philosophy. Gigante is author of Taste: A Literary History, and she's editing the anthology, Gusto: Essential Writings in Nineteenth-century Gastronomy.
Learn more about and hear other installments in our series, The History of the Senses >> |
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Odyssey—August 22, 2005
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The History of the Senses: Hearing
Originally broadcast May 17, 2005
Jonathan Sterne—Assistant Professor of Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University
Emily Thompson—Associate Professor of History, University of California, San Diego
Every day, we're immersed in the sounds of technology: traffic, cell phone chatter, white noise. As technology changes what we hear, does it also affect how we hear it?
Jonathan Sterne and historian Emily Thompson join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Sterne is author of The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction. Thompson is author of The Soundscape of Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the Culture of Listening in America, 1900–1933.
Learn more about and hear other installments in our series, The History of the Senses >>
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Odyssey—August 19, 2005
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Film Forum: Man Trouble and the Movies
Heather Hicks—Associate Professor of English, Villanova University
Susan Jeffords—Professor of English, University of Washington
Whatever happened to the strong, silent type? Leading men in today's movies often seem lost, confused, or drawn into themselves. What's lurking underneath the tough exteriors, and what do these depictions tell us about what it means to be a man?
Literary scholar Heather Hicks and film scholar Susan Jeffords join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Hicks is working on a book exploring writers' and filmmakers' depiction of change in the American work culture since the 1950s. Jeffords is the author of Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era.
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Odyssey—August 18, 2005
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Nature vs. Nurture
Alan Goodman—Professor of Anthropology, Hampshire College
Jonathan Marks—Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Biological explanations of human difference have been garnering a lot of attention. The counter-argument, of course, is that behavior is a product of socialization. Is the nature/nurture distinction still a useful difference?
Anthropologists Alan Goodman and Jonathan Marks join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Goodman is author of Races and Wrongs: Why Race Science Is Bad Science. Marks is author of What It Means to Be Ninety-eight Percent Chimpanzee. |
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Odyssey—August 17, 2005
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Politics and the Constitution in Iraq
Eric Davis—Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick
Kristen Stilt—Assistant Professor of Law, University of Washington
The Iraqi national assembly gave itself another week to draft a constitution. But it must still overcome many hurdles: the issue of regional autonomy, the role of Islam, who benefits from oil revenues. How are Iraqi politics playing out in the process?
Political scientist Eric Davis and legal scholar Kristen Stilt join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Davis is author of Memories of State: Politics, History, and Collective Identity in Modern Iraq. Stilt's article, “Islamic Law and the Making and Remaking of the Iraqi Legal System,” appeared in the George Washington International Law Review.
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Odyssey—August 16, 2005
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Imagining the Hillbilly
Dwight Billings—Professor of Sociology and Associate Director, Appalachian Center, University of Kentucky
Anthony Harkins—Assistant Professor of History, Western Kentucky University
Li'l Abner, Deliverance, The Dukes of Hazzard—hillbillies can symbolize rural backwardness, but they can also be nostalgic figures, evoking simpler times we've forgotten. Why does the hillbilly stereotype endure?
Historian Anthony Harkins and sociologist Dwight Billings join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Harkins is author of Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Icon. Billings is editor of Back Talk from Appalachia: Confronting Stereotypes. |
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Odyssey—August 15, 2005
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Literature and Economics
Catherine Gallagher—Professor of English, University of California, Berkeley
Bruce Robbins—Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
From the brutal social realism of the Nineteenth Century to contemporary narratives about globalization, how does literature help us understand the economy?
Literary scholars Bruce Robbins and Catherine Gallagher join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Robbins is author of Feeling Global: Internationalism in Distress. Gallagher is author of The Body Economic: Life, Death, and Sensation in Political Economy and the Victorian Novel. |
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Odyssey—August 12, 2005
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American Charity
Originally broadcast May 2, 2005
Arthur Brooks—Associate Professor of Public Administration and Director, Nonprofit Studies Program; Maxwell School, Syracuse University
David Hammack—Hiram C. Haydn Professor of History, Case Western Reserve University
Wealthy philanthropists such as Andrew Carnegie and Bill Gates attract attention with their large donations, but Americans at all levels of income are far more generous than their counterparts in other countries. What drives Americans to give?
Historian David Hammack and public policy expert Arthur Brooks join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Hammack is editor of Making the American Nonprofit Sector in the United States: A Reader. Brooks is finishing the book, Charity and Selfishness: The Truth about Who Gives in America and the World.
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Odyssey—August 11, 2005
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Sino-Japanese Relations
T. J. Pempel—Professor of Political Science and Director, Institute for East Asian Studies; University of California, Berkeley
Mark Selden—Professorial Associate, East Asia Program, Cornell University
Economic ties between China and Japan are growing stronger. But political tensions over how to remember World War Two and rising nationalism are straining the relationship. Is East Asia big enough for both of them?
Historian Mark Selden and political scientist T. J. Pempel join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Selden is coordinator of the online journal, Japan Focus. He's also author of the book, Revolution, Resistance, and Reform in Village China. Pempel is coeditor of Remapping East Asia: The Construction of a Region. |
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Odyssey—August 10, 2005
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The Value of Truth
Michael Lynch—Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Connecticut
Robert Talisse—Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University
In politics, the appearance of pursuing the truth obviously matters. Yet claiming to speak the truth can itself be a form of spin. So why, then, do we care about what's true?
Philosophers Michael Lynch and Robert Talisse join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Lynch is author of True to Life: Why Truth Matters. Talisse is author of Democracy After Liberalism. |
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Odyssey—August 9, 2005
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Northern Ireland and the Nature of Armed Conflicts
Shelley Deane—Visiting Professor, Department of Government and Legal Studies, Bowdoin College
John McGarry—Canada Research Chair in Nationalism and Democracy, Queen's University, Ontario
The Irish Republican Army has announced an end to its armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland. Does this transition have implications for other longstanding conflicts?
Political scientists John McGarry and Shelley Deane join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. McGarry is author of Northern Ireland and the Divided World. Deane is working on the book, Bargaining Peace: Negotiating Agreements and Security Pacts, the Israel-Palestinian and Northern Irish Cases Considered. |
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Odyssey—August 8, 2005
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Saudi Politics
Gregory Gause—Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Vermont
Joseph Kechichian—Adjunct Professor of U.S.-Middle East Relations, Pepperdine University
Most analysts agree that the death of King Fahd won't mean sudden change in U.S.-Saudi relations. But with new international attention on the kingdom after 9/11, what do political developments in Saudi Arabia mean for global politics?
Political scientists Joseph Kechichian and Gregory Gause join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Kechichian is author of Succession in Saudi Arabia. Gause is author of Oil Monarchies: Domestic and Security Challenges in the Arab Gulf States. |
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Odyssey—August 5, 2005
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Film Forum: The Remake
Lisa Fluet—Assistant Professor of English, Boston College
Hank Sartin—Contributing Writer, Time Out Chicago
Visit the local cineplex and you may get deja vu. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Bad News Bears, The Dukes of Hazzard; they're all remakes of old films and TV shows. What's behind the push to pull movies from the past?
Literary scholar Lisa Fluet and film critic Hank Sartin join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Fluet is writing the book, Vast Expertise: The New Class Character in the Twentieth Century.
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Odyssey—August 4, 2005
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The Public Life of the Fetus
Sarah Franklin—Associate Director, BIOS Center for the Study of Bioscience, Biomedicine, Biotechnology, and Society; London School of Economics
Susan Squier—Brill Professor of Women's Studies and English, Pennsylvania State University
Images of the human fetus appear on everything from CD covers to t-shirts to pro-life billboards. How has this public imagery influenced the way we think about reproduction?
Sociologist Sarah Franklin and literary scholar Susan Squier join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Franklin is author of Born and Made: An Ethnography of Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis. Squier is author of Liminal Lives: Imagining the Human at the Frontiers of Biomedicine. |
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Odyssey—August 3, 2005
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The Foreign
Timothy Brennan—Professor, Departments of English and Cultural Studies and of Comparative Literature; University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Rebecca Saunders—Associate Professor of English, Illinois State University
Sometimes the people, places, and things that are most exotic or unfamiliar are the most desirable. But foreignness can also be viewed as a threat. How do we go about identifying what is foreign?
Cultural studies scholar Timothy Brennan and literary scholar Rebecca Saunders join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Brennan is author of At Home in the World: Cosmopolitanism Now and Wars of Position: The Cultural Politics of Left and Right. Saunders is author of The Concept of the Foreign. She's also coeditor of the journal, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
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Odyssey—August 2, 2005
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The Culture of Culture
Matti Bunzl—Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Brad Evans—Associate Professor of English, Rutgers University, New Brunswick
We readily turn to culture to explain why different groups of people behave differently. But the idea itself is only about 100 years old. How did culture become the lens through which we understand social differences?
Literary scholar Brad Evans and anthropologist Matti Bunzl join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Evans is author of Before Cultures: Ethnographic Imagination in American Literature 1865–1920. Bunzl is author of Symptoms of Modernity: Jews and Queers in Late Twentieth Century Vienna.
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Odyssey—August 1, 2005
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Aesthetic Experience
Martin Jay—Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley
William Ray—Professor of French, Reed College
Efforts to define our aesthetic responses give rise to intense debate. And with the transition from traditional paintings and sculptures to performance art and video installations, it becomes even harder to specify what an aesthetic response is.
Literary scholar William Ray and historian Martin Jay join Chicago Public Radio's Gretchen Helfrich for the discussion. Ray is author of The Logic of Culture: Authority and Identity in the Modern Era. Jay is author of Songs of Experience: Modern American and European Variations on a Universal Theme. |
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