Sustainability Matters

On this episode of Sustainability Matters, we ask: What is joy, and how is it different from happiness? Can joy coexist with pain and suffering? And can it help us remain open to the world in difficult times?

All this and more with Dr. Jana Tirey and Dr. Roger Berkowitz, editors of Joy: Loving the World in Dark Times—which is part of the series HA: The Yearbook of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities and is set to be published this December by De Gruyter Brill. 

Host: Ramzi Nasir

Guests: Dr. Jana Tirey and Dr. Roger Berkowitz

In the second half of this double episode of Sustainability Matters, we explore the rise of the Post-Enlightenment Society. What happens when opinion travels faster than knowledge? How do digital communication, education, and mass politics affect democracy? And is the erosion of Enlightenment values a failure of citizens, institutions, or both?

All this and more with Prof. Dr. Markus Tiedemann, author of Post-Enlightenment-Society: What we are losing and what lies ahead, published by De Gruyter Brill.

Host: Ramzi Nasir

Guest: Prof. Dr. Markus Tiedemann

Shownotes:

John McWhorter: Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America. Portfolio, New York 2021 ISBN 978-0-593-42306-6.

Susan Neiman: Left Is Not Woke, Polity, 2023.

Samuel L Jackson on the N-Word:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=595731386&q=Samuel+P+Jackson+N+Wort+Interview+Hamilton:&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIhsjXs8SDAxXERvEDHchvCHcQ0pQJegQIDRAB&biw=1920&bih=947&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:5b38504f,vid:cOlNHXQCT_4,st:0

In the first half of this double episode of Sustainability Matters, we ask: what are the roles of truth, objectivity, and reason in society? How should we understand Enlightenment in relation to human rights, racism, slavery, and Eurocentrism? And what do we risk losing when universal standards are replaced by competing narratives?

All this and more with Prof. Dr. Markus Tiedemann, author of Post-Enlightenment-Society: What we are losing and what lies ahead, published by De Gruyter Brill.

Host: Ramzi Nasir

Guest: Prof. Dr. Markus Tiedemann

Shownotes:

John McWhorter: Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America. Portfolio, New York 2021 ISBN 978-0-593-42306-6.

Susan Neiman: Left Is Not Woke, Polity, 2023.

Samuel L Jackson on the N-Word:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=595731386&q=Samuel+P+Jackson+N+Wort+Interview+Hamilton:&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIhsjXs8SDAxXERvEDHchvCHcQ0pQJegQIDRAB&biw=1920&bih=947&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:5b38504f,vid:cOlNHXQCT_4,st:0

On this episode of Sustainability Matters, we explore how history textbooks shape collective memory in Lebanon. How are national narratives constructed? Are these textbooks as divided as the country's politics, or do they tell a more unified story? And what happens when different communities hold competing versions of the past?

All this and more with Dr. Bouchra Saab, author of History Education in Lebanon and the Borders of the Nation, which is Volume 56 in the series “Studies on Modern Orient” published by De Gruyter Brill.

Host: Ramzi Nasir

Guest: Dr. Bouchra Saab 

On this episode of Sustainability Matters, we explore what having confidence in science really means. What separates healthy skepticism from deliberate doubt? How do politics, economic interests, and misinformation shape public opinion around scientific research? And what role can scientists themselves play in rebuilding trust?

All this and more with Dr. Peter Mahaffy, member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry's (IUPAC) Committee on Ethics, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and contributor to their Chemistry International journal, published by De Gruyter Brill.

Host: Ramzi Nasir

Guest: Dr. Peter Mahaffy

Reach out to Dr. Mahaffy at www.linkedin.com/in/petermahaffy 

Some papers Dr. Mahaffy refers to during the conversation:

1. Cologna, V., et. al. Trust in Scientists and Their Role in Society Across 68 Countries, 2025, Nature Human Behaviour, 9, 713-730. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02090-5
2. Garcia-Martinez, J; Mahaffy, P.G., et. al. Responsible Chemistry for a Changing World: IUPAC’s Guiding Principles, RSC Chemical Science, 2026, DOI: 10.1039/D5SC08844E.
3. Mahaffy, P. G.; Garcia-Martinez, J.  From what Chemistry can do to what Chemists should do, J. Chem. Educ. 2025, 102, 11, 4661–4665. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.5c01467
4. Mahaffy, P. G.; Matlin, S. A.; Holme, T. A.; MacKellar. J. Systems thinking for educating about the molecular basis of sustainability. Nature Sustainability. 2019, 2, 362–370.
5. Mahaffy, P.; Cornell, S. (2025). Sustainability frameworks I – Planetary boundaries. Chapter 6 in Kirchhoff, M.; Kummerer, K.; Mahaffy, P.; Middlecamp, C. (eds) Chemistry Education for a Sustainable Future. Advances in Chemistry Education series, Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK.
6. Mahaffy, P. G.; Elgersma, A.K. “Systems Thinking, the Molecular Basis of Sustainability and the Planetary Boundaries Framework: Complementary core competencies for chemistry education,” Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 2022, 100663, ISSN 2452-2236, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2022.100663.

It’s pride month, and in this episode of Sustainability Matters we discuss how queer and trans youth have always fought to shape their own futures—and why their rights have become a flashpoint in contemporary culture wars. From Gay-Straight Alliances and gender-neutral bathrooms to representation in sports and the concept of trans joy, we unpack the narratives shaping identity, belonging, and inclusion in today’s political climate.

All this and more with Dr. Julia Sinclair-Palm, author of “Queer and Trans Youth Political Activism,” which is Chapter 17 in the De Gruyter Handbook of Youth Activism, published by De Gruyter Brill. 

Host: Ramzi Nasir

Guest:  Dr. Julia Sinclair-Palm

Citations:

1. Sinclair-Palm, Julia. (2024). Names as a trans technology: Exploring the naming practices of trans youth in Australia, Ireland and Canada. Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics, 4 (1), 137-161. https://doi.org/10.59589/noso.42024.16669

2. Sinclair-Palm, Julia. (2023). The Role of Family in Trans Youths’ Naming Practices. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2181450

3. Dyer, Hannah, Julia Sinclair-Palm and Miranda Yeo. (2020). "Drawing Queer and Trans Kinship with Children: Affect, Cohabitation, and Reciprocal Care." Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 42(4), 257-276. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2020.1724764

4. Dyer, Hannah, Julia Sinclair-Palm, Chase Joynt, Miranda Yeo, and Calla Tait. (2020). Aesthetic Expression of Queer kinship in Children’s Drawings. Journal of Canadian Studies, 54(2-3), 526-543. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/780618.

5. https://thebaffler.com/latest/reject-transgender-liberalism-gill-peterson

6. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1088&context=jqtsie

7. Tourmaline, S., Eric, A., & Burton, J. (2017). Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility.

8. Westbrook, L., & Schilt, K. (2014). Doing gender, determining gender: Transgender people, gender panics, and the maintenance of the sex/gender/sexuality system. Gender & society, 28(1), 32-57.

9.  Cruz, C. (2001). Toward an epistemology of a brown body. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 14(5), 657-669.

10. McCready, L. T. (2004). Understanding the marginalization of gay and gender non-conforming Black male students. Theory Into Practice, 43(2), 136-143.

11. Brockenbrough, E. (2015). Queer of color agency in educational contexts: Analytic frameworks from a queer of color critique. Educational Studies, 51(1), 28-44.

On this episode of Sustainability Matters, we explore how Jewish Europe is being reshaped across physical and digital spaces in the 21st century. How do virtual environments change the way heritage is preserved and shared? Can digital reconstructions and online communities sustain cultural identity? What happens when these spaces are affected by rising antisemitism, shifting politics, and changing public visibility—against a longer history of loss and reconstruction?

All this and more with Dr. Maja Hultman and Dr. Joachim Schlör, editors of Virtual and Real-Life Spaces of Jewish Europe in the 21st Century, published by De Gruyter Brill.

Discourse on sustainable digital spaces is just one of our sustainability initiatives here at De Gruyter Brill. Explore the recent De Gruyter Brill Annual Impact Reportfor a closer look at our sustainability commitments and progress in 2025.

Host: Dr. Shawn Rowlands

Guests: Dr. Maja Hultman and Dr. Joachim Schlör 

On this episode of Sustainability Matters, we examine how indigeneity is defined and contested in conversations around identity, science, and sovereignty. Is it something we inherit, or a political construct? How can scientific and Indigenous knowledge systems collaborate without losing their distinct integrity? And what happens when genetic research defines belonging in ways that conflict with cultural and political self-understandings? 

All this and more with Dr. Benjamin Gregg, author of “Scientific Integrity and Indigenous Justice in Genetic Research,” which is Chapter 5 in the book Indigeneity as Social Construct and Political Tool: Critique and Reconstruction of a Contested Identity, published by De Gruyter Brill. 

Host: Ramzi Nasir

Guest: Dr. Benjamin Gregg 

On this episode of Sustainability Matters, we look at how video games are reshaping the representation of girlhood, identity, and coming-of-age through play. Why have games so often been associated with boyhood? What overlooked histories of girls’ gaming cultures challenge this narrative? And how are contemporary games challenging traditional heroic narratives with more complex stories about growing up, belonging, and self-discovery?

All this and more with Dr. Stephanie Harkin, author of Girlhood Games: Gender, Identity and Coming of Age in Video Games, which is Volume 20 in the series “Video Games and the Humanities”, published by De Gruyter Brill.

Host: Ramzi Nasir

Guest: Dr. Stephanie Harkin

On this episode of Sustainability Matters, we ask: why do unions rise, why do they fall, and what does it take for them to rise again? How do leadership, strategy, and internal democracy shape their trajectory? And what can the turbulent history of a major New York transit union teach us about the labour movement today?

All this and more with Dr. Marc Kagan, author of Take Back the Power: The Fall and Rise and Fall of NYC’s Transport Workers Union Local 100, 1975–2009, which is Volume 7 in the series Studies in Political Economy of Global Labor and Work, published by De Gruyter Brill.

Host: Ramzi Nasir

Guest: Dr. Marc Kagan