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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Magnetic-field-affects-Animals-/-History-of-Human-bond-with-Animals-August 30th, 2015

First, birds, bees, whales and turtles all use the earth s magnetic field to guide their behavior. [ dur: 17mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Then, human history has been drastically changed by our relationship with animals. So much so that our next guest says it would be a different world if not for our intimate bonds with animals. How have they changed us and the world we live in? [ dur: 41 mins. ]

  • Brian Fagan, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology, University of California, Santa Barbara. He has authored more than two dozen books, including the latest. “The Intimate Bond: How Animals Have Shaped Human History“.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Bird-Songs-/-New-Corporate-Lawlessness-August 23rd, 2015

First, scientists have made fascinating discoveries on how animals communicate. Birdsongs are more than music; they are warnings of danger understood by many species. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • Erick Greene, Professor of Biological Sciences at University of Montana. He has published numerous papers in ornithology, the latest in collaboration with the Cornell labs of Ornithology

Then, companies like Uber, Google and AirBnb claim to be civil rights leaders, but they are introducing a new form of corporate lawlessness? [ dur: 28 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

  • Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of Media Studies at University of Virginia. Author of “The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry)“. His articles at Slate can be found here. He co-authored an opinion piece on Guardian UK newspaper with Frank Pasquale ( author of Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms that Control Money and Information (Harvard University Press, 2015) Uber and the lawlessness of ‘sharing economy’ corporates

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Dictator-and-CEO-/- War-and-Law-August 16th, 2015

First, what do dictators, CEOs, and political leaders have in common? We’ll explore some of their strategies for getting and keeping power with Alastair Smith, coauthor of, “The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics.” [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Alastair Smith, Professor of Politics, NYU. He has also co-authored “The Logic of Political Survival“.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle, the effect of war on laws, society, governance, and democracy itself. How are these affected as the lines of war-time are increasingly blurred.[ dur: 27 mins. ]

  • Mary Dudziak is Professor of Law, History, and Political Science at the University of Southern California. She is the author of, “War Time: An Idea, Its History, Its Consequences“.
  • Patrick James is Professor of International Relations and Director of the Center for International Studies at the University of Southern California. He is the author of numerous publications ( found here ) including, “Constitutional Politics in Canada After the Charter: Liberalism, Communitarianism, and Systemism“, “A New Quest for International Peace: Civil-Military Dynamics, Political Communications and Democracy“, and “Religion, Identity and Global Governance: Theory, Evidence and Practice.“
  • Christopher McKnight Nichols is Professor of History at Oregon State University. Previously he was the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in U.S. History at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of, “Promise and Peril: America at the Dawn of a Global Age“.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Antonin-Scalia-/-Violence-Against-Women-August 9th, 2015

First, we continue our conversation about why no one predicted that Justice Scalia would become one of the most polarizing Supreme Court justices in US history. Bruce Allen Murphy is the author of Scalia: A Court of One. [ dur: 27mins. ]

  • Bruce Allen Murphy is a judicial biographer and Professor of law at Lafayette College. His latest book is Scalia: A Court of One.

Then, on the Scholar’s Circle panel, what is driving the increased violence against women around the world and how are women responding? [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • Manisha Desai is Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies & Sociology at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of Gender and the Politics of Possibilities: Rethinking Globalization, and co-editor of Women’s Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggle and Global Politics.
  • Jacqui True is Professor of Politics and International Relations at Monash University. She is the author of The Political Economy of Violence Against Women and Gender, Globalization and Postsocialism.
  • Amana Fontanella-Khan writes for Slate, the Daily Beast and the New York Times. Her book is called Pink Sari Revolution: A Tale of Women and Power in India.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Antonin-Scalia-/-How-Music-affects-Social-and-Political-Change-August 2nd, 2015

In this hour, the man some call the most polarizing and controversial supreme court justice in American history — The story of Antonin Scalia and why no one predicted who he would become. We speak with Prof. Bruce Allen Murphy author of Scalia: A Court of One. This is part one of a two part interview. We will air part two next week. [ dur: 27 mins. ]

  • Bruce Allen Murphy is a judicial biographer and Professor of law at Lafayette College. His latest book is Scalia: A Court of One.

Finally, on the Scholars’ Circle we discuss how music effects social and political change. How do governments/states oppress music and the arts? How has music shaped politics historically and today? [ dur: 31 mins. ]

  • Mark LeVine, Professor of Middle Eastern History, University of California Irvine. He is the author of Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam
  • Josh Kun, Professor of  Communication and Journalism, USC; He is the author of Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America 
  • Richard Flacks, Professor of Sociology, UC Santa Barbara. He is co-author of the book Playing for Change: Music and Musicians in the Service of Social Movements

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Empathy-in-powerful-is-missing-/-Nuroscience-review-July 26th, 2015

A new study suggests that the powerful feel less empathy. Does it have implications for society? [ dur: 18 mins. ]

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, while advances in neuroscience are making great leaps in understanding humanity, scholars and doctors disagree on what neuroscience does and does not tell us about what it means to be human. Are we our brains? Do we have free will? How far can neuroscience take us? [ dur: 40 mins. ]

  • Dr. Sally Satel is lecturer at Yale University, a resident scholar at AEI and the staff psychiatrist at a methadone clinic. She is co-author of One Nation Under Therapy: How the Helping Culture Is Eroding Self-Reliance and Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience.
  • Patricia S. Churchland is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego. In 1991, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Her books include Brain-Wise: Studies in Neurophilosophy, Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality, and Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Antibiotics-Side-Effects-/-South-China-Seas-Tension-July 19th, 2015

First, sanitation and antibiotics have saved the lives of many, but are they also the culprits behind some of modern diseases? We might have gone overboard in killing our microbes. And that may be causing some of today’s epidemics. [ dur: 21 mins. ]

  • Martin I. Blaser is Professor of Translational Medicine and Director of Human Microbiome Program at New York University. He is the author of Missing Microbes : How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues.

Then, What’s troubling the water in the South China sea? China is militarizing the South China Sea. That’s one of few concerns by many in the region about China’s territorial claim and development of a region that also has claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia. [ dur: 37 mins. ]

  • Pradeep Taneja Is a lecturer at the University of Melbourne. He is the author of The European Union and China: Interests and Dilemmas.
  • Stephen Noakes is a lecturer of Chinese Politics, jointly appointed to Politics and International Relations and Asian Studies at the University of Auckland. ​He is coauthor of Support for Civil Society in China in Creating Democratic Value: Evaluating Efforts to Promote Democracy Abroad.
  • Daniel Lynch is a Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is the author of After the Propaganda State: Media, Politics, and Thought in Reformed China and Rising China andAsian Democratization: Socialization to “Global Culture” in the Political Transformations of Thailand, China, and Taiwan.​
  • Professor Leszek Buszynski is a lecturer at Australia National University. He is the author of Asia Pacific Security – Values and Identity​.​ He co-edited The South China Sea Maritime Dispute: Political, Legal and Regional Perspectives and his latest publication Negotiating with North Korea: The Six Party Talks and the Nuclear Issue.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle- Middle East Politics-July 12th, 2015

We spend the hour trying to untangle the politics of the Middle East. What does the rise of extreme violence with shifting and sometimes conflicting loyalties mean to the region and the world? What has happened to all the gains through democratization and human rights?

  • Fred H. Lawson is a Professor and Department Head of Government at Mills College; Author of Global Security Watch – Syria, Demystifying Syria, Why Syria Goes to War: Thirty Years of Confrontation and Constructing International Relations in the Arab World
  • Laurie A. Brand, Professor of International Relations and Director of Middle East Studies, USC; Author of Official Stories: Politics and National Narratives in Egypt and Algeria and Palestinians in the Arab World: Institution Building and the Search for State
  • Hamoud Salhi, Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean, CSU Dominguez Hills. Host of SWANA Region Radio on KPFK – Los Angeles.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Secret-Heroes-/-Loyalist-of-American-Revolution-/-Amending-US-Constitution-July 5th, 2015

First, Secret heroes. We look at lesser known people who have shaped the world. [ dur: 14 mins. ]

  • Paul Martin, author and jouranlist; Author of Secret Heroes: Everyday Americans Who Shaped Our World

Then, we revisit the American Revolution through the stories of the loyalist, those who fought on the side of Great Britain. We’re joined by Maya Jasanoff author of Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Maya Jasanoff, is Professor of History  at Harvard University. She is author of Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists and the Revolutionary War.

Finally, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, we explore the historic and current efforts to amend the constitution. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • John R. Vile is Dean and Professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of, The Writing and Ratification of the U.S. Constitution: Practical Virtue in Action, Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues, 1789-2005, and ReFramers: 170 Eccentric, Visionary, and Patriotic Proposals to Rewrite the U.S. Constitution.
  • Stephen M. Griffin is Professor in Constitutional Law at Tulane Law School. He is the author of, Long Wars and the Constitution and American Constitutionalism: From Theory to Politics.
  • Sanford Levinson is Professor in the Department of Government and Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. His numerous publications include, Constitutional Faith, Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) and, most recently,Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Review-of-Green-Economy-/-Police-Culture-June 28th, 2015

First, are some green solutions unhelpful for the environment or worse, do they actually harm it? Over the last few years more green solutions have emerged to address environmental crises. But our guest says some of these amount to lazy environmentalism and may have a dark side effect of camouflaging a larger problem. Heather Rogers argues that our current socio-economic system depends on pollution to maintain its own well being, if so what are the real solutions? Heather Rogers join us, she is the author of Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution. [dur: 13 mins. ]

  • Heather Rogers is a journalist and author. Her book Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution received the Editor’s Choice distinction from the New York Times Book Review, and Non-Fiction Choice from the Guardian (UK).

Then, police in the United States have shot and killed more than 500 people in the first half of 2015, according to a count by the Guardian. In fact, the police in the U.S. have killed more individuals in a matter of days than other countries do in years. Most victims are African American. Three experts join us, discussing race relations, police culture and society. [ dur: 45 mins. ]

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