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Conversations about how the Humanities can help us make sense of our rapidly changing world. Featuring Brock University researchers in history, English, modern languages, literature, ancient history, archaeology, game studies, technology, fine and performing arts, philosophy, Canadian studies, and more.
Episodes
Monday Nov 07, 2022
Monday Nov 07, 2022
Witches, harpies, succubi, brood mothers--video games are known for some pretty grotesque female monsters. What do these depictions of monsters in games say about how we view and treat people with bodies that society considers "non standard"? Why do these depictions of monstrous women matter?
Assistant Professor with the Department of Digital Humanities Sarah Stang, spoke with us earlier this fall about the state of feminist scholarship in video game studies and the importance of thinking critically about the monsters on our screen. We talk about fan communities, the need for more diverse games telling different types of stories, and the responsibilities of fans and developers in creating a safe and welcoming gaming culture. Sarah also gives us a sneak peek into the new Game Studies MA program which has just started with its first student cohort this fall.
Links
Dr. Sarah Stang faculty profile
Department of Digital Humanities (Formerly Centre for Digital Humanities)
New prof's research takes on video game monsters (Brock News, July 22, 2022)
Game students hit play on MA studies (Brock News, Nov. 2, 2022)
Related Episodes
S1E05 Games with Dr. Jason Hawreliak
S2E09 Identity and Trauma with Dr. Cristina Santos
S3E05 Breaking Into the Game Industry
Credits
Thank you for listening to Foreword.
Find our footnotes, links to more information, transcripts, and past episodes on our website brocku.ca/humanities.
We love to hear from our listeners! Join us on Twitter and Instagram @brockhumanities.
Please subscribe and rate us on your favourite podcasting app so you don’t miss an episode.
Foreword is hosted and produced by Alison Innes for the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Series four sound editing is by Serena Atallah. Theme music is by Khalid Imam.
This podcast is financially supported by the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Monday Oct 31, 2022
We're back! Series 4 will launch Monday, Nov. 7 with a full line up of fascinating conversations with humanities researchers. We take on timely and challenging ideas in thought-provoking interviews that you don't need a humanities background to understand. Look for us in your feed every other Monday starting November 7. Subscribe in your favourite podcast app so you don't miss an episode!
Credits
Thank you for listening to Foreword.
Find our footnotes, links to more information, transcripts, and past episodes on our website brocku.ca/humanities.
We love to hear from our listeners! Join us on Twitter and Instagram @brockhumanities.
Please subscribe and rate us on your favourite podcasting app so you don’t miss an episode.
Foreword is hosted and produced by Alison Innes for the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Series four sound editing is by Serena Atallah. Theme music is by Khalid Imam.
This podcast is financially supported by the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Wednesday Jun 08, 2022
Wednesday Jun 08, 2022
In this episode, we pass the mic to third year Interactive Arts and Science student Mitch Kogan. Mitch interviews Game Design graduate Adam Henderson (BA '20) who, along with Agusia Krzywinska (BSc '20 in Game Programming) has launched the game studio Adjective Noun.
Links
First cohort graduates from Brock-Niagara College GAME program (Brock News, June 26, 2020)
Interactive Arts and Science program
Credits
Thank you for listening to Foreword.
Find our footnotes, links to more information, transcripts, and past episodes on our website brocku.ca/humanities.
We love to hear from our listeners! Join us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @brockhumanities.
Please subscribe and rate us on your favourite podcasting app so you don’t miss an episode.
Foreword is hosted and produced by Alison Innes for the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Series three sound assistance is by Mitch Kogan. Theme music is by Khalid Imam.
This podcast is financially supported by the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Let's talk about food! English MA student Genevieve Wilson talks about food delivery services, keto diet culture, Instagram, and economics with us in this episode . Genevieve shares her ongoing research into the rhetoric and discourse around meal prep services and explores links between keto diet discourse and the far right movement.
Links
Department of English Language and Literature
Credits
Thank you for listening to Foreword.
Find our footnotes, links to more information, transcripts, and past episodes on our website brocku.ca/humanities.
We love to hear from our listeners! Join us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @brockhumanities.
Please subscribe and rate us on your favourite podcasting app so you don’t miss an episode.
Foreword is hosted and produced by Alison Innes for the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Series three sound assistance is by Mitch Kogan. Theme music is by Khalid Imam.
This podcast is financially supported by the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Wednesday May 18, 2022
Wednesday May 18, 2022
This episode we talk with English MA student Alex Wedler. Our conversation ranges from Chernobyl to Paradise Lost as we explore ideas of environment, place, and exile in literature. Alex unpacks the idea of hyper objects and how events can stick to people, as well as sharing his insights into the grad student experience.
Works Mentioned
The Tiger by John Valliant
Paying the Land by Joe Sacco
Chernobyl Prayer by Svetlana Alexievich
Hyper Objects by Timothy Morton
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Destiny II by Bungie
Links
Department of English Language and Literature
Credits
Thank you for listening to Foreword.
Find our footnotes, links to more information, transcripts, and past episodes on our website brocku.ca/humanities.
We love to hear from our listeners! Join us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @brockhumanities.
Please subscribe and rate us on your favourite podcasting app so you don’t miss an episode.
Foreword is hosted and produced by Alison Innes for the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Series three sound assistance is by Mitch Kogan. Theme music is by Khalid Imam.
This podcast is financially supported by the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Wednesday May 11, 2022
Wednesday May 11, 2022
Our grad series continues this episode with an exploration of the history of disability in Ontario. We speak with recent MA History graduate Carolyn Fast (BA '14, MA '21), whose MA thesis focussed on the stories of people who experienced institutionalization and explores the continuing impact of this lesser-known aspect of Ontario history.
Between 1876 and 2009, more than 50,000 people with intellectual disabilities were housed in institutions across Ontario. Carolyn shares how her research on the institutionalization experience can help us think about COVID, long term care, the housing crisis, and inclusive education.
Links
The Un-Making of Difference: The Winding Road of Deinstitutionalization in Ontario, 1960-2018 Carolyn Fast (MA thesis, 2021)
Humanities Spirit of Brock winners have sights set on helping others (Brock News, June 25, 2021)
Credits
Thank you for listening to Foreword.
Find our footnotes, links to more information, transcripts, and past episodes on our website brocku.ca/humanities.
We love to hear from our listeners! Join us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @brockhumanities.
Please subscribe and rate us on your favourite podcasting app so you don’t miss an episode.
Foreword is hosted and produced by Alison Innes for the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Series three sound editing is by Mitch Kogan. Theme music is by Khalid Imam.
This podcast is financially supported by the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Wednesday May 04, 2022
Wednesday May 04, 2022
Welcome to series three of Foreword! This series we will be bringing you interviews with our graduate student researchers in our Classics, History, and English MA programs, as well as our Interdisciplinary Humanities PhD program.
Today's featured guest is Shakeel Ahmed, an MA student in the Department of Classics and Archaeology. Shakeel shares with us his research on homosexual culture in Ancient Athens, the importance of queer history, and how the study of the ancient world continues to be relevant to modern issues.
Some tech issues were encountered during the remote recording of this conversation. We apologize for any distraction they may cause the listener, but we trust you will enjoy the conversation regardless!
Links
Department of Classics and Archaeology
Credits
Thank you for listening to Foreword.
Find our footnotes, links to more information, transcripts, and past episodes on our website brocku.ca/humanities.
We love to hear from our listeners! Join us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @brockhumanities.
Please subscribe and rate us on your favourite podcasting app so you don’t miss an episode.
Foreword is hosted and produced by Alison Innes for the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Series three sound editing is by Mitch Kogan. Theme music is by Khalid Imam.
Special thanks to Brock University’s MakerSpace and Brock University Marketing and Communications for studio and web support.
This podcast is financially supported by the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.
Thursday Feb 10, 2022
Thursday Feb 10, 2022
This episode is the finale of a three-episode series of “Chronicles of A Spy in Acadia”: a student-produced podcast researched, written, recorded and edited by the students of Brock University’s History 4P11 class. The podcast centers on Atlantic colonial Canada in the 18th century by looking at the events through the eyes of a real-life historical spy: Thomas Pichon.
This episode closes our interview with Thomas Pichon, his memories of the Acadian Expulsion, as well as his internalized despair, regretting his life choices and feeling sorry for himself in his old age. The major themes of this episode include religion, the Acadian expulsion and diaspora, historical literature based on the Acadians and their forced abandonment of their territory, as well as our group's sincerest thank you for your interest in our work.
Filled with quotations and the memories of Thomas Pichon’s letters and memoirs, listeners gather an understanding of the many emotions and motivations of Thomas Pichon as he spied for the British against the French and assisted to damage the lives of hundreds of innocent Acadians.
Links
Beaubassin: On the Edge of Empires
Brock University Department of History
Student podcast gives voice to Acadian spy, Brock News, Jan. 27, 2022.
Sources
Crowley, T.A. “Biography: PICHON, THOMAS, Thomas Tyrell,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, University of Toronto, 1979.
Webster, John Clarence. Thomas Pichon “The Spy of Beausejour,” An Account of His Career in Europe and America with Many Original Documents. Translated by Alice Webster. Shediac, NB: 1937.
Credits
Interviewer 1- Yannick
Interviewer 2- Micayla
Narrator- Erin
Ghost of Thomas Pichon- Dexter
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
This episode is the second in a three-episode series of “Chronicles of A Spy in Acadia,” a student-produced podcast researched, written, recorded and edited by the students of Brock University’s History 4P11 class.
The podcast series centers on Atlantic colonial Canada in the 18th century by looking at the events through the eyes of a real-life historical spy: Thomas Pichon.
This episode focuses on the ordinary people of Acadia, the Acadians and the Indigenous Mi’kmaq, and how their lives were shaped and changed by those in positions of power, like the French agent Abbé Le Loutre. Aspects of life, religion, Indigenous relations, and acts of destruction are examined through the words of the titular spy, Thomas Pichon. It also explores Pichon’s opinions and beliefs about the subjects of discussion, allowing us to understand the interviewee as well as the topics of the episode.
Filled with quotations from Pichon’s genuine letters and memoirs published after his death, listeners get a chance to not only see the true thoughts and motivations of Pichon as he betrayed France and the Acadians, but also to better understand the events that made Canada into the country it is today.
Links
Beaubassin: On the Edge of Empires
@CBCNovaScotia Centuries-old cannonballs detonated in Gagetown, N.B. (Tweet) Nov. 19, 2021.
Brock University Department of History
Student podcast gives voice to Acadian spy, Brock News, Jan. 27, 2022.
Sources
Crowley, T.A. “Biography: PICHON, THOMAS, Thomas Tyrell,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, University of Toronto, 1979.
Webster, John Clarence. Thomas Pichon “The Spy of Beausejour,” An Account of His Career in Europe and America with Many Original Documents. Translated by Alice Webster. Shediac, NB: 1937.
Credits
Interviewer 1- Yannick
Interviewer 2- Micayla
Narrator- Erin
Ghost of Thomas Pichon- Dexter
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
This episode is the first in a three-episode series of “Chronicles of A Spy in Acadia”: a student-produced podcast researched, written, recorded and edited by the students of Brock University’s History 4P11 State and Society in Colonial Canada class.
The podcast centers on Atlantic colonial Canada in the 18th century by looking at the events through the eyes of a real-life historical spy: Thomas Pichon. Thomas Pichon was a French man sent to take on a legislative position in the military Fort of Beausejour in 18th century Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia). Eager for money and prestige, however, in 1754 he was recruited to spy for the British and played a pivotal role in the French-Acadian defeat at the 1755 Siege of Beausejour.
This episode gives listeners a front row seat to history students interviewing “the ghost” of Thomas Pichon about the events of 1755 and Pichon’s life leading up to it. Pichon was known to exaggerate and be a man invested in his own self-interests, and his character beyond the grave is hardly estranged from that.
Filled with quotations from Pichon’s genuine letters and memoirs published after his death, listeners get a chance to not only see the true thoughts and motivations of Pichon as he betrayed France and the Acadians, but also to better understand the events that made Canada into the country it is today.
Links
Beaubassin: On the Edge of Empires
@CBCNovaScotia Centuries-old cannonballs detonated in Gagetown, N.B. (Tweet) Nov. 19, 2021.
Brock University Department of History
Sources
Crowley, T.A. “Biography: PICHON, THOMAS, Thomas Tyrell,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, University of Toronto, 1979.
Webster, John Clarence. Thomas Pichon “The Spy of Beausejour,” An Account of His Career in Europe and America with Many Original Documents. Translated by Alice Webster. Shediac, NB: 1937.
Credits
Interviewer 1- Yannick
Interviewer 2- Micayla
Narrator- Erin
Ghost of Thomas Pichon- Dexter