In the past month I have listened to an entire course I found on iTunesU. It is a series of short lectures about a large variety of stories from World Literature, delivered by Rick Albright at the Harrisburg Area Community College. (feed)
Albright takes the Norton Anthology of World literature and sort of chronologically travels the world and its ages. Albright retells and discusses classics such as Gilgamesh, the Iliad and the Odyssey as well as the Aeneid and European Medieval literature and also non-western stuff from India, China, Japan and the Americas. What he also does not shy away from are the Bible and the Koran. You get a good feeling of the stories and the poetry while you are also informed about some of the tropes and some of the historic frame - though I would have loved to get a little bit more from that.
I did not exactly follow Albrights order, which seems strictly chronological and this explains why he kicks off with age-old Gilgamesh and ends with Popul Vuh, which was inscribed rather recently. I have taken the culturally linked stories in batches. So that I took the Greek and Roman classics together, which made the literary discussion more coherent. The same method worked while taking the Chinese stories in one blow and so on. Very informative and great, narrative, fun.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The latest revolution
Sorry, yes, I have not been blogging for nearly a month. I have been listening to podcasts though and here is a handful around one theme: the wave of popular uprisings in North-Africa and the Middle East.
BBC Analysis (feed)
Rethinking the Middle East; Maha Azzam examines the long term implications of the recent uprisings in the Middle East. Get updated with some backgrounds within half an hour.
Rear Vision (feed)
The Arab world; As political unrest spreads across the Middle East and North Africa we take a look at the history of the Arab world, through the 20th century. Another mere half hour to get smart quicker. A very learned and concise introduction to the relevant history.
Africa Past and Present (feed)
Salah Hassan and Ken Harrow (Michigan State University) on the democratic revolutions in North Africa. Events in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt are analyzed from below and above, with focus on the perspectives of youth, creative uses of technology, as well as the connections to, and relevance of, the events to Africa and the wider world.
CNES (feed)
Podcasts from the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies. The Egyptian Intifada in Historical Perspective; A lecture by Joel Beinin, Stanford University. If you want to be more thorough and are ready to spend a couple of hours, start here. An in-depth expose of the Egyptian situation, with noted applicability to the other countries in uproar is given here. The shorter references in the other podcasts will then be less enigmatic.
LSE Podcast (feed)
A Perfect Storm in the Arab World?
Regardless of the outcome of events in Egypt, for Arabs, psychologically and symbolically, this is their Berlin Wall moment. They are on the brink of a democratic wave similar to the one that swept through Eastern Europe more than 20 years ago, hastening the Soviet Union's collapse. The Arab intifada has put to rest the claim that Islam and Muslims are incompatible with democracy. The democratic virus is mutating and will probably give birth to a new language - and a new era - of politics in the Arab world. Fawaz A. Gerges is a Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also holds the Emirates Chair of the Contemporary Middle East and is the Director of the Middle East Centre at LSE.
Here also Israel and Iran are entering the equation.
And if you want more Israeli and Jewish perspective:
Radio Open Source (feed)
A Jewish Argument around the Arab Revolt
Philip Weiss, exulting in the glorious news from Egypt, says: “the handwriting on the wall is Arabic.” The 55-year-old meta-journalist dedicates his website MondoWeiss to “the war of ideas in the Middle East.” His project is more daring and difficult than that sounds. Really it’s to start something between a moral argument and a civil war over the big book of Jewish tradition and “spiritual wholeness” — over US national interests, the Palestinian condition, Israel and the whole modern idea of Zionism, by which he means the judgment from 19th and 20th Century European experience that Jews cannot be safe as a tiny minority in non-Jewish countries.
BBC Analysis (feed)
Rethinking the Middle East; Maha Azzam examines the long term implications of the recent uprisings in the Middle East. Get updated with some backgrounds within half an hour.
Rear Vision (feed)
The Arab world; As political unrest spreads across the Middle East and North Africa we take a look at the history of the Arab world, through the 20th century. Another mere half hour to get smart quicker. A very learned and concise introduction to the relevant history.
Africa Past and Present (feed)
Salah Hassan and Ken Harrow (Michigan State University) on the democratic revolutions in North Africa. Events in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt are analyzed from below and above, with focus on the perspectives of youth, creative uses of technology, as well as the connections to, and relevance of, the events to Africa and the wider world.
CNES (feed)Podcasts from the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies. The Egyptian Intifada in Historical Perspective; A lecture by Joel Beinin, Stanford University. If you want to be more thorough and are ready to spend a couple of hours, start here. An in-depth expose of the Egyptian situation, with noted applicability to the other countries in uproar is given here. The shorter references in the other podcasts will then be less enigmatic.
LSE Podcast (feed)
A Perfect Storm in the Arab World?
Regardless of the outcome of events in Egypt, for Arabs, psychologically and symbolically, this is their Berlin Wall moment. They are on the brink of a democratic wave similar to the one that swept through Eastern Europe more than 20 years ago, hastening the Soviet Union's collapse. The Arab intifada has put to rest the claim that Islam and Muslims are incompatible with democracy. The democratic virus is mutating and will probably give birth to a new language - and a new era - of politics in the Arab world. Fawaz A. Gerges is a Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also holds the Emirates Chair of the Contemporary Middle East and is the Director of the Middle East Centre at LSE.
Here also Israel and Iran are entering the equation.
And if you want more Israeli and Jewish perspective:
Radio Open Source (feed)
A Jewish Argument around the Arab Revolt
Philip Weiss, exulting in the glorious news from Egypt, says: “the handwriting on the wall is Arabic.” The 55-year-old meta-journalist dedicates his website MondoWeiss to “the war of ideas in the Middle East.” His project is more daring and difficult than that sounds. Really it’s to start something between a moral argument and a civil war over the big book of Jewish tradition and “spiritual wholeness” — over US national interests, the Palestinian condition, Israel and the whole modern idea of Zionism, by which he means the judgment from 19th and 20th Century European experience that Jews cannot be safe as a tiny minority in non-Jewish countries.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Selected listening for 9 February 2011
Elucidations
Simon Critchley discusses faith
In this episode, Simon Critchley considers whether religious faith can serve as a model for faith in ethical principles.
(review, feed)
The Christian Humanist Podcast
Town and Country
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the ways that people in different places and moments have distinguished between rural and urban life. The strange relationship between city and countryside has always involved both idealization and demonization, and those dynamics make for some fascinating developments as imperial cities give way to the City of God and eventually become suburbs. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Gilgamesh, Genesis, the Gospels, City of God, the Canterbury Tales, Paradise Lost, Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, The Return of the King, and Rabbit, Run.
(review, feed)
Simon Critchley discusses faith
In this episode, Simon Critchley considers whether religious faith can serve as a model for faith in ethical principles.
(review, feed)
The Christian Humanist PodcastTown and Country
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the ways that people in different places and moments have distinguished between rural and urban life. The strange relationship between city and countryside has always involved both idealization and demonization, and those dynamics make for some fascinating developments as imperial cities give way to the City of God and eventually become suburbs. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Gilgamesh, Genesis, the Gospels, City of God, the Canterbury Tales, Paradise Lost, Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, The Return of the King, and Rabbit, Run.
(review, feed)
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Mormon Stories - Mr. Deity
The podcast Mormon Stories got me in a pincer movement. A regular reader of the blog (who is a member of the LDS Church) recommended the podcast to me and at the same time I found Brian Dalton's podcast (see my Mr Deity review) who is a former Mormon - a Formon as he calls it. And there I saw that he, Brian Dalton / Mr. Deity was interviewed at Mormon Stories. (feed)
While Mormon Stories is a podcast for and about LDS Church members, it does not shy away from tackling the subject of members leaving that faith. This is how they come to interview Dalton and they give him more than the full stage. Aside the lengthy interview, he also gets to act out his Mr Deity figure, which takes a humorous jab at faith in God in general, but apparently at points at the Mormon faith in particular. I know too little about LDS to be able to identify that.
Dalton has become an atheist and in the interview you get a pretty full picture of how he moved from LDS to his current stance. He describes his developments as well as his convictions and comes out as a balanced secular with whom I can agree on many points of view and without grudges or vile jabs at any faith, not even the Mormons. It makes for a very interesting interview, even if you are no fan of Mr Deity or LDS.
While Mormon Stories is a podcast for and about LDS Church members, it does not shy away from tackling the subject of members leaving that faith. This is how they come to interview Dalton and they give him more than the full stage. Aside the lengthy interview, he also gets to act out his Mr Deity figure, which takes a humorous jab at faith in God in general, but apparently at points at the Mormon faith in particular. I know too little about LDS to be able to identify that.Dalton has become an atheist and in the interview you get a pretty full picture of how he moved from LDS to his current stance. He describes his developments as well as his convictions and comes out as a balanced secular with whom I can agree on many points of view and without grudges or vile jabs at any faith, not even the Mormons. It makes for a very interesting interview, even if you are no fan of Mr Deity or LDS.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Selected listening for 7 February 2011
The History of Rome
The Best Defense is a Good Defense
Over the course of his reign Diocletian instituted a number of reforms to the military structure that helped transform the legions into a new kind of army.
(review, feed)
Mahabharata Podcast
Savitri and Rama
Episode 43 - Despite the offensive raid on their camp by Jayadratha, old Markandeya is still hanging out with the Pandavas. Yuddistira, feeling sorry for himself and for Draupadi, goes to him for consolation. Markandeya replies with the entire story of the Ramayana.
(review, feed)
The Best Defense is a Good Defense
Over the course of his reign Diocletian instituted a number of reforms to the military structure that helped transform the legions into a new kind of army.
(review, feed)
Mahabharata PodcastSavitri and Rama
Episode 43 - Despite the offensive raid on their camp by Jayadratha, old Markandeya is still hanging out with the Pandavas. Yuddistira, feeling sorry for himself and for Draupadi, goes to him for consolation. Markandeya replies with the entire story of the Ramayana.
(review, feed)
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Selected listening for 6 February 2011
Forgotten Classics
Genesis, chapters 16-17
In which Sarai gets pushy and regrets it, Abram is renamed,
and God makes Abram an offer he can't believe with a painful sign required.
(review, feed)
Tapestry
Life After Trauma
We marvel at how human beings can keep going under the most staggering load. For those who have known unimaginable loss, words of consolation and words of wisdom start to ring a little hollow. A feature interview with CBC producer David Gutnick who brings us stories from survivors of the Haitian earthquake, and Sister Lorraine Malo, a nun with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto. Also a personal essay from Lynn Keane who lost her Daniel son to depression and suicide.
(review, feed)
Genesis, chapters 16-17
In which Sarai gets pushy and regrets it, Abram is renamed,
and God makes Abram an offer he can't believe with a painful sign required.
(review, feed)
TapestryLife After Trauma
We marvel at how human beings can keep going under the most staggering load. For those who have known unimaginable loss, words of consolation and words of wisdom start to ring a little hollow. A feature interview with CBC producer David Gutnick who brings us stories from survivors of the Haitian earthquake, and Sister Lorraine Malo, a nun with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto. Also a personal essay from Lynn Keane who lost her Daniel son to depression and suicide.
(review, feed)
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