Night School

This week we examine the fascinating life of Luso-Malay mestiço cosmographer Manuel Godinho de Erédia, who lived and worked in the Portuguese Estado da Índia (including Malacca) around the turn of the seventeenth century. Chase Caldwell Smith, co-producer of the Global History Podcast, crosses over from the intern desk here at BFM to join us in exploring hybrid identities that empire and cultural exchange helped to shape in the early years of globalisation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Museums in our part of the world used to be called the Ajaib-khana, or the wonder house. It was a place that inspired through the collection and display of artefacts to tell a story about belonging to a place and also in the world. Joining us this week is Qaleeda Talib, a history graduate with a passion for public history. We explore the big question - what are museums established for? Are they still relevant today? How has it changed over time?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Museums in our part of the world used to be called the Ajaib-khana, or the wonder house. It was a place that inspired through the collection and display of artefacts to tell a story about belonging to a place and also in the world. Joining us this week is Qaleeda Talib, a history graduate with a passion for public history. We explore the big question - what are museums established for? Are they still relevant today? How has it changed over time?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What value can Islam bring to a state that prides itself for upholding laïcité (or secularism) as its founding principles? This week we are joined by Abdennour Bidar, a French philosopher on Islamic culture, who insists that understanding religion in our increasingly multicultural society can only happen if we are willing to engage in a conversation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is renewed interest in history amongst the younger generation today and they are thinking about the value of history differently. One of them is Nadine Azalea Faisal, who joins us in our conversation this week. She has just returned from the University of Chicago from her undergraduate studies, where she read Indian Ocean history as well as South Asian languages and civilisations.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The measure of democracy is not always defined by a process of consensus-building. The majority is not always right. Helping us understand the rights of migrants and refugees in this light, and her process of learning how to care is Elise Arya Chen, programme officer at Tenaganita.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The measure of democracy is not always defined by a process of consensus-building. The majority is not always right. Helping us understand the rights of migrants and refugees in this light, and her process of learning how to care is Elise Arya Chen, programme officer at Tenaganita.

Media reportage on social movements can sometimes verge on the sensational. The story of a protest is often more than the confrontations one sees in the news. Joining us this week is creative hubs researcher and urbanist, Clarissa Lim, to explore what is at stake and the community building work that is seldom reported when a protest is not a one day street party but a marathon in search of one's identity.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Media reportage on social movements can sometimes verge on the sensational. The story of a protest is often more than the confrontations one sees in the news. Joining us this week is creative hubs researcher and urbanist, Clarissa Lim, to explore what is at stake and the community building work that is seldom reported when a protest is not a one day street party but a marathon in search of one's identity.

Punk is more than the music one listens to or the fashion one spots. Joining us this week is Joe Kidd, guitarist of punk rock band Carburetor Dung and historian of Southeast Asian rock and roll, to explore the moral universe of punks in Malaysia. We talk about his coming of age in Dungun Terengganu, the many different art worlds that punk would grant him access into, and also what it means to grow old as a punk - which is also a story about class, race, power, community, agency, and being true to oneself.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.