In this podcast, Paul S. Sutter (NHC Fellow, 2021–22), professor of history at the University of Colorado, Boulder, discusses the historical origins of yellow fever and malaria, complicating widespread opinions about these diseases of “the tropics” during the construction of the Panama Canal.
One of the most influential figures in Nigerian filmmaking is the writer, director, and producer Femi Odugbemi, whose work encourages public awareness of political and ethical issues across Africa. In this podcast, Paul Ushang Ugor (NHC Fellow, 2021–22), associate professor of English at Illinois State University, explores the legacy of Odugbemi's filmmaking and the evolution of Nollywood cinema.
In this podcast episode, Maggie M. Cao (NHC Fellow, 2021–22), associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discusses how nineteenth-century American landscape painting can help us to understand imperialism as a global and historical concept. By examining paintings from this period, we can trace how complex attitudes about cultural relations were represented and disseminated to a wider public.
In this podcast, Howard Chiang (NHC Fellow, 2021–22), associate professor of history at the University of California, Davis, discusses how tracking the emergence and adaptation of psychoanalysis in China allows us to understand the effects of cultural and disciplinary exchange on emerging intellectual discourses.
Widely understood as a destination for leisure and pleasure, the Caribbean has drawn visitors from the global north for over a century, and women have played a central role in establishing this image of the islands. Elizabeth S. Manley (NHC Fellow, 2021–22), associate professor of history at Xavier University of Louisiana, discusses the relationship between gender, commerce, and tourism in the Caribbean from the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth century.
In the 1772 court case “Somerset v Stewart,” an English court found that the concept of slavery had no basis in English law. In this podcast, Tony Frazier (NHC Fellow, 2021–22), associate professor of history at North Carolina Central University, discusses the way that this ruling had broader ramifications in a politically fraught moment. As Frazier explains, the case forces us to reexamine historical assumptions about the end of slavery and the role of institutions in emancipation.
In this podcast, Mark Evan Bonds (NHC Fellow, 1995–96; 2021–22), professor of music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, examines what it means to “break the fourth wall” in classical music composition and performance. Exploring the way that composers like Franz Joseph Haydn used their compositions to subvert audience expectations can help us to understand the ways that styles of music appreciation have changed from the Enlightenment to the present day.
In this podcast, John D. Wong (NHC Fellow, 2021–22), associate professor of humanities and social sciences at the University of Hong Kong, connects the growth of the commercial aviation industry in Hong Kong to the city's emergence as a contemporary economic powerhouse while facilitating an exchange of ideas that shaped the modern age.
In this podcast, Timothy L. Stinson (NHC Fellow, 2021–22), associate professor of English at North Carolina State University, explains how narratives of divine vengeance shaped forms of European identity by reflecting political and religious tensions from the medieval period onward.
In this podcast, Jacob M. Baum (NHC Fellow, 2021–22), associate professor of history at Texas Tech University, discusses how the autobiographical notebooks of Sebastian Fischer, a deaf sixteenth-century shoemaker, can enhance and challenge our perspective on early modern disability studies. Fischer’s manuscript not only describes what life was like during this period for an artisan with hearing impairment, but also provides a window into the way that major historical events like the Protestant Reformation were experienced by individuals who lacked economic status and political power.