Amartya Sen on India - Open Source

We have encountered Amartya Sen on several podcasts. He spoke on Justice at the LSE at Cornell on Capitalism and Confusion (UChannel), there was a more free conversation with Amartya Sen at the LSE again and he even made a short appearance on A History of the World in 100 Objects (BBC), when they discussed the Pillar of Ashoka.

At Radio Open Source the host Christopher Lydon interviewed Amartya Sen on India in general. (feed) It is very interesting to listen to this interview in conjunction with two other podcasts that relate to the current state of affairs in India. Pranab Bardhan on LSE and Palagummi Sainath at Big Ideas. All three Indians, each with their own professional perspective, make an analysis of where India stands today. All three mark the widely noticed economic rise of India and all three make critical comments.

Amartya Sen comes with a very personal view of India and its history. One of the distinctive elements, in his view, is the variety and tolerance of variety in India. What this also means is what Sainath called the great Inequality: the huge differences in literacy and wealth. It also means that India shows a large variety of religions, including fundamentalist streams. A variety towards science and technology is quite surprisingly illustrated with Gandhi; Sen discloses the Mahatma's opposition even to railways. Just as Sainath, Sen is worried about the inequality and he catches it in the phrase, India is becoming part California, part sub-Saharan Africa. There is more - one should listen.

More Open Source:
Mustafa Barghouti,
Jackson Lears,
Two communities in one region,
We want Obama,
The end of Hegemony.

Simon Kuper on Dutch Football - World Cup Buzz

With the football World Cup coming up in South-Africa, I am looking around for football podcasts (sorry, some people use the word 'soccer'). Although I have a general interest in football, for this World Cup I voluntarily impose on myself a tunnel vision. It is the Dutch National football team I am interested in.

The podcast World Cup Buzz had an issue that exactly matched my state of mind (feed). It featured an interview with writer and analyst Simon Kuper to inform the podcast's audience about Dutch football in general and the team's chances in the coming World Cup. Kuper is a very interesting speaker who impressed my with fine vision and clear analysis. I have never heard such a profound assessment of Holland's performance at Euro 2008 which showed two stunning wins over World Champions Italy and the runners up France, followed by a rather pitiful defeat against the Russians.

Kuper acknowledges the impressive strength of the Dutch team with its world class midfielders and strikers. Yet, the mediocre defense, it is his conjecture, will bring Oranje down against the better teams. The greatest praise goes to Spain, but Kuper seems to project the Dutch will falter in the quarterfinals against Brazil. A confrontation with Spanish will not even be reached.

An additional weakness Kuper detects in Dutch football is a matter of cultural mentality. The Dutch are football romanticists. They try to win with elegant attacking play and when they do not succeed in making that kind of an elated performance, they lose the will to win. In that way they are also football moralists, a win should be deserved. Winning ugly or by fluke is not allowed in the Dutch mind-set. It allows for opponents to simply disturb the fluent Dutch play and then the Dutch themselves will present them the win. I fear there may be a grain of truth in this idea of Kuper's though it also seems a bit exaggerated. At least I can recall a couple of ugly wins in Oranje's history.

More football:
Total Football Soccer Show,
Frans Derks,
George Best - Oxford Biographies,
Game Theory,
De jongens van Foppe.

Also view my world cup blog in Dutch: Gezond WK.

The death of Marat - History by picture

Let's start this review with a picture: The Death of Marat, by David. Any podcast that pays ample attention to the French revolution is likely to make reference to this picture and if not to the picture then at least to the political murder that David envisaged with it. Marat was an influential figure during the reign of terror. Charlotte Corday felt he threatened the nation and decided to kill him.

The story of the murder and the details of the painting are an excellent starting point for getting a grip on the phase of the Reign of Terror during the revolution. Not only the fundamental lecture podcasts discuss the episode and the painting - Berkeley's History 5 and UCLA's History 1c. Also in UCSD's art history class Formations of Modern Art, Professor William Bryson extensively discusses this work by David and its historic and political implications.

Not only the murder is political, also the painting is. David was a supporter of Marat and he went to great lengths in this depiction to make Marat into a martyr for the revolution and Corday into the reactionary ghost of all that was wrong with France. Surely, she is not in the painting, but one must realize that the story was widely known. Corday had with a false pretense gained entrance to Marat's bathroom. Marat spent most of his days in a bath, because of a skin condition. So there was nothing weird in him receiving her. There she stabbed him to death with a kitchen knife. What is left to see of her in the painting is the letter. Her letter, together with his are carefully constructed by David to achieve his effect. Listen to Bryson on UCSD (when the course is available) and the others to be filled in on the details.

Picture: La Mort de Marat - 1793 by Jacques-Louis David
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
Public Domain

Russian Rulers Podcast

Here is a new amateur history podcast that deserves a break. The Russian Rulers History Podcast has reached only its fourth episode and is still struggling with audio-issues, with Russian names and with its format and as such is still far from perfect. Yet, the maker Mark Schauss has chosen a field that is beyond the beaten track of history podcasts and on account of that alone deserves our attention. (feed)

Inspired by the pioneer of history podcasts, 12 Byzantine Rulers, Schauss is intent on telling us the history of Russia, by successively treating the Princes of Kiev, Novgorod and ultimately Moscow. This project should stretch over a dozen centuries and after four episodes has reached the twelfth century. Already, Schauss feels it is not enough to talk just rulers and he has announced to add rubrics with other influential figures.

As indicated, there is a lot of quality improvement still needed. The third episode has below standard audio and Schauss should also invest more practice in his text as to be able to more fluently read it when recording. Nevertheless Schauss is giving us a historic overview you are not getting elsewhere.

Romanticism - Open University

I am always fascinated by Romanticism. Although this term is usually reserved for a cultural movement in nineteenth century Europe, it is not so clearly a movement as rather a style of thinking, a type of mind set, a particular view of man and the world. As such, it is sufficiently amorphous so that it cannot so easily be pinned in space and time. Part of my fascination is the inkling Romanticism actually never went away and is still part of our cultural landscape today.

This demands a more active definition of Romanticism and one might consider turning to the Open University which offers an undergraduate course From Enlightenment to Romanticism and together with this course, it offers a small set of audio under the title Analyzing European Romaniticism (feed). Although this is far from a course, or even an introduction to Romanticism, it does give six useful audio essays delineating critical aspects of nineteenth century Romanticism.

The Open University will set the scene in Germany, in literature, philosophy and the adversaries of Romanticism and consequently it will go on to talk of England, France and Spain. Eventually this is a mere kick off and in order to dive deeper into the atmosphere and logic of Romanticism, one must continue to look. In podcast, fine contributions were made by Entitled Opinions and Berkeley's History 5.

More Open University:
Ethics Bites,
The things we forgot to remember.

The Age of Inequality - Big Ideas

In our series of podcasts about India, I want to direct you to TVO's Big Ideas which had a lecture delivered by Palagummi Sainath on the problem of poverty. Sainath makes a passionate demand for attention to the problem of poverty in India. His point concerns one of the most devastating faces of poverty: starvation. Sainath argues more people than ever are starving in India.

Should this surprise us? Just as we were being informed of the rising economic power if India, you would not immediately think of starvation happening the same time. Yet, if you have listened to Professor Pranab Bardhan at LSE, poverty already stood out as a serious challenge to India. Also the interview Christopher Lydon did with Amartya Sen (review coming soon) touched on t his subject. Yet, Sainath is most outspoken. He addresses India's successes, but claims that this reflects only the upper realm of society. In fact, he argues, the increased wealth is ending up with an increasingly smaller portion of the population. For the masses, the opposite is the case: a descent into poverty. And if statistics indicate that Indians eat better than ever, this also goes only for the upper portion. Per head, there is less food and therefore, for the absolute bottom of society Sainath asks: 'What the heck do they eat?'

He adds, that the poorest people, also do the hardest work and as a consequence are in need of more calories than the middle class office dwellers (who have the food). The implication of his argument is not only the stunning injustice and a revelation of desperate human suffering, but also a warning of great social upheaval to come. Unless the problems are addressed. A bail-out is needed for the poor and this would be a global truth, not just one for India. Bail-outs, unfortunately, in this world, are devised for the rich, not the poor.

More Big Ideas:
Disappearing cultures,
Waiting for Godot,
Religion as culture - Camille Paglia,
Christopher Hitchens on the Ten Commandments,
The empire.