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PODCAST

Reflecting History

Reflecting History

Reflecting History is an educational history podcast that explores significant historical events and themes without losing track of the ordinary people involved. Covering a wide variety of topics, it explores the connection between history, psychology, and philosophy.

history philosophy

All Episodes

16:56

Episode 131: The Mexican Dirty War Part V-Massacres...

Reflecting History ·

2023/10/09

Does it make any sense to compare individual personality and memory to historical and collective memory? Much like our own memories, the past is often remembered according to the needs of the present. The Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968 offers an opportunity to think about questions of nationalism, historical memory, and collective identity. This episode is Part V in a series on the Mexican Dirty War. It discusses the Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968 and why it is such a seminal moment in Mexican History.

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17:39

Episode 130: The Mexican Dirty War Part IV-Violence...

Reflecting History ·

2023/09/18

Is violence necessary for change? The Mexican Dirty War provides an interesting lens through which to view this question. Leftist geurrilla movements in Mexico were made up of a diversity of disaffected and disenfranchised people who made several failed attempts to uproot corruption and authoritarianism. At what point should peace turn into violence? This episode is Part IV in a series on the Mexican Dirty War. It discusses the makeup of different geurrilla groups during the conflict, and tries to

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25:05

Episode 129: The Mexican Dirty War Part...

Reflecting History ·

2023/08/28

What caused the Mexican Dirty War? A combination of economic, social, and political grievances built up over the course of hundreds of years to finally explode in the mid-20th century. The geurrilla warfare and the brutal counter-insurgent response from the government during the Dirty War had their roots in historical grievances and narratives that motivated ordinary people in Mexico through decades and centuries. This episode is Part III in a series on the Mexican Dirty War. It discusses some of

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20:10

Episode 128: The Mexican Dirty War Part II-Spectres...

Reflecting History ·

2023/08/07

How does the broader context of history affect our personal lives on a daily basis? How does historical memory and narrative storytelling change the way we view the past and the present? This episode asks these questions in the context of the Mexican Dirty War by analyzing the conflict through the lens of the broader themes of Mexican history. Although history may be in the past, it's ghost lingers in the present. This episode is Part II in a series on the Mexican Dirty War. It gives a brief

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16:24

Episode 127: The Mexican Dirty War Part I-The...

Reflecting History ·

2023/07/17

The Mexican Dirty War was fought from the 1960's into the 1980's between the Mexican government and geurrilla insurgents. Geurrilla warfare and government counter-insurgency would be a reality of life in many parts of Mexico for years-thousands would lose their lives, families and communities would be destroyed, and grief would linger for generations. This episode is Part I in a series on the Mexican Dirty War. It gives an overview of the conflict, analyzes the nature of geurrilla warfare in terms

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32:48

Episode 126: Reconstructing Emotion in History

Reflecting History ·

2023/06/26

"History is a dialogue between the past and the present." So how do we know anything about history? To what extent is our knowledge of history merely modern day historians projecting their own thoughts and interpretations on the past? How do we know that ancient peoples felt the same emotions we do? What role should emotion, feeling, and motivation play in the study of history? Archaelogist Guy Middleton's paper "I Will Follow You Into the Dark: Death and Emotion in a Mycenaean Royal Funeral"

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37:08

Episode 125: Burning

Reflecting History ·

2023/06/05

"Sometimes I burn barns." Things aren't always what they seem in Haruki Murakami's surreal and incredible short story "Barn Burning." What could be read on the surface as the tale of a love triangle and a little arson actually offers insight into the banality of evil, the ambiguity of responsibility, the power of memory, the nature of disappearance, and the reality of metaphor. Much like the narrator, after reading this story "...just now and then, in the depths of the night, I'll think about barns

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20:52

BONUS: Staying Behind

Reflecting History ·

2023/05/15

In a dystopian future, humanity is faced with a choice: upload your consciousness into a machine and live forever in paradise, or stay behind and continue being human as we've come to know it. In his short story "Staying Behind," Ken Liu explores a possible future that feels all too real. In the process the story asks big questions about the nature of humanity: what does it mean to be human? What makes life meaningful? Is progress a virtue or vice? Read the story here:

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57:17

Episode 124: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Wounded World...

Reflecting History ·

2023/04/24

In this episode I spoke with historian Chad Williams about his latest book-"The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War" We discussed the legacy of Du Bois; his views on identity and double consciousness; World War I and it's causes; the role of black americans and black soldiers in World War I; the connection between race, capitalism, socialism, and the labor movements of the early 20th century; the Great Migration and it's impacts on American society; racial violence directed at

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19:19

Episode 123: Piranesi

Reflecting History ·

2023/04/03

“The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; it’s kindness infinite.” Piranesi lives in an infinite house, with no long-term memory and only a loose sense of identity. As the secrets of the House deepen and the mystery of his life becomes more sinister, Piranesi must discover who he is and how this brings him closer to the “Great and Secret Knowledge” that the House contains. Touching on themes of memory, identity, mental health, knowledge, reason, experience, meaning, reflection, ideals, and

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21:48

Episode 122: Story of Your Life

Reflecting History ·

2023/03/13

What if it was possible to "remember" the future? What if our typical conceptions of cause and effect didn't tell the whole story? If the story of your life was laid out in front of you, how would that change you as a person and your relationship with the people around you? All of these questions and more are discussed in this episode that takes a look at Ted Chiang's legendary short story "Story of Your Life," the inspiration for the equally awesome film "Arrival" starring Amy Adams. -Consider

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36:44

Episode 121: Ikiru

Reflecting History ·

2023/02/20

What is the meaning of life? What does it mean to really live? What is the nature of bureaucracy and how does this seep into our everyday lives and relationships? These questions and more are analyzed in Akira Kurosawa's 1952 masterpiece "Ikiru." Life is brief... -Consider Supporting the Podcast!- Leave a rating or review on apple podcasts or spotify! Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/reflectinghistory Check out my podcast series on Piranesi, Arcane, The Dark Knight Trilogy,

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24:32

Episode 120: The Memory Police

Reflecting History ·

2023/01/30

Yoko Ogawa's 1994 masterpiece "The Memory Police" is much more than a dystopian novel. It delves into the ways that memory connects with everything-from our deepest sense of self, to our friendships and relationships, to our daily routines. What can memory tell us about grief, loss, and resitance to "quiet authoritarianism?" -Consider Supporting the Podcast!- Leave a rating or review on apple podcasts or spotify! Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/reflectinghistory Check out my

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17:10

Episode 119: The Buried Giant

Reflecting History ·

2023/01/09

It's been said that you are what you remember. What is the role and function of memory on a personal level and how does this connect to collective memory and history? Does collective memory fuel cycles of violence? What would happen if we suddenly all forgot our shared past? Would the world be more peaceful? Are some things best forgotten? In this episode I explore Kazuo Ishiguro's incredible novel "The Buried Giant," and how memory connects to history. -Consider Supporting the Podcast!- Leave a

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30:28

BONUS: Dreams and the Supersensorium

Reflecting History ·

2022/12/19

Why do we dream? What is the difference between dreaming and being awake? Is the modern world around us merely an "artificial dream"-with it's constant barrage of sensory input, screens to look at, and narratives to dive into? This episode is an examination of Erik Hoel's excellent article "Enter the Supersensorium." The connection between dreams and reality is fascinating, but this connection also has some troubling insights into where humanity is headed. Read the article here:

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12:04

Episode 118: What Remains Part IV-Generational Grief

Reflecting History ·

2022/11/28

By the end of the Taiping Civil War, millions in China felt the grief of being caught in limbo between remembering and forgetting, personal and state, past and future. Ultimately the more intimate, personal grief felt by ordinary survivors of the war contrasted sharply with state sanctioned commemoration and moralistic narrative. This is the concluding episode in a series covering Tobie Meyer-Fong's excellent book "What Remains," about some of the less talked about social aspects of the Taiping

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23:08

Episode 117: What Remains Part III-Bodies and Burials

Reflecting History ·

2022/11/07

As the deaths piled up during the Taiping Civil War, the grim but pressing reality of how to deal with and commemorate all of the dead bodies lends insight into historical questions of identity and ritual, but also questions of power and authority. To what extent does the loss of bones lead to loss of identity? Why did civilians fear what would happen to their dead body? How did state and local officials insert themselves into the commemoration process? What does all this tell us about the nature of

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24:52

Episode 116: What Remains Part II-Wartime Identity

Reflecting History ·

2022/10/17

To what extent do questions of who you are and how others see you relate to your personal and philosophical identity? How would this change in a time of war? During the Taiping Civil War, the process of identity formation, identity signaling, and identity assignment reveals interesting questions about the nature of identity, what it means to be physically and spiritually whole, and how we should look at these questions historically speaking. This episode is part two in a series covering Tobie

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31:58

Episode 115: What Remains Part I-Reward and Punishment

Reflecting History ·

2022/09/26

How did ordinary people make sense of a devastating and apocalyptic event like the Taiping Civil War? To what extent did the logic of divine reward and punishment play a role in the ordinary lives of people impacted by this conflict? How did people combat the horrors of war psychologically? This episode is part one in a series covering Tobie Meyer-Fong's excellent book "What Remains," about some of the less talked about social aspects of the Taiping Civil War such as memory, identity, and

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22:17

Episode 114: The Taiping Civil War Part V-The Cost

Reflecting History ·

2022/09/05

The Taiping Civil War was an apocalyptic event for those who lived through it. For most ordinary civilians, the realties on the ground involved violence, looting, hypocrisy, and danger at all times. The chaos, death, and atrocities would force those who survived to face complicated questions of grief and loss. This is the fifth episode in a series on the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Rebellion in China. It deals with some of the particularly violent characteristics of the the war, as well as

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178 results

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