IDEAS schedule for July 2023
* Please note this schedule is subject to change.
Monday, July 3
THE ANDEAN PHILOSOPHY: THE HUAROCHIRI MANUSCRIPT
The Huarochirí Manuscript is one of the few surviving records of Indigenous Andean philosophy and Quechua worldviews in the early modern era. Compiled in the late 16th century, it was once used by the Catholic Church to identify "idolatries." But today, the manuscript is an important tool for recovering and reconstructing metaphysical concepts the Catholic Church tried to eradicate. Jorge Sanchez-Perez, assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Alberta, speaks with Nahlah Ayed about what the manuscript reveals about Andean metaphysics, including ideas about animal-human relations and the nature of time. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 6, 2023.
Tuesday, July 4
THE LAND THAT NEVER HAS BEEN YET, PART ONE
The American Revolution is often depicted as a struggle between the common man and the callous elite. The symbols of the revolution, from the "don't tread on me" of the Gadsden Flag to the opening words of the Declaration of Independence, exalt the underling against their overlords. Yet most of the famous American figures of the revolution were powerful landowners, with vast wealth and ownership over other human beings. In this Peabody Award-nominated podcast, John Biewen from the Centre for Documentary Studies at Duke University revisits the origins of the United States of America, and how contested ideas of "democracy" reverberate in American politics today. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 8, 2022.
Wednesday, July 5
THE LAND THAT NEVER HAS BEEN YET, PART TWO
The American Revolution of 1776 may have been a revolt of the powerful rich, but the United States had a second chance at crafting a democracy after the Civil War. In the second part of his series, John Biewen, Director of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, revisits the Reconstruction era, where an unlikely coalition of leaders tried to make the United States into a true multiracial democracy. And it worked, for a while. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 9, 2022.
Thursday, July 6
THE SHOCK OF THE NEW | THE YEAR 1600: THE BIRTH OF MODERN?
Salman Rushdie proposed that there seem to be 'hinge moments' in history, when many crucial changes take place at much the same time. But why does change happen, what are the forces that create change — and, most important, how do we feel the effects of great social change years, even centuries later? Recorded at the Stratford Festival, The Shock of the New is a series of panel discussions about five years that have profoundly shaped the modern world. Each year signifies a 'new beginning' in politics, the sciences, human rights — and illuminates some of the obvious and not-so-obvious forces that have shaped the modern world. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 31, 2022.
Friday, July 7
THE NEW WORLD DISORDER: THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY
It's an all-too familiar roll-call: the escalating climate crisis, geopolitical volatility, the continuing rise of ultra-nationalism — all of it sloshing around in a toxic stew of disinformation and misinformation. And while our ideal of democracy may still standing, its legs do appear to be buckling. This series is called The New World Disorder. And it begins with a public discussion featuring two former Massey Lecturers: Ron Diebert and Jennifer Welsh. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 26, 2022.
Monday, July 10
2022 MASSEY LECTURES | ON LANGUAGE
Indigenous mythologies, says Tomson Highway, provide unique, timeless solutions to our modern problems. He leads us on an exhilarating exploration of five themes at the centre of the human condition in his Massey Lectures: language, creation, sex and gender, humour, and death. In the first lecture, On Language, Tomson Highway argues that language shapes the way we see the world. "Like bird song, languages make our planet a beautiful place, a fascinating place — indeed, a miraculous place — to live on," he writes. Without language, we are lost creatures in a meaningless existence — which is why we tell stories. Language helps us create different mythologies, ways of understanding who we are and why we're here. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 14, 2022.
Tuesday, July 11
SUZUKI'S SURVIVAL GUIDE: A RETROSPECTIVE | THE WARNING
Starting July 11, IDEAS is featuring episodes from David Suzuki's radio archive that will include episodes from his 1989 series It's a Matter of Survival., as well as his 1999 series The Naked Ape and his 2010 series called The Bottom Line. New episodes will drop every Tuesday through the summer.
The warnings are coming fast and furious, says David Suzuki in his 1989 CBC Radio series It's a Matter of Survival. He and other scientists look ahead 50 years into the future to paint a picture of what the world could be like if nothing is done to curb the human impact on climate change. They make the case that the time to act is now. The series galvanized the environmental movement in Canada, with more than 14,000 listeners writing letters of support. Find more episodes from David Suzuki's radio archive, here.
Wednesday, July 12
INHERITED MEMORIES OF PARTITION: AANCHAL MALHOTRA
Oral historian and writer Aanchal Malhotra has spent the last decade trying to understand the reverberations of the 1947 Partition of India — a rupture which took place four decades before she was born, but which continues to shape the lives of millions. Her new book In the Language of Remembering explores the transmission of memory, grief, love, animosity and curiosity; how Partition influences the contemporary politics of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh; and what it means to unlearn beliefs you grew up inside. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 13, 2022.
Thursday, July 13
THE SHOCK OF THE NEW | THE YEAR 1789: MORE THAN ONE REVOLUTION
The year is 1789. A revolution in France upends much more than the political order. Suddenly, everything is up for debate: empire, units of measurement, the meaning of freedom, gender roles, and the rhythms of everyday life. Part two in our series The Shock of the New, exploring how change happens. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 1, 2022.
Friday, July 14
FRENCH EVOLUTION: THE HISTORY OF FRANCE IN 9 SONGS
The history of France is intimately connected with its music. Whenever there is revolution, resistance or riots, there are chansons, ballads, and marches. In this episode, Roxanne Panchasi, historian of French culture, spin records with Nahlah Ayed, as they listen to songs that reveal tensions, myths, and memories of France through the 20th and 21st centuries. *This episode originally aired on May 4, 2023.
Monday, July 17
2022 MASSEY LECTURES | ON CREATION
In the second of the 2022 CBC Massey Lectures, Tomson Highways asks: "How did the place we know as the universe come into being? What kind of god or angel or combination thereof was responsible for its creation?" For the ancient Greeks, the world was created through sex, and humans were not here to suffer, but to enjoy. Christianity offered something more linear: a beginning, middle and end of things. Tomson Highway suggests that the Indigenous worldview offers something else; he says: "Those who lived in ages before us — our mothers, our grandmothers, our great-great grandmothers, our children who have died, our loved ones — they live here with us, still, today, in the very air we breathe." *This episode originally aired on Nov. 15, 2022.
Tuesday, July 18
SUZUKI'S SURVIVAL GUIDE: A RETROSPECTIVE | HOW WE GOT TO THIS POINT
"If we don't move now, it will be a disaster," said Lucien Bouchard, Conservative Environment Minister under Brian Mulroney, back in 1989. He was addressing the need to cut back on fossil fuels in the face of climate change, saying the survival of our species is at stake. In an attempt to understand the conditions that created climate emergency, David Suzuki talks to Bouchard and others, including Stephen Lewis, Ralph Nader and historian Graeme Decarie. Find more episodes from David Suzuki's radio archive, here.
Wednesday, July 19
NEW MASTERS: SOBEY ART AWARD
A conversation with the finalists and winner of the 2022 Sobey Art Award. Their acclaimed art ranges from an exploration of what it means to be a Maroon; to reimagining the iconic and controversial Hudson Bay Blanket; to influences of the Egyptian sun god's regeneneration from death to rebirth; to the compelling power of tombstones when representing exclusion and finally the meaning behind turning the iconic Taj Mahal into a bouncy castle. A celebration of where new art is taking us. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 9, 2023.
Thursday, July 20
THE SHOCK OF NEW | THE YEAR 1833: EVOLUTION AND ENTRENCHMENT
Britain abolishes slavery and introduces fundamental labour rights, the inventors of the computer meet for the first time, and Charles Darwin has a revelation that will revolutionize science and challenge religions — but his work will also be used to justify the ongoing institution of slavery. Part three in our series The Shock of the New, exploring how change happens.*This episode originally aired on Nov. 2, 2022.
Friday, July 21
NEW WORLD DISORDER: NATURE OF NATIONALISM
Nationalism is an ideology with a slippery character. Different definitions of history and national identity have fueled Russia's brutal war and inspired Ukrainian resistance, for example. In this episode, political researchers and co-authors Maya Tudor and Harris Mylonas reflect on the nature of nationalism, and why it persists. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 27, 2022.
Monday, July 24
2022 MASSEY LECTURES | ON HUMOUR
In On Humour, the third of this year's CBC Massey Lectures, Tomson Highway invites us into the Cree world of scatological, wild laughter. He invokes the Trickster — a central figure to mythologies of many Indigenous communities across Turtle Island. The audience is invited to experience the world through joy and laughter: "Welcome to pleasure; welcome to fun. Welcome to the Trickster and his sense of humour. Welcome to our world of rampant insanity." *This episode originally aired on Nov. 16, 2022.
Tuesday, July 25
SUZUKI'S SURVIVAL GUIDE: A RETROSPECTIVE | ECO-NOMICS
"Growth is what we've come to live for. It has been the inspiration for our political and economic systems," says David Suzuki in his 1989 series, It's a Matter of Survival. In this episode Suzuki explores the clash between ecological and economic objectives, and how it came to pass that the environment is seen as an infinite sinkhole as the quest for profit and growth dominates political and business interests. Find more episodes from David Suzuki's radio archive, here.
Wednesday, July 26
BIG MEN FEAR ME
George McCullagh is not a household name. Not now. But he used to be, in the 1930s and 40s. In fact, his initials were the basis of today's Globe and Mail newspaper. McCullagh was Canada's first and foremost media mogul, of the same type as Charles Foster Kane, Rupert Murdoch, William Randolph Hearst. He was also deeply involved in politics and wanted Ontario, and ultimately Canada, to become a one-party state run by business elites. Yet he was kind to his employees and a genuine philanthropist. Plagued by what is generally now thought to be a bipolar condition, he emerges from the obscured corners of history in a new book by Canadian writer, Mark Bourrie: Big Men Fear Me. *This episode originally aired on March 6, 2023.
Thursday, July 27
THE SHOCK OF NEW | THE YEAR 1913: THE WORLD ON THE BRINK
Storm clouds gather in Europe. The Ottoman Empire is at war in the Balkans. There's a revolution in Mexico and a coup in Istanbul. Women worldwide agitate for suffrage. Modernism bursts onto the artistic stage, raising new questions about the nature of reality, and Rabindranath Tagore becomes the first non-western writer to win the Nobel Prize. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 3, 2022.
Friday, July 28
NEW WORLD DISORDER: END OF AMERICA
The U.S. is at a turning point and experts say the country hasn't been this divided since the Civil War, and before. Some are predicting the end of American democracy, while others claim the potential for political violence looms. IDEAS contributor Melissa Gismondi unpacks the idea that America is ending, explores where the country might be headed and what — if anything — can save it. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 28, 2022.
Monday, July 31
2022 MASSEY LECTURES | ON SEX AND GENDER
In On Sex and Gender, the fourth of this CBC Massey Lectures, Tomson Highway explores some of the limits monotheism imposes our understanding of the human body and gender. In the world of Indigenous peoples, Highway writes, "the circle of pantheism has space for any number of genders" — an idea with fresh relevance for understanding our own times. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 17, 2022.
