PODCAST

Semi-Intellectual Musings

Diskurs Productions

Podcast focusing on the social sciences, humanities and arts.

education higher education

All Episodes

01:02:45

Generations & Kinship Ties

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/07/29

On the things that Matt & Phil enjoy: the long lunch during a round of golf, classic SNES games, poutine and late night walks that include other podcasts talking about the show. Matt’s baby can recognize faces, so she’ll quickly figure out what the fed-up face from buying diapers from Walmart is. Bye-Bye Markov and hello to hockey talk. Afterall, it is already the end of July. Generations & Kinship Ties (15:35) The concept of generations has provided a convenient way to group people together

01:20:45

Social Science Fiction & Twin Peaks

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/07/23

Guess who’s back? Back to podcast....it’s Matt! Matt is back from newborn lalaland and ready to talk with us about the journey so far. He reveals the name of his newborn and sheds a few tears. He brought along a couple tunes and some kind of journal that gets Phil talking about poop. Social Science Fiction & Twin Peaks (25:27) The sub-genre of social science fiction can be considered alive and well since at least the 1700’s. We sketch out the speculative genre, pointing to a few classic examples

01:36:42

Totally Recommended

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/07/16

This is the episode overflowing with gratitude and recognition to our amazing listeners and contributors. Matt and his wife welcomed a very special someone into the world. A baby girl, born in Ottawa, Ontario at 17:55 on Wednesday July 12, 2017, weighing in at 8 lb. 9 oz. The podcast has a new listener now. We wanted to offer up all of our recommendations, together at last! Give it a listen during those long summer days, your road trips and, most importantly, remember to moisturise. Check out

01:10:24

Volunteering & Boots on the Ground

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/07/06

Mel & Phil had an adventure in Lanark County, Ontario and felt they had to talk about it. Although it rained their whole stay, the B&B they stayed at comes highly recommended. It started to resemble a long advertisment. It wasn’t. Mel & Phil saw some orchids with a visit to the Purdon Conservation Area. They brought down the median age of the site’s visitors. Don’t worry though, they had craft beer with them like the good hipster-millennials they are. Volunteering & Boots on the Ground (16:27) Mel

01:35:01

Fatherland - Mini-Series Part 3

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/06/29

Aaron is back with Phil to tell us all about The Fatherland. Recorded at Carleton University, where Aaron completed his Master’s and Doctoral work, Phil wonders if he’ll escape these solemn halls or is also destined to roam like the poets. Whatever the outcome, delivery of online orders will probably fail. Fatherland - Mini-Series Part 3 (13:30) Aaron connects an aborted essay, the anxiety of parenting and a vision of a fallen soldier to something like an allegiance to ‘The Fatherland’. We ask what

02:53:33

June Bonus - Endless Intros

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/06/25

In our neck of the woods, the month of June brings the start of warm weather, the end of the school term and the start of BBQ and patio season. It also brings blackflies, heatwaves, a perpetual feeling of regret and sustained anxiety over what to bring or wear to BBQ parties. But most importantly, this June also brings a bonus epiosode Semi-Intellectual Musings. So snuggle up during a storm or plug in for a long car ride, this bonus episode is a compilation of all our intros to

01:39:15

Anthropology 101 with Matt

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/06/21

Phil provides commentary on a bird fight he witnessed between crows, blue jays and little sparrows. Matt admits that he is a sinker who is afraid of zombies. Who knew? Matt’s Anthropology 101 (14:27) This episode is a succinct overview of anthropology, the study of human culture. Every anthropologist has their own definition of culture but these definitions change like culture itself. Matt reads the Clifford Geertz ‘Webs of Signification’ definition and then offers his own. The traditional division

01:25:22

The Wolf - Mini-Series Part 2

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/06/14

Aaron is back for the second installment of his mini-series. From patio furniture gone amiss to cross country delivery shenanigans, before getting into the show Phil & Aaron share a few stories of capitalism’s dark corner: online shopping. Maybe problems with shipping are adding to millennials’ tendency of buying less? Suppose these problems don’t quite compared to those on Alone (History Channel). But wait and see what happens when the avocados don’t ship to all those toast fiends. The Wolf -

01:16:03

Protest & Political Music - Part 1

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/06/09

Matt is back for this episode. The black flies are gone. The clover is growing slowly. Matt offers us an update on the little Sanderson. Phil is working from home full-time now and admits he may be procrastinating. He’ll tell us later about that. The intro gets real when Phil decides to talk ontology and epistemology. Apologies in advance for a few annoying glitches in the audio. We fixed it up for the main section. So take a peek-a-poo before you protest too much. Protest & Political Music - Part

01:15:29

Survival & The Millennial Condition

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/06/06

Our first in a series of special guest hosted episodes with Aaron Henry. Phil and Aaron introduce the series by trying to make sense of survivalism. Following from a previous episode on Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the discussion kicks off by way of dystopian worlds then asks: what does it mean to be prepared? How and why do we prepare for the worst? What are we all preparing for anyway? Does surviving contain elements of resilience and/or coping? From zombies, to Silicon Valley preppers, Aaron

01:14:23

Academics & The Changing Nature of Work

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/06/02

Bad drivers beware: Phil & Matt say to stay home on rainy or snowy days. Phil starts his work-at-home life and gets Matt to provide some guidance on what not to do. Even though Matt was sick, we are committed to getting these episodes out! Academics & The Changing Nature of Work (13:34) As a way to open an ongoing discussion on academic careers, Matt & Phil talk about their schooling and career trajectories. What it takes to be a professor in today’s academic environment has changed from what were

01:08:07

Conferences & Making SSH Matter

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/05/29

Phil & Matt start this episode by talking about their favorite writing implement: pens. Phil is reminded of the West Wing, again. While retelling the story of how we got our first unsolicited podcast advice, we had to do our first content edit after Phil told the listener to !@#$ off... Fortunately, the show moved on to things that actually matter. Conferences & Making SSH Matter (16:10) As academic conference season gets off to a start, Matt & Phil talk about how and why academics share their

01:18:26

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/05/26

Phil & Matt talk about how the little Sanderson will soon be coming into the world. Matt recounts his most recent parenting class and shares his birthing plans. From that, Phil is reminded of his bachelor party and realizes that Matt has a deep-rooted shady Surrey side. The move is called the Surrey Shuffle, according to Matt. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (18:24) Matt & Phil deep dive into Ray Bradbury’s dystopian tale of a world obsessed with suppressing books. No spoiler alerts here, Matt & Phil

01:10:04

Hockey Cards-Part 1

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/05/26

Phil & Matt talk about their recent landscaping adventure, sharing their annoyance of black flies. Phil talks about lawn grass and an easier option: a clover lawn. They show that two social scientists can indeed do manual work--but neither could everyday! Hockey Cards - Part 1 (17:56) Matt & Phil are joined by a collection of hockey cards from Phil’s past. They crack open a few binders and boxes of cards from the 1990’s. The story goes that it all started with a convenience store-owning uncle, but

01:16:56

Logical Fallacies & Fantasy Politics

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/05/21

Phil & Matt talk about cooking. Matt tells us his secret ingredient to making a killer bechamel sauce and Phil gives us his take on sweet n’spicy BBQ chicken and homemade turkey stock. Warning: this intro will make you hungry! Admittedly, it was a meat heavy conversation. Phil’s pasta sauce can be made vegan, which is how he normally likes it. Logical Fallacies & Fantasy Politics (15:09) Mel settles in to talk about logical fallacies, truth tables & syllogisms. Matt & Phil find out that they

01:20:48

Smallpox & Montreal

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/05/15

Matt and Phil start talking about Cal Ripken Jr. Matt finally looked after his cousin’s kid and it went well after a short time of scream-crying. We then start talking about the flooding our region (and country) has experienced this past couple weeks, it was an unanticipated conversation, however, it was probably the most important intro that we have recorded. We talked about ways people can help out and the challenges facing people when they return. On that bright note, onto an episode about

56:00

Anarchism & Anthropology

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/05/11

We have on our first guest, the disillusioned Leninist Evan who talks about anarchist anthropology! Evan’s had his name dropped on the show before so we figured it was time we had him on to defend himself. Matt is still in a state of nervousness about looking after a one year old because he has not read as many books as he should have. We recorded this episode in baby’s room which made Evan eyeball the crib for a post-pod nap. Phil gives us a This Day in History challenge. Matt and Evan wonder how

01:11:42

Technology & Teaching Toolbox

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/05/08

Matt went for a baby care crash course by looking after his cousin’s son. This conversation regressed or progressed, depends on how you look at it, into a vague discussion on kinship and the significance of cousinhood. We were both confused as to what constitutes a 2nd cousin, there is an answer (5:45). Phil brings us back to the surface with his most recent experiences grading, of course this also quickly digressed into a conversation about grading philosophies and how as graders we should pay

01:07:14

Marx & Metabolism

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/05/05

Metabolizing Marx’s metabolic processes while watching kabaddi shirtless: talk about ruptures! Phil watches his meadow grow while digging into the nesting habits of bats. Matt enthusiastically describes Kabaddi, an Indian sport that combines rugby and red rover with rhythmic breathing and unarmed combat. We watched a few clips of the game and decided that maybe we should just stick with golf (Phil watched this one while Matt was talking). Phil attempts to describe the intent of the podcast in a

01:13:09

Concussions & Sports

Semi-Intellectual Musings ·

2017/05/01

Phil proctored an exam, the most exciting aspect of grad school, and passes on a few tips that he feels will help everyone in the room. Matt fueled up on some spring rolls before attending the most competitive used book sale of his life, you can hear the giddiness in his voice which qualifies him for at least 9 criteria of bibliophilic personality disorder. They finish by again trying to define their podcast and Matt struggles to not say ABSOLUTELY, in whimsical fashion. Concussions and sports

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