Nhc Podcasts

Shakespeare's plays are full of the influences of the supernatural—spirits, magic, temptation—haunting the lives of characters and shaping their actions. In this conversation, literary scholar Mary Floyd-Wilson discusses how these demonic representations reflect questions that were very much on the minds of Elizabethan-era theater-goers and offer a valuable perspective on contemporary debates of the period and shifts in thinking about questions of religion, of autonomy, personality, and the mind. Mary Floyd-Wilson is Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where her research focuses on English literature of the early modern period. She was previously a Fellow at the Center in 2008-09 and returns this year to work on a new project, "The Tempter or the Tempted: Demonic Causality on the Shakespearean Stage".

The use of geospatial technologies allows the interactions of place, space, time, and scale to be more obvious to teachers and students. Often there is an over-emphasis on the chronology of historical events without a strong consideration for their connections to geography. Geospatial technologies allow students to raise the critical ability to answer not only the important question of “where?” but also “why there?” With an emphasis on inquiry-based teaching and learning, Chris Bunin provides insights on the ways that GIS tools contribute to a deeper understanding of the humanities. Chris Bunin is a teacher of A.P. Human Geography, World History, and Geospatial Technologies at Albemarle High School in Charlottesville, Virginia. During the past decade he has collaborated on projects focused on leveraging geospatial technologies and geo-literacy in the classroom. These include: “The Virginia Experiment” and “America on the World Stage” Teaching American History Projects; the iSTEM Teacher Scholars Program: An

While historians have increasingly marked the Haitian Revolution as a key moment in the history of the Atlantic world, literary depictions of the revolution and events surrounding it have remained little known among contemporary readers. By exploring a broad range of works from writers living in the Atlantic world, Marlene Daut has uncovered a transatlantic abolitionist literary culture that was shaped in many ways by imagining Haiti. Marlene L. Daut is associate professor of English at the University of Virginia. Her first book, Tropics of Haiti: Race and the Literary History of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World, 1789–1865 (2015), examined the connection between 18th- and 19th-century scientific debates about race and the Haitian Revolution in U.S., Haitian, and European colonial literatures. Her second book, Baron de Vastey and the Origins of Black Atlantic Humanism (forthcoming) will be the first single-authored, book-length exploration of the Haitian author and politician Baron de Vastey. This

The banjo links disparate musical and cultural traditions — from Africa to the Caribbean to the United States — and its history is deeply interwoven with the history of those places. In this podcast, host Robert Newman talks with Laurent Dubois about this history and his book, The Banjo: America’s African Instrument, published earlier this year by Harvard University Press. Laurent Dubois is professor of history and romance studies and faculty director of the Forum for Scholars and Publics at Duke University. He is a specialist on the history and culture of the Atlantic world, with a focus on the Caribbean and particularly Haiti. His previous books include Haiti: The Aftershocks of History (2012), Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France (2010), Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution (2004), and A Colony of Citizens: Revolution and Slave Emancipation in the French Caribbean, 1787–1804 (2004). Dubois worked on The Banjo: America’s African Instrument while he was a Fellow at

Contention over questions surrounding immigration and citizenship have been foregrounded in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but how does the current debate relate to America’s historical treatment of foreigners and the establishment of birthright citizenship in the U.S. Constitution? In this podcast, host Richard Schramm talks with Kunal Parker about this history and helps frame current discourse as it relates to legal history. Kunal Parker is professor of law and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar at the University of Miami. In 2014-15, he was a Fellow at the National Humanities Center where he completed Making Foreigners: Immigration and Citizenship Law in America, 1600–2000 which appeared earlier this year from Cambridge University Press.

​In part 2 of this interview, Florence Dore and host Robert Newman ​continue to explore ​the surprising reciprocity between rock and literature​​.They also discuss the conference "Novel Sounds"—upcoming October 14-15 at the National Humanities Center—which will bring together scholars, critics, and performers to examine rock’s broader connections to a wide array of social, historical, and cultural concerns.

While it is not difficult to perceive rock ‘n’ roll’s profound influence on American culture since the mid-1950s, we seldom consider the surprising reciprocity between rock and serious literature. In this podcast, host Robert Newman talks with Florence Dore about the rock-literature nexus and on the ways that rock has both reflected and helped shape our national heritage. They also discuss the conference "Novel Sounds"—upcoming October 14-15, 2016 at the National Humanities Center—which will bring together scholars, critics, and performers to examine rock’s broader connections to a wide array of social, historical, and cultural concerns. Florence Dore is is associate professor of English and comparative literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where her research focuses on 20th- and 21st-century American literature, popular music, and media theory. She is the author of "The Novel and the Obscene: Sexual Subjects in American Modernism" (2005) and founding coeditor of the Post 45 Series fr

In recent years, historians, literary theorists, archaeologists, geographers and others have been exploring space—both physical and metaphorical—and the ways that it shapes, and is shaped by, us. In this podcast, host Richard Schramm talks with John Corrigan about “the spatial humanities,” a turn in academic research that brings together scholars from diverse fields, using new digital tools to better understand how we live in our spaces and how those spaces influence economics, politics, and culture. John Corrigan is the Lucius Moody Bristol Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and Professor of History at Florida State University where his research focuses on American religious history, religion and emotion, religious intolerance, and the spatial humanities. He is the author or editor of over twenty books on these topics including, most recently, "The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Emotion," ed. (2008); "Religious Intolerance in America: A Documentary History," with Lynn Neal (2010); and "Emptiness

Americans have long pictured themselves as all but free of religious intolerance and have difficulty coming to terms with the kinds of religious conflict and violence that occur in other parts of the world. In this podcast, host Richard Schramm talks with John Corrigan about America’s often forgotten history of religious intolerance despite our ideals and how that history has been all but lost. Their conversation also offers a preview of an NHC webinar, “Religious Freedom and Religious Intolerance in America,” which took place on Thursday, March 24, 2016. John Corrigan is the Lucius Moody Bristol Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and Professor of History at Florida State University where his research focuses on American religious history, religion and emotion, religious intolerance, and the spatial humanities. He is the author or editor of over twenty books on these topics including, most recently, The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Emotion, ed. (2008); Religious Intolerance in America: A Documen