James Kennedy - Marathon Interview recensie

Op oudejaarsavond interviewde Rik Delhaas gedurende drie uur de Amerikaans-Nederlandse historicus James Kennedy . Ik had verwacht dat het meer over geschiedenis zou gaan, maar dat was niet zo. In plaats daarvan werd er ingegaan op Kennedy's persoonlijke geschiedenis, en persoonlijke keuzes in het leven. En over de verschillen tussen Nederland en de VS.

De persoonlijke geschiedenis van Kennedy is heel interessant. Dat is een kwaliteit van het interview, al zitten hier naar mijn gevoel ook de zwakke momenten. In het tweede uur haakte ik bijna af, omdat Kennedy zich verschool in algemeenheden, waar Delhaas om persoonlijke profilering vroeg. Maar gelukkig draait het dan weer een beetje bij.

Voor mij zaten de meest waardevolle uitspraken in het onderwerp van de vergelijking tussen Amerika en Nederland. Op zeker moment wordt het als volgt als typering vastgelegd: De VS is een ideaal, een streven. Nederland is een ruimte waarin je iets regelen kunt. Amerikanen willen de geschiedenis maken. Nederlanders leggen zich bij de loop der geschiedenis neer. Los van het waardeoordeel dat je hieraan kunt geven, biedt het een aardig inzicht in het waarom van de mentaliteit en de verschillen daarin. En ik kan me wel in de weergave vinden.

Meer Marathon Interviews:
Dick Berlijn,
Ward Ruyslinck,
Marte Röling,
Remco Campert,
Marjolijn Februari.

Substance and Sociology - Thinking Allowed review

I keep lamenting BBC's Thinking Allowed, the radio four program about sociology, is too short and too fragmented by having to deal with two subjects each week. However, I am slowly getting the hang of listening to the programme. With the whole, long playlist I make myself, it may take a week or more, but I tend to pick up on each issue, since I discovered the podcast.

The issue of the week before last week, more specifically that of February 11th, was shortly titled: Drugs and laddish students. On the subject of drugs, it delivered the sociological facts about drugs, drug use, abuse and social stigma, that are familiar to sociologists and criminologists, but not always for the public at large. When I studied criminology, these views supported the very liberal policies of the city of Amsterdam and still had some political clout twenty-five years ago, but since then I have heard them less and less. As Thinking Allowed also points out: it is no longer politically correct or savvy, since we must be firm on crime.

Frankly, since I have left the field and not kept up with my literature, I was not so sure of those good old liberal views on drugs were still supported in sociology. At the time I had the feeling, the sociologists, at least those who taught me, were ideologically invested in downplaying the dangers of substance abuse and emphasizing the social stigmatization and surrounding factors to be the real threat. If Thinking Allowed is indicative, the research still seems to indicate such. What a surprise.

As to a short remark about the second subject: laddishness. It pays attention to a behavioral strategy male students of disadvantaged backgrounds display when they find themselves in the environment of higher education.

More Thinking Allowed:
Hole in the Wall,
Moral relativism,
Male Immaturity.

De Geschiedenis Podcast - recensie

Een nieuwe Nederlandse geschiedenispodcast is aan mijn horizon verschenen: De Geschiedenis Podcast van Hugo Teerds. Het kan zijn dat de produktie al podfaded is, want er zijn maar drie episodes en die dateren van vorig jaar. Ik heb geluisterd naar de laatste aflevering, die gaat over Hammurabi.

Teerds schenkt de meeste aandacht aan de wetten van Hammurabi, maar zorgt er op degelijke wijze voor dat de Babylonische koning in zijn context wordt geplaatst. Op die wijze krijgen de wetten meer betekenis mee, dan simpelweg de regelgeving van een ver land uit langvervlogen tijden. Teerds zorgt dat je begrijpt hoe revolutionair de wetten waren en je kan gaan inzien hoe dit de eerste stappen zijn geweest naar het moderne rechtsbegrip. Een aanvulling op de kennis heb ik uit de Open Yale Course van Christina Hayes gehaald: Door aan algemene wetgeving te doen, onttrok Hammurabi een deel van de jurisdictie en de discretionaire bevoegdheid van de aristocraten die voordien de kenners van de rechtsoverlevering waren.

Het punt waarop de podcast zwakker is dan de collega's in het Nederlandse taalgebied Feico Houweling en Tom Tacken is op het punt van de presentatie. Teerds leest zijn tekst op en moet nog wel leren om dat op een vloeiende en pakkende manier te doen. Dus ondanks de kwaliteit van de inhoud, komt het nog niet optimaal over. Ik hoop dat Teerds de draad weer oppakt, want gezien de kwaliteit van deze episode, moet het hem lukken om ook de toegankelijkheid te verbeteren.

Looking for a Persian History podcast

My habit of listening to many different podcasts, one after the other and in doing so, mixing up all sorts of lecture series, in stead of going through them in isolation, usually causes more confusion than insight. Recently however, I had a very nice experience of a bridge between subjects, when listening to installments of three different lecture series, one after the other.

The first two podcasts covered exactly the same subject. Both Michael Satlow's highly recommended podcast Israelite to Jew, as well as the Yale Open Course about the Hebrew Bible, was paying attention to the first post-exilic period in general and specifically about the prophet Ezra. The third was another Yale Open Course, the one about Greek Civilization, that had just arrived at the Greek-Persian wars. The bridge between these two subjects, apart from the fact that they are in the same era (hardly two decades in between Ezra and the first Persian War with the Greeks), is that the global power in the background is the Persian empire. The same empire is the benevolent one in the Ezra story and the evil threat in Greek history. And I realized I hardly knew anything about it.

So what podcast pays attention to the Persians? About a later period are those that go into the conquests of Alexander the Great (Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, The Biography Show, Bob Packett). Also In Our Time's chapters about the Arabian Conquests and about the Sassanian Empire address a much later period. Besides, the perspective is from outside, apart from the last. What remains is to rerun the beginning of an old lecture series at Berkeley History 4A - The Ancient Mediterranean World. Are there any other suggestions? I'll post this call on The Podcast Parlor as well.

More reviews:
Yale: Hebrew Bible
Yale: Ancient Greek history.

The Word Nerds on Facebook

This cyber-age in which everybody is networking through the internet, it is inevitable the practice leads to new vocabulary. Necessarily it is a matter of time, language podcasters such as The Word Nerds, pay attention to the new lingo.

It seems to me that the greatest hype of networking currently is Twitter, but in their show about Social Networking (#115) the greatest amount of the Nerds' interest goes to Facebook - a good number two in the range of social sites, I guess. The reason for this is not in the least the Nerds are heavy Facebook users themselves. As a consequence, the initial part of the show is mostly about the use of Facebook, rather than the vocabulary. When they finally get to it, the listener will learn, among others, new meanings for verbs like to peep and to stalk.

The Word Nerds podcast has a page of its own on Facebook, though their own site also has a forum where the audience can socialize. It is an example I try to emulate. For Anne is a Man, there is also a blog network page on Facebook and the forum is shared with Dara's and Baxter's blog at The Podcast Parlor. And even on Twitter, I can be followed.

Previous reviews of The Word Nerds on this blog:
Abrrev & txt,
Stories and Story Telling,
Debate,
Ambiguity and linguistic tics,
Syntax.

The new direction of Dave P

The narration podcasts I keep following are those by Dave P. Namaste Stories and The New York Coffee Cup come out rather irregularly. The short, five to twenty minute narrations by Dave P carry a very unique style and atmosphere that is both emotional and distanced. The tales observe and attach to people and emotions, trying not to judge them. The diction and the music is very suitable: restrained and passionate at the same time.

So it is always interesting to see what Dave P comes up with next and aside the two podcats he has begun publishing visual work. He is dabbling in the art of animation and this work in progress can be followed on the blog Namaste-Wood.



More Dave P on this blog:
New York Coffee Cup,
Namaste Stories, podcast as an art,
Namaste Stories, fiction podcast.