Sustainability Matters

Imagination is a fundamental trait of the human species. 

Given how our most commonplace experiences get filtered differently through the lens of our imaginations, it deeply influences everything we think about and do. For better or worse, imagination is “the resin that binds human civilization together.”

In this new episode, Keith Moser, Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Mississippi State University, leads a thought-provoking discussion on “Imagination and Art: Explorations in Contemporary Theory”, which is one of the most compelling transdisciplinary examinations of imagination to date.

The book collates a colorful collection of radical and fresh perspectives about imagination, ranging from reflections on gendered imagination to the oft-overlooked worldview of ecocentrism. This collection is also one of the first academic publications to provide a much-needed platform to contemporary artists in its final section, “Artists Reflect on Imagination: An Imaginative Epilogue.”

Guest: Prof Keith Moser
Host: Leigh Giangreco

In this episode, Steven Fine, Churgin Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University, Israel, discusses his new book Arch of Titus: From Jerusalem to Rome—and Back, published in Brill’s Religious Studies, Theology and Philosophy E-Books Online collection. 

He explores how the Arch has been a symbol of subjugation as well as empowerment for both Jewish and Christian cultures as they evolved across centuries; how it is a door to the story of the Jewish community’s resilience; how it has inspired other monuments of power over globally; the layers of meaning it contains; and the reverberation, and thus enhancement, of its meaning in the digital age.

Guest: Prof Steven Fine
Host: Leigh Giangreco

The highest literacy rates worldwide, free universal healthcare, social security, strong economies —these are traits commonly associated with the Nordic countries. 
 They also reflect the equally renowned, well-developed system of education available to the residents of each country. 

Despite the similarities, each country’s education system is distinct, thanks to their differing historical experiences and shifts in political climates. And the complexities of each system unfold neatly on pages of the school textbooks that have been used in each country throughout this time.

In this episode, Merethe Roos and Henrik Edgren, two of the editors of “Exploring Textbooks and Cultural Change in Nordic Education 1536–2020”talk about delving deep into the centuries-old history of the education systems in the Nordic countries through their school textbooks, right from the era of the Reformation in the 16th century and through the subsequent educational acts that shaped the systems in each country. Their book encapsulates the rich academic traditions in each country and highlights the role that textbooks have had to play in building each nation by influencing national cultural politics and legislation. 

This episode is a part of a new special series by Brill, which focuses on Brill’s commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each episode is related to a specific SDG. This episode covers SDG 4: Quality Education.

Guests: Merethe Roos and Henrik Edgren
Host: Leigh Giangreco 

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people indoors and has moved even important businesses and interactions online. Diplomatic interactions are no exception. 

In the second episode of our new themed series Across the Rainbow, we speak with Dr. Ann Towns, Professor of Political Science at the University of Gothenberg, and Dr. Katarzyna Jezierska, Associate Professor of Political Science at University West, both co-authors of the article “COVID-19 and Gender: A Necessary Connection in Diplomatic Studies”. 

Drs. Towns and Jezierska explore how the move online has changed gender dynamics in diplomatic practices and how interactions between diplomats and civil society actors have altered, making a case for why gender needs to be a key focus area in diplomacy research in the time of COVID-19.

Guests: Dr Ann Towns and Dr Katarzyna Jezierska
Host: Leigh Giangreco 

Queer lives in semi-urban and rural India are typically required to conform to heteronormativity in a way that stands apart from Western and urban Indian experiences.

In the first episode of our new themed series Across the Rainbow, Dr. Jayaprakash Mishra, a research scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India, shares with us why he chose to examine the emotions of guilt in South Asian families through a queer perspective, as explored in his article “Queering Emotion in South Asia: Biographical Narratives of Gay Men in Odisha, India”. 

Dr. Mishra examines how and why gay men negotiate between heteronormative expectations and homoromantic desire.

Guest: Dr Jayaprakash Mishra
Host: Leigh Giangreco 

Today, millions of immigrants have found a home in the United States. But often, such people end up losing their individual cultures, languages, and identities—simply because they aren’t aligned with those of the rest of the crowd.

So what is it like to be living in a nation you weren’t born in? What are the stories and experiences of people who find themselves alternating between two linguistic and cultural worlds?

In this new episode, Luis Javier Pentón Herrera and Ethan Tính Trịnh, editors of “Critical Storytelling: Multilingual Immigrants in the United States” talk about how their book brings together powerful voices of immigrants living in the United States. The book is a fusion of narratives by individual immigrants—each story offering a fresh perspective on living as a trans-national person in the United States and containing strong messages of acknowledgment, negotiation, and resilience. 

This episode is a part of a new special series by Brill, which focuses on Brill’s commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each episode is related to a specific SDG. This episode covers SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Guests: Luis Javier Pentón Herrera and Ethan Tính Trịnh
Host: Leigh Giangreco 

Today, millions of immigrants have found a home in the United States. But often, such people end up losing their individual cultures, languages, and identities—simply because they aren’t aligned with those of the rest of the crowd.

So what is it like to be living in a nation you weren’t born in? What are the stories and experiences of people who find themselves alternating between two linguistic and cultural worlds?

In this new episode, Luis Javier Pentón Herrera and Ethan Tính Trịnh, editors of “Critical Storytelling: Multilingual Immigrants in the United States” talk about how their book brings together powerful voices of immigrants living in the United States. The book is a fusion of narratives by individual immigrants—each story offering a fresh perspective on living as a trans-national person in the United States and containing strong messages of acknowledgment, negotiation, and resilience. 

This episode is a part of a new special series by Brill, which focuses on Brill’s commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each episode is related to a specific SDG. This episode covers SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

Guests: Luis Javier Pentón Herrera and Ethan Tính Trịnh
Host: Leigh Giangreco  

Forced labor and human trafficking in fisheries, albeit present in most parts of the world, have gone unnoticed for many years. Fishers at sea are out of sight for a long time, living in difficult and often inhumane conditions.

But this problem does not affect just fishers: it is much more layered than we think and can impact most of our lives. How, exactly? 

Prof. Vasco Becker-Weinberg from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, and author of “Time to Get Serious about Combating Forced Labour and Human Trafficking in Fisheries,” explains further, in the fourth episode of our new themed series In Chains.

Guest: Prof Vasco Becker-Weinberg
Host: Leigh Giangreco 

In the modern world, human trafficking and slavery take various forms: one such example is forced labor. But understanding exactly how and where forced labor might occur has been a challenge for researchers and regulatory authorities. 

In the third episode of our new themed series In Chains, we speak with Dr. Alexis Aronowitz from University College Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands, who is the author of the article, “Regulating business involvement in labor exploitation and human trafficking”. 

In her article, Dr. Aronowitz has presented various case studies of labor exploitation in the service industry, such as the cocoa industry in sub-Saharan Africa. In this episode, she further talks about how exploitative labor in businesses can be regulated using various approaches.

Guest: Dr Alexis Aronowitz
Host: Leigh Giangreco 

Key to the revolutionary ideas of 19th century Italian modernist sculptor Medardo Rosso are his materials and technique. But for a long time, scholars and experts on his work took little time to truly explore these. 

In this episode, Dr. Sharon Hecker, art historian and curator, and author of a recent Brill publication on Medardo Rosso titled Finding Lost Wax: The Disappearance and Recovery of an Ancient Casting Technique and the Experiments of Medardo Rosso, talks about how this sculptor took an age-old lost wax technique and remodeled it in radical ways and how his work and life are a reflection of art and artists in 19th century Italy and Paris.

Guest: Dr Sharon Hecker
Host: Leigh Giangreco