Tag Archives: Arts and Humanities

Scholars’ Circle – Impact of Independent Films on diversity of stories we see on big screen- September 28, 2025

Robert Redford’s passing reminds us that perhaps his greatest legacy is his support for independent film. So on today’s show, what is the impact of independent film on the industry? How has independent film changed in recent years. How has the major shift toward streaming affected our access to independent films? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Suggestions of films made by independent film makers which broke new grounds in film making:

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – Corporation of Public Broadcasting funding cuts – August 3, 2025

Congress has now clawed back the funding it had allocated for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. What does this mean for the future of publicly funded broadcasting in the USA? How will it affect news, public affairs and other vital information delivery?

We will explore the role of public broadcasting in a democracy. What role does money play at ensuring an independent media? What is the status of public funding and even government owned media throughout the democratic world? [ dur: 58mins. ]

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

Arts and Humanities, Politics and Activism, Society and Culture, Communication, Radio Arts

Scholars’ Circle – Pope Leo & Augustinian thought – June 8, 2025

What will it mean for Catholicism and the world to have the first Augustinian Pope? What were the teachings of Augustine of Hippo, who inspires the Order of Augustine? And what are Pope Leo’s theological views for the Church and beyond as the Church confronts a world with poverty, violence, and war? [ dur: 58mins. ]

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – Author interview of the book – Can Deliberation Cure the Ills of Democracy? ; Remembering Ngugi wa Thiongo author of Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature – June 1, 2025

We interview Professor James S. Fishkin author of the recently published book – Can Deliberation Cure the Ills of Democracy? . Then we remember Ngugi wa Thiongo , scholar of language and author many books such as Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (1986).

Discussion with Professor Fishkin on his book Can Deliberation Cure the Ills of Democracy?. He shares his experience in conducting deliberative polling 150+ times around the world. Hosted by Doug Becker.  [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • James S. Fishkin he holds the Janet M. Peck Chair in International Communication at Stanford University. He is the Professor of both communication and of political science at Stanford University and a senior fellow of the Freeman Spogly Institute for International Studies and the director of the Deliberative democracy lab. His work focuses on a concept We’ll get into, uh, called deliberative polling.


Interview with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o hosted by Prof. David Lloyd. This is an excerpt from the original recording from October 2021 ( show link ).  In this excerpt Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o recalls his thoughts on theory of Globalectics and how it affects thoughts of decolonizing the mind.  [ dur: 28 mins. ]

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – Book interview, Abundant University, remaking higher education for a Digital World; Why is liberal arts education necessary? – January 7, 2024

For many people, access to universities for study and degrees is a means to future economic success. So families sacrifice to pay for this education, or often take out substantial loans to cover the cost. But what if universities opened their access and became truly abundant as a societal resource. Economist Michael Smith, in his new book The Abundant University, makes the case for rethinking access to higher education. [ dur: 28mins. ]

Universities want to appeal to their students, who increasingly look to their schooling as a training period for future employment. But this puts traditional liberal arts departments like philosophy at risk. We examine the future of liberal arts education in light of the trend to silo student training into pre-professional programs at the undergraduate level. [ dur: 30mins. ]

This program is produced by Maria Armoudian, Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – Samuel Ringgold Ward: A life of Struggle, a biography – March 5, 2023

The history of anti-slavery activism is a rich and important period in American history. But there are so many stories that still have yet to be written. Samuel Ward is one of those activists; an important figure in the African-American activist community working against slavery and racism, whose story is largely lost. Our guest R. J. M. Blackett is addressing this need to tell Ward’s story in a new book, Samuel Ringgold Ward: A life of Struggle. [ dur: 58mins. ]

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – De-Colonizing the Mind, Language, Culture in the American Imperium – Feb. 26, 2023

David Lloyd speaks with the world-renowned Kenyan novelist, playwright and poet, critic and widely influential postcolonial theorist, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. They explore the problem of colonization of languages, his commitment to writing in his native language, and his incarceration and exile for political dissidence. And with the panel they discuss a new book of essays on his work, Ngũgĩ in the American Imperium. [ dur: 58mins. ]

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, David Lloyd, and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – Black Women intellectuals contribution to civil rights struggle; History of Cooperatives in Black Communities – Feb. 12, 2023

What role have black women played in the civil rights era and black empowerment in addressing issues of white supremacy? We explore the importance of black women intellectuals, the way in which they have framed the scholarship, the analysis, and policies. Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 33mins. ] – Recorded March 2022.

Can worker owned cooperatives transform workers lives and livelihoods? We speak with Jessica Gordon Nembhard author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice. Hosted by Maria Armoudian. [ dur: 25 mins. ] – Recorded December 2016.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – Black Women Intellectuals how they empowered the civil rights struggle – March 20, 2022

What role have black women played in the civil rights era and black empowerment in addressing issues of white supremacy? We explore the importance of black women intellectuals, the way in which they have framed the scholarship, the analysis, and policies. [ dur: 34mins. ]

Several states have passed legislation barring teaching critical race theory in public schools. Today we explore critical race theory and how race is taught. How should academics proceed in light of the political backlash to teaching about race? [ dur: 22mins. ] This was originally recorded July 21, 2021. This is an excerpt, the complete version can be heard here.

This program is produced by Maria Armoudian, Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – Decolonizing the mind: a conversation with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o – October 24, 2021

David Lloyd speaks with the world-renowned Kenyan novelist, playwright and poet, critic and widely influential postcolonial theorist, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. They explore the problem of colonization of languages, his commitment to writing in his native language, and his incarceration and exile for political dissidence. And with the panel they discuss a new book of essays on his work, Ngũgĩ in the American Imperium. [ dur: 58mins. ]

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, David Lloyd, and Sudd Dongre.