In this episode, we are joined by Alia Levar Wegner, a digital collections librarian at Miami University in Ohio, Brenda Foster, an archivist at the Columbus College of Art and Design, Nick Pavlik, a manuscripts and digital initiatives archivist at the Center for Archival Collections at BGSU, and Janet Rhodes, supervisor of digitization services with the Toledo Lucas County Public Library. Listen as they share their experience making a short educational film, Learning to Listen: Rethinking the Approach to Community Archiving, focused on community informed digitization practices that avoid an extractive approach. With this project, they invite us to listen to communities and to respect their views. As they explain, the team strives to rethink mainstream academic archival practices that do not take communities' needs and values into consideration. This project was supported by an Innovative Librarians Explore, Apply, and Discover (ILEAD) grant. You can watch Learning to Listen: Rethinking the Approach to Community Archiving on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5mvGAPId5AQ?si=HoITNfrkO4eteLaE.

A transcript for this episode can be found here:

https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/hahetwtzY-Yd_elv8faKDB25GAclM5SgC8dYiSXNu3zTbXzFlW-8KeKaUmXFnsbGVQdTcMjP3vIUQ2BrDuaXFcMwaPI?loadFrom=SharedLink

In this episode, we are joined by Traci Sorell, an author and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and Dr. Colleen Boff, Head Librarian of BGSU's Curriculum Resource Center. Listen as they discuss the importance of representing contemporary and historical Native American stories and nations in public education and children’s literature. This conversation focuses on the importance of diversity and inclusion in books about native peoples, and the need for multicultural stories. They speak on the erasure of tribal stories in historical education, libraries, and book publishing. Find more of Traci Sorell’s work and free educational resources at her website: https://www.tracisorell.com/.

Transcript for this episode available here:

https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/dG3GvM4WlugFRhTi38Oy1IOtV3AGAhGu0NfLFEdo8EzU4bLQL85hixsyZ5qRNqpSoa0bmBnGHwpkjGo430rtlPwhHDM?loadFrom=SharedLink

In this episode, we are joined by graduate students John King and Ahmad Bilal from BGSU, and Zara Anwarzai and Anne Kavalerchik from Indiana University to discuss their interest in and research on graduate working conditions and class differences. Both Zara and Anne were part of a successful unionization campaign for graduate students at Indiana University and shared their experiences.

The conversation centers around class inequality in higher education and, specifically, the need for better working conditions for graduate students. Listen as the group discusses the impact of graduate student unionization and calls for class inclusivity in academia.

In this episode, Dr. Rachel Ann Walsh, Associate Teaching Professor and Graduate coordinator in the Department of English at Bowling Green State University and Dr. Thomas Edge, Associate Teaching Professor at the Department of Ethnic Studies, also at BGSU, share their experiences teaching James Baldwin to a wide range of students. Their conversation underscores the novelty of Baldwin's ideas on race, gender and sexuality back in the 60s and how they foreground the call for an intersectional approach. They invite us to see Baldwin's contributions to current debates around the fluidity of gender and the ongoing problematization of whiteness as America's goal. Listen to Dr. Edge and Dr. Walsh as they engage in a lively discussion of Baldwin's works (from The Fire Next Time to Giovanni's Room to Another Country) and the relevance of the issues that they raise to this day. Find out about Baldwin's lasting impact both at the local level (he was a Visiting Professor at BGSU in 1979) and nationally, for instance with regards to the Black Lives Matter movement.

A transcript for this episode can be found here:

https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/7HS_mmAfLiSQKhldDqWkOMJY1OFgwkKjwrmlgN87VmoytPbb85LBJnZTwExSykqSzbmWFwRJ83pwtIaT3_yL93xqi7w?loadFrom=SharedLink

In this episode, Katherina Braschel, prize-winning Vienna-based author and the Spring 2024 Max Kade Writer in Residence at Bowling Green State University and Dr. Christina Guenther, professor of German in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at BGSU talk about creative writing, cross-cultural communication, and the many ways in which literature allows us to document the world around us, grapple with the past and imagine the future. Both discuss the impact of language learning, translations and literary writing in the German speaking context, while Katherina Braschel shares her experience teaching Austrian literature and creative writing to BGSU students, as well as her own journey as a writer. The hidden gem in this episode is the bilingual reading at the end: Listen to Katherina Braschel reading an excerpt from Es fehlt viel in Deutsch and Christina Guenther read the English translation by Geoff Howes. Curious? Here you can find the German original: https://www.liberladen.org/product/katherina-braschel-es-fehlt-viel/. And here is Katherina Braschel's Website: www.katherinabraschel.com.

In this episode, Fall 2024 ICS Faculty Fellow Dr. Scott Piroth, Teaching Professor in the Department of Political Sciences at BGSU and longtime curling enthusiast, converses with Team USA curling athlete Laura Dwyer about issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in curling clubs both in Canada and the US. Their conversation highlights the need for better quality instruction especially for adaptive curlers, from peoples with a knee injury to peoples on wheelchairs, while acknowledging that curling clubs offer excellent opportunities to peoples with different abilities, as Laura's experience demonstrates. At the same time, Dr. Piroth brings attention to the fact that curling clubs see themselves as welcoming, inclusive spaces and, yet, they are not aware of who is not there, especially in terms of race and ethnicity. Conversely, he considers how Putnam's notion of thin trust may help us understand not just why curlers generally believe that peoples they encounter are trustworthy, but how their approach to trust and community can be applied outside of the world of curling.

In this episode, Dr. Timothy Messer-Kruse, Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at BGSU, and a Spring 2024 Faculty Fellow with ICS, discusses his latest research on the history of civics education in the United States. He argues that the goal behind civics is to teach certain behaviors (i.e. how to be a good citizen) instead of teaching knowledge and facts. Listen to him as he delves into the history of the very idea that we need to teach people how to be (good) citizens, its ties to racist prejudices against different populations and their ideas of citizenship, and the emergence of a "civics industrial complex."

Transcript for this episode available here:

https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/bbikrcMtdha90LbSHK3pNsKWOaRXCa7atdn0n5TgwOeEQjIEP09S_bRst1DrSIJaKijbX-CYgQsyciOvBHHv_VOkQC0?loadFrom=SharedLink

In this episode, Dr. Sidra Lawrence, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Director of the Afro-Caribbean Ensemble at BGSU, together with several members of BGSU's Afro-Caribbean Ensemble, share their experiences playing African and African diasporic music for an American audience. Both Sidra and the ensemble underline the complexity and sophistication of African and African diasporic music, arguing that it deserves as much study and attention as Western art music. The clips from their recordings included in this episode demonstrate the bandwidth of African music. As Sidra, Clayton and Téo eloquently argue, rethinking the African and Afro Diasporic music repertoire allows us to see its key contributions to US American and world culture, not as folklore, influence or inspiration, but as one of its main driving forces. Not surprisingly, the students who are part of the ensemble share how playing this repertoire has challenged them to improvise and explore and has furthered their training as musicians.

In this episode, Carlos Andrés Gómez, award winning Colombian American poet and author of Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood (Penguin Random House), is joined by Amanda Anastasia Paniagua, PhD student and Assistant Director for Belonging and Engagement at the Office of Multicultural Affairs at BGSU, to talk about poetry, performance and education. They invite us to think about both poetry and research as catalysts to imagine and forge a more inclusive and equitable world and, in this sense, as political tools. Their conversation delves into how, for Carlos, poetry has been a practice towards peeling off colonial and patriarchal impositions to the identity he was expected to embody as a Latino man. Similarly, her research in higher education allows Amanda to question the status quo in terms of roles and positions that are considered suitable for Latinx peoples in the United States.

Transcript for this episode available here:

https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/wutrr-UoHE3z93W0CTNCCq3v_PZgfC1kazCH9Cf6v6Lx653zNSjhh_M7vk-SJ3YCu0dVs2tifXTHxria9g7PC-LbNK8?loadFrom=SharedLink

Journalist Putsata Reang discuss her award-winning book "Ma and Me: A Memoir," about growing up as a Cambodian American refugee and gay woman. She is joined by Dr. Sue Ellen McComas, associate professor of Speech Communication at BGSU Firelands and recipient of the 2019 Women of Distinction award at BGSU. Together, they talk about exploring your identity, finding your voice as an adult, and supporting others' journeys to belong.

Putsata visits BGSU Firelands on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. For more information, see: https://events.bgsu.edu/event/putsata