The big idea of History

The Canadian broadcaster TVO publishes a lecture podcast Big Ideas. If this is basically a TV program, I must say, the visuals are hardly missing, if at all. As a full audio production, it works out very well. Here I want to report one absolutely outstanding lecture by Margaret MacMillan.

MacMillan speaks in two consecutive lectures (two podcasts) about the current use of history. She observes history had less of a meaning during the Cold War, but since we have come back to a less orderly world, people are obsessed with history. We have returned to the understanding that we can and must learn from history. She notices the rise in media attention, to which we can add the fantastic amount of history podcasts around. All nice and well, but there is a catch.

She tries to warn us, we must not turn history into a religion; into a narrative that cannot be questioned and that serves to elate, teach, justify and redeem us. She cringes how history is used by the likes of George Bush, Islamists, Israeli's and Palestinians. She proposes that history should teach us to ask questions. She throws a couple of attempted historical analogues (Munich 1938, Vietnam, Cuban Missile Crisis etc) and manages to show how what seems to be applicable can be off and a different analogue can point into a wholly other direction.

These two lectures are a must listen to anybody who thinks about history, policy and the world and certainly for you history podcast listeners out there.

Relevant other posts:
Church History - podcast review,
Post-1945 Europe,
The Great Dictators,
Thinking Outside the European Box,
Islam and Europe - LSE podcast review.

Church History - podcast review

Covenant Seminary is a theological institution of the Presbyterian Churches of America (PCA). It delivers a podcast on Church History, which covers the history from the early apostolic period until the reformation. A lot of other podcasts give strains of information on the same subject over the same period, or parts of it, but none has the history of Christianity as its main subject.

The podcast relates that Church History is sometimes called 'the third testament'; less history, more creed. Another remark made is about historiography; in modern times history science is a matter of reconstruction and the idea of being free of value and ideology is abandoned; we need not free ourselves of religious dogma. So, while we ask the question how a small and insignificant sect of Judaism, that had 'nothing going for it', could rise to become the most successful of world religions, the podcast wouldn't want to rule out the supernatural. Other podcasts have suggested that the use of Greek and the opening up to gentiles were factors, but this is hardly considered.

Here we touch on a serious problem with this podcast. I find it to be less historic and more liturgical. It starts and ends with scripture, it starts with prayer, it doesn't rule out the supernatural, it frequently doesn't even attempt to engage in worldly explanations, but rather emphasizes the spiritual quality of the history. This podcast still touches upon the major elements of the history of Christianity in the given period, but does so with a bias it doesn't even attempt to conceal. This makes it a miss for me. I feel more at ease with great productions like Stanford's 'Historical Jesus' (Thomas Sheehan), UC San Diego's MMW3 (Charles Chamberlain) and the issue of BBC's In Our Time on the Nicene Creed to name but a few.

Relevant other reviews:
World history guided by the religions,
The Nicene Creed - IOT,
Historical Jesus - Tom Sheehan, Stanford,
The genitals of Christ (2),
The genitals of Christ (1).

History 5 - the end

Berkeley's History 5, faithfully reported by me this semester, is an excellent lecture series portraying the history of Europe from the renaissance to the present. The arc spans from the early rise of Europe to a point where we cannot say it is the end, but the signs look like a downfall; Europe losing more and more of its importance and weight.

The end, in the lecturer, Professor Anderson's, view shows a definitive decolonization and possibly a reverse. As to colonization, this comes to an end with not just all the European colonial powers having lost their overseas dominions, but also the final retreat of a certain imperial grip the Soviets (and the Americans if you will) have had on Europe. This I suppose, is seen by most people, but where lies the reverse?

The reverse lies herein, as Anderson puts it, after the Europeans had penetrated the rest of the world and then they had retreated, the world has begun to penetrate into Europe. First and foremost this is seen in the widely publicized rise of Islam and Arab and Turkish population in the heart of Europe. More profoundly and generally, since Europe's birth rates are low and the population is declining, Anderson tries to show, that necessarily, the continent even if it turns into an immigration area will be expected to get drained and therefore decline. Europe looks bound to lose the centrality it acquired with the renaissance.

More History 5:
Post-1945 Europe,
The Great Dictators,
New Europe, Old Europe,
Women and Freud,
Romanticism and Bismarck.

The podcast playlist on Anne is a Man!

I could pick out one choice podcast, listened to, but what about something else? How about sharing my listening schedule with you? I'd like to show you the casts I listen to which may appear reviewed in the blog in the coming days. Provided I find something valuable to write about them.

Big Ideas
A Canadian public Radio production. A new podcast for me to try out.

The Birth of the Modern
A History course from Arizona State University. The course covers the late middle ages and the Renaissance. For those who want to listen along, I have a first tip: skip the first two introductory lectures; they contain nothing but technical and administrative matters for the students of the course.

Church History
This is a new podcast on the try-out list. I have no idea what to expect. The program looks like a thorough outline from the early years until the Middle Ages. Where the line between history and theology will be drawn and how much we are going to get from each, remains to be seen.

History according to Bob about 1000 AD
Bob's journey around the world in a little over two hours.

Existentialism in Literature and Film
Hubert Dreyfus teaching philosophy at Berkeley. I am still digesting the last lecture about Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling. I have skipped the Brothers Karamazov and took an initial whiff of Nietzsche's Gay Science.

Stem Cells: Policy and Ethics
An enhanced podcast from Stanford. Part of a quest on this blog: getting some quality input in the ethics around bio-technology.

Podcasts about Euro 2008
The football podcasts are not exactly my taste, but since I am closely following the tournament in Austria and Switzerland, I cannot forgo them. I am missing The Beautiful Game, which was the best in 2006. We make do with The Guardian, the BBC and a couple of others.

On the video: one happy coach...


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You can let your preferences (I'd love get new podcast recommendations) know by commenting on the blog or sending mail to The Man Called Anne at: Anne Frid de Vries (in one word) AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk

Jan Vrijman - Marathon Interview

Wat zegt het dat de site van de VPRO, het marathon interview dat Felix Rottenberg met Jan Vrijman (pseudoniem van Jan Hulsebos) had, bedeelt met een beschrijving van slechts een enkele zin? Andere interviews hebben een pagina-lange beschrijving en vaak ook nog een tweede pagina waarop de hoogtepunten van het interview worden vermeld. Wat zegt het? Dat het eigenlijk minder een interview was en meer een gesprek; dat het geen hoogtepunten bevatte, of dat er niet uit gehaald werd wat erin zat? Of dat de vijf uur radio zich niet lieten duiden.

Al aan het begin van de uitzending verklaart Jan dat hij een ontevreden man is. Later vertrouwt hij Felix toe dat hij een heel depressief mens is. Er blinkt een niet mis te verstane getormenteerdheid door. Misschien niet de neerslachtige tobber, maar eerder de verwarde man die eigenlijk niet precies weet waartegen in opstand te komen. Maar die kwetsbaarheid wordt in goed Nederlands weggedrukt, soms haast met geweld, zoals op het eind, wanneer allerlei verdriet naarboven komt. Felix Rottenberg kan niet anders dan het zo laten gaan. En daarbij hij wil het zo graag over linkse politiek wil hebben of andere zaken waarover Vrijman gemakkelijk formuleert. Alsof hij het precies weet, maar dan wordt hij haast boos op zichzelf: "Godverdomme! Ik klink meteen als een communist; praten over de concrete situatie en de structuren.'

Kortom, zo was mijn indruk, zo zeker was hij helemaal niet. Dat zou ook passen bij de zoeker waarmee hij zichzelf aan het begin typeert. Daarmee is het interessantst in het interview wat impliciet blijft. Dat maakt het nog niet een gemiste kans; daar kan wel meer dan een regel over geschreven worden en dat is zeker de moeite van het luisteren waard.

Hieronder een fragment uit een film die over Vrijman werd gemaakt door zijn dochter:



Meer Marathon Interviews:
Maarten van Rossem,
Louis Th. Lehmann,
Marita Mathijsen,
Ruud Lubbers,
Jan Leijten.

1000 AD according to Bob

The most prolific of history podcasters, Bob Packett, has reached his 1000th podcast (History according to Bob) and to commemorate this milestone he has embarked on a series of shows around on theme. Bob, is big on theme shows, but usually does them interspersed with other themes. This time however, he has decided to stick to his tune and round off the theme in consecutive shows. The theme chosen, with the magic number 1000 in mind: a tour around the world in the year 1000.

One podcast a day Bob, has started Friday and by now, has hammered through five episodes, reaching far, but not yet finishing, though I reckon he will need no more than two or three additional episodes. And then you will be able to listen to more than two hours worth of traveling at break neck speed from Africa, to the Americas through the Pacific, Asia and Europe. As usual, Bob is so fast, I cannot keep up with him, but since podcasts drop out of his feed rather quickly, I have downloaded them all as a preemptive measure.

My first listening experience was the kick off in Africa. In the same episode he goes through the Americas, so there is a huge and rather unknown world of tribal cultures and extinct and nearly forgotten empires to touch upon. So, the attention is brief and each culture on the list deserves more than the mere mention, but having them mentioned at all in podcast is to be treasured. I like the overview and want to see where Bob is going to take it.

More History according to Bob:
The battle of Tours,
The Franks,
Virginia Oldoini
Alexander the Great,
Special acclaim for Bob Packett,
History according to Bob.