Podcasts about language research center

How does what we're learning about the great apes teach us about our humanity and hopes for survival on planet earth? Our guest on this week's Planet Watch is Michelle Merrill. She is currently an independent consultant (perplexedprimate.org) and the founder of Novasutras.org. She taught anthropology and sustainability courses at Cabrillo College from 2006 to 2013. She then had a 2 1/2 year research fellowship at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, doing work that led to her book on education for sustainability in Asia. She earned her Ph.D. in biological anthropology from Duke University in 2004. She worked with bonobos at the Language Research Center at Georgia State University, then in the rainforest of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) in the mid-1990s. She went on to do her dissertation research on social learning and the evolution of culture through a study of orangutans in the Sumatran rainforests. Air Date: June 24, 2018 on KSCO radio station AM1080  

Finn interviews Peter Gabriel, musician and humanitarian, at Bush Studios, London. When Peter Gabriel was young, his mother taught him how to play the piano. By fourteen, he had his first musical gig, and was on the way to making “noises for a living,” he says. “On a good day, people pay me!” In 1967, he and several of his schoolmates founded the rock band Genesis. Mr. Gabriel sang lead vocals and played the flute, often wearing costumes on stage. Then in 1975, he surprised everyone by leaving Genesis to start a very successful solo music career. His interest in all kinds of music would lead him to singers, songwriters, and musicians far from the United Kingdom. So he and his friends decided to start a music festival featuring musicians from everywhere. Their first WOMAD Festival — World Music, Art and Dance — was held in 1982. Today, WOMAD festivals have been held in over thirty countries. Mr. Gabriel’s interest in world cultures and communities didn’t stop with a music and arts festival. He was talking one day with Richard Branson about how the oldest members of a community are often the ones who guide the group and help resolve disputes. This led to a question. Could the wise older members of our “global village” work with conflicts and major problems? They took their idea to several of those world leaders, including Nelson Mandela. Mr. Mandela brought together other leaders. In 2007, The Elders was born. Today the ten-member group includes honorary Elders Bishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Musicians often make online videos and use technology to promote their work. Mr. Gabriel started WITNESS, an organization that trains human rights activists how to use video and other internet technology to expose human rights abuses. In 2006, he was given the Man of Peace award by the Nobel Peace Laureates for this, and his other human rights, work. But Mr. Gabriel’s humanitarian interests don’t stop with his fellow human beings. During a visit to the Language Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, he was accompanied musically by Kanzi, a bonobo, at his own keyboard. Kanzi, and his sister Panbanisha, learned to communicate in English, using symbols on a language keyboard. Kanzi now lives in the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary. What was it like to work with a great ape on keyboards? It was “almost like meeting your ancestors and playing music with them!”

Atlanta-based artist Craig Dongoski's work intersects a variety of artistic practices including drawing, painting, sound design, and more. We talked about his work with amplifying the sound of drawing and his research in making art with a chimpanzee named Panzee--which began at the Language Research Center in Atlanta. We also touched on some deeply philosophical points about the nature of art and practice.