Ideas: Recent Episodes
CBC Radio
IDEAS is a deep-dive into contemporary thought and intellectual history. No topic is off-limits. In the age of clickbait and superficial headlines, it's for people who like to think.
In an era of rampant commodification of life-saving medicines, healthcare must be secured as a global public good, argues health justice advocate Fatima Hassan. In her Boehm Lecture on Public Health she explores ideas of solidarity and leadership in pandemic, epidemic and war responses.
The world is full of problems — our broken healthcare, out-of-reach housing, a democracy in shambles and a dying planet. Is it actually possible to fix this mess? IDEAS hears 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.
Canada’s veterans have a conflicted relationship with Remembrance Day, an idea that may be shifting as older war vets leave us. In a two-part series, IDEAS continues exploring postwar experiences from The Canadian War Museum’s oral history project called In Their Own Voices. This is part two of a two-part series.*
Even when wars end, they go on — transforming the people who fought them, their families, and even society. More than 200 veterans were interviewed for a project by the Canadian War Museum called In Their Own Voices. The initiative explores the profound changes that come after veterans return home. *This is part one of a two-part series.
Doris Lessing addressed Canadian audiences with her CBC Massey Lectures in 1985, warning warn us against groupthink and what she called the intellectual “prisons we choose to live inside." Now, a response from the present day: Professor Miglena Todorova reflects on Lessing’s message and puts it into the context of today’s politics.
More than 2,000 years ago, someone sat down and drafted a list of what they thought were the seven man-made wonders of the ancient world. 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.
Technology is much more than a tool. Physicist Ursula Franklin argued that it’s a system — one so powerful that it can shape our mindset, our society and our politics. Her observations were prescient when she delivered her Massey Lecture in 1989 and they are all the more relevant today. Ursula Franklin’s friend and collaborator Jane Freeman reflects on the power of Franklin’s message.
"We must mend what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable again in a world so obviously unjust," wrote Albert Camus. In a lecture delivered at Crow's Theatre, lawyer Lex Gill considers how social and cultural movements can nudge the evolution of law and explores how to keep working for justice, regardless of the odds.
Educators are wired for hope according to professor Jessica Riddell. In her lecture delivered at the University of Prince Edward Island, she underscores the importance of slowing down in urgent times. And urges educators to to teach hope, share it, and to imagine a better future.
At a time of ever-growing polarization, where people are less and less likely to cross paths with those who don’t agree with them, what does it take to deliberate? IDEAS producer Naheed Mustafa explores whether there’s space for collective decision-making in an era marked by anger and disagreement.
Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares, "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation." It's a right with profound implications for our lives in the 21st century, from digital surveillance to sexuality and autonomy. How can we protect ourselves?
How do we create a better world? In a five-part series, IDEAS explores efforts to imagine new possibilities and make them real by focusing on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the first episode, panelists examine what the right to "life, liberty, and security of person" could mean, and how it could transform our world.
Marriage is on the decline in Canada. And in heterosexual unions, it’s women who more often initiate divorce, and wait longer to remarry. Why is marriage not working for women? *This episode originally aired on Feb. 21, 2024.
Research around social media was already hard to do. Now it’s even harder. Researchers describe how Big Tech and right-wing lawsuits block efforts to hold social media giants accountable. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 1, 2024.
More than two years after a devastating fire, IDEAS visited St'át'imc territory around Lillooet, B.C. to learn how 21st-century wildfires are reshaping the landscape. This two-part series follows the work of the northern St'át'imc Nations, land guardians, and scientists from the Indigenous Ecology Lab at UBC as they seek to document the effects of wildfires and chart a new future. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 27, 2024.
More than two years after a devastating fire, IDEAS visited St'át'imc territory around Lillooet, B.C. to learn how 21st-century wildfires are reshaping the landscape. This two-part series follows the work of the northern St'át'imc Nations, land guardians, and scientists from the Indigenous Ecology Lab at UBC as they seek to document the effects of wildfires and chart a new future. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 26, 2024.
Kate Beaton and her family have deep roots in hard-working, rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In her 2024 Henry Kreisel Memorial Lecture, the popular cartoonist points out what is lost when working-class voices are shut out of opportunities in the worlds of arts, culture, and media. *This episode originally aired on March 26, 2024.
Lois Wilson has lived many lives during her 96 years as a United Church Minister, a Senator, a human rights advocate, and an inspiration to many. She exhibits a humility that can only be described as steadfast. For the Sake of the Common Good: Essays in Honour of Lois Wilson is a tribute to the life and work of a remarkable Canadian. *This episode originally aired Feb. 15, 2024.
In Astra Taylor's final Massey Lecture, she offers hope and solutions. Taylor suggests cultivating an ethic of insecurity — one that embraces our existential insecurity. The experience of insecurity, she says, can offer us a path to wisdom that can guide our personal lives and collective endeavours.
In part four of our series exploring five years that shaped the world, IDEAS examines 1973. Augusto Pinochet comes to power in Chile, and dictators rule Portugal, Greece, Uganda and beyond. The OPEC oil embargo sets the world on a new path. The American Supreme Court legalizes abortion in Roe v. Wade, 50 years before it would be overturned. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 25, 2024.
Living in modern society is hard and so people often turn to the "mystical marketplace" where Westerners consume Eastern traditions to find some kind of healing balm for the ailments of modernity. *This episode won a Wilbur Award for broadcast excellence on spiritual issues and themes. It originally aired on Jan. 27, 2021.
The burning of fossil fuels causes the past, present and future to collide in destructive ways. In her fourth Massey Lecture, Astra Taylor tells us that as the climate alters, evolved biological clocks erratically speed up or slow down, causing plants and animals to fall out of sync. In a world this out of joint, how could we possibly feel secure? But there is a path forward.
Our series, looking at pivotal years in recent history, continues as we focus on the year 1963. 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. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 24, 2024.
English may have a reputation for being a "linguistic imperialist," pushing local languages into obscurity but linguist Mario Saraceni argues English should be viewed as a global language with multiple versions existing on equal footing. *This episode originally aired on May 19, 2023.
Tested is a new podcast series from CBC and NPR that asks the question, who gets to compete? Since the beginning of women’s sports, there has been a struggle over who qualifies for the women’s category. Tested follows the unfolding story of elite female runners who have been told they can no longer race as women, because of their biology. As the Olympics approach, they face hard choices: take drugs to lower their natural testosterone levels, give up their sport entirely, or fight. To understand how we got here, we trace the surprising, 100-year history of sex testing. More episodes of Tested are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/9-HlXVZB
For nearly five years, Turkey imprisoned one of its most significant writers. Fifty-one Nobel laureates called for his release. Now free, the resilient Ahmet Altan reflects on the meaning of freedom, inside and out.
In Astra Taylor's second Massey Lecture, she argues our social order runs on insecurity. But we’re also guaranteed the right to “security of the person.” The wealthy barons of the past and present have defined what security means for themselves — but the rest of us, ordinary commoners, have fought for something else instead.
After the First World War, the Western powers create new borders and carve out spheres of influence, leaders from the Global South fight for self-determination, and the League of Nations and the Communist International are formed. In this series, IDEAS explores five years in the 20th century that have shaped our world today. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 22, 2024.
Christina Sharpe's award-winning book, Ordinary Notes, explores the complexity of Black life — blending memoir, history, cultural and political critique. She argues that the experience of Black people is misunderstood — but can be contested, and healed, by Black creativity, and community.
We have laws against genocide, defined as "the deliberate attempt to erase a national, ethnic, religious or racial group." But how do we make them stick? IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed speaks with scholar William Schabas about the history of the UN Genocide Convention and what needs to change.
In his Massey Lectures, Iranian-Canadian lawyer Payam Akhavan recounts the courage and spirit of his childhood friend, Mona Mahmudnizhad. Mona was executed for defying Iranian authorities and speaking out about religious freedom. Her example compelled Payam to make it his mission to fight for justice for people who have suffered at the hands of human rights abusers.
Human rights lawyer Payam Akhavan gave the 2017 Massey Lectures, called In Search of a Better World. As part of the Massey at 60 series, marking six decades of the Massey Lectures, he explains how the themes explored in his lectures have taken on even more relevance in today's divided, conflict-ridden world.
Identity is a hot topic in our era, but also a complex reality. Five literary writers — all of them winners of 2023 Governor General’s Literary Awards — read from new poems, essays, and stories that consider the ways that seemingly solid identities can be altered, questioned, or entirely subverted.
Is there a luxury you would never give up for your ideals? An all-purpose deal-breaker? IDEAS producer Tom Howell investigates how wanting a nice lunch in a restaurant intersects with morals and politics — with the help of a restaurateur, an economist, an anti-poverty campaigner, and a light golden Chablis.
The future we want has already existed — we just need to recover it, says Jesse Wente. In a talk, the Anishinaabe arts leader explains how the best of this past gives everyone a blueprint for a better future. "We are evidence that cultures can withstand global systems change: adapt, and rebuild.
What does it mean to seek belonging in a new place, while also being a good guest on Indigenous lands? Can you ever truly "arrive"? Novelist and immigration and refugee lawyer Jamie Chai Yun Liew explores how to cultivate new forms of belonging.
David R. Samson argues that political tribalism is an existential threat to humanity. But the evolutionary anthropologist also sees ‘tribe drive’ as an essential instinct that can be channeled for good. His book Our Tribal Future won the 2023 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy award.
Artificial intelligence could make some of us rich — but leave some behind. In part two of the BBC Reith Lectures, Oxford professor Ben Ansell argues that AI can increase inequality, while appearing to increase prosperity, leading to skepticism about democracy.
In the 1980s, Douglas Janoff marched outside the United Nations to promote 2SLGBTQ+ rights. Then, after several decades as an activist, he became a Canadian diplomat — and started pushing for change from within. He shares his experience through the complex and delicate world of queer diplomacy. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 7, 2024.
Robert Macfarlane says his writing is about the relationship between landscape and the human heart. His books share his encounters with treacherous mountain passages, mammoth glaciers flowing perceptibly into the sea, and harrowing descents into fissures inside the Earth. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 25, 2023.
Can Indigenous people dream a better future into being? Anishinaabe scholar Riley Yesno explores Indigenous futurism and the connection between dreams and new realities, inspired by playwright Cliff Cardinal’s Huff. This episode is part of our ongoing series of talks, each inspired by a theme in a play at Toronto’s Crow’s Theatre.
The World Wildlife Fund lists the Wabanaki-Acadian old-growth forest as endangered — with only one percent remaining. The Wabanaki-Acadian forest stretches from parts of the Maritimes and Southern Quebec down into New England states. IDEAS explores the beauty and complexity of this ancient forest.
IDEAS presents the first of the BBC Reith Lectures delivered by Ben Ansell. The Oxford professor and author of Why Politics Fails examines the threats facing modern democracy, how artificial intelligence can distort its integrity, and how politicians can invest in a democratic future.
Canadian philosopher George Grant was known for his pessimism, and is best known for his book Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism. PhD student Bryan Heystee makes the case to revive Grantian philosophy and make it work for the 21st century. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 6, 2023.
The 'culture wars' have been a staple of modern politics for decades now. They are especially entrenched within Christian communities. Philosopher and author James K. A. Smith has a radical prescription to move beyond this: the church needs more mystics.
The Cultural Revolution is everywhere felt in China today, but rarely if ever talked about openly. But prize-winning historian Tania Branigan tries to fill in the historical silences with voices both past and present in her book, Red Memory.
Smell has been called the 'Cinderella sense,' capable of inspiring profound admiration if we stop turning our noses at it. Producer Annie Bender examines what we lose when we take our powerful — but often misunderstood — sense of smell for granted.
In her book, We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing, Dr. Jillian Horton shares her personal story of burnout and calls for developing a compassionate medical system, with a more balanced and humane understanding of what it means to heal and be healed. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 18, 2024.
The book may well be the greatest invention since the wheel, according to author Irene Vallejo. She traces the history of this miraculous invention with a book of her own, Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World.
John Vaillant details the terrifying growth and destructive force of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire in his award-winning book, Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast. He unpacks how fire made humans who we are — and how humans are changing fire. He says we're changing the climate "in a way that favours fire way more than it favours us."
Eight composers, five instruments, and a world of metal. IDEAS explores a project by the University of British Columbia called The Heavy Metal Suite that conveys the challenges and opportunities of the mining industry, through music. Each composer draws inspiration from their country’s mineral resources in their original pieces.
Leonard Moore has long taught popular courses on American history at McGill University. His retirement lecture is full of insight — and worries — about the deep polarization in the United States. He argues history has its lessons, but it’s still an open question whether they’ll be learned.
In his 2009 CBC Massey Lectures, The Wayfinders, anthropologist Wade Davis explored how the modern world can learn from Indigenous peoples. From the navigational skills of Polynesian sailors to the healing properties of plants, there is old knowledge we can all learn from. IDEAS revisits Davis' 5th Massey Lecture. Go to cbc.ca/ideas to listen to the full series.
Anthropologist Wade Davis has spent a lifetime exploring our planet. In his 2009 CBC Massey Lectures, The Wayfinders, he discussed the importance of looking to Indigenous cultures for some of the answers to the many crises we face. Davis revisits his lectures in conversation with IDEAS producer Philip Coulter at Massey College.
The Dene fight for self-determination and sovereignty has deep historic ties to liberation efforts around the globe. Yellowknives Dene author and scholar Glen Coulthard traces those influences — and how they shape our current political moment.
For many people around the world, Cuban cigars are a luxury. But for Cubans, they’ve symbolized the country’s rich history and culture. Now as an economic crisis is gripping the country and people are leaving, the cigar is a bellwether of Cuba's uncertain future. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 5, 2024.
The cost of food is rising, and more Canadians are having difficulty knowing if they can afford their next meal. IDEAS hears from four leading experts in the field of food insecurity to explore the root causes and how our food systems can evolve to support us all. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 29, 2023.
Arthur Schafer taught ethics to medical students in 1972. His 50-year career put the philosopher at the heart of major ethical debates like MAID. Schafer discusses the role of philosophers in addressing the increasingly complex ethical dilemmas confronting individuals and society as a whole.
For Timothy Garton Ash, Europe is an idea—and an ideal—worth celebrating and preserving, even against all the forces acting against it right now. The historian, who won the 2024 Lionel Gelber Prize, is using his prize money to buy drones for Ukraine in the war against Russia.
Broken violins, cruel love and absent fathers... At the end of the 19th century, Émile Nelligan wrote hundreds of tragic, passionate, sonnets and rondels on these subjects and more. And yet, most English-speaking Canadians seem never to have heard of the Quebec poet. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 9, 2024.
In a time of rapidly changing politics and never-ending crises, what role can solidarity play in confronting political and social problems to create stronger bonds among people? A group of thinkers, writers, and artists tell IDEAS how solidarity is shaping politics and culture.
In 2016 Jennifer Welsh delivered her CBC Massey Lectures, The Return of History — a wake-up call to those of us who may have felt a little too optimistic about the future after the fall of the Berlin Wall. IDEAS revisits the final lecture in her series, The Return of Inequality.
With the end of the Cold War, the struggle for peace, equality, and democracy wasn’t settled — it became more complex. As we mark the 60th anniversary of Massey College, IDEAS executive producer Greg Kelly interviews Jennifer Welsh about her 2016 CBC Massey Lectures, The Return of History — and how eight years on, the struggle continues.
Our bodies are a great paradox. We are made up of trillions of cells that are both independent and interconnected units of life. IDEAS travels into the microscopic complexity of the human body to explore sophisticated nanomachines — and probe the deep mysteries of a subatomic world. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 31, 2024.
Freedom and Equality — can societies aim for both at the same time? Author Daniel Chandler argues that they can, with some help from the American political theorist, John Rawls. He tells IDEAS what a political platform based on Rawls’ books would look like.
Twenty-five years ago, reality TV exploded in popularity, and the media panicked. But could shows like Love Is Blind and their like actually help make us more media literate? IDEAS examines the culture, morality, and philosophy of unscripted television.
These are anxious times for journalism and democracy. As part of an event hosted by the Samara Centre for Democracy, former news anchor Lisa LaFlamme tells IDEAS what can and must be done to bolster journalism so it can better safeguard democracy. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 15, 2024.
Civility is under threat, authoritarianism and autocrats are on the rise and there's an erosion of institutional trust. Three pre-eminent speakers join IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed to discuss how Canada and other countries can promote respect and protect liberal democracy.
You can’t pay rent with experimental poetry, so Hilary Peach trained as a welder. Twenty-plus years on, she’s now a boiler inspector, poet, and author of an award-winning memoir, Thick Skin: Field Notes from a Sister in the Brotherhood. Peach talks about the joys and contradictions of being an outsider inside the trades.
Salman Rushdie sees reality through the lens of time. There are the months after the nearly-fatal attack of August 2022 that he details in his memoir Knife. And the decade following the Iranian state’s February 1989 fatwa against him. In this conversation with Nahlah Ayed, he describes hinge moments in his uncannily storied life.
A Canadian PhD graduate invents a new colour of light and uses artificial intelligence to fool our bodies into shifting time zones faster. She tells IDEAS how this potential cure for jet lag could also help astronauts on Mars. *This episode is part of our series Ideas from the Trenches, which showcases fascinating new work by Canadian PhD students.
In 2020, CBC Massey lecturer and tech expert Ron Deibert asked us to consider how to mitigate the harms of social media and construct a viable communications ecosystem that supports civil society. We revisit his final Massey lecture that explores the kinds of restraints we need to place on government and corporations — and on our own endless appetite for data.
Citizen Lab founder and director Ron Deibert reflects on what’s changed in the world of spyware, surveillance, and social media since he delivered his 2020 CBC Massey Lectures, Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society. This episode is part of an ongoing series of episodes marking the 60th anniversary of Massey College, a partner in the Massey Lectures.*
What shapes the perpetrators of violence against women? And why haven’t efforts to achieve political and economic equality been enough to stop the violence? As part of our series, IDEAS at Crow’s Theatre, professor Miglena Todorova explores violence against women — and why efforts to enshrine political and economic gender equality have failed.
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. UBC Journalism professor Kamal Al-Solaylee explores his work and its enduring power to make us look twice at the world we think we know.
Once, there were half a million salmon in the Yukon River, but now they're almost gone. For the Little Salmon Carmacks River Nation, these salmon are an essential part of their culture — and now their livelihood is in peril. IDEAS shares their story as they struggle to keep their identity after the loss of the salmon migration.
“Sometimes I think this city is trying to kill me…” That’s what a man on the margins once told Robin Mazumder who left his healthcare career behind to become an environmental neuroscientist. He now measures stress, to advocate for wider well-being in better-designed cities.
Indigenous activist Riley Yesno addresses the hopes, disappointments, accomplishments and misuses of ‘reconciliation’ in post-TRC Canada. The Anishnaabe scholar says Indigenous youth who came of age at this time are "meant to be responsible for seeing it through to its next stage."
The bombing of civilians has been called one of the "great scandals" of modern warfare. So why, despite nearly a century of drafting laws and signing conventions protecting the sanctity of human life, does bombing civilians remain a widespread military tactic?
IDEAS continues to explore Wilhelm von Humboldt’s public education system with guests, including acclaimed author Gabor Maté, who is a former English teacher. Is this 200-year-old system equipped to meet the challenging demands of the 21st century? And does it still reflect Humboldt’s ideals, especially at the university level? *This is part two of a two-part series.
Two hundred years ago, Wilhelm von Humboldt created the public education system as we know it today. At the heart of his philosophy of education was the concept of Bildung — reaching one's inner potential. Yet over the years, as his public education system was adopted, Bildung may well have been the critical piece left out. *This is part one of a two-part series.
In his 2000 Massey Lectures on The Rights Revolution, Michael Ignatieff confronted the conflicted rise of human rights language in Canadian and global politics. "Has the rights revolution brought us closer together as a nation, or driven us further apart?" he asks in his final Massey lecture. We revisit this talk, as part of our series marking the 60th anniversary of Massey College.
Twenty-four years ago, Massey lecturer Michael Ignatieff delivered five talks that explored the powerful rise of the language of 'rights' in Canada and other industrialized nations. Michael Ignatieff speaks with former IDEAS host Paul Kennedy to reflect on his talks — and how the rights revolution continues to shape politics today, often in unexpected ways. *This episode is part of an ongoing series of episodes marking the 60th anniversary of Massey College, a partner in the Massey Lectures.
We've dropped this bonus podcast into the feed to announce that Canadian writer Ian Williams is this year’s Massey lecturer. He spoke with Q host Tom Power to tell us why he’s chosen the topic of 'conversations' for his lecture series, how listening can be a courageous act, and why he believes it’s important to have difficult conversations, even at the risk of offending people.
Harvard historian Tiya Miles believes the more girls and women are outdoors, the more fulfilling their lives will be. In her book, Wild Girls, Miles shows how girls who found self-understanding in the natural world became women who changed America.
Montreal was a hotbed of spies and conspirators during the U.S. Civil War. IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed and investigative journalist Julian Sher, author of The North Star: Canada and the Civil War Plots Against Lincoln, tour Montreal’s past and present, tracing the city’s hidden Confederate past.
Timmins calls itself “the city with a heart of gold." And it offers a fast track to permanent residency for immigrants willing to move there. IDEAS producer Tom Howell finds out what this northern Ontario city has to offer a newcomer, and who’s ready to fall in love with Shania Twain’s hometown.
"What is good?" is at the heart of philosophy. Asking the question helps us move toward answers about inclusivity, equality, and who gets a voice at the table. Earlier this year, The Munk School at the University of Toronto hosted philosophers and writers and put philosophy to the test. When it comes to the good, they asked, what good is philosophy?
Writer and political organizer Astra Taylor is the 2023 CBC Massey Lecturer. She speaks with Nahlah Ayed about key moments in her intellectual coming-of-age, from her early life in the “unschooling” movement to her involvement with Occupy Wall Street.
Fears of technological overreach, environmental decline, and the violent rise of the irrational: our 21st century anxieties were anticipated in an unlikely 20th century horror metaphor. “The Birds” – a haunting 1953 short story by Daphne duMaurier, and the truly bizarre 1963 Alfred Hitchcock movie that it inspired.
What are universities for? Where have they gone wrong? What are they doing right? And what do they owe the public? Those were just some of the questions put to university educators and renowned scholars at a public discussion hosted by the University of Regina. You'll also hear voices from students past, present and possibly future on what the purpose of a university means to them.
The Labour Day long weekend is the unofficial end to our Canadian summer but it won't be the end of the smoke or the fires. This unprecedented wildfire season has burned further, faster and is predicted to last longer than even some of the climate experts could have imagined. CBC reporter Adrienne Lamb explores what this could mean for all of us.
Air of course is all around us. We move through it without noticing it. This episode from 2010 is called The Last Breath. We follow a single breath in its journey around the world, explore how an ice-free Arctic will change life on Earth, and David Suzuki sits down with Margaret Atwood for an entertaining chat conversation about breath, life, and death.
Death is a part of life…and as such, it is all around us. In this episode of Suzuki's Survival Guide: A Retrospective from 2010, David Suzuki takes an unflinching look at death and decomposition, at the way cells die to make way for new life within us, and at what happens to a carrot after we harvest it and eat it. All to unlock the cycle in which the things we are made of are never wasted.
Water is essential for our survival; it's an integral part of our bodies. It is also at the heart of some of the most profound mysteries of existence. How deep is the ocean, and what is it really like in the darkest reaches? What are whales doing when they sing? And why do we have so much trouble taking care of this precious and crucial resource?
The field of economics is limited by how it measures success. It doesn't take into account the things that sustain life that can't clearly be measured. The earth and its atmosphere provide infinite services free of charge — the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil that sustains countless lifeforms on earth. It also doesn't include the impact of community bonds, relationships, and love. This episode explores new ways to think of growth and society's holistic well-being.
Never before in the four billion-year history of life on Earth has a single species been able to alter the geological, biological and physical features of the planet. As David Suzuki puts it, "We have evolved from naked ape to superspecies." This first episode from his 1999 IDEAS series, The Naked Ape, explores the impact of human culture on the natural world.
"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.
"If we don't move now, it will be a disaster," said Lucien Bouchard in 1989 when he was the Conservative Environment Minister under Brian Mulrouney. 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 the climate emergency, David Suzuki talks to Bouchard and others, including Stephen Lewis, Ralph Nader and historian Graeme Decarie.
In his 1989 CBC Radio series, It's a Matter of Survival, David Suzuki 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. The series galvanized the environmental movement in Canada, with more than 14,000 listeners writing letters of support.
Bobby Kenuajuak was a promising filmmaker with a grand ambition: to change the narrative about his people. A quarter century later, Bobby’s remembered as a pioneer, whose tragic end confounds a hopeful beginning. *This is the final episode in our four-part series, Another Country: Change and Resilience in Nunavik.
When Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk wrote Sanaaq, the first novel written in Inuktitut in Canada, that was just the beginning. Over the course of her extraordinary life, she wrote more than 20 books, many of them aimed at young Inuit readers. She was also a teacher, an artist and a thinker with profound ideas about justice and community. *This is the third episode in our four-part series called Another Country: Change and Resilience in Nunavik.
In the early 1950s, 22-year-old Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk began compiling Inuktitut phrases as a language guide for missionaries. Then she created fictional characters and began imagining their lives, loves and encounters during a period of profound change. Those stories would eventually become Sanaaq — the first novel written in Inuktitut syllabics in Canada. *This is the second episode in our series, Another Country: Change and Resilience in Nunavik.
Outside the co-op store in Puvirnituq, an Inuit community on the north eastern shore of Hudson Bay, there’s a sign that reads “Puvirnitumiut Katujjuiyut Immiguutut”: the people of Puvirnituq, working together for themselves. This spring, IDEAS visited Puvirnituq to learn how its residents have fought to shape their own future in a rapidly changing world. *This is the first episode in a four-part series, Another Country: Change and Resilience in Nunavik.
We're thrilled to announce that this year’s Massey lecturer is Astra Taylor, a filmmaker, writer and political organizer who was born in Winnipeg and currently lives in the United States. She speaks with Nahlah Ayed for a sneak preview of her lecture series, "The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart." You can find more information on our website, cbc.ca/ideas.
Five Canadian minds changing the world with their contributions to science and scholarship have won the 2023 Killam Prize, a $100,000 award handed out by the National Research Council of Canada. Each scholar has significantly impacted their respective fields of engineering, health sciences, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.
Our brains tell us human intelligence is unique in understanding this complicated world — that our intellects make us superior to animals. But after years of studying dolphins and other marine creatures, Justin Gregg has come to the conclusion that the human brain isn’t as great as it thinks it is.
There's a growing culture war over history with efforts throughout western nations to revert to "virtuous origin" stories. IDEAS explores what happens when we sanitize history and remove criticism and doubt from the myth. If we kill history, how can we look to the future?
Warning: Profanity | In the final episode of the three-part series, Man Up: Masculinity in Crisis, IDEAS explores how far-right men's groups are reasserting traditional masculinity online, and why some experts see a positive way forward for men through fatherhood.
Acclaimed columnist and author André Picard reflects on 40 years of health journalism, from how health care has changed over the decades, and where he believes it’s headed. Picard delivered the 2023 Dalton Camp Lecture in Journalism, at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick.
Canadian writer and Rome resident Jeannie Marshall probes the power of art to move us and to transcend the historical and religious contexts that shaped it in her book, All Things Move: Learning to Look in the Sistine Chapel. She speaks with CBC's Rome correspondent Megan Williams.
In the fall of 2022, humanity entered unprecedented territory when, according to the United Nations, the world’s population reached eight billion people. Journalist Bruce Livesey explores the complex issues around population growth — from its connection to energy sources, to the often racist reactions to the subject.
David Suzuki hosted CBC's The Nature of Things for 44 years, exploring the beauty of the natural world, while underlining the moral responsibility that comes with being alive. The award-winning scientist and environmentalist shares his life lessons as a proud elder.
A PhD student argues that a new literary genre has emerged — the ‘Mexican Gothic’ style, featuring the creepy castles and haunting figures of traditional Gothic novels, mixed up with drug cartel kingpins and colonialism, set in contemporary Mexico. *This episode is part of our ongoing series, IDEAS from the Trenches, about outstanding PhD scholars across the country.
Social equity and public spaces may seem worlds apart, but that’s where Jay Pitter enters. She’s an award-winning placemaker who works at the crossroads of urban design. She delivered a public talk for the Ontario Heritage Trust called “The Future of Culture Is …” on how we define heritage, whose heritage is protected and how to confront the complexity of colonial heritage symbols.
IDEAS continues to explore the state of manhood in part two of the three-part series, Man Up!: Masculinity in Crisis. This episode examines rejuvenation therapy, how the McCarthy era and the Boy Scouts played a role in shaping masculinity, testing homosexuality in boys and the creation of the mythopoetic movement.
One of Britain’s most influential scientists, Sir Martin Rees argues that science could save humanity or destroy it, so it’s more essential than ever to have closer engagement and a mutual understanding between science and the public sphere.
About 60 per cent of the world’s mining companies are Canadian, operating around the world, including countries where mining activities have been linked to human rights violations. International human rights lawyer James Yap is working on making offending companies accountable.
Just over 130 years ago, over 800 Ts'msyen people left their village of Metlakatla, B.C. to found "New" Metlakatla in Alaska. IDEAS contributor Pamela Post follows her own family history, and how it was shaped by those events.
Lewis Gordon is an academic. But he argues that confining thinking to the academy has resulted in people forgetting that philosophy “has something important to say.” He helps remedy the situation with this warm, funny, vital talk, recorded in a historic pub in St. John’s, Newfoundland, by Memorial University.
The history of France is intimately connected with its music. Whenever there is revolution, resistance or riots, there are chansons, ballads, and marches. Roxanne Panchasi, a historian of French culture, spins records with songs that reveal tensions, myths, and memories of France through the 20th and 21st centuries.
“We travel a tightrope,” writes poet and actor Walter Borden, “which we all must cross in order to embrace the fact that, in spite of everything, ‘we done made it over.” IDEAS celebrates the delightful wisdom of Walter Borden and a revised version of his one-man play, The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time.
Under international law, each person has the right to a nationality including not being arbitrarily deprived of it. Yet citizenship stripping is on the rise, sometimes even leading to statelessness. Could western societies see the return of exile as punishment? IDEAS explores the question: is citizenship a right or a privilege?
In a powerful act of remembrance, a group of Canadians participated in a pilgrimage to the Netherlands to commemorate their fathers, grandfathers and uncles who helped to liberate the country from the Nazis. IDEAS contributor Alisa Seigel shares their journey in her documentary, A Walk of Remembrance.
The future of the newspaper business doesn't look bright. According to Jordan Bitove, publisher and owner of the Toronto Star, the industry requires government help in creating an "ethical media supply chain." He outlines his plan for the newspaper, and why he won't let it fail.
Our justice system was developed under the assumption that both parties in a dispute would each have a lawyer. But most Canadians can’t afford a lawyer — which means that our justice system is tilted in favour of those who can. In a two-part series, IDEAS contributor Mitchell Stuart asks: is a system like that still capable of administering justice?
Ukrainian poet Ostap Slyvynsky has been at the Lviv railway station helping refugees on their way west, escaping the horrors of war. They tell him stories of what they have left, what they have seen and experienced. He has created a sort of A to Z of all these stories — a compendium of all the things that people say about war.
We’ve heard of the Anthropocene: how human activity has altered the planet. But the Great Acceleration? It’s that period from 1950 onwards, when the same human activities revved up even more, and are still accelerating. IDEAS contributor David Kattenburg examines the crucial, and sometimes contested, meanings of this age of Great Acceleration.
Jordyn and Anne had family members with breast cancer. They each got genetic testing and found out they too carried genes that gave them very high odds of getting cancer too. Both of these women decided to deal with the risk preemptively by having surgery. This is part one of 'The Previvor Dilemma.' Subscribe to the White Coat, Black Art podcast to download the second part of the series, and explore the show’s vast archive.
Identity and historical and social context shape what we know and how we know it, even in the most mind-bending science. Quantum physicist Shohini Ghose discusses the interplay between quantum principles and Mi’kmaw astrophysicist Hilding Neilson talks about how Indigenous traditions of astronomy can enrich and broaden our views of the cosmos.
Two experts who got financially scammed. Two ex-Fundamentalist Christians who researched the psychology of conspiracy belief. Each describes their experience, and explains why credulity is a universal and persistent human tendency.
Our justice system was developed under the assumption that both parties in a dispute would each have a lawyer. But most Canadians can’t afford a lawyer — which means that our justice system is tilted in favour of those who can. In a two-part series, IDEAS contributor Mitchell Stuart asks: is a system like that still capable of administering justice?
Hina Jilani is one of the world’s leading human rights lawyers. She has played several prominent roles for the UN, including eight years as the Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders. Despite attempts on her life, nothing will stop her from fighting injustice to help make a better world.
Chris Brookes was a masterful radio storyteller from St. John’s, Newfoundland who helped change the way we make, and listen, to radio. He died from an accidental fall on Monday, April 10, 2023. In tribute of his audio legacy, IDEAS revisits a 2009 documentary, Hark!, about an audio exploration of what Elizabethan England may have sounded like.
The final BBC Reith Lecture on the theme of Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms features intelligence specialist Fiona Hill, who served under three U.S. Presidents — Bush, Obama, and Trump. In her lecture, she argues that fear is a weapon of war, and the best way to fight back is through education.
In recent years, the word "woke" has evolved from a catchphrase into a political ideology — and a catch-all pejorative, routinely wielded on the right against its left-leaning adherents. But in her new book, Left Is Not Woke, moral philosopher Susan Neiman argues that the "woke" ideology represents a fundamental break from traditional leftist ideals.
The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have been divided by a largely invisible border since 1998. Now 25 years later, the fear of old conflicts looms once again. IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed went to Ireland to hear what people are saying. This episode is part two in our series, Walking the Border: Walls That Divide Us. *Originally aired on September 9, 2019.
It was 25 years ago today that the Good Friday peace agreement was signed, yet the so-called peace walls remain in Northern Ireland. Host Nahlah Ayed went to Belfast to find out if the walls are helping or hindering community reconciliation between Catholic and Protestant, Republican and Unionist. *This episode originally aired on September 2, 2019.
Handel's Messiah is possibly the most famous and popular piece of classical music of all time. Yet it's full of secrets and surprises. The founding director of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir Ivars Taurins, and veteran CBC Radio producer Robert Harris, reveal the hidden treasures of this celebrated piece. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 8, 2015.
Scottish journalist and musician Darren McGarvey gives the third of four BBC Reith Lectures on the theme of 'Freedom from Want'. He says it's incumbent upon people to challenge and confront what inequality means. McGarvey argues that expecting compassion from the government is unreasonable — as governments have become hard-wired to avoid compassion.
Starting in 1493, tens of thousands of Indigenous people began arriving in Europe. British historian Caroline Dodds Pennock pieces together the evidence of their lives and experiences there in her book, On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe.
A group of pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales tell stories to each other. One of them — the bawdy, smart, confident Wife of Bath — tells us exactly what she thinks about marriage — and men. She’s been called the first fully-formed woman in English literature, and 700 years later, the Wife of Bath remains an inspiration to writers today.
Seabird biologist Bill Montevecchi has been ranked in the world’s top two per cent of scientists. IDEAS producer Mary Lynk follows him on a heart-pounding overnight rescue mission of young Storm Petrels along Newfoundland’s coastline. *some strong language in episode.
The BBC Reith Lectures return, and this year’s theme is The Four Freedoms. Rowan Williams, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, delivers the second BBC Reith Lecture. He argues that the West has forgotten what freedom of religion really means.
Belief in astrology is on the upswing, especially among younger people. But since it has no predictive value, what meanings can be gleaned from a belief that the stars reveal all about us? This documentary examines the rise of popular astrology in the 1930s and how it fits into the consumer capitalism world we now inhabit.
The plague of Athens struck in 430 BC, violently killing up to half of the Greek city's population. The chronicler Thucydides documented the grim symptoms, as well as the social and psychological fallout. His vivid account holds enduring lessons for us today. *This episode originally aired on June 23, 2020.
What good is philosophy in times of war? Ukrainian scholar Mychailo Wynnyckyj and Yale philosopher Jason Stanley share their thoughts on how philosophy can illuminate the Ukrainian crisis — and inform our response to the war.
The Middle English Dictionary was 71 years in the making. Eventually published by the University of Michigan in 2001, it featured 15,000 pages, 55,000 definitions, and had 900,000 examples of usage gleaned from 400 years of medieval texts. Join IDEAS on a romp through the Middle English Dictionary. *This episode was originally broadcast in 2004.
The BBC Reith Lectures return and this year’s theme is The Four Freedoms. In the first lecture, Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi-Aidichie analyzes the state of free speech today, including the phenomenon some call “cancel culture.” She argues that moral courage is required to resist threats to freedom of speech, be they political, legal or social.
About 2,500 years ago, Thucydides travelled ancient Greece, gathering stories about a brutal war that plunged the ancient world into chaos. He set high standards for accuracy, objectivity and thoroughness in his reporting. IDEAS producer Nicola Luksic explains why his account of the Peloponnesian War is relevant today. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 7, 2011.
Libraries are under literal attack in Ukraine, and ideological attack amid North America’s culture wars. Oxford librarian and author Richard Ovenden is not about to stay quiet about it. He argues that libraries defend our democratic freedoms, and deserve our defence in return.
History films get the most awards at the Oscars. But they’re more than just entertainment. They colour our understanding of the past, and sometimes discolour it. Film scholar Kim Nelson explores the complex power of how history films shape our sense of who we are.
Négritude was a Francophone movement to rethink what it meant to be Black and African. Scholar Merve Fejzula explores the dynamic debates happening in the early-to mid-20th century among Négritude thinkers, how they disseminated their ideas, and how all this changed what it meant to be part of a public.
Humans are storytelling creatures. But literary scholar Peter Brooks argues that stories have become far too dominant as the way we understand ourselves and the world. IDEAS examines the dangers of seeing everything as a story.
The Globe and Mail's founder George McCullagh once had the ear of the entire nation —but despite his remarkable rise to power, few know his name. Historian Mark Bourrie traces his legacy in the book Big Men Fear Me.
China is a true superpower, with influence far beyond its borders. But the world is changing. Could China possibly become a democracy? University of Toronto professor Joseph Wong thinks so. He explores this theory and explains how China got to where it is today.
We think nothing today of calling healthcare workers “front line workers,” engaged in a “battle” against disease. But the roots of the war metaphor in medicine go a long way back — entrenched by pop culture icons like the TV show MAS*H and Hawkeye’s army. Dr. Jillian Horton explores a less heroic but healthier way forward for doctors and health professionals.
A cotton sack from the time of slavery bears the first names of a mother and her daughter, who was sold at the age of nine. Harvard historian Tiya Miles scours the historical documentary record to discover who these women were and reveals their story of love in her book, All That She Carried — winner of the 2022 Cundill History Prize.
In 1985, at the height of the Black Power era, police dropped a bomb in a Philadelphia neighbourhood. Their target? A family of Black radicals known as ‘MOVE,’ who found themselves ensnared in a city — and nation’s — domestic war on Black Liberation. Over seven episodes, host Matthew Amha investigates the events that culminated in the MOVE bombing, and the long afterlife of a forgotten American tragedy. Hear more episodes where you get your podcasts or here: https://link.chtbl.com/aHtJxR6f
Language. Labour. Migration. Four international scholars gathered at York University to deliver the inaugural Alchemy Lecture: Borders, Human Itineraries and All Our Relation. Together they envision a world without borders, a world that confronts the global injustices of labour, of forced migration, and life in the Black diaspora.
Newfoundland has a vibrant history of Indigenous writing that’s been obscured over the years, but is now being rediscovered and celebrated. As part of the George Story Distinguished Lecture series at Memorial University, professor Kristina Bidwell shares the rich and complex world of Newfoundland’s Indigenous literature and points to the collaborations taking place right now.
How do you heal emotional wounds? Novelist Jen Ferguson recommends anger and “a good scream.” Playwright Dorothy Dittrich suggests art and conversation can draw a person out of grief. Artist Nahid Kazemi agrees with the poet Rumi: “The wound is the place where the light enters you.” The three are winners of 2022 Governor General’s Literary Awards.
How did the iconic Taj Mahal get turned into a bouncy castle? Artist and winner of the 2022 Sobey Art Award, Divya Mehra explains the meaning behind her art installation and joins the four finalists in a conversation that celebrates where new art is taking us.
A Netflix series called Ancient Apocalypse claims that a thriving civilization was wiped out during the Ice Age by comets and floods, but left humanity with science and technology. Experts call this "pseudo-archaeology." IDEAS unearths how pseudo-archaeology has been used to advance political and cultural ideas, and where it crosses over from pseudo-science to religious myth-making.
The Huarochirí Manuscript is one of the few surviving records of Quechua worldviews in the early modern era. It was once used by the Catholic Church to identify and eradicate “idolatries.” But today, for philosophy professor Jorge Sanchez-Perez, the manuscript is a tool for reconstructing and revitalizing Andean metaphysics.
Money is a pervasive force in life, as anyone feeling the pinch from inflation knows all too well. It’s also unpredictable, unstable, unnatural, abstract, and deeply invested with emotion, trust and politics. IDEAS explores the strange history of money and how it confounds attempts to understand and control it.
The mysterious ‘neutrino’ has a nickname: the ‘ghost particle.’ Benjamin Tam is finishing his PhD in Particle Astrophysics at Queen’s University. He takes us two kilometres to a laboratory deep below the earth’s surface where he and fellow scientists hope to watch neutrinos finally explain the universe’s existence.
Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel fears that we’ve turned from a market economy into a market society, where just about everything is for sale. His book, What Money Can’t Buy, was a big success 10 years ago. He joins Astra Taylor and Michael Ignatieff to discuss why his book is even more relevant today.
Muhammad Iqbal was popularly known as the intellectual founder of Pakistan, but his greater fame is for his philosophical works in English and his poetry, both in Urdu and Persian. IDEAS looks at the life and work of one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century.
American writer Wallace Stegner fought hard to protect the land and resources in the Wild West. But he had crucial blind spots about the history of Indigenous people. IDEAS goes to Eastend, Saskatchewan in search of what Stegner's writings on conservation mean today, in a place where the grasslands are still under threat.
We continue our series with a rare glimpse into seven decades dedicated to rebuilding society. Three titans of the civil rights movement, Angela Davis, her sister Fania Davis and Margaret Burnham, come together to discuss transforming racial justice, as part of an event organized by the Restorative Lab at Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law and the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia.
Eugenics is seen as a 19th-century idea put into horrific 20th-century practice. But the attraction to breeding “better” humans has a long and persistent history, says Adam Rutherford. The geneticist and science podcaster explains, in conversation with host Nahlah Ayed.
IDEAS offers a rare glimpse into seven decades dedicated to rebuilding society. Three titans of the civil rights movement, Angela Davis, her sister Fania Davis and Margaret Burnham, come together to discuss transforming racial justice, as part of an event organized by the Restorative Lab at Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law and the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia.
The UN was created partly to prevent war yet war's the one thing it hasn’t been able to prevent. Still despite its flaws, Canada’s ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae says it's a good place to start. Rae makes an impassioned plea for engaging with a world in turmoil.
Climate change has transformed the Arctic faster than most places on the planet. Inuit know this better than anyone. But as Arctic ice researcher Dr. Shari Fox argues a colonialist approach to Arctic research by academia has largely disrespected and sidelined traditional knowledge. She's working to change that.
Saturn, an alligator that was supposedly Hitler’s favourite animal was 'liberated' from the Berlin zoo when the Red Army invaded Germany at the end of the Second World War. The reptile was relocated to Moscow where it died in 2020. But with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Saturn’s story has become once again a symbol wartime geopolitics.
They were known as school cars and schools on wheels. Trains that brought the classroom to children in the most isolated communities of Northern Ontario. IDEAS contributor Alisa Siegel explores remote education, homeschooling and nation-building.
Happy almost New Year!! Nahlah Ayed, IDEAS contributors and producers bring you our annual New Year's Levee as they prepare for the 2023 season. This year Kamal Al-Solaylee shares his insights on the Queen of Sheba. We'll also hear about ghost neutrinos, pseudo-archeology, war metaphors and restorative justice.
The winter solstice is the longest night of the year. And that’s what makes it the perfect time to slow down, move inwards, and reflect. CBC Music's In Concert host, Paolo Pietropaolo joins Nahlah Ayed to showcase music he feels captures the spirit of the winter solstice.
Scholar Katie Hunt ties together lines of Romantic era poetry with scientific research on sleep... to reveal how our concept of insomnia evolved, and how the poems still have the power to open our minds.
At the most recent COP27 global meeting, vulnerable countries counted a win — sort of — with the creation of a fund to pay for loss and damage brought on by climate change. All they need now is for rich nations to pay up. But will they take on moral responsibility? And if not, how can climate justice be achieved?
In 2024, our view of the universe is going to change drastically. When the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is complete, it will be possible to produce images of the night sky that are both sharper and more wide-ranging than ever before — revolutionizing our knowledge of galaxies, according to astrophysicist Louise Edwards.
In a world that’s increasingly hostile to journalists, Bellingcat has become an internationally respected organization uncovering the truth about wrongdoing. Giancarlo Fiorella, a senior investigator with Bellingcat delivered the 2022 Peter Stursberg Foreign Correspondent Lecture in an event moderated by IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed.
A demonic possession, a do-it-yourself exorcism, and the execution of an accused witch — welcome to daily life in Quebec City, circa 1660. Historian Mairi Cowan shares the story of Canada’s earliest reported ‘demon possession caused by witchcraft’ case.
It’s been 75 years since the Partition of India — a rupture that still shapes the lives of those born in its wake. Oral historian Aanchal Malhotra speaks with Nahlah Ayed about how the inherited memory of Partition continues to shape people’s politics, identities, curiosities and fears.
In 1967, pianist Glenn Gould made a radio documentary for CBC about the Canadian North. He applied the technique of contrapuntal music to documentary-making, with the result sounding like a Bach fugue made of stories. This 2017 documentary explores Gould's life and his revolutionary ideas about music and radio.
Democratic backsliding is speeding up. Is there a way to revive civic engagement and resilience and push back against public apathy? IDEAS host, Nahlah Ayed talks to former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi about the possibility of renewing civic purpose in Canada, as part of a public lecture hosted by the Samara Centre.
British paleontologist Thomas Halliday reveals how extinction is intimately linked to evolution in his book, Otherlands. He chronicles 16 extinct ecosystems over the past 520 million years to show how everything living today is the descendant of survivor species.
Coyotes are everywhere, from the deepest woods to urban backyards. Who is this “song dog” and why do they fascinate and unnerve humans? IDEAS explores some answers in a 2001 documentary that looks at coyotes, in reality and story.
IDEAS takes a deep dive into Fate Is the Hunter, Ernest K. Gann's celebrated memoir of flying and the capricious hand of fortune. The book is a nail-biting account of his early days in aviation. Gann wonders: why did I survive when so many other pilots perished?
For millennia, human beings along with their domesticated animals have traveled to bring sheep, goats, cattle, and other animals to better grazing areas. The ancient practice, known as transhumance, has been dismissed as an outdated mode of animal husbandry. Yet the practice holds promise for a sustainable future.
The extremes are extreme in U.S. politics. But Anand Giridharadas and some other progressives are convinced that there are uncompromising approaches that can move up to 60 per cent of voters to value democracy and human rights. The author of The Persuaders describes the methods proven effective in shifting views.
The World Cup of Soccer promises some of the most dramatic moments in sports. And when the stakes are high, some people choke. IDEAS contributor Peter Brown looks at why our skills desert us when we're under pressure, and what can be done to avoid the dreaded choke.
When Europeans colonized North America, they brought very specific ideas about gender and sexuality. Following the 2022 CBC Massey Lectures, Tomson Highway joined panellists to discuss Indigenous sexuality in the aftermath of colonialism — from Cree mythology to the Vancouver dating scene.
Tomson Highway's final Massey lecture is an uplifting and joyous conclusion to his series — a message that the worldview of Indigenous people suggests ways of seeing and believing that make our journey on Earth joyous, hilariously funny and rich in diversity.
In his fourth Massey lecture, 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.
In his third CBC Massey lecture, 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.
In his second CBC Massey lecture, Tomson Highways questions how the universe came to be. He explores ancient Greek and Christian beliefs and suggests the Indigenous worldview offers something else: "Those who lived in ages before us... who have died, our loved ones — they live here with us, still, today, in the very air we breathe."
In his 2022 CBC Massey Lectures, acclaimed Cree writer Tomson Highway explores fundamental questions of human existence through the lens of Indigenous mythologies, and contrasts them with the ideas from ancient Greece and Christianity. In the first lecture, Highway argues that language shapes the way we see the world. Without language, we are lost creatures in a meaningless existence — which is why we tell stories.
Leaving Iran in 2010 was the first time translator and poet Bänoo Zan was able to fully inhabit a self-described role as "war correspondent in verse." In this conversation with host Nahlah Ayed, the writer in residence at the University of Alberta explores the role of poetry in such moments of upheaval in her home country.
Nobel laureate and renowned journalist Maria Ressa warns that we’re in the "last two minutes of democracy." She delivered the 2022 Beatty Lecture at McGill University and then joined IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed to discuss what can be done to change the course against disinformation.
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 part two, this podcast series revisits the Reconstruction era, where an unlikely coalition of leaders tried to make the U.S. into a true multiracial democracy. And it worked, for a while.
The American Revolution is often depicted as a struggle between the common man and the callous elite. Yet most of the famous American figures of the revolution were powerful landowners, with vast wealth and ownership over other human beings. A Duke University podcast from the Centre for Documentary Studies revisits how contested ideas of "democracy" reverberate in American politics today.
The Partition of India creates the largest mass migration in human history. The newly-created United Nations votes to partition British Palestine. The Cold War divides the world into opposing camps, and empires collapse and retreat. This is the final episode in our series, The Shock of the New, exploring how change happens.
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, and Rabindranath Tagore becomes the first non-western writer to win the Nobel Prize. Part four in our series, The Shock of the New, exploring how change happens.
Britain abolishes slavery — but consolidates and expands its empire, especially in Africa and the Caribbean. Industrialization transforms the nature of work, communication and travel. The inventors of the computer meet for the first time, and Charles Darwin has a revelation that will revolutionize science and challenge religions. Part three in our series exploring “hinge moments” in history.
A revolution in France heralds a change in political order everywhere. The revolution upends ideas about everyday life, gender, time and more. New definitions of freedom and equality emerge — and are fiercely contested. As empires expand, enslaved people and anticolonial leaders push back. Part two in a series about what Salman Rushdie calls “hinge moments” in history, exploring how change happens.
Empires are expanding, the British East India Company is born, and the silver trade between South America and China begins to stitch the world into a global economy. Shakespeare is writing Hamlet and Julius Caesar, and Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake for his scientific discoveries. Part one in a series about what Salman Rushdie calls “hinge moments” in history, exploring how change happens.
Carl E. James is the winner of the 2022 Killam Prize for Social Science. Professor James is Canada's leading expert on schools and universities, especially as viewed through the lives of racialized students. He insists we must notice the processes behind what can appear to be flaws in society.
Digital assistants, in your home or on your phone, are usually presented as women. In this documentary, IDEAS traces the history of the feminized, non-threatening machine, from Siri and Alexa to the "women computers" of the 19th century.
Sometimes, ghosts 'appear' for very human reasons. Loss, change, and grief can alter our perceptions of reality. In this episode, the reasons why ghosts are seen everywhere from new high-rises in Mumbai, to urban food courts, to a gay gym in San Francisco.
The scientific consensus is that the universe was probably born in The Big Bang — the beginning of time and space. It's far less certain how the universe will end. Theoretical astrophysicist Katie Mack outlines the possible fates of the universe in her book, The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking).
Our relationship with wetlands is nothing if not troubled; swamps, bogs, and marshes have long been cast as wastelands, paved over to make way for agriculture and human development. But with wetlands proving crucial for life, artists, ecologists and activists say we need to rewrite this squelchy story.
The Sermon on the Mount is one of the greatest gifts of scripture to humanity; just ask Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Leo Tolstoy. But who's making any use of it today? In a time when an eye for an eye still seems to hold sway, IDEAS producer Sean Foley explores the logic of Christian non-violence, beginning with Jesus' counsel to 'turn the other cheek.'
As mass demonstrations continue to erupt across Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, journals of Iranian women from the 19th century reveal a 'hidden resistance' to authority. Safaneh Mohaghegh Neyshabouri studied these journals and observed how small acts of resistance can give root to massive social upheaval. This episode is part of our ongoing series, IDEAS from the Trenches.
Deciding what counts as a game and what doesn’t can be tough. Philosopher Thomas Hurka, from the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto, examines what makes a game a game — and how getting the definition right can help us understand what makes for a life well spent.
One of the heroes of the Algerian war for independence from France was a young psychiatrist from Martinique. Frantz Fanon treated both Algerian victims of French brutality and torture, as well as French colonial officers and authorities responsible for it. This is the final episode in David Austin's 2006 series about the life and work of Frantz Fanon.
The psychiatrist and political philosopher Frantz Fanon was one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. This episode examines Fanon's early life under French colonial rule in Martinique, his involvement as a young man in WWII, and the influence of Jean-Paul Sartre on Fanon's thinking. A deep dive into the life of this remarkable thinker by Montreal writer David Austin.
Blue jeans evolved from being the uniform of cowboys to a symbol of rebellion, and are now the most popular — and possibly the most polluting — garment in the world. Fashion expert Pedro Mendes explores the 150-year history of jeans and the 'authenticity' they are supposed to represent. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 13, 2019.
They've remained a minority among humans since the dawn of our species, coping with systems and tools arranged for right-handers, and sometimes thriving as a result of their difference. IDEAS explores the history — and latest mysteries — of the 'sinister 10 per cent' to find out what makes a left-hander special. *This episode originally aired on May 2, 2022.
The Iranian women demanding their rights today are part of a long history of resistance — and they’re continuing a struggle that began 43 years ago. IDEAS contributor Donya Ziaee shares the story of the women who took to the streets to oppose mandatory veiling just after the 1979 revolution. *This episode originally aired on March 8, 2019.
Two food security experts imagine what it would take to feed a human colony on Mars in the year 2080 if we colonized the red planet. From greenhouse technologies to nanotechnologies, they figure we could have a well-balanced diet on Mars, and argue there are lessons on how to improve our own battered food systems here on Earth.
Democracy is shrivelling and illiberalism is on the rise. We've been watching this unfold for more than three decades but the sense of urgency has, perhaps, never been so great. IDEAS hears from people on the frontline of the fight against rising authoritarianism — how they understand the struggle and what they're doing to survive it. *This episode is part of our series, The New World Disorder.
The U.S. 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. IDEAS contributor Melissa Gismondi explores where the country might be headed and what — if anything — can save it. *This episode is part of our series, The New World Disorder.
Today’s nationalist leaders employ an exclusionary nationalism that can stoke fear, insularity, and hate. Yet political scientists Maya Tudor and Harris Mylonas argue it's important to understand nationalism as a powerful ideology that can be harnessed for national and global good. *This episode is part of our series, The New World Disorder.
What hope does democracy have when geopolitical instability is mounting, and public discourse is drowning in a sea of misinformation and disinformation? There is hope — according to two former Massey Lecturers Ron Deibert and Jennifer Welsh. *This episode is part of our series, The New World Disorder.
Musician, poet and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson addresses technology, fame and Yoko Ono’s one-minute scream in the second episode featuring excerpts from her Harvard University Norton Lectures. *This episode originally aired on June 3, 2022.
Through excerpts from her Norton lectures, legendary avant-garde multimedia artist Laurie Anderson takes us on a curious journey exploring questions of politics, love, technology and fame. Episode One touches on angels, code-cracking and modern dance. *This episode originally aired on June 2, 2022.
Growing up, PhD student Sarah believed in the literal interpretation of the Bible. Born into a devout evangelical Christian community, she draws on her religious past to understand the visceral belief people acquire in conspiracy theories — from PizzaGate to the 'stolen' 2020 U.S. election.
Never before have we had such a close up, real-time picture of war. IDEAS hears from several women who know war: They're neither fighters, nor victims, yet at times of conflict they are wholehearted participants. They discuss the challenges, stereotypes, and dangers for civilian women working in the fog of war. *This episode originally aired on May 5, 2022.
The ancient Greek story of Jason and the Argonauts is that of a quest — and one of the first ever told: a man, a ship and a team of sailors, all in search of a miracle. Jason's turbulent relationship with Medea is at the centre of this documentary by contributor Tom Jokinen, Worst Marriage Ever: The Story of Jason and Medea.
Wole Soyinka has gone from political prisoner to Nobel Laureate in Literature. His writing, brimming with wit and rage, bears witness to the tragedy and triumphs of his native Nigeria. He spoke with Nahlah Ayed about power, the corruption of language, and his first novel in almost 50 years.
In the 1960s and 70s, Joyce Wieland painted, sculpted and stitched the Canadian flag and our sense of national identity. Her art called on the need to preserve its distinctness from the United States. Now, a quarter century after her death, Canadians are wrestling with questions of who and what we are as a nation.
Geographer Ruth Wilson Gilmore pioneered the study of how mass incarceration has shaped the American landscape. In this wide-ranging interview with IDEAS, Gilmore talks about her latest book, Abolition Geography, in which she brings together more than three decades of essays and lectures about how America — and Americans — have come to be.
Indigenous scholar Allan Downey tells the story of Indigenous ironworkers from the Haudenosaunee community of Kahnawake in Quebec and how they helped build New York’s skyline — and a community in Brooklyn. Downey calls it a resurgent history, aimed at reviving Indigenous culture, traditions and governance.
At first glance, Shakespeare’s play Cymbeline doesn’t seem like an obvious choice for confronting the climate crisis. But seven theatre companies around the world, from Argentina to Australia, have adapted Cymbeline to respond to the climate crisis in their local communities.
Slowing down science, negotiating the self, and making ‘virtues’ cool again. IDEAS speaks to world-leading bioethicist Françoise Baylis, a recent winner of the 2022 Canada Council Killam Prize for her influential work.
Is there beauty in a Reverse Frankensteiner? Truth in a Crossface Chickenwing? Meaning in a Turnbuckle Thrust? These are questions for professional wrestlers, and professional philosophers. This episode brings both groups together, for a rough 'n tumble cage match of philosophical inquiry.
In musical terms, ‘polyphony’ is a musical texture that combines two or more tones or melodic lines. But what can music do to truly advance peace and understanding? IDEAS explores this question with Nabeel Abboud Ashkar, co-founder of Polyphony — a music education organization, followed by a panel discussion. *This episode originally aired on May 3, 2022.
Minnesota-based Father Columba Stewart has spent nearly two decades working with religious leaders, government authorities, and archivists around the globe to preserve religious manuscripts. He tells IDEAS about where this all started, and why it matters so much. *This episode originally aired on May 6, 2022.
When human rights activist Karima Baloch is found drowned off the shores of Toronto, an investigation into her mysterious death leads all the way back to Pakistan, the country she had recently fled. In this six-part series, host Mary Lynk explores the rampant abductions and killings of dissidents in Pakistan, the dangers that follow those who flee to the West, and a terrifying intelligence agency with tentacles around the globe. How did Karima die? And would Pakistan really carry out an assassination far beyond its borders? This is a story that a powerful state doesn’t want you to know. More episodes are available at smarturl.it/thekilllist
Celebrity culture existed long before the stage, screen, and social media. Famous people, who elicited Kardashian-level feelings of love and hate in the public, were present centuries ago... though they share qualities with stars today, say scholars Irina Dumitrescu and Sharon Marcus.
Central to Dante's Divine Comedy is the idea of contrapasso: the appropriate afterlife punishment that matches the transgressions committed during one's earthly existence. Novelist Randy Boyagoda applies this notion to create Dante's Indiana, a tragi-comic epic that descends deep into the recesses of modern American life.
The demographics of Canada’s prison population are far out of line with the rest of Canada. As part of the Provocation Ideas Festival and the Toronto International Festival of Authors, Nahlah Ayed hosts a panel discussion on challenges facing the legal system, and how to build a better court.
World news, local voices. Nothing is Foreign is a weekly trip to where the story is unfolding. Hosted by Tamara Khandaker. This episode takes you inside the culture and class wars of Egypt and explores what the banning of popular music says about the African country's image and its future. More episodes are available at: http://hyperurl.co/nothingisforeign
IDEAS takes a journey to Afghanistan with members of the Afghan diaspora, who find their way "home" through their music. We ask: how is the idea of home embedded in music and how have decades of conflict reshaped Afghan music? This is the final episode in our series The Idea of Home.
“Urbicide” — the intentional killing of a city — is a brutal tactic of war, designed to destroy people’s sense of home and belonging to a larger collective. But even in peacetime, architecture and urban planning can become part of a more subtle kind of war over who gets to call a city home. This is the fourth episode in our series, The Idea of Home.
Hospitality — and hospitals. Two words that share a root, but whose meanings often seem at odds with each other. IDEAS traces the tension between hospitality and discipline that has defined hospitals throughout their history, and what it means to create a hospitable hospital in the 21st century. The third episode in our series The Idea of Home.
In ancient Greece, hospitality (or xenia) was seen as a sacred moral imperative. Today, the word xenia has largely fallen out of use, but its opposite, xenophobia, has been a driving factor in contemporary politics for years. IDEAS explores ancient traditions of hospitality in this second episode of our five-part series, The Idea of Home.
Can you ever truly go home again? At a time when more people have been forcibly displaced from their homes than at any other time in history, IDEAS explores what it means to return years — or decades — later. This is the first episode in our five-part series, The Idea of Home
Kuper Island is an 8-part series that tells the stories of four students: three who survived and one who didn’t. They attended one of Canada’s most notorious residential schools – where unsolved deaths, abuse, and lies haunt the community and the survivors to this day. Hosted by Duncan McCue. More episodes are available at hyperurl.co/kuperisland
Over the past two years, millions of teenagers have missed out on the rites of passage that generations before them experienced as a matter of course. Add to that their increased levels of anxiety and isolation, and it quickly becomes apparent why the COVID generation stands apart as a uniquely marked one.
A Russian soldier has been sentenced to life in prison for committing war crimes in Ukraine. But what are the rules of a war crime and how can they be enforced? IDEAS speaks to three experts to examine how international law deals with war crimes.
Calling something ‘beyond the pale’ puts it outside of civil society. (The word ‘pale’ actually means a ‘fence’.) So is there a fair way to build and maintain that fence in today’s political climate? IDEAS producer Tom Howell finds out how people are placing their private ‘pales’ these days — and what agreement remains on the existence of a public one.
In September 2021, Andrew Potter spoke with IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed about his book, On Decline. He argues that our entire civilization is in a slow, grinding descent into diminished prospects for a better world. We asked the author to return this month to assess how the past nine months have affected his grim prognosis.
IDEAS delves into one of the great enigmatic figures of the late 19th century: Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Known as the godmother of the New Age movement, she led the Theosophical Society — a group determined to seek 'no religion higher than the truth.'
In her latest book, Orwell’s Roses, Rebecca Solnit uncovers a George Orwell who sought simple pleasures and beauty and was besotted with the natural world — something that was core to his being and that was essential to a worldview that abhorred totalitarianism, lies and abuses of language.
"Sand is the material that matters most to what it means for us to be human," says researcher Nehal El-Hadi. She explores how sand shapes everything from our cities to our understanding of time — and what it means that the global supply of sand is dwindling, in her lecture, Poetics, Politics, and Paradoxes of Sand.
The passing of Ronnie Hawkins at age 87 is the inspiration for this special episode of IDEAS in which producer Philip Coulter retools a show he did for Inside the Music. It plumbs the CBC Radio's extensive archives featuring The Hawk and captures the bottomless charisma, warmth and energy that defined his legendary career.
Science writer and scholar Britt Wray specializes in the mental health impacts of the ecological crisis. Her new book, Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis, shares productive ways to cope, think, and act while facing an anxious ecological present and uncertain future.
Richard Wright was the biggest name in Black American literature in the 1940s. He fell out of favour, in part the result of critiques by James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison. But a recent publication of a Wright manuscript has led to a re-evaluation of his legacy and enduring relevance.
Please note that this episode features descriptions of a sexual assault that some listeners may find disturbing. 17-century artist Artemisia Gentileschi upended traditional depictions of women in her paintings by creating gutsy, strong female figures. With her paintbrush as in her life, she fought gender inequality and helped to reimagine womanhood and what it could mean to be a female artist.
Early on in his coverage of COVID, journalist Ed Yong realized it was more than just a science story — it was an omni-crisis. His journalism focuses on exposing the cracks in society exacerbated by the pandemic. He delivered this lecture as part of the Lind Initiative Future of the Media series at the University of British Columbia in April 2022.
The quest for perfection has become a modern malady, correlating to increased rates of depression and anxiety. But according to scholar Irina Dumitrescu, there's a connection between medieval ideas and contemporary experiences, whether motherhood, body image or social status.
In his latest book, Shape, mathematician Jordan Ellenberg reveals the geometry lurking beneath history, democracy, biology, and everything else. He argues geometry is a way of thinking, a method of reasoning and argument, and a system for making sense of the world.
Brain variations which were once advantages are now seen as burdens and disorders that beg for remedies. In this two-part series, IDEAS traces the social and cultural response to brain variation and whether there's a way back to seeing them as advantages.
Brain variations which were once advantages are now seen as burdens and disorders that beg for remedies. In this two-part series, IDEAS traces the social and cultural response to brain variation and whether there's a way back to seeing them as advantages.
Freedom, democracy, human rights... These are some of the most important pillars of modern society. But recently, our relationship to these ideals has shifted drastically. IDEAS revisits writer and broadcaster Margaret Visser's 2002 Massey Lectures which examines these concepts — their strengths and their limitations.
The flâneur is the quintessentially masculine figure of privilege and leisure who strides the capitals of the world with abandon. But it is the flâneuse that captures the imagination of cultural critic Lauren Elkin. IDEAS takes you on a walk through the streets of Paris with the author.
Can shame be positive? Some philosophers see it as an emotion that can improve social relationships, and cultivate a better self. Philosophers Owen Flanagan gives context based on his book, How to Do Things with Emotions, and Bongrae Seok explains the shame in the longstanding Confucian tradition.
For centuries, the looting of cultural artifacts has been a fraught discussion in the art world, and for government institutions. Many of these artifacts were taken from their places of origin during wars and conquests. Some never make their way back, and end up on the black market. But what's the real consequence of these lootings?
When Sir John Franklin set out to find the Northwest Passage in 1845, he never returned. From that mystery, began the stories. But why do we keep coming back to these Franklin stories? What do they say about us? And what does it mean today to seek a Northwest Passage?
In Bosnia, there are facts about the genocide but little acceptance of their truth by Serb aggressors. For Bosniaks, genocide denial means they are stuck in a violent past with little prospect for release. This is part two of a three-part series on genocide, truth, and reconciliation.
The shiny, handsome and undeniably cool saxophone has been a staple of jazz music and popular culture for nearly a century. But some music historians say that what’s often been overlooked are its deep roots in spiritual beliefs and religious ritual. *This episode originally aired on March 3, 2020.
Five hundred years ago, when Martin Luther translated the New Testament so that ordinary Germans could understand it, he sparked a theological, social and political revolution that we’re still living in. But who exactly was he? A life-risking fighter for freedom of conscience? Many still see him that way. But his infamous anti-semitism was embraced by the Nazis. So who exactly was Martin Luther?
An intricate portrait of secret Soviet operations in Ukraine during Joseph Stalin’s rule, from Canadian historian Lynne Viola. She speaks to Nahlah Ayed about the legacy of Stalin’s “Great Terror,” Russian suppression of Ukrainian nationalist sentiment, Vladimir Putin’s new war on history, and that time when the KGB came knocking on her door... and asked her out on a date.
Some of us avoid exercise: why? PhysEd researcher Brian Culp says a more inclusive, less sports-oriented high school education can help. Historian Jürgen Martschukat argues that the pressure to keep fit at all comes less from us, and more from political and economic forces. *This episode originally aired on June 23, 2021.
Universities in the 21st century face a host of challenges, from bloated budgets to overworked contract faculty. And in a competitive economy, many students are wondering if a B.A. is still worth the time and money. IDEAS considers the idea of universities in crisis, what can be done to make them better and whether the system — as we know it — is worth saving. *This episode originally aired on October 12, 2021.
The Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research recognizes distinguished leadership, vision and innovation. The 2021 lecture was delivered by internationally acclaimed Professor Sir Mark Walport, known globally for his innovative work in health research. The topic of his talk is Medical Research and Innovation: Post-Pandemic Priorities.
Middlemarch by George Eliot is a book full of characters, navigating everything from love, to family, to morality — in the end asking the question: is it a good thing to live a life of duty or is it ridiculous? This is the final episode of a two-part series.
Virginia Woolf called George Eliot's novel, Middlemarch 'one of the few English books written for grownups.' It's a book that excavates happiness and unhappiness and is perhaps more relevant now than ever. This is part one of a two-part series.
Dogs are lauded as 'man's best friend.' But PhD student Molly Labenski argues that, in America, the real picture is of a dysfunctional, toxic 'friendship' between the human and canine species. She points to a revealing source of cultural attitudes — the use of fictional dogs by authors of 20th-century literature. An episode from our series, Ideas from the Trenches.
A groundbreaking study conducted in the wake of the Second World War by a group of scholars rocked the academic world when it was published in 1950 — but fell out of favour. Now a new generation of scholars is reviving the lessons of The Authoritarian Personality to understand the politics of our time.
The playwright Anton Chekhov wrote to a friend that he was writing a play with "a great deal of conversation about literature, little actions, tons of love." The Seagull is not unlike our own lives, where there isn't a ready-made plot with a neat ending. This episode is a collaboration between IDEAS and Soulpepper Theatre Company's audio drama series Around the World in 80 Plays. It originally aired on May 12, 2021.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, a series of Persian travellers from Iran and India to visit cities all over the world. They wrote popular travelogues describing the cultures and ideas they encountered and asked the questions fundamental to all of us: who am I? What is our relationship to each other, and to the world? * Originally broadcast on March 9, 2020.
They’re weird. They break the rules. They’re kinda bad. They are cult movies. Dive into the stories of films from ‘Troll 2’ to ‘The Last Dragon’ to the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ to learn what drives people to watch these oddball films again and again. Producer Matthew Lazin-Ryder looks at the history, future, and function of cult movies. *Originally aired on May 19, 2020.
An ordinary cup of Joe just won’t do anymore. It’s now gourmet, fair trade and organic. Whether the method is pour over, French press, or vacuum pumps, coffee is now described with terms like “mouthfeel," just as fine wines are. Contributor Marilyn Powell examines the cultural history behind the world's most popular drink. *Originally published on June 19, 2019.
Throughout the centuries, politicians, theologians and philosophers have pointed to nature as a way to guide our actions and beliefs. The equivalence between "unnatural" and "bad" seems to be as durable as ever. But philosophical anthropologist Lorraine Daston doesn't think using "nature" as a guide is necessarily all bad. *Originally aired on Dec. 5, 2019.
What happens when sacred rituals that are integral to Yoruba society are interrupted by a colonial power? Does life go on? Or will this spiritual wrong be righted? Nobel laureate and playwright Wole Soyinka answers these questions in his 1975 play Death and the King's Horseman. This episode is in collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company's Around the World in 80 Plays series. It originally aired on June 9, 2021.
Things Are Against Us is a collection of satirical essays by Booker Prize-shortlisted writer, Lucy Ellmann. Satire aims to correct excess and Lucy Ellmann takes aim at a lot: male ego, eco-tourism, crime fiction, all the irritations that chip away at our pandemic-weakened sanity, and dead-centre in her crosshairs: Big Industry.
Not the history we learned in school: the Western world has its roots in African trade and resources, and was built on the lost lives and liberty of African people. So argues senior journalist and history author Howard W. French in this Carleton University School of Journalism lecture, based on his latest book, Born in Blackness.
Over the past two years, teenagers around the world have missed out on the rites of passage that generations before them experienced as a matter of course. Add to that their increased levels of anxiety and isolation, and it becomes apparent why the COVID Generation stands apart. Teenagers in the U.S., Ireland and Kenya, recount how the pandemic has altered the course of their lives.
Who will speak for the cormorant? This unusual water bird gets culled by humans for overfishing and killing trees. But maybe it is humans and their cultural assumptions that are the source of the problem, say defenders of the cormorant. *This episode originally aired on October 6, 2021.
In Jamaica, life for queer people often consists of navigating a society where both church and state reject the LGBTQ community. In her play She Mami Wata and the Pxssywitch Hunt, Jamaican-Canadian playwright and dub poet d'bi.young anitafrika untangles this complex state of affairs. This is the latest episode in our collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company, and its audio drama series Around the World in 80 Plays.
Today, the concept of freedom is often associated with limited government and freedom from state inference. But historian Annelien de Dijn argues that’s actually a relatively new idea in the longer history of thinking about freedom — one that emerged from an anti-democratic backlash to the Age of Revolutions.
In one way or another, over the course of about 2500 years, the Song of Songs has also been mystery of mysteries, allegory of allegories, love of loves, and even language of languages. Its verses are both lovingly crafted and enthrallingly disorienting. The Song of Songs polishes the many facets of love, raises up the physical and marvels at the transcendent, and in doing all this, exalts the very act of poetry. This documentary seeks out our best understanding of its origins, and tries to convey something of its power.
As a theoretical physicist, Alan Lightman writes about the wonders of the universe with the soul of a philosopher. As science makes more fantastical discoveries and the cosmos becomes yet more mysterious, Lightman probes the biggest, most difficult questions to answer — is there a purpose to life and the universe? Where did we come from? What is the self? Why is there something rather than nothing?
It's a novel so strange, shocking and surreal that it's hard to describe. At the surface, Bear is about a woman who develops a sexual relationship with a bear. And though the 1976 novel earned Marian Engel a Governor General's award, it's been largely forgotten. Contributor Melissa Gismondi brings Bear to life and explores its mystery, meaning and relevance today. *This episode originally aired on January 4, 2021.
The 12th century Persian poem, Conference of the Birds, tells the extraordinary story of a group of birds setting out in search of God only to realize after much struggle and hardship, that God was always within. This episode of IDEAS is in collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company, and their audio drama series, Around the World in 80 Plays.*This episode originally aired on May 26, 2021.
University of Toronto Professor Dan Breznitz says Canada has an innovation problem, and it’s time we did something about it. In 2021 Breznitz won the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s inaugural Balsillie Prize for Public Policy for his book, Innovation in Real Places. In this episode, Nahalah Ayed speaks with Breznitz and the three other finalists for the prize.
Science isn’t just facts and theories about the universe. As Aaron Collier’s one-person play, Frequencies, shows, science is also experienced on an intimately personal level through our senses. Nahlah Ayed moderated a panel inspired by Frequencies at the National Arts Centre's Theatre and Physics Symposium in November.
As a child in Stalinist Albania, Lea Ypi grew up believing she lived in a free state. When the system collapsed in 1990, she lived through a radical redefinition of “freedom.” She speaks with Nahlah Ayed about the contested meaning of freedom today and her memoir Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History.
For more than 60 years, French thinker Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space, has inspired poets, artists, architects, philosophers — and daydreamers. Millions of us around the world have spent two years sequestered in our homes, so what does his book about daydreaming and the imagination offer us now?
Hayavadana tells the story of three friends caught in a love triangle that leads to an intense identity crises after the heads of two of them are switched. It is considered one of the most important Indian plays of the 20th century. This audio drama is part of a collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company's Around the World in 80 Plays series. It originally aired on May 19, 2021.
Last November, the National Arts Centre staged its Theatre and Physics Symposium; it featured plays about some of the principles and towering figures of theoretical physics to show how quantum science can shed light on the equally mysterious world of human relationships.
Intense and controversial, the approach to acting known as the Method gave performers a new way into character psychology. It also gave audiences a more authentic view of being human. Author Isaac Butler describes its evolution and influence — from the Russian stage to Hollywood movies and beyond.
Early in the pandemic, an online community of photographers, artists and editors started creating and sharing pictures of what they described as “liminal spaces”: empty, dark hallways, old arcades and decrepit stairways, which echoed a sense of timelessness and eeriness that resonated in today's world.
Six characters whose story was never written take matters into their own hands by gatecrashing a theatre rehearsal, turning reality on its head. From Soulpepper Theatre Company’s Around the World in 80 Plays, the metatheatrical masterpiece of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. *This episode originally aired on May 5, 2021.
Poet Lyuba Yakimchuk grew up in the contested Donbas region of Ukraine. After pro-Russian separatists took control of the area in 2014, her family had to flee. And now, the whole country has been invaded. Lyuba Yakimchuk reflects on poetry, war, and the burden of a motherland.
Dr. Paul Farmer was a towering figure in global public health. As a co-founder of Partners in Health, he sought to radically change ideas about healthcare and who deserves it. Dr. Farmer died suddenly in his sleep on February 21, 2022, at the age of 62. In May of 2020, he shared his thoughts with IDEAS about equity and humanity in healthcare.
Eighty years ago this week, Japanese Canadians in British Columbia were forced into internment camps by the federal government. It wasn't until 1949 that they were accepted back into B.C. Three generations of Japanese Canadians tell the story of these years and their aftermath. *This two-part documentary originally aired on IDEAS in 1988.
Eighty years ago this week, Japanese Canadians in British Columbia were forced into internment camps by the federal government. It wasn't until 1949 that they were accepted back into B.C. Three generations of Japanese Canadians tell the story of these years and their aftermath. *This two-part documentary originally aired on IDEAS in 1988.
The fear in Ukraine of a war with Russia has its roots in what happened in the 1930’s. IDEAS producer Philip Coulter visited Ukraine to look at the effects of the Holodomor, the extermination by famine of 90 years ago. *This documentary originally aired in 2009.
In her 1963 play about truth, lies and state violence, Griselda Gambaro predicted the dark period Argentina was hurtling towards. As part of a collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company, we bring you inside a room where innocence doesn’t exist and even the walls themselves can’t be trusted. *This episode originally aired on April 28, 2021.
Alaa Al Aswany is one of Egypt’s most important authors. While his work is banned in his country, including his latest novel about a fictionalized account of the failed Egyptian revolution of 2011, the writer believes it’s only a matter of time before the revolution prevails.
Anthropologist Darren Byler sees a confluence in Xinjiang province in China of constant surveillance, state data harvesting and private companies driven by profit. How does this apply to the global race for supremacy in artificial intelligence?
Christians, Muslims and Jews lived together in relative harmony in medieval Spain. Then the Spanish Inquisition came along, turning a pluralistic society into a police state. Writer Erna Paris, who passed away earlier this month, explored this history for IDEAS calling what happened in Spain "a cautionary tale for today." *This episode originally aired on January 21, 2015.
Researchers are beginning to explore potential drug treatments for everything from heartbreak to PTSD in relationships. But traditionalists argue romantic love is not to be tampered with by doctors. IDEAS teases out the complicated relationship between chemicals and romance — and ask how drugs could reshape the future of love. *This episode originally aired on April 14, 2021.
Soulpepper Theatre Company is taking audiences across the globe with eight international audio plays. And IDEAS will be your travelling companion. Moonlodge is the first play of the Around the World in 80 Plays series. *This episode originally aired on April 21, 2021.
Ice Age communities were crawling with kids. Researchers estimate that anywhere from 40 to 65 per cent of prehistoric societies were made up of children. Archaeologist April Nowell has been researching the lives of Paleolithic children for decades. She argues that prehistoric children played a critical part in the cultural evolution of humans.
Since the early 1900s cowboy fiction and films have played a major role in shaping popular notions of the American West. In this second of our two-part series The Cowboy's Lament, IDEAS contributor Tom Jokinen examines how the ethos of the American West is captured in film, both advancing — and complicating — the myth of the Old West. *This episode originally aired on October 16, 2020.
The potent Images of the cowboy and the six shooter have shaped the myth of the American West: pioneer freedom and frontier towns. In this first episode of a two-part series, IDEAS contributor Tom Jokinen explores the myth of the West, and how the values of individual freedom and boundless conquest continue to feed America's political ideology through to today. *This episode originally aired on October 15, 2020.
In the face of death, disappointment or fear we look for meaning, a sense of order, and consolation to help us carry on. Michael Ignatieff, in a public forum with Nahlah Ayed for the Toronto Public Library, discusses his book, On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times.
Flow. Athletes know it: the state of mind and body when every move made is the right one. But flow presents a paradox, as a state in which you lose yourself, yet become yourself. Writer and triathlete, Suzanne Zelazo, delves into the mystery at the heart of flow. *This episode originally aired on June 25, 2021.
All of us are biased. We have individual biases, momentary biases, morning biases and evening biases. Our institutions are biased. Our constitutions are biased. So what to do about it? IDEAS producer Tom Howell continues his investigation into what the field of ‘bias studies’ has to offer us.
When a woman opts to get plastic surgery, she enters complex and fraught territory. Some claim it's self-exploitation but an increasing number of younger women view plastic surgery as empowering. IDEAS contributor Maggie Reid examines the fault lines that define what she calls Botox Nation. *This episode originally aired on November 30, 2020.
Feminism today is wracked with inequality. Rafia Zakaria, author of Against White Feminism, says feminists must have a reckoning within and that white women must make space for those women who may not be the policymakers or theorists, but who live the feminist struggle every day of their lives.
In her final Massey Lecture, Esi Edugyan speaks to how China and Japan created their ideas of Blackness from imported stories of pre-twentieth-century Africa, "shaping cultural expectations and in turn shaping the Black history and experience in Asia." For Esi Edugyan going to Asia served as a lesson in the power of storytelling and also the dangers of Othering.
Esi Edugyan argues we are constrained by a largely white, Eurocentric idea of progress when it comes to the history of the future. African thinkers and artists suggest other realities: the Zambian Space Program, the film Black Panther, and Nnedi Okorafor's novel Lagoon, are all possible parables of the future.
"To talk of transracialism instead of racial passing is, I think, to shear off its past of darkness, of illicitness," argues Esi Edugyan. Transracialism implies that we've gone beyond the limiting values of racial passing, allowing us to define for ourselves what our race is. So where do our rights to define ourselves begin and end?
"We all construct our own identities," Esi Edugyan says in her third Massey Lecture, "but we all understand, sooner or later, the limits of doing so — that there are ways in which our practical, economic, and physical realities are fixed." She explores how people who “pass” as Black complicate our understanding of identity.
"The stories we tell about the dead act as clarifying narratives to explain what has shaped us, and what continues to make us who we are," argues Esi Edugyan in her second Massey Lecture. However, she asks: who is being forgotten and why? When some histories are forgotten, we all lose. Recovering our ghosts is a way of redressing the narrative.
Black subjects in European art are generally marginal figures, but even as such, they tell a rich tale about cultural assumptions. "To look at a portrait is to be forced to build a human life out of our own imaginations," says Massey lecturer Esi Edugyan. Art can both freeze a narrative and remove ambiguity, but it can also suggest layers of perhaps unintended meaning.
Ultranationalism requires an enemy. In Poland, that means sexual minorities. Municipalities across the country are passing anti-LGBT measures. But activists are fighting back, despite the legal odds and the physical violence.
In Richard III, Shakespeare shows us how easy it is to fall under the spell of a tyrant. IDEAS explores the parallels between Richard III and the Trump era, and the play’s eerily prescient lessons about complicity, conscience and speaking truth to power. *This episode originally aired on April 2, 2021.
Lloyd Percival was arguably Canada's most successful coach. He helped revolutionize the way hockey was played around the world but was rejected by the NHL establishment. This two-part series examines the life and legacy of Percival the man, the coach — and the legend he helped build around himself.
Lloyd Percival was arguably Canada's most successful coach. He helped revolutionize the way hockey was played around the world but was rejected by the NHL establishment. This two-part series examines the life and legacy of Percival the man, the coach — and the legend he helped build around himself.
It's a relic deemed so taboo, that the Vatican threatened excommunication to anyone who speaks of it or writes about it. But for nearly a thousand years the 'holy foreskin' of Jesus Christ was widely considered to be the holiest of relics. University of Alberta PhD student James White is researching the relic's history, with an eye to understanding Medieval logic and concepts of the body. *This episode originally aired on April 27, 2021.
The pandemic upended much of our normal way of interacting with others. Intuitive activities like hugging loved ones and bonding over shared meals had to stop because of distancing protocols. Contributor Johnny Spence explores the emotional and neurological impact of touch deprivation, especially as it pertains to healthcare practitioners.
The dominant story in archaeology has long been that humans came to North America around 12,000 years ago. But Indigenous archaeologist Paulette Steeves points to mounting evidence suggesting it was more like 130,000 years ago.
Life is imperfect, and most quests for high achievement are destined to fail. Those truths have led some to advocate for a "good enough" future, prioritizing greater decency and sufficiency for the majority, rather than a select few.
In part two of the BBC Reith Lectures, professor Stuart Russell examines the future of work, as Artificial Intelligence takes over more of the economy. People have been worried about robots displacing workers since at least Aristotle. But in this lecture, Russell argues there's reason for optimism.
The founder of University of California Berkeley's Artificial Intelligence lab Stuart Russell is this year's presenter of the BBC Reith Lectures. His series examines how AI is rapidly becoming integral to the economy, military, and daily life. He argues that we have a responsibility to put moral limits on AI as we continue to cede ethical decision-making to machines.
Award-winning investigative journalist Connie Walker delivered the seventh annual Indigenous Speakers Series Lecture at Vancouver Island University called Exposing the Truth: Journalism's Role in Reconciliation. She shares her observations and experiences, both professional and personal, on the evolution of journalistic coverage of Indigenous stories.
One year ago today, hundreds of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building under the false belief that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen. In this episode adapting the podcast The Flamethrowers, presenter Justin Ling traces the relationship between American right-wing radio and Donald Trump's style and tactics in garnering support.
Some people describe it as a war. To others, it’s a race. Maybe it’s a sickness that needs to be cured, or a puzzle that needs to be solved. There are a lot of metaphors for the fight against climate change, and picking the right one might be the key to making real progress. *This episode originally aired on April 1, 2021.
Several English-language literary works survive from the first millennium A.D. and it's still uncertain which is the oldest. However, a short elegy called The Wanderer stands out as English's oldest-surviving good poem, according to IDEAS producer Tom Howell. Experts in Old English help explain the appeal and the complexity of this ancient yet strangely accessible work. *This episode originally aired on March 15, 2021.
When stories are left out of the historical record, we are all the poorer for that, says 2021 CBC Massey lecturer Esi Edugyan. Her six-part lectures will air on IDEAS starting January 24. As a prequel, the acclaimed novelist joins Nahlah Ayed to talk about the importance of origin stories and about the people and things that shaped her as a writer.
To celebrate the New Year, Nahlah Ayed welcomes IDEAS producers into the virtual studio to share their passion for upcoming projects. You'll hear an eclectic range of topics — from the power of touch, to the meaning of home, to an exploration of the pesky problems bias presents.
Unlike humans, cats aren't burdened with questions of love, death and the meaning of life. They have no need for philosophy at all. English philosopher John Gray explores this "unexamined" way of being in his book, Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life. *This episode originally aired on May 6, 2021.
In his letters and poetry, Austrian writer Rainer Maria Rilke urged readers to “love the questions” instead of searching for answers, and to “sing out” with pain solitude causes them. His writing seems tailor-made for our own era — a dark interval of uncertainty, solitude, and grief. *This episode originally aired on May 13, 2021.
In Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli's world, time does not exist. Nor, he argues, does it in our own world. We human beings, he suggests, may be the universe's only real time machine. Rovelli has spent years writing and lecturing about time, and a whole host of complex scientific conundrums — all in an effort to share the beauty he sees in uncertainty. *This episode originally aired on April 22, 2021.
A childhood full of Christmasses in Wales has left IDEAS producer Tom Howell pining for a certain kind of nostalgic poem this winter. So he turns to poets to put into words a strange feeling of homesickness, nostalgia, and yearning in his documentary, Fireside and Icicles. *This episode originally aired on December 17, 2020.
Warning: Profanity | A profile of the legendary jazz drummer and composer Jerry Granelli, on the eve of turning 80. He has accompanied many of the greats, including: Mose Allison, Sly Stone and The Grateful Dead. And most famously, he is the last surviving member of the Vince Guaraldi Trio that recorded the iconic album: A Charlie Brown Christmas. This episode originally aired on December 21, 2020.
Heat the cocoa, stoke the fire, and settle in for some good ol' fashioned philosophy. Christmas is a minefield of deep philosophical quandaries, like — is it ethically correct to lie to children? Who does a gift really benefit the giver, or receiver? How do we really know Santa exists, or doesn't? Join us on a dramatic journey through the philosophy of Christmas. *This episode originally aired on December 23, 2020.
How do we connect with each other, even in challenging circumstances? Four writers, all winners of 2021 Governor General’s Literary Awards, reflect on the bonds that stay strong — despite inadequate technology, physical absence, or even death.
‘Passaggio’ is a term from classical singing, describing the transition between vocal registers. It's also the title of a documentary by Pamela Post about the transition of her transgender son, Asher — a serious performer of vocal music. The documentary captures this intimate passaggio as Asher confronts the pain of medical procedures and the prospect of losing both his musical career and his partner.
Since the explicit withdrawal of the U.S. from Afghanistan, the broader media and political discourse is that the so-called War on Terror is over. But the war lives on through drone warfare and mass surveillance of Muslim citizens. In this era of increasing anti-Muslim violence, how are Muslims imagining and creating a better world for themselves and others? Is it possible to shift the narrative and take back what was lost in the war?
In 2021, B.C. has faced a deadly heat wave and catastrophic floods. Kim Stanley Robinson predicted both of them in his science fiction novel The Ministry for the Future. After returning from COP 26 in Glasgow, Robinson reflects on the crisis we’re in and how to achieve "the best-case scenario you could still believe in."
Failure. It's the worst. Or is it? In the last decade, efforts to reframe failure have pushed it to the surface of popular culture. People like Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Oprah Winfrey are all hawking failure as the secret to 21st-century success. Was Samuel Beckett right: fail again, fail better?
Philosophers Tracy Llanera and James Tartaglia offer their cheerful defence of nihilism, the easy-to-carry, portable, multi-purpose, and aerodynamic attitude to life, the universe, and pretty much everything. To achieve it, they take up the classic objections to nihilism in turn, and attempt to make each of them disappear into... nothingness! *This episode originally aired on May 25, 2021.
You hear the name ‘Alexander Graham Bell,’ and you think ‘inventor of the telephone.’ But he devoted much of his life to the ‘education’ of deaf people. Bell’s fraught legacy with the deaf community is explored in Veronica Simmonds' documentary, Unsound: The Legacy of Alexander Graham Bell. *This episode originally aired on May 10, 2021.
In the years since 9/11, the surveillance state has shifted from crudely trawling vast amounts of data to predictive surveillance where authorities try to identify crime before it happens. What this often means for Muslims is their everyday behaviour is seen through the lens of counter-extremism strategies. This is the second episode in our series Global War on Terror.
The CBC has its Massey Lectures. The BBC has its Reith Lectures. And ABC Australia has its Boyer Lectures. This year's speaker is acclaimed Australian actor and theatre director, John Bell. He illustrates how Shakespeare's life and works have profound relevance to issues we're facing today: political self-interest, gender inequality and the growing need for good governance.
The CBC has its Massey Lectures. The BBC has its Reith Lectures. And ABC Australia has its Boyer Lectures. This year's speaker is acclaimed Australian actor and theatre director, John Bell. He illustrates how Shakespeare's life and works have profound relevance to issues we're facing today: political self-interest, gender inequality and the growing need for good governance.
During his 40-year career, Edward Burtynsky has photographed the planet's changing landscape, everything from large-scale mining operations in Sudbury to plastic landfills in Nairobi. The renowned photographer recently delivered a virtual talk for the Ontario Heritage Trust and spoke with IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed about what he's seen, where he's been, and what comes next.
PhD student Mariah Cooper dusted off 800-year-old court documents from medieval England to find that convictions for sexual assault from that period are on par with convictions for sexual assault today. Her thesis demonstrates remarkably consistent representations of survivors of sexual assault dating from the Middle Ages right to the 21st century. This episode is part of our series Ideas From The Trenches.
The prison at Guantanamo Bay remains open. And while advocates including former detainees fight to close it down, the legacy of detention and torture live on. This is the first of a three-part series in which IDEAS producer, Naheed Mustafa, peers into the house the War on Terror built.
The Cundill History Prize is the most prestigious of its kind. Its award of $75,000USD goes this year to Marjoleine Kars for her book Blood on the River: A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast. The author speaks with host Nahlah Ayed about uncovering a forgotten slave rebellion.
In 1929, a disagreement over the meaning of "nothing" exposed deep divisions in Western philosophy and erupted into a debate over whether philosophy is more art or science. Poet-philosopher Martin Heidegger's lecture about nothing excited students and divided colleagues. But the empiricist Rudolf Carnap thought all this talk of the meaning of nothing, amounted to nothing at all.
Stakes are high for readers and scholars as the identity of a groundbreaking poet, Louise Labé, is debated in France and beyond. Sexy, wry, and bold, her poems cut across time. They also upend assumptions about how female desire was expressed in the past. *This episode originally aired on October 1, 2020.
Exactly 240 years ago today, a massacre began on the Zong slave ship. The tragedy inspired the Canadian poem Zong! by M. NourbeSe Philip. She reflects on the mass murder, the bizarre court case, and the work of art still rising from its depths.
There’s often a very messy history behind tidy museum exhibits: war and empire, power and theft. Stuff the British Stole tells the vivid truth. From the Parthenon Marbles to Tipu’s Tiger, we introduce you to an entertaining history podcast.
CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nima Elbagir delivers this year's Peter Stursberg Foreign Correspondents Lecture. The award-winning journalist has reported from the frontlines of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and in Chibok, the Nigerian village from which over 250 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram. Her talk is entitled Humanity and the Foreign Correspondent.
Since its beginnings, Hollywood has portrayed African Americans in a variety of ways: as primitive beings in Birth of a Nation, as happy former slaves in Gone With the Wind, and as hypersexual heroes during the 1970s "blaxploitation" era. In this three-part series, IDEAS explores a century of racial politics in Hollywood. *This episode originally aired on March 19, 2021.
Since its beginnings, Hollywood has portrayed African Americans in a variety of ways: as primitive beings in Birth of a Nation, as happy former slaves in Gone With the Wind, and as hypersexual heroes during the 1970s "blaxploitation" era. In this three-part series, IDEAS explores a century of racial politics in Hollywood. *This episode originally aired on March 18, 2021.
Since its beginnings, Hollywood has portrayed African Americans in a variety of ways: as primitive beings in Birth of a Nation, as happy former slaves in Gone With the Wind, and as hypersexual heroes during the 1970s "blaxploitation" era. In this three-part series, IDEAS explores a century of racial politics in Hollywood. *This episode originally aired on March 17, 2021.
Religious and mythological visions of the end of the world may be common, but the scientific concept of human extinction has a more urgent history. IDEAS explores the link between imagining extinction and acting to avert it — from Mary Shelley's pandemic novel, The Last Man (1826), to visions of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War, to cli-fi (climate fiction) of today. *This episode originally aired on March 4, 2021
In the final episode of this series, IDEAS examines the ongoing struggle in the rebuilding of Guatemalan society. Torture, massacres, individual murders, the fracturing of communities and families, all of these are part of the terrible legacy of the civil war. How are the inheritors of all this to make change and build something better?
After the 36-year civil war in Guatemala, land reform and equal rights have been slow to come for the Indigenous Mayan people. IDEAS revisits a four-part series about the Mayan people. In this episode, we explore the role of Mayan women in the making of Guatemala and the importance of the art of weaving in keeping an ancient culture alive.
After the 36-year civil war in Guatemala, land reform and equal rights have been slow to come for the Indigenous Mayan people. IDEAS revisits a four-part series about the Mayan people. This second episode looks into the issue of land and land reform — and the historical importance of land to the Mayan people.
After the 36-year civil war in Guatemala, land reform and equal rights have been slow to come for the Indigenous Mayan people. IDEAS revisits a four-part series about the Mayan people. The first episode explores the spirit world of the ancient Mayan people and the struggle today to make Mayan ancient beliefs relevant in a modern society.
We're used to public memorials dedicated to war. But over the centuries, pandemics have also claimed millions of lives yet we see almost no statues or commemorations dedicated to them. IDEAS contributor Olivia Humphreys examines the dynamics of public memory and discovers why we choose what we'll remember.
In 1919, Canadian artist Mary Riter Hamilton embarked on a solo mission to paint the World War One battlefields of France and Belgium. A century later, documentary maker Alisa Siegel speaks to the artist's biographer, historians and art historians to resuscitate Mary Riter Hamilton's art, life, and legacy.
Philosophy of travel isn't a thing, but philosopher Emily Thomas says it should be. IDEAS takes a journey of the mind through the past and present to ask the question: what is the meaning of travel? How does it change us — and how does it help us understand our own minds? *This episode originally aired on March 12, 2021.
Bound in scarlet leather, full of dreams and visions: this was the private journal published in 2009 as C.G. Jung’s The Red Book. The influential psychologist analyzed a period of his own inner turmoil, and it forever changed his thinking about the unconscious mind. This 2012 documentary follows his secret journey, in two parts.
Bound in scarlet leather, full of dreams and visions: this was the private journal published in 2009 as C.G. Jung’s The Red Book. The influential psychologist analyzed a period of his own inner turmoil, and it forever changed his thinking about the unconscious mind. This 2012 documentary follows his secret journey, in two parts.
Animals — what on earth are they thinking? A panel of scientists explore the notion of animal cognition from what your dog means when it wags its tail, to the incredible problem-solving skills of crows, as part of the Aspen Ideas Festival.
Disclaimer: Profanity | What role does laughter play in the evolution of humanity? What does our laughter have in common with the way primates and even rats laugh? IDEAS contributor Peter Brown takes us on a joyride throughout our evolutionary history and shows us why laughing matters. *This episode originally aired on November 4, 2020.
Translation is a form of “resurrection,” argues Canadian scholar Irena Makaryk. And in the 400 years since Shakespeare shuffled off this mortal coil, he has been resurrected too many times to count. In the final instalment of this year’s IDEAS at Stratford, we consider what’s lost in translation, what’s found, and how translation can shine a new light on the ideas in a familiar story.
Mock guillotines regularly show up at protests, from both the political right and left. This documentary by Matthew Lazin-Ryder traces the history of the guillotine as a symbol, from its bloody history during the darkest days of the French Revolution to its reinvention as an emblem of equality.
Warning: profanity | Michelangelo was dubbed the ‘divine Michelangelo’ in his day for his stunning works of art. But his poetry reveals a deeply troubled and dissatisfied soul — he never felt his work was good enough, and was plagued by feelings of guilt for his earthly desires. This episode originally aired on June 3, 2021.
IDEAS presents a sample from a new audio miniseries from the London Review of Books podcast. In their debut episode, co-hosts and medieval scholars Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley take on Mary of Egypt, a “fallen woman” turned saint, whose wild story courts comparisons to Pretty Woman, Fleabag, and Sex and the City.
In 2019, the Indian government passed legislation amending its citizenship laws. Many people argued it targeted the country's Muslim minority. Protesters held up images of B.R. Ambedkar, the Dalit icon who claimed India could never be free unless the caste system was eradicated. Can his idea of true equality offer a way back to unity? *This episode originally aired on October 6, 2021.
In December 2019, the government of India passed legislation amending its citizenship laws. Critics, activists, and ordinary people pushed back, arguing the law was targeting the country's Muslim minority. Many protesters held up images of Gandhi and urged a return to Gandhian values. But does Gandhi and his values still have a place in today's idea of India? *This episode originally aired on October 5, 2020.
Award-winning historian Margaret MacMillan delivers a lecture entitled, War and the Modern World, examining the relationship between conflict and modern society. The virtual talk was part of the International Issues Discussion (IID) series, a student-led forum at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University.
Each year, the Canada Council’s Killam Prizes celebrate the best scholars in the country, in all the major disciplines of research. Host Nahlah Ayed talks to two of the five winners to find out about their major contributions in their respective fields.
In The Divided Brain, neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist argues that Western society has become too dominated by the left hemisphere of our brains — obsessed with data and sorting things into categories. Meanwhile, the right hemisphere of our brains which understand relationships and context has been sidelined. *A TV documentary adapted for IDEAS.
For over four decades, Dr. Anthony Fauci has served as medical advisor to seven U.S. presidents. With the COVID-19 death toll in the United States having surpassed 730,000, Dr. Anthony Fauci tells IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed that he finds it "mind-boggling" that partisanship and skepticism of science continue to fuel the pandemic.
American short story writer H.P. Lovecraft died in 1937. Now he's more popular than he was in his lifetime. IDEAS examines why his brand of “cosmic horror” resonates in the 21st century, and how new writers are dealing with his racist legacy. *This episode originally aired on January 22, 2021.
As part of our series on contemporary novels inspired by Shakespeare plays, and produced in collaboration with the Stratford Festival, IDEAS explores what The Tempest has to say to us today about colonialism, reparations and forgiveness.
Over the last two centuries, the figure of the Dandy has been a provocateur, someone who pushes against the boundaries of culture, masculinity and politics. From Beau Brummell to Oscar Wilde to contemporary Black activists, IDEAS contributor Pedro Mendes tracks the subversive role the Dandy plays in challenging the status quo. *This episode originally aired on April 15, 2021.
From pre-colonial Africa till now, Black hair has shifted in its meaning and become highly politicized, particularly in Western society. And today, Black women's hair continues to have an enormous bearing on how they are able to move through the world. IDEAS looks back on the story of Black hair, and what it tells us about the Black female experience throughout history. *This episode originally aired on January 28, 2021.
The myth of Orpheus is the oldest love story, from ancient Greece — it's the story of the power of art, a story told through opera and film, and poetry. Two thousand five hundred years later, IDEAS contributor Tom Jokinen explores why the myth of Orpheus still has such a hold on us.
Dystopian versus utopian. Description versus prescription. Ideology versus art. As geopolitical and climate crises deepen, what role should writers play? A conversation with novelists Margaret Atwood and Omar El Akkad as part of the first annual PEN Graeme Gibson Talk.
Chickens have followed humankind around the world, giving us eggs and meat, and also spiritual and social comfort. And it’s the living animal who stars in this podcast by IDEAS producer, Tom Howell. Spend an hour with this helpful creature and hear its tales of adventure from dinosaur times to the modern city. *Originally aired on October 19, 2020.
Fifty-one years ago, the Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ) escalated their separatist campaign by kidnapping British diplomat James Cross and Quebec Deputy Premier Pierre Laporte, sparking what came to be known as the October Crisis. In return for Cross, the FLQ had seven demands, one of which was the broadcast of its manifesto — and CBC/Radio-Canada complied. Geoff Turner examines the impact and legacy of the manifesto, and how it still has relevance today. *This episode originally aired on October 13, 2020.
There's a fantasy about Canada’s role in the Vietnam War: that from the beginning, Canada was the conscience of America, taking a stand against conflict, welcoming war resisters, and opening the doors for refugees. But historian John Boyko picks apart that fantasy, showing how divisive the war was in Canada, in his book 'The Devil's Trick.'
Acclaimed author, poet and activist Lee Maracle of the Stó:lō Nation delivers the Margaret Laurence Lecture, an annual event commissioned by the Writers' Trust of Canada. This episode features excerpts from her lecture, and Maracle in conversation with award-winning author, and former Massey Lecturer, Tanya Talaga.
Salman Rushdie argues that “the breakdown in the old agreements about reality is now the most significant reality.” He speaks with Nahlah Ayed about how the old consensus about reality fell apart — and whether it’s possible to build a new one.
Retired army captain Cheng Xu left his 10 year military career to seek answers to a vexing question: how is it that some insurgencies turn violent and spiral into seemingly chaotic and unending horror, while others achieve their objectives and resolve with relative peace and speed?
Each year seems worse than the one preceding. For Andrew Potter, author of On Decline, these events indicate that our entire civilization is in decline. And he argues we're left without the social cohesion, economic growth and political leadership that we'd need to turn things around.
Is the concept of God useful at a time of crisis? German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and French writer and philosopher Voltaire had different views on that question. *This episode originally aired on December 14, 2020.
For decades, non-Indigenous scientists have taken samples from Indigenous peoples for future studies, often without clear consent. But a new generation of Indigenous scientists are revolutionizing biomedical research, asking important questions about who controls the research process and the data derived from it.
'Incel' violence is a clear example of the lethal danger of believing that anyone is entitled to sex. But feminist philosopher Amia Srinivasan argues who is and is not sexually desired can still be an issue of political injustice. She speaks with host Nahlah Ayed about autonomy, preference, entitlement, and the moral and political complexities of sexual desire. The fifth in our series Body Language.
Our bodies are vulnerable and powerful, says writer Olivia Laing. She reflects on the fight for bodily freedom, through polarizing figures such as psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich and feminist Andrea Dworkin, in this rich conversation based on her book, Everybody.
Fat acceptance — the idea that bodies come in all sizes and all bodies have equal value and deserve equal treatment. But socially, we remain deeply invested in diet and weight loss culture. Is it possible to get to a place where body size no longer matters? The third in our series Body Language.
For thousands of years, disability, disfigurement, or ugliness have been connected to evil. From the ancient world to modern time, this unsettling concept has survived the cultural narrative. As part of our series Body Language, this documentary explores the root of ugliness and unpacks the legacy that harms people today.
If you thought space was silent, think again. NASA's latest Mars rover carries an acoustic microphone. For the first time, anyone can hear the sound of the Martian wind. IDEAS tunes in to the sounds of space and the people working to make music from the beauty of the cosmos. *This episode originally aired on May 17, 2021.
Dante Alighieri died 700 years ago this year. His enemies had him exiled, hoping he'd disappear from history. But instead he wrote a masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, making himself the hero of his own epic poem — and in so doing, attained literary immortality. This is the final episode in a three-part series that originally aired in May of 2002.
Dante Alighieri died 700 years ago this year. His enemies had him exiled, hoping he'd disappear from history. But instead he wrote a masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, making himself the hero of his own epic poem — and in so doing, attained literary immortality. This is the second episode in a three-part series that originally aired in May of 2002.
Dante Alighieri died 700 years ago this year. His enemies had him exiled, hoping he'd disappear from history. But instead he wrote a masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, making himself the hero of his own epic poem — and in so doing, attained literary immortality. This is the first part of a three-part series that originally aired in May of 2002.
The familiar plot of Shakespeare’s King Lear is also the plot of many novels written for our own times. Nahlah Ayed speaks to novelists Preti Taneja and Jane Smiley who have reworked the Lear story. She’s also joined by Stratford Festival artistic director Antoni Cimolino to explore what King Lear has to say to us today about gender, power, loyalty and inheritance.
Warning: Profanity | An Iraqi soldier crawls off to die in a bunker. But he’s saved by an Iranian medic. Nearly 20 years later, and halfway around the world, they meet again in a breathtaking coincidence for another life-saving encounter. *This episode originally aired on December 23, 2014.
Former Globe and Mail war correspondent Graeme Smith travels deep inside Taliban territory to catch a glimpse of their growing control over the country and uncovers what went wrong with the 'forever war' in his TVO documentary, Ghosts of Afghanistan.
Scientists agree that dogs evolved from wolves and were the first domesticated animals. But exactly how that happened is hotly contested. IDEAS contributor Neil Sandell examines the theories and the evolution of the relationship between dogs and humans. *This episode originally aired on March 1, 2021.
It’s easy to admit to having biases, but much harder to pin down what they are. Inspired by a recent and significant update to the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of ‘bias,’ documentary producer Tom Howell embarks on a quest to draw up a complete list of personal biases, with the aim of assessing which ones to combat, and which to indulge.
Philosopher Emmanuel Levinas believed the face-to-face encounter was the beginning of our ethical obligation to each other. In the first episode of our series Body Language, IDEAS considers the changing meaning of the face during COVID and imagines new ethical relationships for an uncertain time.
Zombies are shuffling, moaning metaphors for all our apocalyptic fears. In this 2015 documentary, journalists Garth Mullins and Lisa Hale revisit pop culture's zombie obsession, and why it's so easy to imagine a future full of catastrophe and monsters.
If 2021 makes you feel like the end is near, you’re not alone. But it might help to know that history shows people have always felt the end is near. This archive episode from 1998 looks at the longevity of apocalyptic thinking.
Writer and broadcaster Jesse Wente says that it's important to frame stories about Indigenous people in joy, even if those stories also contain other, darker emotions. In his November 2020 lecture called The Story of Joy: Reducing the Harm So We Can Heal he looks at the state of reconciliation in Canada today, and the role that joy can play in moving forward. *This episode originally aired on January 5, 2021.
In his 2020 CBC Massey Lectures, Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, Ron Deibert surveyed the traps and dark corners of the internet and social media. Now, Ron looks back at the questions he raised, in the company of the team of people who were commentators in the original series — and answers listener questions sent in.*This episode originally aired on May 28, 2021.
In his 2020 CBC Massey Lectures, Citizen Lab founder and director Ron Deibert wants to get us thinking about how best to mitigate the harms of social media, and in doing so, construct a viable communications ecosystem that supports civil society and contributes to the betterment of the human condition (instead of the opposite). *This episode originally aired on November 16, 2020.
What we don’t see — because it is so carefully hidden from the public eye — is the ecological impact of our social media usage and the wasteful consumption loop we’re trapped in, as we’re pushed to constantly upgrade our devices and turn simple electronics and appliances into “smart” machines. *This episode originally aired on November 13, 2020.
The initial vision of the internet was that it would empower individuals and expose the wrongdoings of state and corporate interests. But now the same technologies that had been used for public uprisings against oppressive governments are now being used by those governments against political demonstrators, whistleblowers and dissidents. *This episode originally aired on November 12, 2020.
Everyone loves to hate social media, but there's a real reason it seems impossible to quit. And you might not like it. In the third instalment of the Massey Lectures, Ron Deibert exposes how social media platforms are engineered to be "addiction machines." *This episode originally aired on November 11, 2020.
The ads that personalize our internet browsing are obvious examples of how "attention merchants" vie for our data, but the more insidious actors are the ones we don't see. In his second CBC Massey Lecture, Ron Deibert explores "the economic engine that underlies social media: the personal data surveillance economy" and what is called "surveillance capitalism." *This episode originally aired on November 10, 2020.
There's a problem with that device in your hand — your phone that makes you anxious when it's not near. Renowned tech expert Ron Deibert says that needs to change. The 2020 Massey Lecturer suggests we need a 'reset' and in his first lecture, Deibert sketches out the layered problem — and how he sees a way forward. *This episode originally aired on November 9, 2020.
His early art work in the Dutch city of Leiden wasn't all that great, but soon after Rembrandt arrived in Amsterdam in 1631, he had become the most highly sought-after artist around. Rembrandt's art makes us rethink what it means to be an artist, and a consumer of art. His art looks back at us and demands: who do you think you are, looking at this? *This episode originally aired on February 10, 2021.
His early art work in the Dutch city of Leiden wasn't all that great, but soon after Rembrandt arrived in Amsterdam in 1631, he had become the most highly sought-after artist around. Rembrandt's art makes us rethink what it means to be an artist, and a consumer of art. His art looks back at us and demands: who do you think you are, looking at this? *This episode originally aired on February 3, 2021.
Think you're Wonder Woman? Being addicted to your device can make you a little bit bionic. *This episode originally aired on January 13, 2021.
In this time of upheaval, what does the future look like? When we think about marginalized groups in society, and issues of gender, race, and poverty — how do we work toward making a better world? Rinaldo Walcott, Monia Mazigh and Micheal Vonn explores these questions in conversation with Nahlah Ayed. *This episode was published on September 15, 2020.
The internet is awash in conspiracy theories. In this lecture, Simon Fraser University professor Paul Budra examines conspiracy theories as an art form, using the long-running conspiracy theories over Shakespeare as a test case.*This episode originally aired on March 31, 2020.
Warning: Explicit Content | As the Twin Towers lay in rubble after Sept. 11, former U.S. president George W. Bush's administration leveraged the influence of Hollywood celebrities to sway the public to rally around the flag. *This episode originally aired on May 25, 2020.
Warning: Explicit Content | America's losing the Vietnam War shattered the 'heroic myth' that Hollywood had spent decades creating, according to historians and researchers. What followed was an era of films attempting to recapture past glories. *This episode originally aired on May 18, 2020.
The U.S. military had some little-known help in spinning public perception about it over the last seventy years: Hollywood. This series shows how movies functioned as the unofficial — but massively influential — propaganda arm of America's war efforts. *This episode originally aired on May 11, 2020.
In 1919, Romain Rolland wrote the Declaration of the Independence of the Mind as a call to intellectuals to rise above division, censorship and nationalism of their day. Nahlah Ayed speaks to Canadian and international thinkers to consider the role of the intellectual today, and to rewrite the declaration for our own post-truth moment. *This episode originally aired on April 16, 2021 and is part of our series, The Common Good.
Perhaps no question is more important than this one: what is the common good? What can we agree on that benefits us all? IDEAS looks to the English Civil Wars from the 17th century when great questions of the common good were rediscovered, argued, and fought over changing England — and the world — forever. *This episode originally aired on April 13, 2021, and is part of our series, The Common Good.
The rules for behaving well in a society arguably depend on the size of that society. The structures, institutions and even the logic behind human co-operation change along the axes of space, population, and time. From camping trips to climate change conferences, IDEAS examines why scale matters so much to conversations about the common good. *This episode originally aired on April 9, 2021 and is part of our series, The Common Good.
Many people are priced out of the urban housing market. Others are disenchanted with the four walls of the single family home. From a San Francisco commune network to co-living communities in Berlin, advocates argue the benefits of sharing domestic space. *This episode originally aired on April 8, 2021 and is part of our series, The Common Good.
IDEAS producer Mary Lynk explores what is the purpose of a long life? Traditional cultures often place older people at the top of social hierarchy, but in modern Western societies there's been a profound loss of meaning and vital social roles for older adults. What happened? And what role can we reimagine for older people now? *This episode originally aired on April 7, 2021 and is part of our series, The Common Good.
The Haitian Revolution of 1791 gave birth to ideas about Black liberation and the common good that went on to inform freedom struggles throughout the Black Atlantic. IDEAS traces that lineage and how it connects to today's Black Lives Matter movement. *This episode aired on April 6, 2021, and is part of our series, The Common Good.
Perhaps no question is more important than this one: what is the common good? What can we agree on that benefits us all? IDEAS looks to the English Civil Wars from the 17th century when great questions of the common good were rediscovered, argued, and fought over changing England — and the world — forever. *This episode is part of our series, The Common Good.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg once declared that she doesn’t want hope, unless it translates into action. Political scientist Thomas Homer-Dixon shares his ideas on how hope can galvanize concrete change. *This episode is part of our series, Common Good. This episode originally aired on November 26, 2020.
With the rise of mindfulness and the growth of brain research, Buddhism and science have become fast friends. Philosopher Evan Thompson is skeptical about the contemporary characterization of Buddhism. His latest book, Why I Am Not a Buddhist, offers both a critique of Buddhist exceptionalism, and a way forward for our globalized and diverse culture. This episode originally aired on October 2, 2021.
Professor Adelle Blackett is the chief legal architect behind the International Labour Organization's first comprehensive standards offering protections and rights to more than 60 million domestic workers. In her public lecture to Cornell University, the Canada Research Chair in Transnational Law at McGill University addresses why we urgently need to bring equality to the household workplace. This episode originally aired on February 1, 2021.
For the last decade, Roman Mars has been exploring the hidden stories behind architecture and design in his podcast 99% Invisible. He speaks with Nahlah Ayed about how learning to read the secret language of cities reveals reasons for delight all around us, why he sees cities as ‘evolving organisms,’ and how war and disease shape the built environment. This episode originally aired on February 9, 2021.
In our final episode of Mark Carney’s 2020 BBC Reith Lectures, the economist and former governor of the Banks of England and Canada, focuses on how the ultimate test of a more fair economy will be how it addresses the growing climate crisis. This episode originally aired on February 24, 2021.
2020 BBC Reith Lecturer Mark Carney continues his lecture series entitled, ‘How We Get What We Value.’ In this episode, the former bank governor focuses on the 2008 financial crisis and the ongoing impact of the pandemic. This episode originally aired on February 23, 2021.
Mark Carney is the 2020 Reith Lecturer, the BBC’s flagship lecture series. In his lectures entitled, 'How We Get What We Value,' he argues the worlds of finance, economics, and politics have too often prioritized financial values, over human ones. The future depends on reversing that shift. In lecture one, he addresses the changing nature of value — and how we've come to equate 'value' to what is profitable. This episode originally aired on February 22, 2021.
Why it matters to say ‘cruelty is the worst thing that we do’ according to fans of Judith Shklar, political philosopher. This episode originally aired on January 14, 2021
Ten years ago, the Middle East was in convulsions as protesters attempted revolution in several countries. Looking back, what can we learn from those experiments in human collaboration? This episode aired on January 26, 2021.
The Buffalo — a three-part series that originally aired in 1992 — tells the story of a magnificent animal, and of the people who lived with the buffalo. It's also the story of survivors, of the Indigenous people who continue to revere the buffalo and who fight to save the one remaining herd, now threatened with extermination. The series is narrated by novelist, Thomas King. This episode aired on October 7, 2020.
In the foothills of the Rockies, you'll find a cliff rising 11 metres from the ground called Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, in Alberta. For more than 5,000 years, Indigenous peoples of the plains used this site to kill buffalo. It's a place deeply connected to Indigenous history and practice. Novelist Thomas King, narrates this second in a three-part series on the Buffalo, originally broadcast in 1992. This episode aired on September 30, 2020.
In the mid-1870s, buffalo roamed across North America in the millions. A few short decades later, there were only 300 left. Using both science and storytelling, this series tells the story of the buffalo and its relationship to the Indigenous people who revere it. (This series originally aired in 1992 and is narrated by novelist, Thomas King.) This episode aired on September 23, 2020.
Left-wing and right-wing governments around the world have fallen into the same trap, a failure of leadership to inspire a cohesive vision of society that ordinary citizens can share. What is to be done? Author George Monbiot joins Nahlah Ayed to point toward a new way of conceptualizing the common good, and forging a politics of belonging. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 11, 2020 and is part of our series, Common Good.
In calling on us to be good ancestors, public philosopher Roman Krznaric is trying to give the discussion about the future a language, an address and a face: introducing us to all the people already working to formalize the practice of thinking long-term for the common good, benefiting both present and future generations.*This episode originally aired on Sept. 7, 2020 and is part of our series, The Common Good.
Warning: Content includes rape and profanity | Roxane Gay likes to joke that even her opinions have opinions — which comes in handy for her column in The New York Times. The Haitian-American writer is fond of dark explorations, but her work can also be funny and erotic. IDEAS Producer Mary Lynk speaks with the formidable Ms. Gay about racism, surviving rape and what she calls the 'fetishizing of forgiveness.' *This episode originally aired on November 17, 2020.
The charms of cuteness seem obvious. Yet, from the Japanese fear of adulting to universal attractions of indeterminacy, the new field of Cute Studies reveals layers beneath a fluffy surface.*This episode originally aired on November 23, 2020.
Forget history written by the victors. Cundill Prize-winning historian Camilla Townsend turned to annals kept by the Aztecs themselves to reveal a history of a vibrant, sophisticated people who valued hard word, perseverance, who were master storytellers and loved a good joke — and who 500 years ago had outdoor food courts! *This episode originally aired on December 3, 2020.
The 20th century has seen capitalism, communism, socialism, and various other "isms" come and go. But Technocracy Inc. had its own vision to replace them: a technologically-driven society that would be perfectly egalitarian, productive and healthy. Its following was massive. Contributor Ira Basen brings us this documentary on the legacy of Technocracy Inc.
Adam Smith may be known as 'The Father of Economics,' but 400 years before him, Muslim scholar Ibn Khaldun was putting forward economic theories that are now taken for granted. IDEAS explores Ibn Khaldun's famous book, Muqaddimah and the lessons it has for us on the philosophy of history, economics, biology, sociology, and political theory.
In 1946, U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan authored a secret document about Russia that would cool international relations and help launch the Cold War. Seventy five years later, Kennan's Long Telegram still echoes in Washington and in Putin's Russia.
Philosopher Todd Dufresne has written a three-part lecture series for IDEAS, entitled: Climate Change and the Unborn Future: Capitalism, Philosophy, and Pandemic Politics. He argues that the way we live needs a stem-to-stern overhaul — and a new philosophy of the Anthropocene to see the world with new eyes. This is his third lecture, Catastrophes Big and Small.
Philosopher Todd Dufresne has written a three-part lecture series for IDEAS, entitled: Climate Change and the Unborn Future: Capitalism, Philosophy, and Pandemic Politics. He argues that the way we live needs a stem-to-stern overhaul — and a new philosophy of the Anthropocene to see the world with new eyes. This is his second lecture, Lessons Learned.
Philosopher Todd Dufresne has written a three-part lecture series for IDEAS, entitled: Climate Change and the Unborn Future: Capitalism, Philosophy, and Pandemic Politics. He argues that the way we live needs a stem-to-stern overhaul — and a new philosophy of the Anthropocene to see the world with new eyes.
For nearly 27 years, citizens of Belarus have lived under the thumb of Alexander Lukashenko, who is considered Europe’s last dictator. In her poetry collection Music for the Dead and Resurrected, Belarusian poet Valzhyna Mort explores collective memory, a history of both horror and joy, and how to memorialize those buried in mass graves.
Icelandic writer and documentary filmmaker Andri Snaer Magnason speaks to Nahlah Ayed about his response to the climate crisis, in his book entitled On Time and Water. Magnason embarked on the project at the insistence of a climate scientist who was dismayed at failures of public communication surrounding the latest research.
For millennia, rats have been portrayed as violent and disgusting. But rats have aided in our self-understanding. IDEAS contributor Moira Donovan investigates the contributions rats have made to humanity and whether co-existing with rats means coming to understand their role in our ecosystem. *This episode originally aired on October 27, 2020.
A few decades ago, comic books were considered an unlikely way to tell stories about conflict and war — until Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel, Maus. The book explores his parents' survival of Auschwitz. Since then, comics have become an established medium through which creators can articulate the traumas of their lives. In this age of digital access to traumatic imagery, what resistance can this unique medium offer?
Life Jolt - prison slang for a life sentence - examines the lives of women navigating Canada’s correctional system. The team gained unprecedented access to the Grand Valley Institution prison, the federal pen for women in Ontario, for a full year. They followed women going into prison for the first time, spoke with lifers who have been there for years, and parolees as they left. Hosted by Rosemary Green, a former inmate herself, Life Jolt focuses on individual women’s stories and the realities of prison life, and explores a wide range of issues including parenting behind bars, segregation, the over-representation of Indigenous women, addiction, trauma and the many obstacles of reintegration. More episodes are available at: smarturl.it/lifejolt
Even if you don't recognize her name, you might recognize one of Cornelia Hahn Oberlander's green designs: the green roof on the Canadian Embassy in Berlin or the grounds surrounding the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver. In 2012, IDEAS producer Yvonne Gall profiled the pioneering landscape architect who died in May 2021.
Despite their admirable qualities, rats have long been reviled as disgusting and aggressive animals. IDEAS contributor Moira Donovan explores how rats have come to occupy a position as cultural villain — and how they’ve shaped human history along the way. *This episode originally aired on October 26, 2020.
Preliminary findings on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. reveal the remains of 215 Indigenous children. The news cuts into an exposed nerve on the body politic of this country: the state of justice for First Nations people in Canada. Justice is not blind in Canada’s legal system, argues Métis lawyer Jean Teillet. She says it needs to view Indigenous people fully to render justice fairly. *This episode originally aired on May 6, 2020.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s death this year at age 101 marks the end of a colourful, artistic life, aligned with the Beat generation. But the poet and publisher’s bookstore, City Lights, survives as a hub of rebellious ideas for all. We revisit Ferlinghetti and friends in San Francisco in this 2003 episode.
It was 150 years ago when citizens of Paris rose up against the government and declared independence. The Paris Commune of 1871 was a model for the revolutions of the 20th century — but the violence it unleashed, the use of propaganda, and the demonizing of the "other" all foreshadowed the abuses of state power to come. *This episode originally aired May 28, 2015.
In her lecture for the Global Centre for Pluralism, writer and Booker Prize nominee Maaza Mengiste turns to photographs from the war between Ethiopia and Italy in the 1930s to explore how historical narratives are constructed, what they overlook, and the murky realities in between.
Writer Barbara Nichol continues exploring shared assumptions about reading with original thinkers — writers, critics, scholars and journalists. This is the final part in a three-part series called Reading with a Grain of Salt. *This episode originally aired on June 26, 2020.
The playwright Anton Chekhov wrote to a friend that he was writing a play with "a great deal of conversation about literature, little actions, tons of love." The Seagull is not unlike our own lives, where there isn't a ready-made plot with a neat ending. This episode is the fourth collaboration between IDEAS and Soulpepper Theatre Company's audio drama series Around the World in 80 Plays.
Teenagers can be erratic and emotional. But recent science may just have the answer to why teenagers are the way they are — and it's not just about hormones. This new understanding is changing the way some societies see teens and it may just lead to changing the boundary between teenager and adult. *Originally broadcast on January 28, 2020.
Writer Barbara Nichol continues exploring shared assumptions about reading, readers and books with original thinkers — writers, critics, scholars and journalists. This is part two in a three-part series called Reading with a Grain of Salt. *This episode originally aired on June 19, 2020.
How could these times ever be forgotten? Historian Esyllt Jones explains why we don’t know more stories from an even more devastating global health catastrophe — the Great Influenza of 1918 — but how its complex toll is captured in a moving short story by Alice Munro. This is the annual Avie Bennett Historica Canada Lecture, recorded at York University in March 2021.
"He is a nemesis to many, and is claimed as a friend by only very few," wrote Eduardo Mendieta about Richard Rorty, the most quoted, most criticized, and most widely read of recent U.S. philosophers. Rorty died in 2007, but a passionate crew of 'Rortyans' now devote themselves to keeping his name alive, challenging what they see as the many misinterpretations of his work. *This episode originally aired on December 6, 2019.
We tend to think that reading is a sign of intelligence, that we’re improved by it. But are our assumptions well-founded? Not really, according to an array of literary front runners. Writer Barbara Nichol explores assumptions we have about reading, readers and books in a three-part IDEAS series. *Originally broadcast on May 13, 2020.
Liberal democracy is in trouble. But the liberal arts — the humanities — can help save it. That’s what novelist and essayist Charlie Foran argues: the humanities strengthen the defining dynamics of a vibrant democracy.
On the night of April 26, 1986, a routine test at the RBMK #4 reactor in Chernobyl, Ukraine, went badly wrong: in a fatal convergence of bad design and operator error, the reactor core overheated and exploded, scattering radioactive debris into the sky, from where it eventually spread over most of Europe. *This episode originally aired on April 26, 2006.
Celebrated Turkish writer Ahmet Altan was freed on April 14, after international pressure helped secure his release. He’d spent four years and seven months in prison. This episode by IDEAS producer Mary Lynk recently won an Amnesty International Canada Media Award for outstanding human rights reporting. It first aired in June 2020.
In the 1920s a new style icon arrived: flappers. They had bobbed hair and penchants for smoking, drinking, and dancing. In Matthew Lazin-Ryder's documentary you'll hear how the spectre of the flapper became a moral panic in Canadian society, and dredged up fears of unhinged sex and drugs. *Originally broadcast on February 4, 2020.
Renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright decried New York as a carcass, parasite and "incongruous mantrap of monstrous dimensions." Yet the city offered him refuge as his personal life was in shambles. Architect Anthony Alofsin and others guide us through Wright's New York years and the important role the city played in his legacy.
Throughout history, single women have been vilified, ostracized and shamed. And while there are more single-person households in Canada than ever before, that lingering stigma still follows the single woman. CBC producer Alison Cook explores the social history of these ‘deviant’ women in her documentary, The Rise of the Glorified Spinster. *Originally aired on May 21, 2020.
Environmental problems are well-known and have been for decades, so why are we still edging towards a global catastrophe? Environmentalist Graham Saul believes it comes down to a message problem — mainly because environmentalism doesn’t have a single, coherent, unified message that people can grasp. *This episode originally aired on November 23, 2018.
The stories that make up the history of a nation and the account of its birth are increasingly contested, and newer narratives are being pitted against the old. What is the role and responsibility of the historian in managing the chaos and keeping scholarship above the fray of political wrangling?
Historically, cities have been planned, designed, and built by men. Yet there has always been more than one kind of city resident. That's why consciousness is growing around making urban spaces more inclusive of others. Vienna, for instance, has improved safety and convenience for women through the design of its housing, parks, sidewalks and street lighting. Geographer and author Leslie Kern explains why a "feminist city" benefits us all, in this talk for Carleton University's Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism.
Writer Doris Lessing grew up in white Southern Rhodesia where she became an astute observer of the ways ordinary people learn to cling to extreme beliefs. In her 1985 CBC Massey Lecture, the Nobel laureate shares her insights on identity politics, highlighting divisions we can still see all around us.
Northrop Frye viewed literature as a vast structure of the human imagination. He taught that imagination can broaden our beliefs and encourage tolerance. As readers, we are meant to ‘disappear’ into literature as a whole. But what happens to our bodies, our histories, and us as real individuals? *Originally aired on June 25, 2020.
What good is the study of literature? Northrop Frye’s 1962 CBC Massey Lectures were his attempt to answer that age-old question. Frye scholar and friend Deanne Bogdan revisits the lectures and helps us map Northrop Frye’s expansive vision of literature, life, and human nature. *Originally aired on May 27, 2020.
Rinaldo Walcott argues that the fight to abolish slavery is still unfinished — and that the ultimate project of abolition will require abolishing the idea of private property itself. He speaks with Nahlah Ayed about how a history of being bought and sold shapes Black people's relationship to the notion of property today.
PhD student Rachel Fayter was incarcerated for more than three years. She draws from her experience and the relationships she formed in jail to inform her ‘groundbreaking’ research into the resilience of criminalized women. *This episode originally aired on September 24, 2020.
In her new book Work Mate Marry Love, Harvard professor Debora Spar argues that nearly all the decisions we make in our most intimate lives — whom we marry, how we have children, and how we build families — are driven by technology. She explains how these changes in technology have also affected the role of women in society throughout history.
Warning: This episode contains descriptions of graphic violence. In part two of our series looking at the role of police in society, IDEAS contributor Kyle G. Brown examines the use of police surveillance on citizens, the increased use of military tactics, and its struggles when responding to mental health emergencies.
What kinds of responsibility does a Black writer have? Is it enough to just write whatever inspires you, or is there an obligation to take on the big questions of culture, class, colour? In part two of a two-part series, Black Canadian writers George Elliott Clarke, Afua Cooper and André Alexis discuss why they write and the importance of ‘home’ in their work.
Beethoven turned 250 this past year. Since his death, he’s been used as a symbol of big ideas, from liberalism to nationalism to manliness. This documentary examines the shifting image of Beethoven, and his malleability as a symbol. *This episode originally aired on September 21, 2020.
Some protests hit with lightning speed and bring quick change in dramatic ways. But often the push for change takes much longer — decades, even generations. The change comes not from dramatic events but from a slow transformation of people, of culture, and society itself. IDEAS contributor Guy Dixon looks at the perpetual protest.
What kinds of responsibility does a Black writer have? Is it enough to just write whatever inspires you, or is there an obligation to take on the big questions of culture, class, colour? In part one of a two-part series, Black Canadian writers Canisia Lubrin, Nigel Thomas and Téa Mutonji discuss why they write and how they deal with the power — and the burden — of making art with language.
Ayn Rand's books, especially her two major works, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, continue to sell millions of copies. And her influence on politics and popular culture is stronger than ever. Contributor Sandy Bourque outlines the philosopher's improbable rise to fame and influence, and the surprising Canadian connection which helped secure her place in the history of ideas.
The intelligentsia mocked her writings and lampooned her philosophy, which she called Objectivism. But Ayn Rand's books, especially her two major works The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, continue to sell millions of copies. There are Ayn Rand think tanks, academies, even dating sites. And her influence on politics and popular culture is stronger than ever. Contributor Sandy Bourque outlines Rand's improbable rise to fame and influence, and the surprising Canadian connection, which helped secure her place in the history of ideas. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 1, 2018.
I love you: those three magic words are the most powerful and misunderstood words in the English language, according to writer and contributor Marianne Apostilides. She draws from Shakespeare, Freud, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton and other greats to parse how "I love you" can be enriching, manipulative and even empty.