IDEAS schedule for January 2024
* Please note this schedule is subject to change.
Monday, January 1
NEW YEAR'S LEVEE
As the calendar page turns, it's time for the annual New Year's Levee. IDEAS' producers and contributors preview what they're working on for the opening months of 2024. Topics run the gamut, from salmon to cells… and from the domestic state of marriage, to the neglected verse of a tragic teen poet.
Tuesday, January 2
THE GREATEST NUMBERS OF ALL TIME: ZERO
The number zero is essential to modern mathematics. But for thousands of years, humanity lived without it — and even resisted it. According to Aristotle the concept of zero was antithetical to the very existence of God. Medieval Christians attempted to ban its use. Even modern mathematicians continue to be confounded by zero, a number that simply refuses to play by the rules. It's been called a "dangerous idea," the Loki of the number line. And yet it's one of the greatest inventions in human history. In the first installation of our special series on numbers, we explore the remarkable power of a number that represents nothing at all, and the dangers hidden in its void. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 26, 2023.
Wednesday, January 3
THE GREATEST NUMBERS OF ALL TIME: THREE
If you say the name "Bloody Mary" three times in front of a mirror, she'll get you. If you want to heal your goiter in 17th century Scotland, repeat a charm three times. To access the power of the spirit world, call on three-faced Hekate, goddess of magic and spaces in-between. Incantations of three are common in the mystical, magical, supernatural, and the occult. As our number series continues, we enter the powerful and spiritual realm of three. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 27, 2023.
Thursday, January 4
THE GREATEST NUMBERS OF ALL TIME: FIVE
The mathematical achievement of counting the digits on one hand usually introduces a young human to the concept of 'five.' This experience endows the number with an amiable quality, later to be confirmed by the ease with which it can be multiplied thanks to our Base 10 system. However, poor five becomes increasingly odd upon deeper contemplation. Its unique position as the first 'safe prime,' its awkward relations with 12 and 20, and its sad entanglement in science's great "replication crisis" will push curious and foolhardy minds past the safe zone and into more treacherous areas of number theory. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 28, 2023.
Friday, January 5
THE GREATEST NUMBERS OF ALL TIME: NINE
In Norse mythology there exists a huge ash tree, and underneath its roots are nine worlds. In fact, the number nine appears often, in culture and folklore, making unlikely and uncanny connections. Carl Jung calls it synchronicity. There are the nine emotions of Indian aesthetics, nine heavenly bodies that define life, the curse of Beethoven's ninth symphony, The Beatles Revolution 9, and the striker in soccer: always wearing number 9. Why does a cat have nine lives and not eight, or seven? Why do we dress to the nines, why is it good to go the whole nine yards? *This episode originally aired on Sept. 29, 2023.
Monday, January 8
MURDER, MADNESS AND MARRIAGE: THE SENSATIONAL WORLD OF WILKIE COLLINS
Considered one of the first writers of mysteries and the father of detective fiction, Wilkie Collins used the genres to investigate the rapidly changing world around him, and to upend conventional thinking about society, the home, and the recesses of the human mind. Two hundred years after Wilkie Collins's birth, UBC Journalism director Kamal Al-Solaylee explores his work and its enduring power to make us look twice at the world we think we know.
Tuesday, January 9
THE PASSION OF ÉMILE NELLIGAN: CANADA'S SADDEST POET
Broken violins, distraught pianos, the way birdsong reminds him of how all his joy is no more, cruel love, cruel angels, ships that once carried gold but now lie wrecked and empty and chewed-up by seawater, absent fathers, mothers who aren't as pretty as when they were younger, abandoned churches, ruined chapels, Montreal when there's too much snow, the thought — striking a young man while drunk on red wine — that a fleeting glimpse of happiness is a mere worthless illusion in a world that stubbornly misunderstands and fails to appreciate him. During three years at the end of the 19th century, Émile Nelligan wrote hundreds of tragic, passionate, and formally perfect sonnets and rondels on these subjects and more. This brief blooming would render him Quebec's most famous poet. His story lent itself to an opera, a ballet, a movie, and many books. There are prizes, libraries, schools, hotels, and online magazines now bearing Nelligan's name. And yet, most English-speaking Canadians seem never to have heard of him.
Wednesday, January 10
ARCTIC/AMAZON PROJECT, PART 2: THE EXHIBITION
The 2022 Art Exhibition Arctic / Amazon: Networks of Global Indigeneity was the culmination of years of research, conversation, and vision. Indigenous artists from these apparently disparate regions found common ground in their stories, in their relationship to the land, in their contact with settler populations, and in their conviction that new paradigms — new worlds — can and must emerge from a global Indigenous consciousness. On this episode of IDEAS, we explore the connections — both ancient and new — within Arctic / Amazon, through its artists and curators.
Thursday, January 11
THE NEVER-ENDING FALL OF ROME
The fall of Rome. A terrible day in history, when smoke blackened the sky, barbarians rampaged through the city, Doric columns toppled over, and lascivious emperors were too busy having orgies to do anything about it. Okay, that never happened. But listening to politicians you'd think "the fall of Rome" was a catastrophic incident that could have been avoided if only those Romans had outlawed… something. Maybe divorce. Or immigration. Or homosexuality. This documentary digs up the political history of "the fall of Rome," a hole in time where politicians, activists, and intellectuals can dump any modern anxiety they wish.
Friday, January 12
PHILOSOPHY IN THE KITCHEN AND PUB: A TALK BY LEWIS GORDON
We tend to view philosophy as a formal endeavour. Not so, says Lewis Gordon. At the invitation of Newfoundland's Memorial University, the Afro-Jewish philosopher talked about some of his ideas from the music stage at the Ship Pub in St. John's. He explains why the setting is a fitting one for philosophy, historically… and for this philosopher, specifically. Gordon is a Jamaica-born, Bronx-raised, world-traveled academic, political thinker, and musician, and the author of Fear of Black Consciousness. Arguing that philosophy has important things to offer everyone, he riffs on Greek and Africana philosophy, touching on topics such as how food preparation connects to philosophical conversation, and how different ways of drumming seven beats makes a "transcendental argument." *This episode originally aired on May 26, 2023.
Monday, January 15
IN DEFENCE OF DEMOCRACY: LISA LAFLAMME
These are anxious times for journalism and democracy. A robust democracy supports the flourishing and integrity of journalism, and a free and independent press is essential in holding the powerful to account and informing the electorate. But both democracy and journalism are trying to fend off life-threatening forces. IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed interviewed longtime CTV correspondent and anchor Lisa LaFlamme at an onstage event called In Defence of Democracy, held by the Samara Centre for Democracy — a freewheeling discussion about what can and must be done to bolster journalism so it can better safeguard democracy.
Tuesday, January 16
A POLITICAL PRISONER'S ODYSSEY: WRITER AHMET ALTAN, PART ONE
Acclaimed Turkish novelist and journalist Ahmet Altan spent almost five years in prison on trumped up charges. But during this time, he was able to pass small pieces of paper to his lawyer, that collectively became an extraordinary prison memoir, I Will Never See the World Again, published around the world. It has been compared to Viktor Frankl"s Man's Search for Meaning. In 2020, IDEAS producer Mary Lynk created a documentary on the imprisoned Ahmet Altan, talking to his family and friends. It won an Amnesty International Canada Media Award for outstanding human rights reporting. IDEAS re-airs this episode, which will be followed the next day by a recent conversation from Istanbul with now freed Ahmet Altan. *This episode originally aired on June 18, 2020.
Wednesday, January 17
THE EMANCIPATION OF WRITER AHMET ALTAN, PART TWO
How can you be imprisoned, and yet still be free? Write, says Ahmet Altan. One's imagination can never be trapped by bars. And that is what he did in a COVID-infested prison in Turkey. In fact, during his incarceration, he wrote an extraordinary prison memoir — which was smuggled out on small pieces of paper — and two novels. Altan had been sentenced to life imprisonment on trumped up charges. He is considered to be one of Turkey's most important writers. His books have sold in the millions around the world. In 2021, after intense international pressure — including a letter signed by 51 Nobel Laureates — he was freed from prison. IDEAS presents a feature interview from his home in Istanbul. And when asked what can save humanity, Altan said: Literature.
Thursday, January 18
HEALING AND THE HEALER
Creative nonfiction is "the art of fact." The Edna Staebler Award is the only award in Canada that celebrates literary nonfiction. The most recent recipient is Dr. Jillian Horton for her book, We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing. In it, Dr. Horton weaves together her personal story of burnout and the place for compassion with a broader understanding of the anxiety and exhaustion that stalks healthcare workers as well as those on the receiving end. She brings the story of her own family's experience with medical ineptitude and her drive to reassess herself and her profession with the ultimate goal of developing a more balanced and humane understanding of what it means to heal and be healed.
Friday, January 19
IDEAS AT THE HAGUE
South Africa alleges that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in its war against Hamas. It has asked the U.N.'s International Court of Justice to order a halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza. The government of Israel has termed the allegation of genocide "absurd blood libel," and says the country is out to destroy Hamas, not Palestinian civilians, after the October 7th killings and hostage-taking inside its borders. IDEAS features excerpts from the opening oral arguments on both sides of a momentous hearing.
Monday, January 22
THE YEAR 1919: DIVIDING THE SPOILS
After the First World War, the Western powers create new borders and carve out spheres of influence, Pan-Africanists fight for a new future, unrest in China foreshadows the future, and the League of Nations is formed. Nahlah Ayed speaks with Amitava Chowdhury, Renée Worringer, and Oleksa Drachewych at the Stratford Festival.
Tuesday, January 23
THE YEAR 1938: THE WINDS OF WAR
On the eve of the Second World War, Hitler annexes Austria and escalates antisemitic persecution, Japan wages war on China, and the parallel collapse of democracy in the east and west sets the stage for war. Nahlah Ayed speaks with Joseph Wong, Tomaz Jardim, and Deborah Neill at the Stratford Festival.
Wednesday, January 24
THE YEAR 1963: SOCIAL REVOLUTIONS
Martin Luther King, Jr. leads a march on Washington, the Pan-African movement ushers in a new era for Africa, President Kennedy is assassinated, and the war in Vietnam heats up. Nahlah Ayed speaks with Candace Sobers, Paul Lawrie, and Andrew Cohen at the Stratford Festival.
Thursday, January 25
THE YEAR 1973: THE DICTATORS
Augusto Pinochet comes to power in Chile, and dictators also rule Portugal, Greece, Uganda and beyond. The OPEC oil embargo sets the world on a new path. In the U.S., Richard Nixon insists he's not a crook, and the Supreme Court legalizes abortion in Roe v. Wade. Nahlah Ayed speaks with Luis van Isschot, Akila Radhakrishnan, and Randall Hansen at the Stratford Festival.
Friday, January 26
THE YEAR 1989: UPRISINGS AND DOWNFALLS
The Berlin Wall comes tumbling down, there are democratic uprisings in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary, and a riot in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. This thing called the 'World Wide Web' is proposed. Nahlah Ayed speaks with Miglena Todorova, Sanjay Ruparelia, and Arne Kislenko at the Stratford Festival.
Monday, January 29
THE TREE OF LIFE REVISITED
The Polish city of Lodz declared 2023 to be "the year of Chava Rosenfarb." Born there a century before, Rosenfarb was a Jewish-Canadian writer. She survived the Holocaust, and moved to Canada with her husband, abortion provider and activist Henry Morgentaler. Settling in Lethbridge, Chana Rosenfarb became a major contributor to Yiddish literature, detailing her experiences in the Lodz ghetto through poetry, and in a book trilogy, The Tree of Life. This episode profiles the life of Rosenfarb, her legacy, and the politics of Holocaust remembrance in Poland today.
Tuesday, January 30
THE MEANING OF ICE
The Arctic is being transformed by climate change more rapidly than most other places on the planet, and Inuit know that better than anyone. Their daily lives revolve around a close relationship with the land and the wildlife of the Arctic. They have a deep, intimate knowledge of ice and water and weather. But Arctic ice researcher Dr. Shari Fox argues that a colonialist approach to Arctic research by academia has largely undermined and sidelined traditional knowledge. She describes her collaborations with the hunters and dog teamers of Clyde River on Baffin Island, as well as photographer Robert Kautok, to bridge Inuit and academic systems of knowledge together to strengthen and enhance each other. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 11, 2023.
Wednesday, January 31
OUR BODIES, OUR CELLS
Our bodies are one of the great paradoxes of life. We are made of trillions of cells that are both independent and interconnected units of life, each one full of millions of moving parts. And yet the atoms that all of this is built from is almost entirely empty space. We contain mind-boggling amounts of stuff and we're mostly nothing. This documentary is literally a deep dive into the microscopic world of the body — a journey through sound, music, narrative and description into cells and the exquisitely designed nanomachines they contain, zooming all the way into the subatomic realm until we can zoom in no further.
