Pod Academy

“Biography is actually a quest for lives that speak to us” said biographer Hermione Lee. So what is the role of the biopic in contemporary film culture? What is it that we are looking for in the increasingly popular 'biopic' genre - films like Selma, Diana, Saving Mr Banks, 12 Years a Slave or The Wolf of Wall Street that claim to be based on real life events and aim to depict episodes in the lives of their protagonists? Pod Academy's film specialist, Esther Gaytan Fuertes, went to talk to Tom Brown and Belen Vidal, two lecturers in Film Studies at King’s College London, about their recent book, The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture, to find out more about this genre. Esther started by asking them if they felt the biopic was a neglected area in Film Studies.  Belen Vidal: Well, yes and no – it’s been studied but yes, perhaps it hasn’t been studied enough. The thing is that the biopic as a genre has always been there, I mean, it goes back to the beginning of film history. But the biopic has also cropped

If newspapers' online production is taking over from print - how should they be regulated?  They carry video and audio, yet are not subject to the same constraints as broadcast media.  This is the issue addressed by Hugh Linehan (twitter: @hlinehan), Digital Development Director of the Irish Times in this, the second half of his lecture at the Huston School of Film and Digital Media. The first half of the lecture, Hugh says, 'I work in a dying industry' and considers how newspapers can construct a business model that will fund good quality journalism. That podcast can be found here.

Is the need for ritual hard-wired into human beings? From a Cherokee medicine man smoking a pipe to Sufi mystics whirling in ecstasy or Pope Francis celebrating mass – different as they may seem, all of these people engage in a form of religious ritual. There are even secular rituals, such as the chanting on football terraces. Wherever you go in the world, you will find people engaging in some form of ritual. What is it that makes rituals so universally meaningful and compelling? To find out, Jane Little talks to Nicholas Taylor, a shamanic practitioner who’s undergone a ritualistic live burial; Peter Williams, a traditional Catholic; and Isabel Clarke, a clinical psychologist. This podcast was produced by CTVC for its Things Unseen series of podcasts. CTVC is an award-winning media company producing television, radio and new media content on social issues, current affairs, religion, ethics, history and education.  Pod Academy is grateful to them for enabling us to carry this podcast in our Faith and Non B

Some of us love fashion.  But all that alluring glamour comes at a price. Sally Feldman talks to journalist and campaigner, Tansy Hoskins, about her book Stitched Up: The anti-captalist book of fashion. They explore what is behind the clothes we wear - the money, the advertising that distorts women's bodies and the production in poor countries around the globe. But would fashion be any more sustainable under a different political system? Is green fashion a realistic alternative?  And do Soviet designers like Popova and Stefanova really offer an alternative?   Tansy E. Hoskins is a writer, journalist and activist. She has worked for Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Islam Channel. She writes for theGuardian and Business of Fashion, and has appeared on the BBC, Al Jazeera and Channel 4's Ten O'Clock Live.

"I work in a dying industry.  Newspapers will die. "And what happens to you when you know you're going to die?  It focuses the mind, it brings to the fore certain existential questions like, 'Who am I?'  'Why am I here?' 'What has it all been about?' "It might even raise the questions, 'Is death the end?' ' Is there life after death?'  What am I going to leave behind me?'  And,of course, it also raises the question, 'Help! Is there any medicine that can fix me or at least keep me going for a little while longer...." That is the view of Hugh Linehan, the Digital Development Editor of the Irish Times talking at The Huston School of Film and Digital Media in Galway, University of Ireland. The podcast is drawn from that presentation.  In it, Hugh Linehan takes a frank and sweeping look at the challenges facing newspapers – in print and online. We've known for a long time that big trouble was coming, he says. The twin pillars of newspaper revenues - sales and advertising - have been falling for many years. Us

When we think of the stuff that dreams are made on, we might think of the spirits that Shakespeare’s Prospero conjures up in “The Tempest”; we might think of stars, rainbows, maybe even wishing wells, but what probably doesn’t leap to mind is a loaf of Wonder Bread. And yet, ever since the invention of the mass-manufactured loaf of white bread in the 1920s, that spongy tasteless loaf has been a way in which Americans have defined themselves and one another. This podcast was made for the New Books Network, on their New Books on Food strand.  In it Eric LeMay talks to Aaron Bobrow-Strain, from Whitman College. In his new book, White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf (Beacon Press, 2012),  Aaron Bobrow-Strain shows us how that familiar slice of white bread is much more than a food. It’s a symbol, one that in its nearly hundred-year-old existence has come to represent “the apex of modern progress and the specter of physical decay, the promise of a better future to come and America’s fall from sma

Numbers have come to dominate our politics and our news cycle. GDP, inflation, CPI, RPI, credit ratings, FTSE, debt ratios, discount rates, the list goes on. While politicians and commentators wield these numbers to justify their decisions and criticise their opponents, not everyone is convinced we should allow numbers to dominate our political discourse. In this podcast, Alex Burd talks to Lorenzo Fioramonti, Associate Professor at the Department of Political Sciences and director of the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation of the University of Pretoria. and author of a new book, How Numbers Rule the World: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in Global Politics.  Note:  An Italian translation is available below this English transcript.   Lorenzo began by explaining his thesis. Lorenzo Fioramonti: We have created a system of accounting, of calculation, of numerical production that is governing all the decisions we take as a society. They dictate the choices that our policy makers take, they dictate

"Freedom of expression is the ultimate freedom.  It means the freedom to live, to think, to love and be loved, to be secure, to be happy...." So said Pakistani campaigner Shahzad Ahmad accepting the Advocacy Award at this year's Freedom of Expression Awards in London last week. Index on Censorship annual awards ceremony, honours the bravery, and dogged determination of campaigners, journalists and digital activists around the world who put their passion and commitment to free speech before their own personal safety, who challenge governments, gangs, and corporate interests who threaten freedom of expression. Our podcast gives you a brief insight into the courage of the nominees, and finishes with a great song from Egyptian hip hop artist Mayam Mahmoud (pictured) who addresses issues such as sexual harassment and women's rights in Egypt through her music.  Mayam won the Arts Award.  You'll find more information on the Awards on the Index website. Advocacy Award nominees Colectivo Chuhcan, a mental healt

This podcast is drawn from a lecture by celebrated Egyptian author Ahdaf Souief about the ongoing revolution in Egypt.  It was the annual lecture of the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) at Kings College, London  and was held at the end of 2013. The State Crime Initiative studies and records the violations of human rights by governments and other state actors – genocide, torture, brutality and also corruption, cronyism, economic exploitation and negligence. As Ahdaf Souief makes clear, these things often go together, and overturning a criminal state is a long term and dangerous undertaking. She takes as her starting point the events in Mohammed Mahmoud Street, one of the streets running into Tahrir Square, which has been the site of much police and army brutality, and where many activists have been killed, including Jika   . On the day of the lecture, there were memorial demonstrations in the street, and Ahdaf had come from there to London for the the lecture. Ahdaf is introduced by Profess

Disaster and emergency management expert, Samantha Ridler, explores the beginning of modern seismology . The earth has, since it creation been convulsed by earthquakes.   But mankind has only relatively recently come to study them in a scientific manner.  And much of this is thanks to an Englishman called John Milne. It is perhaps surprising that a man born in Liverpool in the 1850 is considered by some as the ‘Father’ of seismology.  After all the UK experiences very few earthquakes  that are of a scale even noticeable by residents. The majority of earthquakes that the UK does experience are often out in the North Sea. However John Milne studied Geology and Mining in the UK and was sent to Japan to teach about these subject, to the Japanese that had only a few decades earlier been forced from seclusion to open up to the rest of the world by the US. Now Japan is very different to the UK in it’s Geology.  Japan is part of the Pacific ring of fire and sits on top of the junction of 4 tectonic plates pushi

Mathematician Vicky Neale, senior teaching associate in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics in the University of Cambridge and director of studies at Murray Edwards College, is excited. She’s been watching some recent breakthroughs that mathematicians around the world have been making in a huge and open collaboration on an ancient mathematical problem. Neale tells Adam Smith how she is now building the news into her work that aims to improve the ways maths is taught. This podcast is produced and presented by Adam Smith   Adam Smith: I’m listening to a story about a lightbulb moment. That second when a school pupil’s eyebrows soar and her head lifts up: she’s got it. In this case, she’s found a solution to an algebra problem. Vicky Neale ...She suddenly realised that this algebra, which she’d sort of been introduced to at school, that she sort of half understood, that she could see why these manipulations worked. We drew a little picture, we talked about it, but she also sudde

 "Our minds are made up of all the same atoms and molecules as everything else in nature - the architecture of our brains was born from the same energy principles, the same pure mathematics that happens in flowers, and jellyfish and Higgs particles..." says astrophysicist Alan Lightman, Professor of the Practice of the Humanities. Creative Writing, Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in his new book The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew.  In this podcast he talks to Pod Academy's Craig Barfoot about the Big Bang (apparently it wasn't like an explosion), and how the universe created time and space when it started to expand.  He also takes us on a trip around multiverses, the many universes that science predicts exist, but which may be very different indeed from our own universe. But while it is possible that science may soon explain everything in the physical world, will it ever, he muses, be able to explain the feeling of being in love? Professor Lightman is an astrophy

In this podcast, David Garland, Professor of Sociology, Law at New York University and author of Peculiar Institution: America’s Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition talks to Benjamin Concannon Smith, co-host of the American Studies channel of the New Books Network. They explore.... - Why is it that the United States continues to enforce the death penalty when the rest of the Western world abolished its use a little over three decades ago? - Many US states were in the vanguard of the 20th century abolition movement - what changed? - Why does a country so concerned to contain the power of the state, nevertheless allow the state to take the lives of its citizens. - Why are the majority of death sentences (which are always discretionary, never mandatory) meted out to black men convicted of killing white people - so that the death penalty is widely seen as 'legal lynching' among African Americans and Latinos. - How come only 'Death Qualified Jurors', those who approve of the death penalty, get to sit on juri

"The Filipino is a truly global labour force. Filipino workers can be found in hundreds of countries around the world.  It is astounding to think that this archipelago in the middle of the Pacific can produce so many people who leave for so many destinations around the world," says Dr Robyn Rodriguez, assistant professor of Asian American Studies and author of Migrants for Export: How the Philippine State Brokers Labor to the World. In this podcast, first made for New Books in Asian American Studies, part of the New Books Network,  Robyn Rodriguez explores 'labour brokerage' with Christopher Patterson of University of Washington. Labour brokerage describes how the Philippine state mobilises its citizens and sends them abroad to work for employers throughout the world while generating profit from the remittances that migrants send back to their families and loved ones remaining in the Philippines. Christopher started by asking Robyn how she came to write about ‘labour brokerage’. Robyn Rodriguez:   I was bo

How good are we at understanding each other? Other people are complicated,  so when we try to guess what they’re thinking we often get it wrong.  Even with our partners!  Research suggests that partners are hardly any better (and sometimes worse) at guessing what each other believe or feel than a stranger. In this wide ranging conversation with Professor Nicholas Epley from Booth School of Business at Chicago University, and author of Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want,  Pod Academy's Craig Barfoot finds out about empathy, anthropomorphism, hubris and egocentricity. One thing they discuss is how our egocentricity makes us feel far more noticeable than we are.  As David Foster Wallace said, in Infinite Jest, “You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.” This was confirmed in what Professor Epley describes as 'the most liberating experiment in the entire field of psychology'. Research by Kenneth Savitsky; Th

United Nations officials have called for a complete end to genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) to ensure the dignity, health and well-being of every girl. There has been much talk about 'zero tolerance'.  But is zero tolerance the most effective way to end this abusive practice ? A huge international drive against female genital mutilation (FGM) by women’s rights and health campaigners has resulted in the outlawing of FGM in many countries,. But it continues to be widely practised. Amanda Barnes talks to Dr Kirrily Pells from the Young Lives research study at Oxford University’s International Development Department, about their research on FGM in Ethiopia. Amanda Barnes:  Kirrily, a Young Lives study looked at FGM in Ethiopia and the efforts the government’s been taking to eliminate it there. Kirrily Pells There’s considerable variation in the country between different ethnic and religious groups and between the different regions of the country in terms of the prevalence of FGM, which form of FGM and at

In a globalised market economy, even nations have been branding themselves. 'Cool Britannia', Brazil a vibrant world class player, Italy the nation of high fashion and great food are just some examples.  Can rebranding really maintain, extend, or even reconstitute the nation? Jeff Pooley of Muhlenberg College, interviews Rutgers' Melissa Aronczyk, author of Branding the Nation: The Global Business of National Identity. This podcast first appeared on New Books in Communications, a channel of the New Books Network. In Branding the Nation, Melissa locates the rise of nation branding as a response to the perceived need to sculpt national identity in the face of a fiercely competitive global economy. Tracking the history of the nation-branding phenomenon, Aronczyk recounts the rise and spread of the very idea of national “competitiveness,” a discourse that, in effect, created a market that branding specialists then tapped. The book engages with the large scholarly literature on nations and nationalism, argui

In 1960 the Congo was in turmoil, facing instability, civil war and secession after its newly won independence.  It asked, not for the last time, for the help of the United Nations and UN troops were sent. A year later, a Swedish aircraft on a peace mission carrying 16 people, one of them the UN Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjöld, circled over the rain forest of Central Africa.  As it came into land it crashed, killing all on board. There has never been a satisfactory explanation of that plane crash, despite three inquiries. Unsurprisingly, conspiracy theories and speculation are legion. Now, more than 50 years later, a Commission of distinguished jurists, has re-opened the case and they have come up with some startling new leads. The Hammarskjöld Commission is a voluntary body of four international jurists who were invited by an international Enabling Committee to report whether in their view the evidence now available would justify the United Nations in reopening its inquiry pursuant to General Assembl

The abiding rhetoric of US foreign policy is 'freedom and democracy': "We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom." [President Barack Obama, 2nd term inauguration speech]. But as David Sylvan, Professor of International Relations, and Former Head of the Political Science Department at Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, co-author of the book US Foreign Policy in Perspective: Clients, Enemies and Empire, explains to Craig Barfoot, it really isn't quite like that.   Much of US foreign policy (as even the CIA would concede, says Professor Sylvan) revolves around acquiring clients, maintaining clients and engaging in hostile policies against enemies deemed to threaten them.  It is a peculiarly American form of imperialism. Ranging over examples -  from US support for a monarchy in Saudi Arabia,           its support for cou

The role of large corporations in lobbying for policy change was the subject of a workshop at Medact's recent conference. A number of Government appointed expert committees have recently made recommendations on pressing health issues, including minimum pricing of alcohol and food labelling. But their proposals have been kicked into the long grass by government after intensive lobbying by the food and drinks industry. David Miller, Professor of Sociology at the University of Bath explained how companies have a number of different ways of exerting influence on policy at a national and European level, including the presence and popularity of their brands, think tanks, lobbying groups, 'partnership bodies' where EU civil servants and industry representatives together advise the EU on policy, charities (funded by the industry) which purport to represent 'consumer interests', sophisticated PR, and 'the revolving door' through which civil servants move from Government departments straight into related jobs in indu