Shows
Humanities ViewpointsThe Persian Card Room at Graylyn EstateToday I’m talking with Dr. Charles Wilkins, Wake Forest Associate Professor of History, Wake Forest Senior Reid Simpson, and Dr. Anke Scharrahs, independent scholar and conservator.Dr. Scharrahs is an internationally recognized conservator specializing in Islamic art and currently living in Germany. She is visiting Wake Forest as a scholar in residence from February 10th through the 20th. The focus of her attention will be a space in Graylyn Manor House known as the Persian Card Room, an early example of an Ottoman residential space dating from the early 18th century. The panels decorating the room were ac...
2020-02-1743 minHumanities ViewpointsThe Lynn Book Project and Digital HumanitiesToday on the podcast, I talk with Lynn Book and Carrie Johnston about the Lynn Book Project, an uncommon Digital Humanities pilot project that preserves and reinvents the multimedia creative and scholarly work of Lynn Book at the nexus of the Arts and the Humanities. Since 2017, Book has been developing her archive that spans a framework of interrogations and serves as a pilot for Digital Humanities archiving practices with support from the Humanities Institute and the Digital Scholarship Initiative at Wake Forest University.Lynn Book is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Wake...
2019-04-0136 minHumanities ViewpointsThe WFU Art Acquisitions Trip and Art in Public SpacesMy guests for this episode are Professor John Curley and Professor Leigh Ann Hallberg. They have both led the Wake Forest University Art Acquisitions Trip in which a group of six Wake Forest students purchase art from New York galleries to add to the Student Union Collection. Our conversation will touch on a number of topics related to this trip, including the history of the trip itself and how students prepare for it, the role of art in public spaces, what it means to build a collection, and how art can capture and reflect the cultural and political concerns of...
2017-09-2927 minHumanities ViewpointsAmerican/MedievalToday on Humanities Viewpoints I talk with professors Gillian Overing and Ulrike Wiethaus about the recent publication of the book they co-edited: American/Medieval: Nature and Mind in Cultural Transfer. The project began with the Humanities Institute-sponsored interdisciplinary faculty seminar called American/Medieval, which led to the group representing the institute and Wake Forest in organizing a roundtable discussion on the American/Medieval at the Leeds International Medieval Congress in 2014. We discuss this project from a number of different angles, including developing a definition, connections between American/Medieval and our contemporary world, approaching these topics in the classroom, and future...
2017-03-0727 minHumanities ViewpointsDecoding MorseSamuel F.B. Morse is perhaps best known for his invention of the single-wire telegraph system and the co-inventor of Morse code. However, he was also an artist, and his work, The Gallery of the Louvre, is the subject of today’s episode, a conversation with Morna O’Neill, Associate Professor of Art History at Wake Forest University. Professor O’Neill discusses Morse’s identity as an artist, his intentions in creating The Gallery of the Louvre, his relationship to technology, and the questions this particular painting raises for contemporary audiences.Professor O’Neill will also moderate the special ev...
2017-02-1630 minHumanities ViewpointsFamiliar Prejudices from Unexpected SourcesThis month’s episode marks the first Roundtables episode of Humanities Viewpoints in which a group of Wake Forest faculty gather to discuss a topic from the lens of their respective fields. Today, our topic is “Familiar Prejudices from Unexpected Sources.” Our conversation includes discussions of anti-Greek sentiments in Roman satire, Ancient Greek and Roman anti-Semitism, women’s involvement in the second era Ku Klux Klan, imagined histories, and the rhetoric of the 2016 Presidential campaign.My guests are T.H.M Gellar-Goad, Jeffrey D. Lerner, and Lynn S. Neal.T. H. M. Gellar-Goad is Assistant Professor of Class...
2016-11-0842 minHumanities ViewpointsHamilton: The Man and the MusicalWelcome back!Hamilton: An American Musical tells the story of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. It was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda who also starred in the title role. It debuted Off-Broadway at the Public Theatre to critical acclaim and transferred to Broadway in August 2015.Since then it was nominated for a record-setting 16 Tony Awards, winning 11, including Best Musical as well as awards for Best Book and Best Score for its creator, Miranda. It was also the recipient of the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It’s even made its wa...
2016-08-3022 minHumanities ViewpointsThe Enduring Relevance of Thomas More's UtopiaThis month's guest is Dr. Sarah Hogan. She’ll be talking about utopian literature, specifically Thomas More’s Utopia from 1516. We’ll discuss the etymology of the word utopia, the history of More’s book and its relevance today, as well as the current pervasiveness of dystopias, utopian literature's sister genre.Sarah Hogan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Wake Forest University. Her teaching and research interests are in early modern British literature, Utopian Studies, and cultural theory. She is currently at work on a book, Island Worlds and Other Englands: Utopia, Capital, and Empire...
2016-02-2634 minHumanities ViewpointsArt History and the Destruction of PalmyraThis past May, the ancient Roman-era city and UNESCO World Heritage site of Palmyra in Syria was seized by ISIS. Later in the summer, Khaled al-Asaad, an 82-year-old archaeologist and renowned antiquities scholar, was brutally murdered in Palmyra by Islamic State militants when he refused to reveal where valuable artifacts had been moved. Since then, ISIS has set about demolishing the architectural riches of the city. Why is the preservation of these sites and the objects within them so important, a life or death matter for someone like al-Asaad?Dr. Laura Veneskey joins Humanities Viewpoints this month to...
2015-11-1925 minHumanities ViewpointsRising Voices Conference and LGBTQIA RightsThis past June, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples can marry nationwide, an historic victory for gay rights. While this landmark decision was cause for much celebration, marriage equality is hardly the end of the struggle for LGBTQ rights. This issue and many others will be discussed at Rising Voices: A Wake Forest Alumni LGBTQIA Conference which will be held on the Wake Forest University campus October 23rd and 24th. You can register for the Rising Voices Conference by visiting lgbtq.wfu.edu/risingvoices.In this month’s bonus episode of Humanities Viewpoints, Wake Forest LGBTQ Center Di...
2015-10-1520 minHumanities ViewpointsCoptic Christians in EgyptLast week it was released that work will soon begin on a church planned to honor the deaths of a group of Egyptian Coptic Christians who were killed earlier this year by a Libyan militant group affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). This is just one instance of violence against Coptic Christians in the Middle East, part of a complex history of persecution that goes back hundreds of years and continues today. On this episode of Humanities Viewpoints, Dr. Nelly van Doorn-Harder talks with me about the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church...
2015-10-0531 minHumanities ViewpointsEpisode 10: A History of Violence Against African American ChurchesIt’s good to be back after the summer break, and we have some interesting episodes lined up for the fall. Look for a new episode on the first of every month (with the possibility of bonus episodes throughout the semester).Ronald Neal, Assistant Professor in the Wake Forest University Department for the Study of Religions, is our guest today and will talk with me about the tragic shooting in Charleston this summer. Nine people were shot and killed during a Bible study session at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17th. This ch...
2015-09-0131 minHumanities ViewpointsPublic HistoryThis episode of Humanities Viewpoints, our first for 2015, is about Public History. Academics engaging and working with public audiences is getting a good deal of attention. The annual meeting of the American Historical Association earlier this month included a panel session called, “Being a Public Intellectual: Historians and the Public.” Also, just this past December, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced the creation of their new “Public Scholar Grant Program” that encourages the publication of nonfiction books that apply serious humanities scholarship to subjects of general interest and appeal.Dr. Lisa Blee, Assistant Professor of History at Wake For...
2015-01-1427 minHumanities ViewpointsChristmas Traditions and the Victorian PeriodHappy Holidays, listeners! Today on the podcast, we’re taking a look at Christmas traditions. Decorating the Christmas tree, sending cards, and buying presents. Some of you may be planning (or fretting over) some of these activities at the moment, but where do these traditions come from? My guest, Dr. Melissa Shields Jenkins, explains that many of the traditions we take for granted during the Christmas season are rooted in the Victorian period. During the 19th Century, a kind of re-creation of Christmas took place, and the texts and images created during this period helped to not only sh...
2014-12-1226 minHumanities ViewpointsISIS and the CaliphateThe Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIS, also known as ISIL, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or just the Islamic State, started as an al Qaeda splinter group. Its aim is to create an Islamic state across Sunni areas of Iraq and Syria and is known for killing dozens of people at a time and carrying out public executions. The group currently controls hundreds of square miles in Iraq and Syria. On June 29, 2014, ISIS announced the creation of a caliphate, claiming to erase all state borders and declaring leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the authority over...
2014-12-0428 minHumanities ViewpointsDiwaliDiwali has become a national festival that is celebrated throughout India and other parts of South Asia by many different faiths including Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs. The main festival night of Diwali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu calendar (between mid-October and mid-November in the Gregorian calendar), and this year the darkest night was October 23rd.In this episode, Dr. Tanisha Ramachandran, Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Religion at Wake Forest University, talks about the history and cultural significance of the Diwali festival including how the celebration varies by region and religious...
2014-11-0520 minHumanities ViewpointsGothic LiteratureHalloween, thought to be rooted in the Gaelic harvest festival Samhain, is seen as a time for ghosts, ghouls, and all things terrifying. Contemporary celebrations of Halloween often include trick-or-treating, costume parties, visiting haunted houses, watching horror films, and of course, telling scary ghost stories. But some of these activities are not limited to October 31st. Horror movies fill movie theatres all year round, and vampires and zombies are pervasive in popular culture. Where does this enjoyment in scaring ourselves come from? Dr. Elizabeth Way, Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Wake Forest University, talks with me about...
2014-10-3116 minHumanities ViewpointsEpisode 4: OktoberfestWhen I say the word Oktoberfest, you might immediately think of oompah bands, lederhosen, and, of course, beer. But what is the history of this event, and how might our vision of this celebration be influenced by an American appropriation of the festival? My guest today, Dr. Grant McAllister, Associate Professor of German and Chair of the German & Russian Department at Wake Forest University, discusses the historical roots of Oktoberfest, the ways in which it has changed and been Americanized and how that may have influenced the way it is celebrated in Germany today. Dr. McAllister...
2014-10-0120 minHumanities ViewpointsRosh Hashanah and Yom KippurMy guest today, Dr. Annalise Glauz-Todrank, talks about the history of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the meaning of their connection, as well as her approach to teaching their history in her courses. Annalise Glauz-Todrank is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Wake Forest University. She is a historian of religions and critical race theorist who studies Jews and Judaism in a variety of modern contexts. Currently, she is completing a manuscript entitled Jewish Identity between “Religion” and “Race” in Shaare Tefila Congregation v. Cobb, in which she examines the 1987 U.S. Supreme Court case that provided...
2014-09-3022 minHumanities ViewpointsScottish Literature and Scottish IndependenceMy guest is Ryan Shirey, Director of the Writing Center and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Writing Program at Wake Forest University as well as a scholar of Scottish literature. He has written and presented on a number of topics related to Scottish literature, most recently contributing a chapter on John Buchan’s use of dialect Scots in his poetry for the edited collection: /John Buchan and the Idea of Modernity/. He has another chapter forthcoming for the Association for Scottish Literary Studies companion to the work of Scottish novelist Lewis Grassic Gibbon.He offers his thoughts on th...
2014-09-1719 min
Humanities ViewpointsLabor Day with Michele GillespieHumanities Viewpoints is a podcast featuring a conversation between host and Wake Forest University Humanities Institute Program Coordinator, Aimee Mepham, and a WFU faculty member working in the humanities. The conversations focus on a timely subject - a current event, holiday, cultural experience - and how this subject connects to the faculty member's field, teaching, and expertise. The conversations are broadcast to a wide audience.The first episode, "Labor Day," features guest faculty member Michele Gillespie, WFU Presidential Endowed Professor of Southern History.
2014-08-2617 min