This program allows you to experience Swarthmore College Faculty Lectures. The lectures that we feature are complete, self-contained lectures that were open to the campus and local community.
Helen North
Posted: January 2012In 2009, Centennial Professor Emerita of Classics Helen North spoke with her colleagues Rosaria Munson and William Turpin about her 60-plus year career at the College. She discussed the growth and personalities of the Classics Department, including the antics of noted historian Russell Meiggs (21:50), as well as College traditions such as Collection. She also reflected on her memories of President Courtney Smith (45:34) and the immediate aftermath of his death.
An audio podcast in MP3 format.History's Favorite Villain: Cardinal Richelieu
Posted: January 2012Associate Professor of French Jean-Vincent Blanchard examines one of the arguably most important figures of modern France. For his talk, Blanchard draws on his research for Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France (Walker & Company, 2011). He is introduced by Professor of German Hansjakob Werlen.
An audio podcast in MP3 format.How and Why Black Male Incarceration Is Undermining Martin Luther King, Jr.'s...
Posted: January 2012The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights activists were imprisoned countless times as part of a deliberate strategy to harass and intimidate them. In 1954, 98,000 African-Americans were incarcerated in jails and prisons across this country. Since then, the black prison population has grown to nearly one million; 864,000 are black men. Here, Associate Professor of Political Science Keith Reeves '88 examines this development and argues that the policy of “locking up” black men to combat crime has not been without profound consequences for the social fabric of urban families and neighborhoods. Indeed, he states the magnitude of this crisis is undermining King's "last wish." As a Swarthmore undergraduate, Reeves majored in political science with a concentration in Black Studies and public policy. A former Henry Luce Scholar, he now teaches courses across the arenas of American government, electoral politics, and public opinion; racial politics and voting rights policy; the urban underclass, poverty, and public policy; and behavioral research methods. Reeves is the author of Voting Hopes or Fears?: White Voters, Black Candidates, and Racial Politics in America (1997) and is also the director of the College's Center for Social and Policy Studies.
An audio podcast in MP3 format.Apollo Dancing
Posted: November 2011Associate Professor of Classics and Philosophy Grace Ledbetter discusses (4:15) her current work, an examination of how George Ballenchine's ballet Apollo, with a score by Igor Stravinsky, provided a new foundation for ballet in the 20th century by transforming the Greek myth of Apollo and merging ballet with Greco-Roman classicism. This discussion is drawn from her larger study of the role classical antiquity has played in the development of classical ballet. Ledbetter specializes in ancient philosophy and Greek poetry and regularly teaches courses at all levels on Greek and Latin languages, Plato, Homer, Greek tragedy, and Greek religion. In an earlier lecture, Muses of the 20th Century: Greek Myth in Opera, Ballet, and Modern Dance, Ledbetter spoke about Greek mythology and why it figures so centrally into some of the most pivotally modern works in the performing arts. Here, she is introduced by Professor of Classics Rosaria Munson.
An audio podcast in MP3 format.Old Quiver, New Arrows
Posted: September 2011"I think every book of poems tells a story," says Professor of English Literature Natalie Anderson. Here, she reads (5:10) from Quiver, her latest collection. "I think of this one as balanced between loss and consolation," she says, "between the devastations that shake us, the stabilities that ground us, and the unanticipated moments of transcendence that lift us beyond ourselves." Anderson teaches courses in Victorian, modern, and contemporary poetry and directs the College's creative writing program. The author of two previous volumes of poetry – Following Fred Astaire, which won the 1998 Washington Prize from The Word Works, and Crawlers, which received the 2005 McGovern Prize from Ashland Poetry Press. She has also collaborated on three operas with composer and Professor of Music Thomas Whitman '82 — The Black Swan; Sukey in the Dark; and an operatic version of Arthur Conan Doyle's A Scandal in Bohemia. A 1993 Pew Fellow, she currently serves as Poet in Residence at the Rosenbach Museum and Library. Anderson is introduced by Professor of English Literature Elizabeth Bolton. Read more about Quiver in The Phoenix.
An audio podcast in MP3 format.Living in a Radically Uncertain World: How to Think About It and What to Do A...
Posted: September 2011Barry Schwartz, Dorwin P. Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action, explores the connections between our own lives and the world in which we live.
An audio podcast in MP3 format.Last Collection: Scott Gilbert
Posted: June 2011Howard A. Schneiderman Professor of Biology Scott Gilbert delivered the Last Collection at the 2011 Commencement. The senior class chooses a faculty or staff member for this event each April.
An audio podcast in MP3 format.Shi’i Islam, Secrecy, and Religious Dissimulation in Social Practice
Posted: May 2011In this talk, Assistant Professor of Religion Tariq al-Jamil explores the bodily practices and social behaviors associated with religious dissimulation - known as "taqiyya,” a practice in which a Shi’ite can lie about their faith in order to save a life - in 13th- and 14th-century Iraq. Professor al-Jamil is an expert on medieval Islamic social history and law, with a particular focus on Shi'ism. He has conducted research on Sunni-Shi'i relations and can address issues related to the academic study of Islam and the social history of Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. His published works and research interests include Islam and inter-communal violence, pre-modern religious identity, religious dissimulation, the transmission of knowledge in Islam, and women in Islamic jurisprudence.
An audio podcast in MP3 format.How Ordinary Language Use Requires Impressive Feats of Mind Reading
Posted: May 2011Assistant Professor of Psychology Dan Grodner joined Swarthmore's faculty in 2007 and teaches courses and seminars in the psychology of language, psycholinguistics, and cognitive science. His research interests include human language understanding, pragmatics and conversational inferencing, sources of linguistic complexity, and structural ambiguity resolution. In this talk, he discusses an experiment conducted with a student as part of her senior comprehensive project.
An audio podcast in MP3 format.Athabaskan and Euro-American Experiences
Posted: April 2011Professor of Linguistics Theodore Fernald is a longtime board member of the Navajo Language Academy, which is devoted to the scientific study and promotion of the Navajo language, part of the Athabaskan language family. His current research, supported by the National Science Foundation, involves linguistic research on Navajo that will lead to the creation of a referenced grammar that covers the structure, meaning, and use of all known Navajo sentence types. Here, he discusses the process of doing research that involves multiple languages and cross-cultural interactions. In the related video, he explores his interest in the language and expresses his hope for its future survival.
An audio podcast in MP3 format.Historical Understanding and Political Ideals: Kant and Benjamin
Posted: March 2011Professor of Philosophy Richard Eldridge takes up the following questions in this talk: 1) How do historical narratives explain events and provide understanding? 2) What is the role of political ideals in the framing of historical narratives? 3) How, for both Kant and Benjamin, does historical narrative play an essential role in furthering the task of (critical) philosophy? 4) What are the specific, opposed conceptions of historical understanding and ideal political life held by Kant and Benjamin?
An audio podcast in MP3 format.Unfolding the Multifaceted Personality of an Island Civilization
Posted: February 2011Visiting Cornell Professor Sudharshan Seneviratne draws on his scholarly work and work as Director General of the UNESCO Central Cultural Fund to present a visual history of Sri Lanka. His work examines how the island society of Sri Lanka is attempting to look beyond its painful experience of a devastating 30-year civil war and how the processes of reconciliation and reconstruction can draw on the island's rich and shared cultural legacy.
An audio podcast in MP3 format.
Links
Other podcasts in colleges category of our directory.
Whilst all the podcasts listed in this directory are selected in line with our criteria, we do strongly recommend educators that the contents of all podcasts, podcast feeds and channels are regularly auditioned to ensure that they are suitable and appropriate for the age range of the children and young people.
Saturday, 4th February 2012
