IU Themester: Recent Episodes
College of Arts + Sciences
The Indiana University, College of Arts and Sciences's Themester program is a focused and multi-faceted inquiry into a variety of topics that change each fall semester. It fosters the exchange of ideas and connects the issues our faculty teach in the classroom to our students’ lives through courses, lectures, exhibits, films, and more.
In this episode, Dr. Benjamin Irvin discusses the history of disability in the United States. He explains the medical model of disability vs. the social model. Under the social model, society’s views of disability change, making disability a concept open to historic analysis. Dr. Irvin discusses views of disability and disability healthcare in the United States, starting from the Revolutionary War. Irvin’s conversation touches on issues of ableism such as barriers to access, the presumption of incompetence, invisibility disability, and the prevalence of ableist vocabulary in everyday life.
Part 2 of 2. Dr. Colin Johnson discusses the long progression of LGBTQIA+ identity in the United States and breaks down the development of queer theory. Johnson further explains the difference between urban and rural societies' viewpoints on queer culture, and how being queer in rural America isn't always what we think.
Part 1 of a 2. In these episodes, Dr. Colin Johnson of Indiana University's Department of Gender Studies discusses the long progression of LGBTQIA+ identity in the United States and breaks down the development of queer theory. Johnson further explains the difference between urban and rural societies' viewpoints on queer culture, and how being queer in rural America isn't always what we think.
In this episode, Dr. Andrew Weaver of The Media School at Indiana University discusses the impact of media on today's youth. Weaver discusses how media shapes identity and what he sees as hyperbole around the role of technology in shaping how people think and behave.
This conversation took place July 22, 2022.
In this episode, Dr. Stephen Selka explains what it truly means to be "human." Selka discusses the concept of the human from a historic and cross-cultural perspective, but also its role in post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction, to express what being human means now and for the future and how identity connects to it all.
In this episode, Dr. Amrita Chakrabarti Myers of Indiana University discusses her IU course "Wenches, Witches and Welfare Queens," and the evolution of the black woman stereotype in media. Myers comments what it means to change those stereotypes in today's society, and what can be done to include the correct representation in the ever-changing media.
This conversation took place June 13, 2022.
In this episode of the Indiana University Themester podcast, Dr. De Witt Douglas Kilgore of IU's Department of English discusses the world of Marvel and DC, and the connections between identity and the world of comic books. Kilgore comments on the evolution of heroes in mainstream comics, and how youth in today's age can see more representation from the last 60 years.
This conversation took place July 8, 2022. Themester 2022 focused on the theme of "Identity and Identification."
In this episode, Dr. Jessica O’Reilly analyzes the cross-sectionality of global health and environmental functions. This analysis includes observations of how distinct cultures and religions approach resilience in separate ways using their own specific epistemology. Specifically, O’Reilly contrasts Indigenous wisdom and Western science. This leads to an intriguing conversation about environmental racism and justice in colonized communities and whether resilience itself is an oppressive expectation for these communities.
This conversation took place August 26, 2021.
In this episode, Dr. Betsi Grabe discusses how the increasing investment and consolidataion by major news corporations has forced journalism into a more business-style structure while at the same time the flow of information has exploded— requiring humans to adapt to an overwhelming media escape.
In this episode of the Themester 2021 podcast exploring RESILIENCE, Dr. Betsi Grabe expounds upon her scholarship on people's perception of news media and how it is packaged for the public. Grabe then shifts to how the new digital age has impacted her research and how it changed how the public ingests information. She compares her past and present experiences in the news industry and how external factors play a role in the mediascape.
In this episode, Dr. Jakobi Williams of Indiana University's Departments of History and African American and African Diaspora Studies explains the history of the Black Power Movement and how the Black Panther Party has influenced modern political figures. Williams discusses how youth activism has changed and stayed the same over the course of the last 50 years. This conversation took an introspective dive into generational trauma from oppression through racism.
In this episode, Dr. Heather Reynolds of the IU Department of Biology shares her thoughts on what a sustainable infrastructure would look like in our society. Reynolds explains this paradigm shift through the importance of community participatory research. The conversation takes an in-depth look at the intersection of the economy, environment, and society.
This conversation took place August 4, 2021.
Professor Michael Hamburger (Indiana University, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences) discusses what natural disasters are and how they are impacted by climate change.
Indiana University professors Wendy Gamber (History), Lauren MacLean (Political Science), Lisa-Maria Napoli (Political and Civic Engagement), and Stephanie Sanders (Gender Studies) reflect on a semester of co-teaching a Themester course titled “Sex, Race, & Voting Rights.” The class commemorated and interrogated the centennial of the passage of the United States Constitution's 19th Amendment, which established that the right to vote in the United States could not be denied or abridged on account of sex.
In this episode, IU Religious Studies Professor Dr. Jay Kameron discusses the origins and development of the racial imaginary that lays ground for white supremacy. Carter explains how whiteness operates as religion.
Dr. Hussein Banai, a professor in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University, discusses democratic backsliding and erosion as well as the rise of nationalism and polarization. In this episode, Dr. Banai explains the difference between backsliding and erosion and distinguishes between ethnonationalism and civic nationalism. Civic nationalism can co-exist with democracy while ethnonationalism and polarization undermine democratic ideals.
Dr. Ben Robinson, associate professor of Germanic Studies, discusses the emergence of capitalism as the mode of production and questions its continued utility. In considering the driving forces of society under capitalism, the state and the market, Dr. Robinson urges us to consider the power the people wield. It is among the people, the public, that creativity and the possibility of progress lives. We, the people, also have influential power.
Dr Freya Thimsen, a professor in the English department at Indiana University, discusses how rhetoric can be used to create change. In this episode Dr. Thimsen asks us to consider the impact of social media. Can it used to mobilize the masses or is just empty self-gratification?
In part one of a two-part conversation, Dr. Rasul Mowatt (Indiana University) discusses the eleven forms of racial violence on a continuum, from what is intolerable to what is impossible to conceive.
Dr. Rich Shiffrin, head of Indiana University's Memory and Perception Laboratory speaks about his storied career and what questions remain about our own brains. Spoiler alert: there’s a lot of them. This is an episode from the Remembering and Forgetting Podcast series presented by Themester and the College of Arts and Sciences of Indiana University.
Dr. Robert Dobler talks about the myriad ways that we grieve. He describes how we can see shrines and altars all around us from vinyl records to Facebook posts. This is an episode from the Remembering and Forgetting Podcast series presented by Themester and the College of Arts and Sciences of Indiana University.
Liz Shea, director of the Contemporary Dance Program here at Indiana University, discusses somatic dance and how to use dance to train memory. This is an episode from the Remembering and Forgetting Podcast series presented by Themester and the College of Arts and Sciences of Indiana University.
Dr. Cara Wellman studies stress. On this episode she discusses the effect stress has on memory and the brain and tips dealing with stress. This is an episode from the Remembering and Forgetting Podcast series.
Historian Dr. Alex Lichtenstein discusses what parts of history we remember, why, and the importance of asking about the past. This is an episode from the Remembering and Forgetting Podcast series presented by Themester and the College of Arts and Sciences of Indiana University.
Historian Dr. Mark Roseman discusses his extensive research on the Holocaust and other genocides. He explains that tragedies like this are more relevant today than many of us might like to admit. This is an episode from the Remembering and Forgetting Podcast series presented by Themester and the College of Arts and Sciences of Indiana University.
Dr. Brandon Barker wants to know why we distrust snakes. As a folklorist and professor in the Folklore Department, Dr. Barker examines the myths we build around animals and why we attach humanistic characteristics to them. He also looks at how these myths have influenced our modern perceptions of animals.
Dr. Stephanie Kane studies water. As a professor in the School of Global and International studies, she researches how humans interact with waterways and flooding and how they shape the development of our living spaces and economies. This semester, she’s teaching a class on the political ecology of the arctic circle. Dr. Kane looks at how animals and humans are adapting in a region that’s in a constant state of flux and environmental turmoil.
Dr. Ivan Kreilkamp studies pets. As a professor in the English Department, he researches animal representation in Victorian-era literature, with a special focus on the domestication of dogs and other pets. He also studies the earliest days of the animal rights movement and how it influenced literature of the era (and vice versa).
Dr. Jonathan Crystal wants to know how rats think. Dr. Crystal is a professor in the Department of psychological and Brain Sciences, and he studies how rats think and learn and how they’re affected by degenerative neurological diseases. He hopes to use this information to better understand how those neurological issues, such as Alzheimer’s, affect humans.
Dr. Michael Wasserman wants you to know that you are what you eat. As a researcher in the Anthropology Department, he studies how hominid’s diets influence their behavior and change throughout the millennia. He looks at the diets of gorillas and how human interference is gradually beginning to change their behavior. He also examines human diets throughout our development and how a growing population is impacting what we eat.
Dr. Jeanne Sept takes us on a journey from animal to human. Dr. Sept, a professor in the Anthropology department, looks at our evolution from our earliest hominid ancestors to modern-day humans. By examining our past, she takes us on a journey that will help us understand who we are today and who we may become in the future.
Diversity and difference are at the heart of many contemporary social challenges. Changing demographics provoke national debates about citizenship and basic human rights. Humans and associated global economic activity contribute to the spread of invasive species and declines in native biodiversity. Colleges and universities struggle to recruit and retain diverse faculty and students. Efforts to develop collective responses to these and other challenges are often stymied by increasing political polarization, decreasing empathy, and the entrenchment of difference.
This podcast series is created from the College of Arts and Sciences of Indiana University.
Diversity and difference are at the heart of many contemporary social challenges. Changing demographics provoke national debates about citizenship and basic human rights. Humans and associated global economic activity contribute to the spread of invasive species and declines in native biodiversity. Colleges and universities struggle to recruit and retain diverse faculty and students. Efforts to develop collective responses to these and other challenges are often stymied by increasing political polarization, decreasing empathy, and the entrenchment of difference.
This podcast series is created from the College of Arts and Sciences of Indiana University.
Diversity and difference are at the heart of many contemporary social challenges. Changing demographics provoke national debates about citizenship and basic human rights. Humans and associated global economic activity contribute to the spread of invasive species and declines in native biodiversity. Colleges and universities struggle to recruit and retain diverse faculty and students. Efforts to develop collective responses to these and other challenges are often stymied by increasing political polarization, decreasing empathy, and the entrenchment of difference.
This podcast series is created from the College of Arts and Sciences of Indiana University.
Biologist and photographer Roger Hangarter and artist and curator Betsy Stirratt are long-time collaborators who share an idea of beauty as an experience found in nature. Together they discuss a photograph of a spider web taken by Hangarter during an ordinary walk in the woods. They examine beauty as a phenomenon that inspires both scientists and artists, and find common ground in the pursuit of mystery and light.
A professed historian of the Milky Way, astronomer Catherine Pilachowski exalts the beauty of the ancient spiral galaxy that we call – at least in a galactic sense – home. She describes the glorious physical beauty of the Milky Way, and the beauty inherent in the work of science that leads to new knowledge of its history and future.
A recent encounter with a gorgeously illustrated compilation of Shakespeare forgeries, housed in IU’s Lilly Library, prompts MacKay’s strange tale of falsified beauty. In the years following the “discovery” (around 1795) of William Henry Ireland’s forged manuscripts, their presence played a surprising role in the construction of an idealized vision of Shakespeare that is still embraced today.
Folklorist and ethnographer Jason Jackson has a refined eye and a passion for discovering beauty in everyday objects. When asked to choose a “thing of beauty,” Jackson selected a woven basket made by Cherokee artist Rowena Bradley in the 1970s.The basket’s unique beauty, as Jackson sees it, derives not only from the artistry reflected in the object, but from a complex web of history and meaning surrounding it.
Kate Rowold is a professor of fashion design and a leading expert in the social and aesthetic history of Western fashion. Her chosen object of beauty, a corset from IU’s Sage Collection, reveals the tension between ever-shifting perceptions of beauty and the natural body, and the role of fashion as an instrument of cultural conformity and gatekeeping.
As a self-described "undisciplined" academic and believer in beauty, Eric Sandweiss thinks broadly about the role of beauty in the world. A scholar and teacher of history, Sandweiss explores architecture, historic preservation, urban planning, and the ordinary people and experiences that shape our lives. His chosen object of beauty is Indiana artist T.C. Steele's home, The House of the Singing Winds.