IDEAS schedule for November 2024
* Please note this schedule is subject to change.
Friday, November 1
NEW WORLD DISORDER: CONSERVATISM AT THE CROSSROADS
Canadian conservatism remains a contested territory, even for those who see themselves firmly entrenched in its ideas and history. This panel brings together people who have observed and studied Canadian conservatism — and the people and movements who influence it — to discuss the way contemporary conservatism has shifted over the last decades. How is Canadian conservatism grappling with greater pluralism and diversity? How does it compare to the extremist traits in political conservatism in other parts of the world? How are conservatives responding to the crises faced by younger and working class Canadians? And how are conservatives wrestling with their own movement's internal pressures and schisms, including a sustained call for a return to socially conservative values?
Monday, November 4
THE NEW WORLD DISORDER: END OF AMERICA
The United States is at a turning point and experts say the country hasn't been this divided since the Civil War. Some are predicting the end of American democracy, while others claim the potential for political violence looms. In this episode first broadcast in 2022, 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. 29, 2022.
Tuesday, November 5
THE GENIUS OF VARIOUS ANIMALS
Please note: *The 8 p.m. radio broadcast of this episode is pre-empted for the U.S. election results, with the exception of the Atlantic time zone.
Have you ever looked down at your beloved family dog and thought: what on earth is she thinking? Alexandra Horowitz certainly has. She's the author of Inside of a Dog and a senior research fellow at Barnard College. In 2018, Horowitz joined fellow authors and scientists at the Aspen Ideas Festival, a forum for values-based leadership and the exchange of ideas, to speak about the theme of animal cognition. Hear excerpts from The Mysterious Mind of the Dog and The Genius of Birds. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 5, 2021.
Wednesday, November 6
THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
To wonder is to marvel. More than 2,000 years ago, someone sat down and drafted a list of what was deemed to be the seven wonders of antiquity. At the time, it was a kind of bucket list for ancient travellers — the most awe-inspiring structures that epitomized human imagination and ambition. From the Pyramid of Giza to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, historian Bettany Hughes shares her enthusiasm for the monumental achievements brought into existence by ancient cultures. This onstage conversation was recorded at the Toronto Reference Library.
Thursday, November 7
"ESCAPING THROUGH PRISONS," WITH MIGLENA TODORVA AND DORIS LESSING
Doris Lessing addressed Canadian audiences with her CBC Massey Lectures in 1985, using the opportunity to warn us against groupthink and what she called the intellectual "prisons we choose to live inside." Now, a response from the present day: Miglena Todorova reflects on Lessing's message and puts it into the context of today's politics, as well as Todorova's own upbringing in socialist Bulgaria. This conversation between Todorova and the words of Doris Lessing took place in front of a live audience at Massey College in Toronto, as part of the institution's 60th anniversary celebrations.
Friday, November 8
IN THEIR OWN VOICES: WHAT CAME AFTER
There is no shortage of war stories in Canada's history, but far less in the way of oral history that encompasses the vast terrain of what becomes of veterans after war. Michael Petrou, a former war correspondent and now historian of veterans' experience at the Canadian War Museum, interviewed more than 200 veterans of all of Canada's wars or members of their families. The initiative, called In Their Own Voices, explores the profound changes that come after veterans return home–the idea that even when wars end, they go on, changing the people who fought them, their families, and society at large.
Monday, November 11
IN THEIR OWN VOICES: ACTS OF REMEMBRANCE
Remembrance Day. Every year we are called on to remember, to reflect on the sacrifices of those who fought in Canada's wars. Veterans of those wars have a conflicted relationship with Remembrance Day: sometimes their own acts of remembrance include official ceremonies, while others avoid them altogether. This is the second and last of a two-part series exploring the post-war experience, gathered by the Canadian War Museum's In Their Own Voices oral history project. Michael Petrou, a former war correspondent who interviewed more than 200 veterans or their families for the project, shares his own thoughts on how the idea of Remembrance Day may be shifting as veterans of the Second World War leave us.
Tuesday, November 12
HOW TO FLOURISH IN A BROKEN WORLD
The world is full of problems. We talk about them all the time. It seems like there's always someone yelling about our broken healthcare and out-of-reaching housing. Democracy is in shambles and the planet is dying. Is it actually possible to fix this mess? In this episode we hear from people working to fix our most intractable problems at a time when it can feel easier to just give up. *This episode originally aired on Sept 21, 2023.
Wednesday, November 13
FATIMA HASSAN: BOEHM LECTURE
The Boehm Lectures on Public Health and Healthcare, hosted by the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health, aim to foster a dialogue and engage the public health and health system communities along with the general public on significant issues facing the health of Canadians. The 2024 lecturer, South African lawyer, Fatima Hassan, founder of the Health Justice Initiative, explored ideas of solidarity and leadership in pandemic, epidemic and war responses. Her lecture focused on explaining why, "in an era of rampant commercialization and commodification of life-saving medicines, healthcare must be secured as a global public good."
Thursday, November 14
A HAREM OF COMPUTERS: THE HISTORY OF THE FEMINIZED MACHINE
Digital assistants, whether in your home or on your phone, are usually presented as women. While you can choose a male voice for your personal assistant, the default is usually female. In this documentary, Jill Fellows, philosophy instructor at Douglas College in British Columbia, traces the history of the feminized, non-threatening machine, from Siri and Alexa, to a chatbot invented in the 1960s named ELIZA, to the "women computers" of 19th century. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 26, 2022.
Friday, Nov 15
THE MAKING OF IAN WILLIAMS
Ian Williams, the 2024 CBC Massey Lecturer, speaks with Nahlah Ayed at the Victoria Festival of Authors about the forces that have shaped him as a thinker and writer, from the encyclopedias he read as a child in Trinidad, to his years as a dancer to the poetry of Margaret Atwood. Ian tells Nahlah why he resists the role of "expert" in conversations about Blackness, how he thinks about the multiplicity of the self, and why he's drawn to abstraction.
THE 2024 MASSEY LECTURES – WHAT I MEAN TO SAY: IAN WILLIAMS
Novelist and poet Ian Williams wants to start a conversation about conversations. Civic and civil discourse has deteriorated. In his five-part lecture series, What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation In Our Time, Williams addresses the deterioration of civic and civil discourse. He explores what makes good communication, how to restore the lost art of conversation, and the importance of listening when talking with someone.
Monday, November 18
LECTURE #1: WHY WE NEED TO HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT CONVERSATIONS
Civic and civil discourse have deteriorated, and the air is raw with anger and misunderstanding on all sides. Part of the reason is the online space; another part is that we're closer now than ever before to people who are very different from us. So we need to find ways to change the game — because conversation isn't going away.
Tuesday, November 19
LECTURE #2: PUBLIC CONVERSATIONS
"A stranger is a character. A stranger is almost a person. It's as if their humanity is activated only once we interact with them," Ian Williams says in his 2024 CBC Massey Lectures. How do we open ourselves up to connection with strangers — while still safeguarding our personal sovereignty and resisting efforts to convert us? And what can we learn from our conversations with strangers and loved ones alike about how to navigate the murky waters of national conversations?
Wednesday, November 20
LECTURE #3: PERSONAL CONVERSATIONS
Bookstores are full of titles that are supposed to help us deal with difficult conversations — about emotions, hurts, misunderstandings. The problem is that difficult conversations are almost always about something other than what they seem to be about. And what we're actually looking for in a conversation isn't always answers — it's communion.
Thursday, November 21
LECTURE #4: WHO CAN SPEAK FOR WHOM TO WHOM ABOUT WHAT?|
Children's first words tell us that they are listening and learning, figuring out the shape of the world. They're also learning who can speak for whom to whom about what. We're in an era where many people feel an ownership over certain words, and how a community expresses itself; the term 'appropriation' has come to create guardrails around what can be said, and by whom. Ian Williams considers the role of speech and silence in reallocating power, and what it means to truly listen.
Friday, November 22
LECTURE #5: GOOD CONVERSATIONS
What makes a good conversation? And do good conversations have anything in common? The 2024 CBC Massey speaker Ian Williams studies his daily conversations, and explores how our age has left many of us in what he calls a "drought of loving voices." In searching for conversations that feel transcendent, not transactional, he argues that in great conversations, the content is less important than the interaction: the sincerity and openness of the engagement. Good conversation is an art, and you don't know how it will change you by the time it ends.
Monday, November 25
CHATHAM ALL-STARS
Ninety years ago, the Chatham Coloured All-Stars became the first all-Black team to win the Ontario baseball championship. In another time and place, players like Wilfred "Boomer" Harding and Earl "Flat" Chase might have been larger-than-life figures, hailed for their superior skill and athleticism. But they remained both legends and part of the neighbourhood in Chatham's East End. Now the story of their historic 1934 season, including the racist treatment they endured and their exploits on the field has resurfaced, and they're getting their due as trailblazing Black Canadian athletes.
Tuesday, November 26
OTHERWORLD: ASTONISHING TALES FROM MEDIEVAL IRELAND
Medieval Irish tales have served as the inspiration for some of the earliest fairy tales of France and England. They also became an important part of Ireland's modern quest for nationhood. And they're sexier, funnier, and bloodier than any of the better known myths and romances of the medieval era. They also cross the ultimate boundary: between this world and the Otherworld, a place full of mighty demi-gods, shapeshifting beauties, and determined heroes. In her new book, Otherworld, Lisa M Bitel retells nine Irish tales of wonder and romance, bringing out the vibrant colours of the stories and serving as a guide in the tradition of ancient storytelling.
Wednesday, November 27
DISGUST: THE GOOD AND EVIL
In 55 BC, the Roman orator Cicero wrote "the greatest pleasures are only narrowly separated from disgust." Disgust Is linked to darker forces too, from homophobia and misogyny to religious and racial prejudice; throughout history, disgust has been weaponized to marginalize others. Yet scientists — including Charles Darwin — have suggested that disgust serves a core evolutionary function, helping to protect us from infectious disease and toxic food — and that our ability to feel disgusted is part of what makes us human. One thing that's certain is that we can't rid ourselves of disgust entirely, scholars say, making it important to reckon with this complicated emotion. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 12, 2023.
Thursday, November 28
THE 2024 BEATTY LECTURE: ESKE WILLERSLEV AND CÓNAL CREEDON
A scientist reporting on the ancient camels of Greenland and a novelist stringing together stories of life in the Irish town of Cork: meet the two men who shared the stage at this year's Beatty Lecture in Montreal. On the face of it, little connects the work of Eske Willerslev, the Danish evolutionary geneticist, with that of Cònal Creedon, the Irish storyteller, but the pair draw from their contrasting expertise to discuss the role of imagination, self-doubt, and narrative in science and art.
Friday, November 29
THE 2024 KILLAM PRIZE HONOURS CANADA'S UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS (PART ONE OF TWO)
One of the most important roles of a university is to advance research that benefits society. Each year, a cohort of scholars with research careers of "sustained excellence" are honoured with the Killam Prize, seen by some as Canada's version of the Nobel. In this first of two episodes, Nahlah Ayed talks with Humanities winner Janine Marchessault about her work on the crisis in Canada's film and video archives, and with anthropologist Tania Li, Social Sciences winner, about how the good intentions of international development affects the rural people of Indonesia.
