Night School

Today, we get an introduction to sociolinguistics and critical discourse analysis as a way of understanding the dialectical relationship between language and the world it creates, and vice versa. But beyond purely analysis of the forms of language is the commitment to change especially in relations of dominance.

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For this festive season we consider the different questions of recognition and redistribution that affect contemporary politics. What lessons should we consider, moving forward as we face a more uncertain time for Malaysia?

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We tend to think and speak of globalization as a natural process: an inevitable and given part of human evolution. Sanjay Krishnan joins us this week to provide a critical genealogy and take of that outlook. He locates the discourse in the emergence of empire and how that discourse was internalised and adopted in various ways in our context.

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Sabah Carrim joins us this week to discuss the distinction between the Apollonian and Dionysian modes of being. We explain how Nietzsche framed this and why it remains relevant today.

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How far would we go under the cover of authority? How is it possible that we can be numb to someone else's pain? In this episode, we look back to the famous Milgram experiment and the lessons they still hold for us today.

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This week, we are joined by Nazmy Anuar and Foo Hui Ping, two of the architects behind Framing the Common, an exhibition currently featured at the Venice Biennale but with a smaller version being exhibited at Port Commune. Join us as we discuss the importance of the Common in understanding architecture and the future of our cities.

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“We act as if that being of a man or that being of a woman is actually an internal reality or something that is simply true about us, a fact about us, but actually it's a phenomenon that is being produced all the time and reproduced all the time, so to say gender is performative is to say that nobody really is a gender from the start,” writes Judith Butler, whose book “Gender Trouble”, our guest highly recommends. So close to us and yet so opaque, our gendered bodies have a profound effect on our live chances and our relationships. Today, we explore how Gender Studies might be a way out of the thicket of socially constructed identities around sex, gender and sexuality.

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Should we categorise our sexuality? What even makes this thinkable to begin with? This week we explore Michel Foucault's classic text the "History of Sexuality Vol. 1: The Will to Knowledge" to find out how sexuality was constructed by biopower.

Correction: Foucault had planned for the History of Sexuality to be a six volume project and not five as was said in the episode. We apologise for this mistake

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The Ring of Gyges is a myth that makes a curious appearance in Plato's Republic. In this episode, we examine its significance as a way to understand the dialogue and Plato's philosophy writ large.

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This week we host historian Sandra Khor Manickam to discuss her thoughts on the historical construction of Malay and Indigenous identities and the lessons they still hold for us today.

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