Tag Archives: Society and Culture

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle- How Hollywood Artists affect Politics -/- Ethics in Cloning Extinct Species – December 13th, 2015

First, we’ll begin with the surprising ways that Hollywood actors have shaped American politics and who have some of the most groundbreaking and influential on the body politic. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Professor Steven Ross, University of Southern California (USC). He is the author of “Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics“.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, with dozens of species going extinct every day, we look at the science and ethical issues of de-extinction – bringing back some species through cloning. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • Dr. Michael Archer is professor of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales. He has published over 300 scientific journal articles and books focused on the ecology and evolution of past and present. He has been working to bring back some extinct animals. His latest work includes contributions to two encyclopedias: Fossil mammals of Australia and New Guinea and Evolution and Zoogeography of Australasian Vertebrates. He is the co-author of the book Australia’s Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh
  • Dr. John Wiens is professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. He is also a former curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and has served as editor of a number of scientific journals. He is the author of many books including, The Ecology of Birds Communities.
  • Carl Zimmer is an award winning lecturer at Yale University and author of thirteen books including, Evolution: Making Sense of Life and More Brain Cuttings: Further Explorations of the Mind. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Time Magazine, National Geographic, and Scientific American. Here is a list of other books by Carl Zimmer

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Children of Incarcerated Parents in US-/-Permanent National Security State-/-Polarized Politics from Sexual Counter Revolution-/-October 18th, 2015

First, what are the life chances of children of incarcerated parents? [ dur: 9 mins. ]

Then, how did the US become permanent national security state and how has that affected our democratic process? [ dur:  19 mins.  ]

  • Julian Zelizer is a Professor of History and Public Affairs, Princeton University. He is the author of “Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security From World War II to the War on Terrorism”.

Finally, did the sexual counter revolution polarize American politics? We speak with Nancy Cohen. [ dur: 27 mins. ]

  • Nancy L. Cohen is an author, historian, and leading national expert on women and American politics.  She is the author of, “Delirium: How the Sexual Counterrevolution is Polarizing America”.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Case Against US Supreme Court-/-School to Prison Pipeline in US-October 11th, 2015

First, one of the country’s preeminent law scholars makes his case against the supreme court. We are joined by Erwin Chemerinsky author of, The Case Against the Supreme Court. [ dur: 24 mins. ]

  • Erwin Chemerinsky, UC Irvine Dean School of Law. Author of The Case Against the Supreme Court

Then we spend the rest of the hour discussing a disturbing trend of increasing numbers of school children being conditioned for the criminal justice system, often referred to, as the school to prison-pipeline. What might it mean for society? And how should this situation be addressed? [ dur: 34 mins. ]

  • Dr. Kim Socha, Regional Dir., Save the Kids;
  • Jon Vang ,  mentor , community activist.
  • Anthony Nocella, is a Professor of Education and Sr. Fellow in Dispute Resolution at Hamline University, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
  • Daniel Losen, Director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies in Civil Rights Project at UCLA;
  • Damien Schnyder, is a Professor of African studies at Scripps College

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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-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-Resistance-to-Evil-/-Forgotten-Genocides-June 21st, 2015

First, we continue our conversation with preeminent psychology scholar Ervin Staub. Last week we discussed how to build peaceful societies, particularly when some groups have been traumatized by violence, war or genocide. Erwin Staub’s latest book is The Roots of Goodness and Resistance to Evil. This is part two of our discussion. You can hear part one, here: http://www.armoudian.com/log/scholars-circle/scholars-circle-resistance-to-evil-the-systems-view-of-life-june-14th-2015/ [ dur: 27 mins. ]

  • Ervin Staub is a Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Founding Director of its Ph.D. concentration in the Psychology of Peace and Violence. He is the author of The roots of goodness and resistance to evil: Inclusive caring, moral courage, altruism born of suffering, active bystandership and heroism​, Overcoming evil: Genocide, violent conflict and terrorism and The psychology of good and evil: Why children, adults and groups help and harm others.

Then, our next guests participated in a standing room only, live forum that explored the roots of violence and genocide, identifying what they had in common and what it takes to prevent and heal in their aftermath. Our panel discussed how small scale violence against a targeted group can become genocidal and what we can learn from the three forgotten genocides. [ dur: 31 mins. ]

  • Dr Tracey McIntosh is a professor of sociology at the University of Auckland. She is the co-editor of Pacific Identities and Well-being: Cross-cultural Perspectives.
  • Dr. Panayiotis Diamadis is a professor of genocide studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. He is the author of Precious and Honoured Guests of the Ottoman Government.
  • Dr. Chris Wilson is a professor of political studies and international relations at the University of Auckland. He is the author of Ethno-religious violence in Indonesia: From soil to God.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Resistance-to-Evil-/-The-Systems-View-of-Life-June 14th, 2015

First, we speak with Erwin Staub about his latest book, The ​R​oots of ​G​ood​nes​s​ and ​R​e​s​ist​ance to ​Evil: Inclusive ​C​aring, ​M​oral ​C​ou​r​age, ​Altruism ​B​o​r​n of ​S​uffering, ​A​c​t​I’ve ​B​ystandership and ​H​e​r​oism. [ dur: 25 mins. ]

  • Ervin Staub is a Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Founding Director of its ​Ph.D. concentration in the Psychology of Peace and Violence.

Then, we speak with Fritjof Capra about his book The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision. He is also the author of, The Tao of Physics, The Turning Point, The Web of Life, The Hidden Connections, The Science of Leonardo, and Learning from Leonardo. This is part two of a two part interview. [ dur: 33 mins. ]

  • Fritjof Capra, physicist, system theorist, and science writer, founding director of Center of Eco-literacy in Berkley California. http://www.fritjofcapra.net – Blog

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Living-off-Grid-/-Sixth-Extinction-/-Terrorism-a-Political-Violence-May 17th, 2015

First, Living Off the Grid? A look inside the movement to live with total freedom and independence. Who is doing it? How and why? We speak with Nick Rosen.[ dur: 15 mins. ]

  • Nick Rosen. author of, Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America.

Then, planet earth is facing a sixth extinction. Can humanity rescue the planet that it has imperiled? [ dur: 25mins. ]

  • Annalee Newitz is journalist and author of Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction. She is the founding editor of the science and science fiction website i09.com.
  • Elizabeth Kolbert is a staff member at The New Yorker. She is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, and her latest book The Sixth Extinction.

Finally, What exactly is terrorism? Where should it fall on the continuum of political violence? Prof. Dekmejian is the foremost expert of terrorism and genocide. He is the author of Spectrum of Terror. [ dur: 18mins. ]

  • Richard Dekmejian, is professor of Political Science, University of Southern California. He is author of Multicultural Societies in Conflict and Coexistence, Spectrum of Terror

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