Best Shahidha Bari Podcasts (2024)

1
The eternal dynamic of Rivalry, Fredric Jameson, the newly reopened Warburg Institute 56:38

3d ago56:38

56:38

Sibling rifts, leadership battles in politics and history, philosophical schools of thoughts and their key players all come into our discussion of the way rivalry shapes the world. Roger Luckhurst reflects on the legacy of the American literary critic and philosopher Fredric Jameson who died earlier this week. Plus a report from the Warburg Institu…

1
Crisis & Decision 56:56

10d ago56:56

56:56

Climate, trust, politics, communication. Some would say we live in a period of crisis several areas of society and life. How can we make sense of the present moment, and where do we go from here? Plus, we hear about the short list for this year's Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize and ask what that tells us about scientific publishing. Matthe…

1
Carl Schmitt, democracy and dictatorship 56:38

17d ago56:38

56:38

With the success of the far right Alternative for Deutschland party in the German elections, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris making their pitches to American voters to be their leader and the Conservatives in this country voting for their: we look at Carl Schmitt, the German political theorist of democracy, crisis and dictatorship, to see if he can …

1
Sotheby's Talks – Imaginary Conversations: An ERDEM Collection, with Lady Burlington 42:46

3M ago42:46

42:46

In celebration of Imaginary Conversations: An ERDEM Collection inspired by Duchess Deborah, join British fashion journalist Charlie Porter in conversation with Erdem Moralıoğlu, Creative Director of ERDEM, and Lady Burlington. Together they will discuss Moralıoğlu's creative process in designing a collection inspired by Duchess Deborah, drawing upo…

1
Escapism 56:58

3M ago56:58

56:58

Travel, reading, cinema and psychedelic drugs are all means people have used to try to escape. But do they ever really lead us where we want them to? With the election looming, Glastonbury in full swing and lists of beach read suggestions starting to appear - Matthew Sweet discusses the difference between escape and escapism with Noreen Masud, Lect…

1
Sotheby's Talks – Creative London: An Artistic Crossroads, with Grayson Perry 56:57

3M ago56:57

56:57

Has London's cultural power essentially radiated outwards, influencing artists and creatives across the world? Or is London's creative preeminence dependent on the influx of global talent that has galvanised its artistic scene? In this panel discussion, curator and cultural historian Gus Casely-Hayford, journalist Dylan Jones, museum director Tim M…

1
The illusion of time, the summer solstice & the philosophy of comedy 56:36

3M ago56:36

56:36

As the sun sets on the longest day of the year, Matthew Sweet talks to an eclectic group of guests about the illusion of time, the summer solstice and the philosophy of comedy. They are:Materials scientist & engineer; Director of the UCL Institute of Making; Author of Stuff Matters and other book Mark Miodownik.Philosopher Emily Herring who is abou…

1
History - the long and short of it 56:39

4M ago56:39

56:39

Histories spanning the Big Bang to the present, and the story of an entire continent have been written by two of the Free Thinking guests tonight. What insights do big histories bring and what is the value of focusing on a single family or object ? And how do these approaches apply when looking at policy and government. Matthew Sweet's guests are: …

1
London: An Artistic Crossroads | Gallery Open House 1:17:14

4M ago1:17:14

1:17:14

London has long been a cultural melting pot for artists from around the world who, in their own unique ways, have revealed with each touch of a brush, the impact of the dynamic environment in which they found themselves. So in celebration of its role in the artistic journeys of so many, Sotheby’s has partnered with Art UK to showcase 12 extraordina…

1
William Blake: Artist, Poet and Visionary, with Andrew Graham-Dixon and John Higgs 56:30

4M ago56:30

56:30

With a rare first edition of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience about to go under the hammer, in this episode a panel of experts have come together for a conversation about the poet, artist and visionary. Chair and cultural critic Shahidha Bari is joined by art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon, cultural historian John Higgs and Sothe…

1
Generations - D-Day - Global Instability 56:55

4M ago56:55

56:55

With D-day commemorations giving us images of "the finest generation" and discussion about how parties are targeting different age groups in the UK election, Anne McElvoy hosts a discussion looking at what divides and unites us in a fracturing world.Dr Eliza Filby - a historian of generational evolution and contemporary values and author of Inherit…

1
The Insurrectionists' Guide to the Movies 56:45

4M ago56:45

56:45

The Insurrectionists' Guide to the Movies looking at some of the latest releases at the cinema and what they say about our culture society and democracy today.Matthew Sweet speaks to Financial Times columnist Stephen Bush, Critic and historian Kate Maltby, film curator Keith Shiri who has advised on a new Pan-African season at the British Film Inst…

1
Left and Right - still relevant in British and Global Politics? 57:00

4M ago57:00

57:00

British politics has long been defined by the labels of left and right but the terms are now often seen as defunct with research showing voters increasingly struggle to identify policies as being from one wing or another.We look at the historical origins of the terms and whether it is parties, voters, or both who have shifted in recent years. Our g…

1
Positive & negative politics, "intellectual vices" and the face you bring to work. 56:44

5M ago56:44

56:44

Sir Richard Evans, Margaret Heffernan, Isabel Oakeshott, Quassim Cassam join Anne McElvoy to look at the ideas shaping our lives today. Are they optimists or pessimists ? How negative should we be in political campaigning, doomscrolling, parenting, writing reviews or giving academic feedback. What are intellectual vices and how might they help us t…

1
New Thinking: 2024’s New Generation Thinkers 44:31

5M ago44:31

44:31

Does reading really encourage empathy? Are we asked to perform a role when we walk into the workplace? How was early film and technicolour embraced for political ends? Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough finds out about the latest research being undertaken by ten academics chosen to work with the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council as the 202…

1
Life expectations, philosophy in the world, protest 56:14

5M ago56:14

56:14

Can we still expect a meaningful job, stable income, a chance of owning property? How have expectations changed and what is the place of protest? Matthew Sweet's guests this week are:David Willetts is a former Universities Minister and now a life peer. The Rt Hon Lord Willetts FRS is also current President of the Resolution Foundation, Chair of the…

1
Winning & Losing, Plato Scroll, the Decline of Nightlife 57:06

5M ago57:06

57:06

Matthew Sweet talks about the philosophy of winning and losing with Professor Lea Ypi a political scientist at the London School of Economics and the journalist and author Peter Hitchens. They'll be joined by the lawyer Michael Mansfield KC who has headed some of the biggest legal cases in recent history - including the Birmingham Six, the Bloody S…

1
Kant today, Spice Girls Reunited, Impersonating an Animal 57:04

5M ago57:04

57:04

Marshmallows and Kant, ideas about girl power from Mary Wollstonecraft (born April 27th 1759) to the Spice girls; and galloping horses, sea-gull sounds and life as a goat. On today's Free Thinking Shahidha Bari is joined by literary historian Alexandra Reza, philosophers Angela Breitenbach, John Callanan and journalist Tim Stanley to look back at t…

1
New Thinking: Exploring the local 43:32

5M ago43:32

43:32

Women made up 10-15% of the workforce in the early days of the post office. Looking at a series of different records from the 17th century onwards, Sarah Ward Clavier has discovered stories about spying, how pubs, the links between pubs and post offices. Research suggests that communities with a local newspaper are more likely to vote in local elec…

1
Tacitus, Byron's fanmail and Bluey 57:02

6M ago57:02

57:02

Classicist Mary Beard picks Tacitus as a figure who still has relevance if we're thinking about satire, power and celebrity. Shahidha Bari is joined by Mary, historian Helen Carr, who co-edited What is History Now? political sketch-writer from The Times newspaper Tom Peck and Konnie Huq, writer and former presenter of the children's TV show Blue Pe…

1
Change, scrabble and cultural christianity 56:49

6M ago56:49

56:49

"The times they are a changin" or are they? In politics people are talking about an appetite for change, or being a candidate for change but how radical can you be? With climate change, seasonal change and a change of broadcast time for this programme, Matthew Sweet and his guests discuss change, play a new collaborative version of scrabble, and af…

1
Hobbes, Abba, Waterloo and margarine 56:36

6M ago56:36

56:36

What do you owe the state and what does it provide for us? Writing during the English civil war, Thomas Hobbes came up with an outline for the social contract between individuals and the sovereign – on Free Thinking, Matthew Sweet and guests unpick his ideas and come up with a version for now. They also explore the politics of butter, margarine and…

1
Unravelling plainness 14:53

6M ago14:53

14:53

Gold sequins, silk and vibrant colour threads might not be what you expect to find in a sampler stitched by a Quaker girl in the seventeenth century. New Generation Thinker Isabella Rosner has studied examples of embroidered nutmegs and decorated shell shadow boxes found in London and Philadelphia which present a more complicated picture of Quaker …

1
Pranks 44:36

6M ago44:36

44:36

In 1910 Virginia Woolf and a group of friends caused a stir when they were welcomed on board the HMS Dreadnought, disguised as a delegation of Abyssinian royalty. At the 2017 Conservative Party conference, Theresa May was handed a P45 in the middle of giving her speech. Both these events made the headlines, but what was the intention behind them an…

1
What does feminist art mean? 14:53

6M ago14:53

14:53

Who's Holding the Baby? was the title of an exhibition organised to highlight a lack of childcare provision in East London in the 1970s. Was this feminist art? Bobby Baker, Sonia Boyce, Rita Keegan and members of the photography collective Hackney Flashers are some of the artists who've been taking part in an oral history project with New Generatio…

1
New Thinking: Light and Darkness 39:57

6M ago39:57

39:57

The impact of light bulbs on cities like New York and Paris at the turn of the twentieth century and the way modernist poets like Mina Loy and Lola Ridge depicted this, is at the heart of research being done by Dr Nicoletta Asciuto. For this New Thinking conversation hosted by Dr Sophie Coulombeau, she joins Dr Jaqueline Yallop, whose book Into the…

1
Approaches to death 44:42

6M ago44:42

44:42

Viking burials, preserving archaeology in Uganda, the morgues of Paris and New York and the medieval attitude to dying are our topics as Chris Harding hears about new research from archaeologists Marianne Hem Eriksen and Pauline Harding, and historians Cat Byers and Harriet Soper. Catriona Byers is completing a PhD at King’s College London on the n…

1
New Thinking: East West artistic connections 35:09

6M ago35:09

35:09

The Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens produced around 1,500 artworks, and a new research project explores the Islamic themes in his art. Dr Adam Sammut discusses why the Ottoman Empire’s influence on Rubens has been at the periphery of research, and what it reveals about the early modern understanding of cultural identity. Dr Nil Palabiyik …

1
Rock, Paper, Saints and Sinners 13:40

6M ago13:40

13:40

A 1660s board game made by a Jesuit missionary sent to the Mohawk Valley in North America is the subject of New Generation Thinker Gemma Tidman's essay. This race game, a little like Snakes and Ladders, depicts the path of a Christian life and afterlife. Gemma explores what the game tells us about how powerful people have long turned to play, image…

1
Writing Place 44:44

6M ago44:44

44:44

An ancient Sussex church - home to a medieval anchorite and the cottage where William Blake received the poetic spirit of Milton are two of the places explored in the new book from Alexandra Harris, as she returns to her home country Sussex and consults sources ranging from parish maps, paintings by Constable to records of the fish caught on the Ri…

1
Arteries of tomorrow 14:14

6M ago14:14

14:14

The A13 runs from the City of London past Tilbury Docks and the site of the Dagenham Ford factory to Benfleet and the Wat Tyler Country Park. As he travels along it, talking to residents about their ideas of community and change, New Generation Thinker Dan Taylor reflects on the history of the area and different versions of hopes for the future. Dr…

1
New Thinking: How water shapes our history and environment 39:26

7M ago39:26

39:26

Whilst water is the most important substance on earth, we take it for granted in our modern lives. As an archaeologist, Jay Ingate looks at water in the development of urban centres in early Roman Britain. Whilst the Romans sought to channel water for human purposes they also had a respectful relationship to it because of its believed connection to…

1
The Legacy of the Laundries 14:24

7M ago14:24

14:24

From 1922, between 10-30,000 women and girls are thought to have been incarcerated at the Magdalene laundries which operated in Ireland. New Generation Thinker Louise Brangan has been reading the testimonies of many of the girls who survived these institutions. As the Irish state tries to come to terms with this history, how should it be spoken abo…

1
Gas, oil and the Essex blues 14:20

7M ago14:20

14:20

Canvey Island: cradle of innovation for gas heating and home to music makers Dr Feelgood, who drew inspiration from the Mississippi Delta. New Generation Thinker Sam Johnson-Schlee is an author and geographer based at London South Bank University. His essay remembers the influence of Parker Morris standards on heating in the home, songs written by …

1
Weird Viking Bodies 13:59

7M ago13:59

13:59

Looking at the way human and animal bodies were treated in death and used in rituals prompts New Generation Thinker and archaeologist Marianne Hem Eriksen, from the University of Leicester, to ask questions about the way humans, animals and spirit-worlds were understood. Her Essay shares stories from a research project called Body-Politics’: presen…

1
From algorithms to oceans 14:32

7M ago14:32

14:32

Two years living at sea taught New Generation Thinker Kerry McInerney values which she wants to apply to the development of AI. Her Essay explores the "sustainable AI" movement and looks at visions of the future in novels including Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan and Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl. Dr McInerney is a Research Associate at the Leverhulme Cen…

1
Germany’s Mary Wollstonecraft 14:14

7M ago14:14

14:14

Amalia Holst's defence of female education, published in 1802, was the first work by a woman in Germany to challenge the major philosophers of the age, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant. Unlike Mary Wollstonecraft writing in England, Holst failed to make headway with her arguments. New Generation Thinker Andrew Cooper teaches in the…

1
Scottish Kingship 45:01

7M ago45:01

45:01

In 2024, Scotland marks two big anniversaries: David I ascended the throne nine centuries ago and James I of Scotland began his reign 600 years ago. Both Kings played a role in shaping Scotland's ideas about its monarchy. How did David shape Scotland, and what relevance does the Stone of Destiny have - then, and now, as it returns to its native Per…

1
Free speech, censorship and modern China 44:48

7M ago44:48

44:48

Rana Mitter explores looks at the role of writing in propagating ideas and exposing political tensions. He hears how writers have given voice to personal and political ambitions, from Ding Ling to the teenagers of modern China. Yuan Yang discusses her new book, Private Revolutions. Simon Ings talks about his latest book Engineers of Human Souls whi…

1
Call Me Mother 15:03

7M ago15:03

15:03

Why do babies say "daddy" earlier and what might it mean when a baby does call for "mum" or "anne"? Dr Rebecca Woods, from Newcastle University, calls upon her training in linguistics and observations from her own home to trace the way children’s experiences shape their first words and the names they use for their parents. Rebecca Woods is a New Ge…

1
Edward Bond 45:01

7M ago45:01

45:01

When Saved was banned in 1965 by the Lord Chamberlain's office, the Royal Court theatre turned itself into a private club to allow performances of Edward Bond's drama to be staged. This may be the most famous incident in the career of the playwright, who has died aged 89, but he was the author of over 50 plays, including several written for young p…

1
Sleep justice and sleeplessness 44:26

7M ago44:26

44:26

There's nothing like a good night's sleep, but Laurence Scott discovers that our ability to enjoy one may be related to other societal inequalities, giving rise to the idea of sleep justice. His guests, researchers Sally Cloke, Jonathan White, Alice Vernon and Alice Bennett, also provide insights into sleep disorders, including night terrors, and t…

1
Images of Persia 44:35

7M ago44:35

44:35

The medieval poet Hafez and how his work speaks to today, the impact of digs undertaken by 19th-century feminist archaeologist Jane Dieulafoy and the novels she wrote looking back to a Persian past, the role of classical singing and the impact of the Mongol invasion are discussed by the academics Julia Hartley, Lecturer in Comparative Literature at…

1
Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation 45:33

7M ago45:33

45:33

Gene Hackman is a brilliant but troubled surveillance expert who gets drawn unwittingly into a conspiracy to murder. Released at the height of the Watergate scandal, Coppola's 1974 film about covert surveillance and wire-tapping reflected the mood of paranoia in the USA at the time. Matthew Sweet his guests, film historians Lucy Bolton and Phuong L…

1
Muses and women's creativity 45:02

7M ago45:02

45:02

Iseult Gonne is the daughter of the Irish suffragette, actress and republican who became a muse for WB Yeats. Novelist Helen Cullen has been researching her troubled life. Rochelle Rowe's research looks at women of colour who modelled for artists including Jacob Epstein and Dante Gabriel Rosetti, tracing the histories of women like Fanny Eaton and …

1
Sarah Maldoror, Storm Jameson, the Hague Congress 45:12

7M ago45:12

45:12

1,300 women met in The Hague in 1915 to discuss votes for women, human rights and the importance of peace. Jennifer Thomson shares her research into how this fed into the development of the women's movement and fed into organisations like the United Nations. Storm Jameson (1891-1986) was President of the English branch of PEN International during W…

1
The Dutch Connection 45:53

7M ago45:53

45:53

Adam Smyth loves books - as well as being a Professor of English Literature he runs an experimental printing press from a cold barn in Oxfordshire. Who better then to tell us about the quirky pioneers of print, the subject of his new publication The Book-Makers? In this programme he takes us to 1490s London to tell the story of Wynken de Worde, a D…

1
Hitchhiking 45:02

7M ago45:02

45:02

Travelling in Woody Guthrie's footsteps inspired a history of hitchhiking written by Jonathan Purkis. He joins Matthew Sweet for a conversation which ranges across hitchhiking in the UK and in Eastern Europe, where Poland operated a kind of voucher system. We look at the influence of film depictions from the Nevada desert depicted in Fear and Loath…

1
New Thinking: Stitching Stories 43:41

7M ago43:41

43:41

Recycling Victorian clothes, the history of costume design, the messages conveyed in art made from textiles and the stories encoded in ancient embroidery are explored by Shahidha Bari and her guests Isabella Rosner, Rianna Norbert-David, Jade Halbert and Danielle Dove. They also look at exhibitions at the Barbican Gallery in London and the Museum o…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Shahidha Bari Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide