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Robert Springborg is an internationally renowned historian, scholar, and advisor on the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). He is a Research Fellow at the Italian Institute of International Affairs and Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University. He has written extensively on the region, including the recent books Egypt’s New Authoritarian Republic (2025) and Political Economy, Power, and Cultural Heritage in the Arab World (2025).

Our conversation with Robert unfolds over three episodes. The first explores the history, economics, and politics of the Middle East and North Africa and their particular relevance today. The second examines what Robert calls the “Arab dignity deficit”—the inequalities that shape life across the region and the challenges they pose for future stability. The third turns to culture and cultural heritage: how institutions use them to reinforce power, and what is needed to ensure that cultures, traditions, and the objects that embody them are respected and preserved.

Robert Springborg is an internationally renowned historian, scholar, and advisor on the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). He is a Research Fellow at the Italian Institute of International Affairs and Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University. He has written extensively on the region, including the recent books Egypt’s New Authoritarian Republic (2025) and Political Economy, Power, and Cultural Heritage in the Arab World (2025).

Our conversation with Robert unfolds over three episodes. The first explores the history, economics, and politics of the Middle East and North Africa and their relevance today. The second examines what Robert calls the “Arab dignity deficit”—the inequalities that shape life across the region and the challenges they pose for future stability. The third turns to culture and cultural heritage: how institutions use them to reinforce power, and what is needed to ensure that cultures, traditions, and the objects that embody them are respected and preserved.

Robert Springborg is an internationally renowned historian, scholar, and advisor on the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). He is a Research Fellow at the Italian Institute of International Affairs and Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University. He has written extensively on the region, including the recent books Egypt’s New Authoritarian Republic (2025) and Political Economy, Power, and Cultural Heritage in the Arab World (2025).

Our conversation with Robert unfolds over three episodes. The first explores the history, economics, and politics of the Middle East and North Africa and their relevance today. The second examines what Robert calls the “Arab dignity deficit”—the inequalities that shape life across the region and the challenges they pose for future stability. The third turns to culture and cultural heritage: how institutions use them to reinforce power, and what is needed to ensure that cultures, traditions, and the objects that embody them are respected and preserved.

Part Two, “Keeping Beauty Alive,” explores how Karolina Merska moves from preserving tradition to giving it new life. Through her own contemporary work, Folka, teaching, writing, and travel, she shows how traditional craft can evolve while honoring its origins—and how making can reconnect people with culture, community, and one another. Ultimately, the conversation asks whether traditions survive not simply by being preserved, but by being loved, practiced, shared, and allowed to evolve.

Part One, “Searching for Forgotten Crafts,” traces Karolina Merska’s journey into the nearly forgotten world of Polish folk traditions. Through her discovery of pająki—delicate chandeliers made from rye straw and paper—she seeks out traditional makers, learns their techniques, and discovers the rituals, stories, and sense of community embedded in their work. Her journey becomes not simply about learning a craft, but about preserving cultural knowledge at risk of disappearing.

In conversation with Royce Epstein, Senior Director, Design Insights for Mohawk Group, we explore an idea as old as making itself: technology isn't the opposite of craft. It has always been part of it.

Returning to the ancient Greek idea of techne—the art, craft and skill of making—Royce explores the enduring relationship between human creativity and the tools we create.

As our digital tools become increasingly powerful, perhaps the more important question isn't what technology can make—but what we choose to make with it.

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#DignifyAudio #Techne #HumanCreativity #Craft #Technology #Design #Innovation #HumanDignity

Episode seven concludes by offering up a suggestion for who could lead this campaign, by identifying individuals who, in serving at the nexus of community and commerce, stand at the forefront of change. And it offers specific recommendations as to how you might help.

Episode 7

• 00:00 Introduction to Dignity by Design Podcast
• 01:30 A Letter to America: Who Might Lead?
• 05:14 The Role of Creatives and Makers in Change
• 09:22 Engaging Communities for a Better Future
• 11:09 Rediscovering Our Origins and Taking Back Power

Presenter: William Wanker

Co Founder and Co Creator of Human Dignity Projects & Dignify magazine

LEARN MORE:

• Join our community: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/
• Dignify Magazine: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/magazine
• Events: Dignify by Design Summit https://www.humandignityprojects.org/dignify-by-design-summit
• Respecting People, Place & Tradition Presentation: https://vimeo.com/1128831372?fl=pl&fe=vl

CONNECT

• Email us at: [email protected]
• Follow us: @dignify_mag

LISTEN

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033urqHgPJ4vYkq7zfixB6?si=156f2c49020544c2

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dig-ni-fy-audio/id1896892888

Website: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/podcast

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on Spotify by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

Episode six goes further that most commentators by offering up a plan to achieve the goal of political reform through the eco-cultural community framework. It articulates how Human Dignity Projects could serve both a research and marketing function, developing ideas and promoting actions aligned with human dignity and greater enfranchisement. And it outlines the Campaign for Human Dignity, which itself might evolve from an educational platform to a voluntary association and ultimately a new political party.

Episode six sets the stage for discussing who among us might lead.

Episode 6

• 00:00 Introduction to the Campaign for Human Dignity
• 00:54 The Framework of Human Dignity Projects
• 02:55 Design as a Language of Culture
• 05:59 Building Community through Engagement
• 08:55 The Role of Salons in Local Discussions
• 11:56 Transitioning to a Political Movement
• 15:07 Establishing the Dignity Party
• 17:56 Strategies for Political Engagement
• 20:52 Long-term Vision for Eco-Cultural Communities
• 23:55 Conclusion and Call to Action

Presenter: William Wanker

Co Founder and Co Creator of Human Dignity Projects & Dignify magazine

LEARN MORE:

• Join our community: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/
• Dignify Magazine: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/magazine
• Events: Dignify by Design Summit https://www.humandignityprojects.org/dignify-by-design-summit
• Respecting People, Place & Tradition Presentation: https://vimeo.com/1128831372?fl=pl&fe=vl

CONNECT

• Email us at: [email protected]
• Follow us: @dignify_mag

LISTEN

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033urqHgPJ4vYkq7zfixB6?si=156f2c49020544c2

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dig-ni-fy-audio/id1896892888

Website: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/podcast

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on Spotify by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

Episode five establishes a way forward, grounding the eco-cultural community in moral and ethical arguments, as well as in historical evidence and new economic and environmental studies. It is here the argument is put forward that human dignity and living a dignified human existence needs to underpin the eco-cultural community.

Episode five sets the stage for establishing the “Campaign for Human Dignity.”

Episode 5

• 00:00 Introduction to Dignity by Design
• 00:56 The Eco Cultural Community Framework
• 02:52 Historical Context and Bioregionalism
• 05:09 The Polycrisis and Its Implications
• 08:32 Reimagining Governance and Community
• 10:56 Voices of the People in Eco Cultural Communities
• 12:56 Sustainable Reform and National Scale Change
• 14:41 Call to Action for Change

Presenter: William Wanker

Co Founder and Co Creator of Human Dignity Projects & Dignify magazine

LEARN MORE:

• Join our community: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/
• Dignify Magazine: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/magazine
• Events: Dignify by Design Summit https://www.humandignityprojects.org/dignify-by-design-summit
• Respecting People, Place & Tradition Presentation: https://vimeo.com/1128831372?fl=pl&fe=vl

CONNECT

• Email us at: [email protected]
• Follow us: @dignify_mag

LISTEN

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033urqHgPJ4vYkq7zfixB6?si=156f2c49020544c2

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dig-ni-fy-audio/id1896892888

Website: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/podcast

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on Spotify by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

Episode four – released on July 4th, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence – sets forth the means for the populace to take back power, one that grounds its argument in America’s founding, thereby legitimating the cause called for, which is true revolutionary reform.

Episode four sets the stage for recommending the eco-cultural community as a framework through which to build off the foundations of old in a new way.

Episode 4

• 00:00 Introduction to Dignity by Design
• 00:55 A Letter to America: Taking Back Power
• 01:28 The Call for Revolutionary Reform
• 06:36 The Promise of Founding Principles
• 08:00 The Right to Alter Government
• 10:38 Understanding Protest Movements
• 12:24 Collective Action and Revolutionary Movements
• 14:25 Exploring Alternative Governance Models
• 18:34 The Challenges of Reform
• 21:28 The Need for Change
• 23:08 Building an Ecocultural Community

Presenter: William Wanker

Co Founder and Co Creator of Human Dignity Projects & Dignify magazine

LEARN MORE:

• Join our community: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/
• Dignify Magazine: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/magazine
• Events: Dignify by Design Summit https://www.humandignityprojects.org/dignify-by-design-summit
• Respecting People, Place & Tradition Presentation: https://vimeo.com/1128831372?fl=pl&fe=vl

CONNECT

• Email us at: [email protected]
• Follow us: @dignify_mag

LISTEN

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033urqHgPJ4vYkq7zfixB6?si=156f2c49020544c2

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dig-ni-fy-audio/id1896892888

Website: https://www.humandignityprojects.org/podcast

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on Spotify by hitting the subscribe button on the app.