In this special episode on everyday life in the COVID-19 pandemic recorded during the UK lockdown, Dr Emma Hart (University of Pennsylvania) talks about how the pandemic caused her to reflect differently on the 18th-century diarists she studies, and Prof. Kate Ferris (University of St Andrews) discusses how the insights and conceptual tools of everyday life history can be used to interpret the furore over the Scotch egg and the “substantial meal”.

This podcast was originally published on 8th November 2021 as part of the ERC research project ‘Dictatorship as experience: A comparative history of everyday life and the ‘lived experience’ of dictatorship in Mediterranean Europe (1922-1975)’ led by Prof. Kate Ferris at the University of St Andrews. To learn more about the wider project, visit: ⁠arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/everyday-dictatorship/⁠

Hosted by: Dr Huw Halstead

Produced by: Dr Huw Halstead

Music by: Oi Palaiológoi (Violin - Roddy Beaton, Outi - David Hughes)

A landlady whose miniature silt island was at the centre of an Anglo-French territorial spat. The Scottish noblewoman who freed her kidnapped husband by masterminding an abduction of her own. The Greeks who reach back in time to memories of famine to understand the financial crisis. The ancient potter whose thumbprint has survived the ages. And the temptation of the box marked ‘Happiness’. Join Dr Huw Halstead, Prof. Kate Ferris and Prof. Claire Langhamer for this edited recording of our live podcast at the 2020 Being Human Festival, and dive into these miniature worlds with special guests Dr Akhila Yechury (University of St Andrews), Dr Daniel Knight (University of St Andrews), Dr Amy Blakeway (University of St Andrews), and Prof. Rebecca Sweetman (University of St Andrews).

This podcast was recorded at the Being Human Festival in November 2020, and was originally published on 7th October 2020 as part of the ERC research project ‘Dictatorship as experience: A comparative history of everyday life and the ‘lived experience’ of dictatorship in Mediterranean Europe (1922-1975)’ led by Prof. Kate Ferris at the University of St Andrews. To learn more about the wider project, visit: ⁠arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/everyday-dictatorship/⁠

Hosted by: Dr Huw Halstead

Produced by: Dr Huw Halstead

Music by: Oi Palaiológoi (Violin - Roddy Beaton, Outi - David Hughes)

What’s it like to live in a country dealing with the traumatic aftermath of a genocide? And in a country that also criminalises most public expressions or discussions of ethnicity? Dr Meghan Laws (University of St Andrews) joins us to talk about her work in Rwanda and the ‘hidden transcripts’ of ethnicity that lie beneath the surface of the official ‘ethnic amnesia’.

This podcast was originally published on 25th February 2021 as part of the ERC research project ‘Dictatorship as experience: A comparative history of everyday life and the ‘lived experience’ of dictatorship in Mediterranean Europe (1922-1975)’ led by Prof. Kate Ferris at the University of St Andrews. To learn more about the wider project, visit: ⁠arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/everyday-dictatorship/⁠

Hosted by: Dr Huw Halstead

Produced by: Dr Huw Halstead

Music by: Oi Palaiológoi (Violin - Roddy Beaton, Outi - David Hughes)

Archives may be dusty places, but as Dr Claire Eldridge (University of Leeds) shows us they are far from being dry and emotionless ones. Drawing on her research on Algerian history and French colonialism, Claire discusses first how two groups of postcolonial migrants from Algeria to France remember the colonial past, and second what we can learn about soldiers’ lives during the First World War from the records of military tribunals.

This podcast was originally published on 28th October 2020 as part of the ERC research project ‘Dictatorship as experience: A comparative history of everyday life and the ‘lived experience’ of dictatorship in Mediterranean Europe (1922-1975)’ led by Prof. Kate Ferris at the University of St Andrews. To learn more about the wider project, visit: ⁠arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/everyday-dictatorship/⁠

Hosted by: Dr Huw Halstead

Produced by: Dr Huw Halstead

Music by: Oi Palaiológoi (Violin - Roddy Beaton, Outi -

You’ve heard of ‘Americanisation’, but what about

This podcast was originally published on 21st October 2020 as part of the ERC research project ‘Dictatorship as experience: A comparative history of everyday life and the ‘lived experience’ of dictatorship in Mediterranean Europe (1922-1975)’ led by Prof. Kate Ferris at the University of St Andrews. To learn more about the wider project, visit: ⁠arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/everyday-dictatorship/⁠

Hosted by: Dr Huw Halstead

Produced by: Dr Huw Halstead

Music by: Oi Palaiológoi (Violin - Roddy Beaton, Outi -

Why did the Italian Fascists excavate Rome? Dr Joshua

This podcast was originally published on 7th October 2020 as part of the ERC research project ‘Dictatorship as experience: A comparative history of everyday life and the ‘lived experience’ of dictatorship in Mediterranean Europe (1922-1975)’ led by Prof. Kate Ferris at the University of St Andrews. To learn more about the wider project, visit: ⁠arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/everyday-dictatorship/⁠

Hosted by: Dr Huw Halstead

Produced by: Dr Huw Halstead

Music by: Oi Palaiológoi (Violin - Roddy Beaton, Outi -

What’s the secret to everyday happiness? Prof Claire Langhamer (Institute of Historical Research) joins us to discuss this question as well as love, agony aunts, the concept of ‘ordinary people’, and the importance of reliable stationary.

This podcast was originally published on 7th October 2020 as part of the ERC research project ‘Dictatorship as experience: A comparative history of everyday life and the ‘lived experience’ of dictatorship in Mediterranean Europe (1922-1975)’ led by Prof. Kate Ferris at the University of

Hosted by: Dr Huw Halstead

Produced by: Dr Huw Halstead

Music by: Oi Palaiológoi (Violin - Roddy Beaton, Outi -

What can we learn from studying small, localised, and

This podcast was originally published on 30th September 2020

Hosted by: Dr Huw Halstead and Prof Kate Ferris.

Produced by: Dr Huw Halstead

Music by: Oi Palaiológoi (Violin - Roddy Beaton, Outi -

We all experience everyday life – but just what exactly is it? Prof. Kate Ferris and Dr Huw Halstead discuss what it means to study ‘everyday life’ in the past and why this is such an engaging yet challenging kind of history. They are joined by special guests Prof Claire Langhamer (Institute of Historical Research, formerly University of Sussex), Dr Claire Eldridge (University of Leeds), Prof John Bennet (British School at Athens/University of Sheffield), Dr Nikos Papadogiannis (Bangor University), Dr Claudio Hernández-Burgos (University of Granada), and Dr Joshua Arthurs (University of Toronto, formerly West Virginia University).

This podcast was originally published on 23rd September 2020 as part of the ERC research project ‘Dictatorship as experience: A comparative history of everyday life and the ‘lived experience’ of dictatorship in Mediterranean Europe (1922-1975)’ led by Prof. Kate Ferris at the University of St Andrews. To learn more about the wider project, visit: arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/everyday-dictatorship/

Hosted by: Dr Huw Halstead and Prof Kate Ferris.

Produced by: Dr Huw Halstead

Music by: Oi Palaiológoi (Violin - Roddy Beaton, Outi - David Hughes)