Podcasts about social sciences

In this episode of VarnVlog, we are joined by Brandon Lightly to discuss the complex and often misunderstood history of Maoism. We dive deep into the theoretical underpinnings of the "mass line" and "new democracy," exploring how these concepts served as an internal critique of Marxism and a departure from Soviet-style bureaucracy.Key Topics Covered:Defining the Mass Line: Is it just populism, or a sophisticated leadership feedback loop?The Historical Origins: From the Hunan Report to the Long March and the second United Front.Theoretical Innovations: Mao's 1961 critique of Joseph Stalin and the rejection of the "Great Man" theory of history.Fragmentation: Why there are so many different Maoist tendencies (MLM, MIM, Third Worldism).Praxis: The rectification movement and the relationship between urban intellectuals and the rural peasantry.Journal ArticlesDirlik, A. (1970). The ideological foundations of the Chinese Revolution. Journal of Contemporary History, 5(3), 39–54.Dittmer, L. (1977). Line struggle: Notes on its organizational context and theoretical development. Modern China, 3(3), 303–312.Fogel, J. A. (1980). Ai Siqi, establishment intellectual by Joshua A. Fogel. Modern China, 6(1), 23–47.Hammond, E. R. (1978). Marxism and the mass line [Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.Korolev, A. (2017). De-ideologized mass line, regime responsiveness, and state-society relations. China Review, 17(2), 7–36.Lyman, S. V. (1970). The Chinese Communist Party in the United Front, 1937–1945 [Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.Mazur, M. G. (1995). The United Front of the 1940s: A social and cultural perspective. Modern China, 21(4), 431–456.Selden, M. (1971). The Yenan Way in revolutionary China. The China Quarterly, (45), 263–294.Steiner, H. A. (1951). Current mass line tactics in Communist China. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 277(1), 422–436.Teiwes, F. C. (1978). The origins of rectification: Inner-party purgation in the 1930s. The China Quarterly, (74), 181–201.Tokuda, N. (1971). The mass line during the Yenan period. The China Quarterly, (47), 1–18.Townsend, J. R. (1967). Political participation in Communist China. University of California Press.Womack, B. (1980). The phase of de-Maoization in China. China Report, 16(1), 7–21.Womack, B. (1991). Mao Zedong and the sinification of Marxism. The China Quarterly, (126), 1–15.Young, G. (1980). On New Democracy and the transition to socialism. Modern China, 6(1), 3–22.Books & Primary SourcesCoble, P. M. (2023). The collapse of Nationalist China: How Chiang Kai-shek lost China's civil war. Cambridge University Press.Elbaum, M. (2018). Revolution in the air: Sixties radicals turn to Lenin, Mao and Che. Verso Books.Hirata, K. (2024). Making Mao's steelworks: Industrial Manchuria and the transnational origins of Chinese socialism. Cambridge University Press.Karl, R. E. (2010). Mao Zedong and China in the twentieth-century world: A concise history. Duke University Press.Li, H. (2024). Fighting on the cultural front: U.S.-China relations in the Cold War. Columbia University Press.Lin, C. (2019). Mass line. In C. Sorace, I. Franceschini, & N. Loubere (Eds.), Afterlives of Chinese Communism: Political concepts from Mao to Xi (p. 122). ANU Press.Lovell, J. (2019). Maoism: A global history. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.Lowe, D. M. (1966). The function of "China" in Marx, Lenin, and Mao. University of California Press.Mao, Z. (1940). On New Democracy. Marxists Internet Archive.Mao, Z. (1977). A critique of Soviet economics. Monthly Review Press.Moufawad-Paul, J. (2016). Continuity and rupture: Philosophy in the Maoist terrain. Zero Books.Schram, S. R. (Ed.). (2005). Mao's road to power: Revolutionary writings 1912–1949: Vol. VII. New Democracy, 1939–1941. M.E. Sharpe.Zheng, Q. (Ed.). (2020). An ideological history of the Communist Party of China (Vol. 2) (L. Sun & S. Bryant, Trans.). Royal Collins Publishing Group.Send us Fan Mail Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian, Drea, Free Beer 

In this podcast, we hear about an experience in psychiatric practice which has such an impact on the clinician that it leads to adopting a radical and enduring change in his subsequent clinical, teaching, and research activities. Emeritus Professor Sidney Bloch shares such an experience with Professor Shuichi Suetani which occurred in the early phase of his training. The experience proved so pivotal that it transformed key aspects of his professional work, especially his outlook on the ethical dimension of the clinician's role. In a sensitive dialogue, Professors Suetani and Bloch discuss the ramifications of such a situation, especially the options available to identify in what way it is transformative and how to adopt the related change in one's professional perspective.Professor Sidney Bloch, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) and the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia (FASSA). He was awarded a Citation by the RANZCP for his academic contribution to psychiatry. He spent three years at Stanford University on a Harkness Fellowship and has been a visiting Professor in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong, Hebrew University, and Columbia University.He has published 16 books, several of which have been brought out in new editions and/or translated. Russia's Political Hospitals won the prestigious Guttmacher Award of the American Psychiatric Association, Understanding Troubled Minds the SANE award for the best book on mental health in 2012, and an award for An Anthology of Psychiatric Ethics from the British Medical Association.Professor Shuichi Suetani is a community psychiatrist in Queensland. Alongside his psychiatry training, Shuichi completed a PhD exploring the epidemiological relationships between physical activity and mental disorders. He has also obtained the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine Fellowship. Shuichi has numerous publications in high impact journals and sits on the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Psychiatry. He was elected to the RANZCP Board in May 2026.References:Baldwin, J. Giovanni's room, Penguin, 2007.David, a young American, grapples with the nature of love, sexuality and masculinity. A classic on the clash between sexual and moral identity.Bancroft, John. Aversion therapy of homosexuality. A pilot study of 10 cases. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1969, 115, 1417-31.Isherwood, C. A single man. Vintage Classic, 2010.A day in the life of a middle -aged academic who has lost a long-term male partner, is wrestling with his intense grief, and embarks on an encounter with Kenny, one of his students. Stoller, R., et al. A symposium: Should homosexuality be in the American Psychiatric Nomenclature? American Journal of Psychiatry, 1973, 130, 1207-1216.Topic suggestion:If you have a topic suggestion or would like to participate in a future episode of Psych Matters, we'd love to hear from you.Please contact us by email at: psychmatters.feedback@ranzcp.orgDisclaimer:This podcast is provided to you for information purposes only and to provide a broad public understanding of various mental health topics.  The podcast may represent the views of the author and not necessarily the views of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists ('RANZCP'). The podcast is not to be relied upon as medical advice, or as a substitute for medical advice, does not establish a doctor-patient relationship and should not be a substitute for individual clinical judgement.  By accessing The RANZCP's podcasts you also agree to the full terms and conditions of the RANZCP's Website. Expert mental health information and finding a psychiatrist in Australia or New Zealand is available on the RANZCP's Your Health In Mind Website.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Professor Jennifer Hudson about the factors that shape children's emotional health and how we can improve support and services for children experiencing anxiety and other emotional disorders.Professor Jennifer Hudson has made distinguished contributions to the scientific understanding and clinical treatment of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences (2018) and an NHMRC Investigator Fellow (Level 2, 2022-2027). She has delivered sustained and influential insights into the complex aetiology of anxiety, as well as developed and validated innovative, accessible interventions. She was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship (2013-2016), and a Visiting Fellowship, University of Oxford (2015-20), and is recognised as a world leader for her work on parent-child interactions and the development and treatment of anxiety. Professor Hudson also brings her expertise to government advisory panels, such as the Medical Research Future Fund's Childhood Mental Health Research Plan Expert Advisory Panel, for which she was appointed Chair by the Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care. She plays an influential role in Australian policy as a trusted expert in child mental health, and currently leads the Child Mental Health research program at the Black Dog Institute.

Can creative writing become a form of biblical interpretation? That is the provocative question at the heart of my conversation with Sarah Rosenson about her new book, Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis: A Guide to Close Reading of and Creative Writing on the Bible (Cherry Orchard Books, 2026).  The modern phenomenon of fan fiction involves readers writing creative pieces that answer questions left open in favorite works of literature. This also describes the ancient tradition of midrash, where readers write stories filling in gaps in the Bible. In Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis Sarah Rosenson discusses the questions left open in the first book of the Bible, and every chapter includes questions for the characters in the stories, which can serve as prompts for conversations or creative writing. Rosenson argues that careful reading reveals narrative gaps: characters whose motivations remain unexplained, conversations that never occur, ethical dilemmas left unresolved, and emotions that are only implied. Drawing on the long tradition of Jewish midrash, she proposes that readers can engage these silences through disciplined creative writing, using imagination not as a substitute for close reading but as an extension of it. In our conversation, we discussed some of Genesis's most familiar stories from unexpected angles. What if Eve's pursuit of knowledge is more complex than simple disobedience? Why does Noah never challenge God's decision to destroy the world? What happens when Hagar's perspective becomes central rather than peripheral? Why does Abraham argue for the people of Sodom but remain silent when Isaac is placed on the altar? And how does the Joseph narrative negotiate the relationship between divine providence and human responsibility? We also explore the broader methodological questions raised by the book. Does describing midrash as "fan fiction" make an ancient interpretive tradition more accessible, or does it risk misunderstanding it? How far can readers imaginatively expand biblical narratives while remaining faithful to the text? And what safeguards distinguish responsible interpretation from speculation? Whether you are interested in biblical studies, literary criticism, Jewish interpretation, or creative writing, our conversation offers a thoughtful discussion of how ancient texts continue to invite new readings. More than providing answers, Rosenson's book encourages readers to ask better questions and, in doing so, to discover that Genesis remains as intellectually and ethically challenging today as it has been for centuries. You can find more about Sarah and her work here. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Can creative writing become a form of biblical interpretation? That is the provocative question at the heart of my conversation with Sarah Rosenson about her new book, Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis: A Guide to Close Reading of and Creative Writing on the Bible (Cherry Orchard Books, 2026).  The modern phenomenon of fan fiction involves readers writing creative pieces that answer questions left open in favorite works of literature. This also describes the ancient tradition of midrash, where readers write stories filling in gaps in the Bible. In Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis Sarah Rosenson discusses the questions left open in the first book of the Bible, and every chapter includes questions for the characters in the stories, which can serve as prompts for conversations or creative writing. Rosenson argues that careful reading reveals narrative gaps: characters whose motivations remain unexplained, conversations that never occur, ethical dilemmas left unresolved, and emotions that are only implied. Drawing on the long tradition of Jewish midrash, she proposes that readers can engage these silences through disciplined creative writing, using imagination not as a substitute for close reading but as an extension of it. In our conversation, we discussed some of Genesis's most familiar stories from unexpected angles. What if Eve's pursuit of knowledge is more complex than simple disobedience? Why does Noah never challenge God's decision to destroy the world? What happens when Hagar's perspective becomes central rather than peripheral? Why does Abraham argue for the people of Sodom but remain silent when Isaac is placed on the altar? And how does the Joseph narrative negotiate the relationship between divine providence and human responsibility? We also explore the broader methodological questions raised by the book. Does describing midrash as "fan fiction" make an ancient interpretive tradition more accessible, or does it risk misunderstanding it? How far can readers imaginatively expand biblical narratives while remaining faithful to the text? And what safeguards distinguish responsible interpretation from speculation? Whether you are interested in biblical studies, literary criticism, Jewish interpretation, or creative writing, our conversation offers a thoughtful discussion of how ancient texts continue to invite new readings. More than providing answers, Rosenson's book encourages readers to ask better questions and, in doing so, to discover that Genesis remains as intellectually and ethically challenging today as it has been for centuries. You can find more about Sarah and her work here. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Can creative writing become a form of biblical interpretation? That is the provocative question at the heart of my conversation with Sarah Rosenson about her new book, Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis: A Guide to Close Reading of and Creative Writing on the Bible (Cherry Orchard Books, 2026).  The modern phenomenon of fan fiction involves readers writing creative pieces that answer questions left open in favorite works of literature. This also describes the ancient tradition of midrash, where readers write stories filling in gaps in the Bible. In Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis Sarah Rosenson discusses the questions left open in the first book of the Bible, and every chapter includes questions for the characters in the stories, which can serve as prompts for conversations or creative writing. Rosenson argues that careful reading reveals narrative gaps: characters whose motivations remain unexplained, conversations that never occur, ethical dilemmas left unresolved, and emotions that are only implied. Drawing on the long tradition of Jewish midrash, she proposes that readers can engage these silences through disciplined creative writing, using imagination not as a substitute for close reading but as an extension of it. In our conversation, we discussed some of Genesis's most familiar stories from unexpected angles. What if Eve's pursuit of knowledge is more complex than simple disobedience? Why does Noah never challenge God's decision to destroy the world? What happens when Hagar's perspective becomes central rather than peripheral? Why does Abraham argue for the people of Sodom but remain silent when Isaac is placed on the altar? And how does the Joseph narrative negotiate the relationship between divine providence and human responsibility? We also explore the broader methodological questions raised by the book. Does describing midrash as "fan fiction" make an ancient interpretive tradition more accessible, or does it risk misunderstanding it? How far can readers imaginatively expand biblical narratives while remaining faithful to the text? And what safeguards distinguish responsible interpretation from speculation? Whether you are interested in biblical studies, literary criticism, Jewish interpretation, or creative writing, our conversation offers a thoughtful discussion of how ancient texts continue to invite new readings. More than providing answers, Rosenson's book encourages readers to ask better questions and, in doing so, to discover that Genesis remains as intellectually and ethically challenging today as it has been for centuries. You can find more about Sarah and her work here. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Can creative writing become a form of biblical interpretation? That is the provocative question at the heart of my conversation with Sarah Rosenson about her new book, Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis: A Guide to Close Reading of and Creative Writing on the Bible (Cherry Orchard Books, 2026).  The modern phenomenon of fan fiction involves readers writing creative pieces that answer questions left open in favorite works of literature. This also describes the ancient tradition of midrash, where readers write stories filling in gaps in the Bible. In Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis Sarah Rosenson discusses the questions left open in the first book of the Bible, and every chapter includes questions for the characters in the stories, which can serve as prompts for conversations or creative writing. Rosenson argues that careful reading reveals narrative gaps: characters whose motivations remain unexplained, conversations that never occur, ethical dilemmas left unresolved, and emotions that are only implied. Drawing on the long tradition of Jewish midrash, she proposes that readers can engage these silences through disciplined creative writing, using imagination not as a substitute for close reading but as an extension of it. In our conversation, we discussed some of Genesis's most familiar stories from unexpected angles. What if Eve's pursuit of knowledge is more complex than simple disobedience? Why does Noah never challenge God's decision to destroy the world? What happens when Hagar's perspective becomes central rather than peripheral? Why does Abraham argue for the people of Sodom but remain silent when Isaac is placed on the altar? And how does the Joseph narrative negotiate the relationship between divine providence and human responsibility? We also explore the broader methodological questions raised by the book. Does describing midrash as "fan fiction" make an ancient interpretive tradition more accessible, or does it risk misunderstanding it? How far can readers imaginatively expand biblical narratives while remaining faithful to the text? And what safeguards distinguish responsible interpretation from speculation? Whether you are interested in biblical studies, literary criticism, Jewish interpretation, or creative writing, our conversation offers a thoughtful discussion of how ancient texts continue to invite new readings. More than providing answers, Rosenson's book encourages readers to ask better questions and, in doing so, to discover that Genesis remains as intellectually and ethically challenging today as it has been for centuries. You can find more about Sarah and her work here. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

In this episode of Academia et al, Zeinab El Khateeb speaks with Dr Jasper Green about a career that has moved between biology, classroom teaching, doctoral research and teacher education. Jasper shares how an inspiring biology teacher helped him develop a sense of identity within the subject, and how later academic experiences led him to questions about learning, misconceptions and what it means to teach science well. He also offers advice for early career researchers on thinking with precision, writing with confidence and taking time to understand smaller questions in greater depth.More about Dr Jasper Green and his work: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/jul/making-sense-science-education-academia-et-alMore IOE Insights podcasts: https://uclioe.info/podcastUCL Institute of Education: https://ucl.ac.uk/ioe

How do teachers learn to teach? My guests today, Maria Teresa Tatto and Ian Menter, discuss the many paths to become a teacher in England and the USA and the policy environment that is shaping current practice. Learning to be a teacher, they argue, requires much more than simply having a lot of content knowledge. Just because you may know math really well does not mean that you would be a good math teach. Teaching is a skill that must be systematically learned and practiced. Together with Katharine Burn, Trevor Mutton, and Ian Thompson, Teresa and Ian have a new co-written book entitled Learning to Teach in England and the United States: The Evolution of Policy and Practice, which was published by Routledge earlier this year. Maria Teresa Tatto is Professor in the Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation at Arizona State University, and the Southwest Borderlands Professor of Comparative Education at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. Ian Menter is Emeritus Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. www.freshedpodcast.com/tatto-menter -- Get in touch! LinkedIn: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

This week on Democracy Dialogues, Frances Cayton speaks with four experts on Polish politics about the success of Poland's opposition coalition in 2023, and the headwinds that democracy continues to face today. What challenges do parties and civil society face in building pro-democracy electoral coalitions? If victorious, how do these challenges affect post-election governance and efforts at pursuing democratic renewal? This episode brings together politicians, political scientists, and civil society leaders who each played a critical role in the 2023 elections to examine what made Poland's pro-democracy mobilization possible, the gains the 2023 coalition has achieved since entering power, and the challenges it continues to face in pursuing democratic renewal.This episode was originally recorded as a part of the Lessons from Global Democratic Resistance panel series. The series brings together frontline activists, civic leaders, institutional actors, and field‑informed scholars to examine how democratic actors have resisted, responded to, and learned from democratic backsliding across countries. The series aims to identify practical lessons and comparative insights for those defending democracy today and is organized in collaboration with the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University; Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania; the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame; the Democratic Futures Project at the University of Virginia; Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law; and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mikołaj Cześnik, Director of the Institute of Social Science at SWPS University, Chairman of the Council of the Stefan Batory Foundation Michał Wawrykiewicz, Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Co-Founder of the civic initiative Wolne Sady (Free Courts) Marek Tatała, President and Co-Founder of the Economic Freedom Foundation Dominika Lasota, Student and Activist in the Youth Climate Strike Poland, Co-Founder of Inicjatywa WSCHÓD Frances Cayton is a PhD Candidate in Government at Cornell University. Her research focuses on questions surrounding democratic backsliding, civil society, and political communication. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

This week on Democracy Dialogues, Frances Cayton speaks with four experts on Polish politics about the success of Poland's opposition coalition in 2023, and the headwinds that democracy continues to face today. What challenges do parties and civil society face in building pro-democracy electoral coalitions? If victorious, how do these challenges affect post-election governance and efforts at pursuing democratic renewal? This episode brings together politicians, political scientists, and civil society leaders who each played a critical role in the 2023 elections to examine what made Poland's pro-democracy mobilization possible, the gains the 2023 coalition has achieved since entering power, and the challenges it continues to face in pursuing democratic renewal.This episode was originally recorded as a part of the Lessons from Global Democratic Resistance panel series. The series brings together frontline activists, civic leaders, institutional actors, and field‑informed scholars to examine how democratic actors have resisted, responded to, and learned from democratic backsliding across countries. The series aims to identify practical lessons and comparative insights for those defending democracy today and is organized in collaboration with the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University; Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania; the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame; the Democratic Futures Project at the University of Virginia; Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law; and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mikołaj Cześnik, Director of the Institute of Social Science at SWPS University, Chairman of the Council of the Stefan Batory Foundation Michał Wawrykiewicz, Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Co-Founder of the civic initiative Wolne Sady (Free Courts) Marek Tatała, President and Co-Founder of the Economic Freedom Foundation Dominika Lasota, Student and Activist in the Youth Climate Strike Poland, Co-Founder of Inicjatywa WSCHÓD Frances Cayton is a PhD Candidate in Government at Cornell University. Her research focuses on questions surrounding democratic backsliding, civil society, and political communication. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

This week on Democracy Dialogues, Frances Cayton speaks with four experts on Polish politics about the success of Poland's opposition coalition in 2023, and the headwinds that democracy continues to face today. What challenges do parties and civil society face in building pro-democracy electoral coalitions? If victorious, how do these challenges affect post-election governance and efforts at pursuing democratic renewal? This episode brings together politicians, political scientists, and civil society leaders who each played a critical role in the 2023 elections to examine what made Poland's pro-democracy mobilization possible, the gains the 2023 coalition has achieved since entering power, and the challenges it continues to face in pursuing democratic renewal.This episode was originally recorded as a part of the Lessons from Global Democratic Resistance panel series. The series brings together frontline activists, civic leaders, institutional actors, and field‑informed scholars to examine how democratic actors have resisted, responded to, and learned from democratic backsliding across countries. The series aims to identify practical lessons and comparative insights for those defending democracy today and is organized in collaboration with the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University; Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania; the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame; the Democratic Futures Project at the University of Virginia; Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law; and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mikołaj Cześnik, Director of the Institute of Social Science at SWPS University, Chairman of the Council of the Stefan Batory Foundation Michał Wawrykiewicz, Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Co-Founder of the civic initiative Wolne Sady (Free Courts) Marek Tatała, President and Co-Founder of the Economic Freedom Foundation Dominika Lasota, Student and Activist in the Youth Climate Strike Poland, Co-Founder of Inicjatywa WSCHÓD Frances Cayton is a PhD Candidate in Government at Cornell University. Her research focuses on questions surrounding democratic backsliding, civil society, and political communication. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

Support Humanism Now & Join Our Community!"I don't think that we have any solid evidence of a religious revival underway in England, or for that matter, anywhere else." — David VoasIn April 2025, the Bible Society published a report claiming church attendance in England had surged by more than 50% since 2018, with young men's churchgoing up fivefold. It made national headlines. A year later, both YouGov and the Bible Society retracted it. This episode unpacks what actually went wrong: bots and bogus respondents in online survey panels, why the data never supported the story, and what decades of solid evidence tell us instead about religious decline in Britain.Our guest is Dr. David Voas, Emeritus Professor of Social Science at UCL, where he led the Social Research Institute from 2016 to 2020. A quantitative social scientist, he has spent his career studying religious change in modern societies, and his TEDx talk, "Why There Is No Way Back for Religion in the West," has been viewed nearly two million times.In this conversation we cover:How AI chatbots, survey farming and bogus respondents undermined the survey data, and why this is an industry-wide problem, not a one-offThe three ways sociologists actually measure religiosity — identity, practice and belief — and why they don't always move togetherWhy secularisation is a generational process that plays out over centuries, and what fills the space religion leaves behindLINKS & REFERENCESDavid VoasUCL profile: https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/56605-david-voasTEDx talk, "Why There Is No Way Back for Religion in the West": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtAR_OGzlcg"Why Humanism Is the Future" — Humanists UK Convention 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfI7VgkDFMg"Is there really a religious revival in England? Why I'm sceptical of a new report" (UCL News/The Conversation, 16 June 2025): https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/jun/comment-there-really-religious-revival-england-why-im-sceptical-new-reportBritish Religion in Numbers: https://www.brin.ac.ukMentioned in this episodeBible Society, "The Quiet Revival" report (retracted): https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/research/quiet-revivalBBC News coverage of the report's retraction: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwjxx5eyn1oChristian Smith, Why Religion Went Obsolete (Oxford University Press): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/why-religion-went-obsolete-9780197800737If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review — it helps more people find the show. Support Humanism Now from just £5/month for exclusive content, a say in future episodes, and we'll plant a tree each month in your name. Follow us @HumanismNowPod.Send us Fan MailSupport the showSupport Humanism Now & Join Our Community!Follow @HumanismNowPod | YouTube | TikTok | Instagram | Facebook | Threads | X.com | BlueSkyHumanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe.Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or hello@humanise.liveMusic: Blossom by Light PrismPodcast transcripts are AI-generated and may contain errors or omissions. They are provided to make our content more accessible, but should not be considered a fully accurate record of the conversation.

What does Blackness look like? In Forms of Blackness: Race and Visibility in the French-Speaking World (Duke University Press, 2026), Cécile Bishop argues that this seemingly simple question has no straightforward answer. Instead of treating race as something immediately visible, she explores how Blackness emerges through the interplay of perception, language, and history. A central theme of the book is that visibility is never neutral. Through examples ranging from photographs of the Liberation of Paris to works of art such as Portrait of a Black Woman, Bishop shows that Blackness cannot be reduced to what is seen. Instead, she introduces the idea of Blackness as form, emphasizing the importance of representation, opacity, and aesthetic experience. Engaging with thinkers such as Édouard Glissant and Frantz Fanon, Bishop invites readers to rethink the assumption that seeing is the same as knowing. Forms of Blackness offers a thoughtful and original account of how race is shaped not simply by appearance, but by the ways we learn to see. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

What does Blackness look like? In Forms of Blackness: Race and Visibility in the French-Speaking World (Duke University Press, 2026), Cécile Bishop argues that this seemingly simple question has no straightforward answer. Instead of treating race as something immediately visible, she explores how Blackness emerges through the interplay of perception, language, and history. A central theme of the book is that visibility is never neutral. Through examples ranging from photographs of the Liberation of Paris to works of art such as Portrait of a Black Woman, Bishop shows that Blackness cannot be reduced to what is seen. Instead, she introduces the idea of Blackness as form, emphasizing the importance of representation, opacity, and aesthetic experience. Engaging with thinkers such as Édouard Glissant and Frantz Fanon, Bishop invites readers to rethink the assumption that seeing is the same as knowing. Forms of Blackness offers a thoughtful and original account of how race is shaped not simply by appearance, but by the ways we learn to see. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

What does Blackness look like? In Forms of Blackness: Race and Visibility in the French-Speaking World (Duke University Press, 2026), Cécile Bishop argues that this seemingly simple question has no straightforward answer. Instead of treating race as something immediately visible, she explores how Blackness emerges through the interplay of perception, language, and history. A central theme of the book is that visibility is never neutral. Through examples ranging from photographs of the Liberation of Paris to works of art such as Portrait of a Black Woman, Bishop shows that Blackness cannot be reduced to what is seen. Instead, she introduces the idea of Blackness as form, emphasizing the importance of representation, opacity, and aesthetic experience. Engaging with thinkers such as Édouard Glissant and Frantz Fanon, Bishop invites readers to rethink the assumption that seeing is the same as knowing. Forms of Blackness offers a thoughtful and original account of how race is shaped not simply by appearance, but by the ways we learn to see. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/caribbean-studies

What does Blackness look like? In Forms of Blackness: Race and Visibility in the French-Speaking World (Duke University Press, 2026), Cécile Bishop argues that this seemingly simple question has no straightforward answer. Instead of treating race as something immediately visible, she explores how Blackness emerges through the interplay of perception, language, and history. A central theme of the book is that visibility is never neutral. Through examples ranging from photographs of the Liberation of Paris to works of art such as Portrait of a Black Woman, Bishop shows that Blackness cannot be reduced to what is seen. Instead, she introduces the idea of Blackness as form, emphasizing the importance of representation, opacity, and aesthetic experience. Engaging with thinkers such as Édouard Glissant and Frantz Fanon, Bishop invites readers to rethink the assumption that seeing is the same as knowing. Forms of Blackness offers a thoughtful and original account of how race is shaped not simply by appearance, but by the ways we learn to see. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies

What does Blackness look like? In Forms of Blackness: Race and Visibility in the French-Speaking World (Duke University Press, 2026), Cécile Bishop argues that this seemingly simple question has no straightforward answer. Instead of treating race as something immediately visible, she explores how Blackness emerges through the interplay of perception, language, and history. A central theme of the book is that visibility is never neutral. Through examples ranging from photographs of the Liberation of Paris to works of art such as Portrait of a Black Woman, Bishop shows that Blackness cannot be reduced to what is seen. Instead, she introduces the idea of Blackness as form, emphasizing the importance of representation, opacity, and aesthetic experience. Engaging with thinkers such as Édouard Glissant and Frantz Fanon, Bishop invites readers to rethink the assumption that seeing is the same as knowing. Forms of Blackness offers a thoughtful and original account of how race is shaped not simply by appearance, but by the ways we learn to see. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

What does Blackness look like? In Forms of Blackness: Race and Visibility in the French-Speaking World (Duke University Press, 2026), Cécile Bishop argues that this seemingly simple question has no straightforward answer. Instead of treating race as something immediately visible, she explores how Blackness emerges through the interplay of perception, language, and history. A central theme of the book is that visibility is never neutral. Through examples ranging from photographs of the Liberation of Paris to works of art such as Portrait of a Black Woman, Bishop shows that Blackness cannot be reduced to what is seen. Instead, she introduces the idea of Blackness as form, emphasizing the importance of representation, opacity, and aesthetic experience. Engaging with thinkers such as Édouard Glissant and Frantz Fanon, Bishop invites readers to rethink the assumption that seeing is the same as knowing. Forms of Blackness offers a thoughtful and original account of how race is shaped not simply by appearance, but by the ways we learn to see. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/art

What does Blackness look like? In Forms of Blackness: Race and Visibility in the French-Speaking World (Duke University Press, 2026), Cécile Bishop argues that this seemingly simple question has no straightforward answer. Instead of treating race as something immediately visible, she explores how Blackness emerges through the interplay of perception, language, and history. A central theme of the book is that visibility is never neutral. Through examples ranging from photographs of the Liberation of Paris to works of art such as Portrait of a Black Woman, Bishop shows that Blackness cannot be reduced to what is seen. Instead, she introduces the idea of Blackness as form, emphasizing the importance of representation, opacity, and aesthetic experience. Engaging with thinkers such as Édouard Glissant and Frantz Fanon, Bishop invites readers to rethink the assumption that seeing is the same as knowing. Forms of Blackness offers a thoughtful and original account of how race is shaped not simply by appearance, but by the ways we learn to see. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/french-studies

What does Blackness look like? In Forms of Blackness: Race and Visibility in the French-Speaking World (Duke University Press, 2026), Cécile Bishop argues that this seemingly simple question has no straightforward answer. Instead of treating race as something immediately visible, she explores how Blackness emerges through the interplay of perception, language, and history. A central theme of the book is that visibility is never neutral. Through examples ranging from photographs of the Liberation of Paris to works of art such as Portrait of a Black Woman, Bishop shows that Blackness cannot be reduced to what is seen. Instead, she introduces the idea of Blackness as form, emphasizing the importance of representation, opacity, and aesthetic experience. Engaging with thinkers such as Édouard Glissant and Frantz Fanon, Bishop invites readers to rethink the assumption that seeing is the same as knowing. Forms of Blackness offers a thoughtful and original account of how race is shaped not simply by appearance, but by the ways we learn to see. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

When sunny summer days come around, it makes some dermatologists shudder. They would prefer we behave like bats and hide in caves until nightfall. Failing that, they stress the importance of always applying (and re-applying) high SPF sunscreen, wearing sun-blocking clothing with long sleeves and keeping a big-brimmed hat firmly on the head. A beekeeper's outfit might be perfect. But must you really shun the sun completely to save your skin? Our guest describes how to practice moderation safely. He also explains why some people are addicted to sunshine, while others are allergic to it. At The People's Pharmacy, we strive to bring you up to date, rigorously researched insights and conversations about health, medicine, wellness and health policies and health systems. While these conversations intend to offer insight and perspective, the content is provided solely for informational and educational purposes. Please consult your healthcare provider before making any changes to your medical care or treatment. How You Can Listen You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream at 7 am EST on Saturday, July 11, 2026, through your computer or smart phone (wunc.org). Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can't listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on July 13, 2026. Can You Really Be Addicted to Sunlight? Dermatologists do their best to discourage people from using tanning beds. They describe the damage that ultraviolet light can cause, ranging from wrinkles to skin cancer. For some people, though, those arguments just don't make a difference. Our guest, Dr. Steve Feldman, conducted a study several years ago. The volunteers were accustomed to using tanning beds. In the study, there were two beds, one with the usual ultraviolet light and the other, identical in appearance and temperature, had its UV blocked. After a session in each bed, volunteers were allowed to choose their bed for the last session. They almost invariably chose the bed with the active UV. To follow up, the researchers administered naltrexone, the opioid-blocking medication. When volunteers had taken it, they were no longer able to distinguish which bed was active. It seems that, for these people, ultraviolet light activates pro-opiomelanocortin, which in turn triggers the production of natural opioids called endorphins. Further research imaging the brain during tanning sessions confirmed that the UV exposure was activating areas of the brain associated with pleasure (Psychiatry Research. Neuroimaging, May 30, 2016).  Dr. Feldman and a colleague found that excessive indoor tanning is similar in pattern to substance use disorders (Journal of Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery, May-June 2025). Can You Save Your Skin and Still Enjoy the Outdoors? Dr. Feldman offers advice on avoiding sunburn that is tempered with this fact from epidemiology: people who go out in the sun live longer (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, July 13, 2020).  The goal here is not to shun the sun completely, but rather to exercise enough caution and good judgment to avoid burning your skin. (Who wants to burn, anyway? It hurts, and it looks bad.) Timing your sun exposure carefully is crucial to save your skin from sunburn. You may also be interested in the new sunscreen ingredient the FDA just approved, bemotrizinol. What Can You Do About Heat Rash? When the weather gets hot and bodies get sweaty, heat rash becomes a common complaint. Sweaty skin may develop bumps that can sometimes be very itchy. What do you do to ease the discomfort? If you can cool the skin off, it might help a lot. Of course, people may also suffer from other types of rash. Babies get diaper rash. Women sometimes experience under-breast rash, just as men may develop jock itch. Zinc oxide ointment can often be helpful for these types of rash. Managing Psoriasis Psoriasis is one of Dr. Feldman's special research interests. The red scaly plaques of this skin condition have raised borders. They look a lot like a fungal infection, but there is no fungus present on the skin to cause them. Something else seems to trigger the skin's immune system to react along the same pathways as if there were a fungus. Most of the time, psoriasis is mild enough to manage without costly medications. It actually responds very well to ultraviolet light exposure. UV downregulates the immune system's over-response. While many dermatologists offer UV exposure within their office walls, in the summertime patients could get exposure to sunlight outdoors. This is practical if they avoid the middle of the day, when they might get burned. Another option? Tanning beds also offer an easy way to calibrate the appropriate amount of UV exposure to save your skin from psoriasis. (Most dermatologists don't approve of this one, so don't tell.) One other practical but unorthodox tip for dealing with mild psoriasis. OTC cortisone may not be strong enough to help heal up a red spot. But you could buy Flonase nasal spray or a generic version, fluticasone, over the counter. Spray it on your skin and appreciate the relief. In fact, this could work for a mild case of poison ivy or other skin irritation as well. Severe cases still need a dermatologist's care. What to Do About Atopic Dermatitis Atopic dermatitis is the medical term for eczema. People with allergies or asthma also appear to be more vulnerable to eczema. Dysregulation of the immune mediators interleukin 4 (IL4) or IL13 may be responsible. This condition may appear in a mild form, which can be readily managed, or a more severe form that might require prescription medication. A topical corticosteroid such as triamcinolone will often clear it up. Or you could try spraying on some Flonase nasal spray for a cost-effective low-key approach. Those will actually help the majority of people with mild eczema. Using mild soap rather than detergent-based body wash, moisturizing well and following an anti-inflammatory diet are the pillars of home management. People with more severe atopic dermatitis covering a large portion of the body may need powerful prescription medication rather than topical steroids. Trying to cover so much skin with steroid would probably result in side effects from the cream. Dupixent (dupilumab) is a relatively new self-injectable medication that blocks IL4 and IL13. It works well for most people with atopic dermatitis and has a good safety profile. Certain other drugs in this category, such as Skyrizi (risankizumab), are also pretty safe but very pricey. Stelara (ustekinumab), has been around longer. Biosimilars for Stelara have been approved and are more affordable. Ustekinumab blocks IL12 and IL23. TV ads tout other medicines for this condition as well. Rinvoq (upadacitinib) is three or four times more effective than Dupixent, but it is also super expensive. It is a Janus-kinase (JAK) inhibitor. Xeljanz (tofacitinib) is another potent prescription JAK inhibitor, but it carries an elevated risk of heart attack. Beware of Bug Bites Another summer skin hazard is bug bites. Here unquestionably the best approach to save your skin is avoidance. Appropriate clothing is key. (That beekeeper's suit will come in handy here again.) Dr. Feldman recommends spraying DEET on your pants legs, socks and sleeves rather than directly on your skin. If there are grasses or brush where you have walked, run or played, a tick check immediately upon coming inside is critical. Can AI Help Patients with Skin Problems? It doesn't make sense to tell people to stay off the internet. Some searches can be quite helpful and guide patients in asking their dermatologist the right questions. Dr. Feldman is enthusiastic about DermNet, a New Zealand dermatology website. https://dermnetnz.org  Joe and Terry recommend SkinSight. This Week’s Guest Steven R. Feldman, MD, PhD, is Professor of Dermatology, Pathology, and Social Sciences & Health Policy, at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.  His research has been published in over 1,000 peer reviewed, Medline-referenced articles. Expertscape.com ranks Feldman among the top experts in the world on psoriasis, acne, dermatology, and treatment adherence. Steve Feldman, MD, in Dermatology clinic, Country Club Commons Listen to the Podcast The podcast of this program will be available Monday, July 13, 2026, after broadcast on July 11. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free. Download the mp3, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Austrian economics does not share the same methodology as we see in the economics mainstream. The Austrian emphasis on praxeology provides a better explanation of economic events than does the mathematically-bound mainstream.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/praxeology-within-physics-social-sciences

Austrian economics does not share the same methodology as we see in the economics mainstream. The Austrian emphasis on praxeology provides a better explanation of economic events than does the mathematically-bound mainstream.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/praxeology-within-physics-social-sciences

Send us Fan MailWhat you learn about money as a child can shape your decisions for life.On this episode of Get Ready Before Life Happens, Tony talks with Dr. Bilal Pandow about how childhood experiences shape lifelong money habits, why even highly educated people struggle with financial decisions, and how simple, consistent conversations can help build confidence and better financial behaviors over time.Key takeaways

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Nikolay Lunchenkov, medical doctor, a global health specialist, and a doctoral candidate in Global Health at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. The interview covers Nikolay's research article analysing chemsex trajectories among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Almaty, Kazakhstan.What is chemsex? [01:00]The wider context of drug use in Kazakhstan [01:58]The trajectories of chemsex [03:16] The methods used, and the use of a life course framework [05:36]The five trajectory stages developed: initiation, maintenance, escalation, dependence, and disengagement [07:30]The realistic and idealistic implications of the findings for treatment in Kazakhstan [17:00]The take-home messages [19:09]About Elle Wadsworth: Elle is an academic fellow with the Society for the Study of Addiction. She is based at the University of Bath with the Addiction and Mental Health Group and her research interests include drug policy, cannabis legalisation, and public health. Elle holds a voluntary role at The Loop, a non-profit service provider of drug checking in the UK. About Nikolay Lunchenkov: Nikolay, MD, MSc is a doctoral candidate in Global Health at the Technical University of Munich (TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology). His research focuses on HIV prevention, PrEP implementation, chemsex and harm reduction among key populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. His fieldwork focuses on Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, combining qualitative and epidemiological methods to understand how marginalised communities navigate health systems under restrictive political conditions. He also teaches graduate seminars on authoritarian regimes and global health, as well as cross-cultural qualitative research methods, at TUM.Declarations of interest: None Original article: ‘Emptiness filled with love': A reflexive thematic analysis of chemsex trajectories among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Almaty, Kazakhstan, using a life course framework https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70454The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal.The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The LSE Middle East Centre hosted the launch of Shabnam Holliday's new book, Sovereignty in Iran: Challenges to Eurocentrism from Ancient Iran to the Islamic Republic. This multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborative project examines sovereignty as a plural concept through the case of Iran, challenging Eurocentric assumptions in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The discussion explored the book's examination of sovereignty from ancient Iran to the Islamic Republic, including the Woman, Life, Freedom protests.

China and the European Union have agreed to hold one or two ministerial-level meetings each year under the newly established China-EU trade and investment consultation mechanism, a move that market watchers said would help stabilize bilateral economic relations and contribute to global stability.中欧双方商定，依托新设立的中欧贸易投资磋商机制，每年举办一至两次部长级会议。市场观察人士表示，此举有助于稳定双边经贸关系，助力全球经济稳定。Addressing a news conference on Thursday, He Yadong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said that Beijing has invited European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency Maros Sefcovic to visit China this autumn for the second meeting under the mechanism.商务部发言人何亚东周四在记者会上表示，中方已邀请欧盟负责贸易、经济安全、机构间关系与透明度事务的委员马罗什·谢夫乔维奇于今年秋季访华，出席该机制第二次会议。During the inaugural meeting held in Brussels, Belgium, earlier this week, the two sides agreed to deepen cooperation in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence and the green transition, tap the potential of trade in services and address trade concerns through market access consultations, he said. The two sides also agreed on a new positioning for China-EU economic and trade relations, viewing each other as stable and balanced key trading partners, the spokesman said.他介绍，本周早些时候在比利时布鲁塞尔举办的机制首次会议上，双方同意深化人工智能、绿色转型等新兴领域合作，挖掘服务贸易潜力，并通过市场准入磋商化解贸易关切。双方还敲定中欧经贸关系新定位，认定彼此是稳定、均衡的核心贸易伙伴。He added that the new mechanism is expected to improve business confidence on both sides, as well as inject greater certainty and positive momentum into Chinese, European and global economies.何亚东补充，这一新机制有望提振双方企业信心，为中国、欧洲乃至全球经济注入更强确定性与积极动能。Zhao Chen, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of European Studies, said the inaugural meeting delivered a constructive start, indicating that both sides should remain committed to dialogue and avoid confrontation.中国社会科学院欧洲研究所研究员赵晨表示，本次首次会议开了建设性的好头，说明双方应当坚持对话，摒弃对抗。Deep-rooted trade issues are unlikely to be resolved quickly, with frictions and negotiations expected to coexist as both sides gradually narrow their differences through sustained dialogue, Zhao said.赵晨称，根深蒂固的贸易矛盾难以一蹴而就，摩擦与磋商或将长期并存，双方需通过持续对话逐步缩小分歧。He Weiwen, a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing, said that while making joint efforts to stabilize the current bilateral business relationship, China and the EU should also explore new areas of cooperation to advance mutual benefit.北京全球化智库高级研究员何伟文提出，中欧在携手稳定现有双边经贸往来的同时，还应开拓全新合作领域，实现互利共赢。"The world is entering a historic period of the fourth industrial revolution, marked by AI, big data, quantum computing and the green transition, all of which promise profound impacts on future generations," he said.他表示：“全球正迈入第四次工业革命的历史性阶段，人工智能、大数据、量子计算、绿色转型是时代标志，这些领域都将对后世产生深远影响。”China and the EU are each other's second-largest trading partners, with highly complementary economies and deeply integrated industrial and supply chains. Together, they account for over one-third of global GDP.中欧互为对方第二大贸易伙伴，双方经济互补性极强，产业链、供应链深度融合，经济体量合计占全球国内生产总值三分之一以上。At Thursday's news briefing, He, the ministry's spokesman, also provided updates on the latest economic and trade consultations between China and the United States. He said the two countries have set guiding objectives for expanding two-way agricultural trade and agreed in principle to include relevant agricultural products under a reciprocal tariff reduction framework.在周四的发布会上，商务部发言人何亚东还通报了中美经贸磋商最新进展。他表示，两国已确立扩大双边农产品贸易的指导性目标，原则同意将相关农产品纳入对等降税框架。Companies will make trading decisions based on market principles, actual demand and market conditions, he said, adding that China is willing to work with the US to create favorable conditions for expanding two-way agricultural trade.他指出，企业将依据市场规律、实际需求与行情自主开展贸易，中方愿同美方共同营造有利环境，扩大双边农产品贸易规模。Jim Sutter, CEO of the US Soybean Export Council, called the recent announcement related to tariff reductions a positive signal, and said that the US soybean industry looks forward to seeing those commitments translated into concrete policy measures.美国大豆出口协会首席执行官吉姆·萨特称，近期有关降税的消息释放积极信号，美国大豆行业期待相关承诺落地为具体政策举措。"Stability in the bilateral trade environment benefits both sides, and we are confident in the long-term direction," he said.他表示：“稳定的双边贸易环境惠及双方，我们对长期发展前景抱有信心。”consultation /ˌkɒnslˈteɪʃn/磋商；协商；咨询inaugural /ɪˈnɔːɡjərəl/首次的；开幕的；创始的complementary /ˌkɒmplɪˈmentri/互补的；相辅相成的reciprocal /rɪˈsɪprəkl/对等的；互惠的；相互的tariff /ˈtærɪf/关税；关税税率momentum /məˈmentəm/动能；发展势头；推动力

This podcast and YouTube episode features an in-depth conversation with Anthony David Vernon, a philosopher and educator, exploring the intersection of disability studies, left-wing politics, and the systemic failures of accessibility in a post-pandemic world. The discussion challenges the "normative" framework of society, examining how both civic institutions and political movements often fail to truly incorporate the voices and needs of the disabled community.Key Discussion HighlightsThe ADA and the "Checkmark" Problem: Vernon argues that because the ADA is enforced primarily through personal lawsuits and remains largely unfunded, it often results in "checkmark" compliance rather than true accessibility.The Post-Pandemic Erasure: The conversation explores how the rush to move past COVID-19 safety measures has prioritized "normative desires" over the accessibility needs of high-risk and disabled individuals.Multimodality as Justice: Implementing "ready-made" scaffolding and multiple points of entry into education and digital spaces benefits all learners, not just those with a formal diagnosis. Referenced Works (APA Format)Albers, B. (2022). Able-bodied leftists cannot abandon disabled solidarity to move on from COVID. Truthout. https://truthout.org/articles/abled-bodied-leftists-cannot-abandon-disabled-solidarity-to-move-on-from-covid/Data for Progress. (2023, October 3). Disabled voters do not believe politicians care about disabled Americans. https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2023/10/3/disabled-voters-do-not-believe-politicians-care-about-disabled-americansHryhorec, S. (2025, October 26). LET ME IN: Mark Butler's office isn't accessible [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEfbZzCspDkIacoboni, G. (2023). Why politics is failing disabled people and what to do about it. Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF). https://isrf.org/blog/why-politics-is-failing-disabled-people-and-what-to-do-about-itRotarou, E. S., & Sakellariou, D. (2024). Neoliberalism and disability: The systemic erasure of access. Social Science & Medicine. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953623007189University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. (n.d.). Disability studies and political theory: A framework for inclusion. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/425af050-0220-49dc-b28d-f86d976dcf02/contentVarn, C. D. (2023, October). Multimodal availability for those with learning disabilities. PeerCentered. https://www.peercentered.org/2023/10/multimodal-availability-for-those-with.htmlVernon, A. D. (2023, December). Silence: Non-verbal communication in philosophy. Activated Thinker. https://medium.com/activated-thinker/silence-non-verbal-communication-in-philosophy-d5d148ba8a1dWillies, E. (2025, June 16). Anthony David Vernon advocates for social democracy as a tool of rebellion against fascism [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs7l6jNGDzwSend us Fan Mail Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian, Drea, Free Beer 

In this presentation, Dr Nazila Isgandarova explores the bio-psycho-social-spiritual (BPSS) model of Islamic spiritual care, tracing its roots to Ibn Sina's (Avicenna's) biopsychosocial framework and older traditions of "medicine of the heart." She examines how integrating Islamic theology with contemporary psychology and social science can strengthen the effectiveness of this model in addressing mental health and spiritual distress among Muslim clients in hospitals, schools, and correctional institutions.

This spring, the House of European History – a flagship museum of the European Parliament – has opened a temporary exhibition under the title Postcolonial?that features unique artworks, historical objects, and personal stories. Knowing the multifaceted and controversial legacies of European colonialism and being aware of just how closely intertwined the European integration project and thehistory of decolonization have been, this amounts to a significant and urgent intervention. The exhibition asks explicitly how Europeans preserved their power as their empires collapsed and aims to show how the “colonial matrix of power” continues to shape the world we live in. The exhibition ultimately ambitions no less than to help us rethink what it means to be European – and thus raises a host of essential and challenging questions. Our podcast features two of the exhibition's main curators – Kieran Burns and Ayoko Mensah – and two eminent experts in colonial history, postcolonial theory, and questions of European and postcolonial memory – Diana Natermann and Aline Sierp. Moderated by Ferenc Laczó, they jointly examine this crucial new exhibition in depth – and consider what it means to have such an exhibition at the heart of the EU today. This first part of the podcast explores some of the most thought-provoking parts of the exhibition: it discusses how the curators selected the artworks, objects, and stories to be featured in the exhibition and reflects on the ways theexhibition builds on current scholarship – and why its makers decided to place a clear emphasis on how Europeans largely preserved their power even as their empires collapsed. The second part will focus on the links between the main themes of the exhibition and the history of European integration.The episodes are based on a panel that was held at Maastricht University's Brussels Hub on May 11, 2025, and was generously supported by the Arts, Media and Culture research group of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

One of the promises of artificial intelligence is that it will mimic, and perhaps even improve, on human thinking. One of those hoped-for improvements was that AI would not exhibit human biases. Turns out that in one area, AI can indeed mimic human thinking, and it's in that field of bias. As Harvard psychologist Mahzarin Banaji -- one of the creators of the widely used implicit bias test -- explains in this Social Science Bites podcast, AI platforms both mimic human bias and even amplify it. In her second appearance on the podcast series, Banaji tells interviewer David Edmonds that even she was surprised how overtly bias shows up in AI results. She recalls her jaw dropping after she queried a large language model about what biases it might have, and it replied "I am a white male," and then how, a month later when queried the same thing it came back with a lengthy 'correct' answer about how it could be biased. "[W]hat stunned me, and why I began to work on these LLMs, is because it became clear that the creators of these models were actually doing us a massive disservice by creating in these machines two kinds of thought: what the machine knows that it's learned, and now what the machine is going to say, which I'll just call LLM hypocrisy."  Banaji is the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics in the Department of Psychology at Harvard, a position she has held since 2002. She is also the first Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the George A. and Helen Dunham Cowan Chair in Human Dynamics at the Santa Fe Institute. A former president of the Association of Psychology Science (2010-11), she was named William James Fellow by the APS and is also a fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the Society for Experimental Psychologists, Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  

The LSE Middle East Centre hosted the launch of 'Turkey and the Liberal International Order', a new book examining Turkey's complex and evolving relationship with the liberal international order from the end of the First World War to the present day. The book explores how Turkey, as a middle power, responded to major global transformations following the First World War, the Second World War and the Cold War by appealing to the dominant principles of liberal internationalism. At the same time, it shows how Turkish political movements and foreign policy actors reinterpreted and challenged these principles, shaping how the liberal international order was understood and implemented in the Turkish context. Drawing on parliamentary records and the writings of key political figures, the book offers a rich historical account of how successive generations of policymakers understood Turkey's national interest, its place in the international order and its role on the global stage. Meet our speakers Marc Sinan Winrow is a Teaching Fellow at SOAS, teaching the International Relations of the Middle East and Risk and Policy Analysis, and he is also a Research Assistant at LSE. He completed his PhD in the Department of International Relations of the LSE. The topic of this talk is based on his first published book, Turkey and the Liberal International Order, published by Agenda in 2025. His research continues to be concentrated on different (post-) liberal conceptions of international order, geopolitics and the history and theory of sovereignty in International Relations, with a focus on Turkey and the southeast European, Eastern Mediterranean and the MENA region. Ayla Göl is Course Lead in Politics and International Relations, and a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the School of Humanities, York St John University, UK. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where she had an early career position at the Department of International Relations. She is the author of Turkey Facing East: Islam, Modernity and Foreign Policy (Manchester University Press) and numerous articles in journals such as Nations and Nationalism, Third World Quarterly, Information and Education Technologies, the Global Discourse and International Affairs, as well as book chapters on Turkey, the Middle East and international relations. Senem Aydın-Düzgit is a Professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Sabancı University and the Director of the Istanbul Policy Center. She is also a non-resident fellow at the Institute for European Policymaking at Bocconi University. In 2024-2025, she was based at the Harvard Kennedy School as the Pierre Keller Visiting Professor of Public Policy, and in 2023-2024, she was a Richard von Weizsacker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin. Her main research interests include identity, history, and discourse in the study of international politics, with an empirical focus on European and Turkish foreign policies; and more recently, the nexus between domestic and foreign policies of middle powers in the changing international order. Meet our Chair Katerina Dalacoura is Associate Professor in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Director of the LSE Middle East Centre. She held a Major Research Fellowship by the Leverhulme Trust between 2021 and 2024. The project findings will shortly be published as a book monograph by Cambridge University Press, under the title Islamic International Thought in Turkey: History, Civilisation and Nation.

In this episode of Academia et al, Zeinab El Khateeb talks to Professor Nicola Walshe about a career that has moved from studying glaciers to shaping climate change and sustainability education.Professor Walshe reflects on the currents that carried her from science into teaching, from classroom inquiry into education research, and from individual practice into collaborative work with schools, policymakers and colleagues. She also offers advice for early career researchers on following your passions, building partnerships and taking care of yourself while doing work that matters.More about Professor Nicola Walshe and her work: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/jun/glaciers-classrooms-academia-et-alMore IOE Insights podcasts: https://uclioe.info/podcastUCL Institute of Education: https://ucl.ac.uk/ioe

What does a PhD journey look like when you paint it rather than write it? On a hot summer evening, Louise and Tooba meet at Louise's flat somewhere in London to reflect on balancing life and a PhD while painting our thoughts on canvases. Their conversation meanders along the tricky pathway of finding and maintaining the balance between pursuing PhD degrees, consistently striving for career development, and managing personal and medical commitments.  You can see the artworks they created during this episode on the UCL IOE student blog, and on the IOE Instagram account.Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/jun/painting-our-way-through-balancing-academia-research-and-personal-life-phd-sketchbook More IOE Insights podcasts: https://uclioe.info/podcastUCL Institute of Education: https://ucl.ac.uk/ioeMusic featured: "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Today's guest is Dr. Daniel Bar-Tal, Professor Emeritus at the School of Education, Tel Aviv University. Dr. Bar-Tal is a noted psychologist, who since the early eighties has focused on political psychology and the study of the socio-psychological foundations of intractable conflicts and peacebuilding, including reconciliation. In this episode, Alon and Daniel discuss differing narratives between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs and how to bridge that gap, the decline of the Israeli peace movement, and changing public opinion toward Israel abroad. Full bio Dr. Daniel Bar-Tal is Professor Emeritus at the School of Education, Tel Aviv University. Dr. Bar-Tal received his graduate training in social psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, and completed his doctoral thesis in 1974. He previously served as a Director of the Walter Lebach Research Institute for Jewish-Arab Coexistence through Education, Tel Aviv University and as President of the International Society of Political Psychology, and was Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Palestine Israel Journal. He has won numerous awards, including the Alexander George Award of the International Society of Political Psychology, and Morton Deutsch Conflict Resolution Award of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence. He was awarded the Golestan Fellowship at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences in 2000-2001, and in 2013 received honorary membership in the Polish Society of Social Psychology. Since the early eighties his interest has shifted to political psychology and the study of the socio-psychological foundations of intractable conflicts and peace building, including reconciliation. In the latter area, he studied the evolvement of the socio-psychological infrastructure in times of intractable conflict that consists of shared societal beliefs of ethos of conflict, collective memory, and emotional collective orientations. He also studied socio-psychological barriers to peacemaking and ways to overcome them, and acquisition of the conflict repertoire by children and adolescents. Within this scope of studies he developed with his collaborators theoretical frameworks for concepts like siege mentality, intractable conflict, delegitimization, collective victimhood, socio-psychological infrastructure, culture of conflict, effects of lasting occupation, barriers to peace making, construction and struggle over conflict supporting narratives, acquisition of intergroup psychological repertoire, early development of the ethos of conflict, transitional context, collective identity, and peace education, among many others. The work in these areas has resulted in books, Group Beliefs (1990), Stereotypes and Prejudice in Conflict: Representations of Arabs in Israeli Jewish Society (2005), and Intractable conflicts: Socio-psychological foundations and dynamics (2013). He co-edited a wide variety of volumes, and in addition has published over two hundred articles and chapters in major journals, books and encyclopedias. Through the years he has lectured widely on his work, and worked as Visiting Professor at Vanderbilt University, Brandeis University, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, University of Muenster, University of Maryland College Park, Polish Academy of Science, University of Palermo, and Australian National University. He retired in 2015 and decided to devote his second career to political activism. He founded a peace movement Save Israel-Stop the Occupation with the goal to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and establish the Palestinian state.

What small changes can you make in your everyday communicating that might create a big difference in your relationships? ...Today, Abbie and Julien explore the art, practices, and concepts behind positive communication, including the ways in which positive, generative styles of communicating can be the antidote to our hurting relationships and social worlds. ...Originally from Paris, France, Julien Mirivel traveled to the US in 1994 as a 15-year-old exchange student to learn English in Iowa. He returned in 1995 and formally graduated high school in 1996. The following academic year, he joined the University of Northern Iowa where he graduated in 2000 with a BA in Communication Studies. Following his degree, he has spent his entire adult life teaching and researching the nature of effective and ethical communication. Julien earned an MA in Communication Studies in 2002 and a PhD in Communication in 2005 – both degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2005, Julien took his first job as an Assistant Professor of Applied Communication at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock -- where he has worked for the last 21 years. During this time, he has moved through numerous roles and ranks ultimately earning the rank of full professor with tenure and serving along the way as Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning Excellence, as Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice, Associate Dean, and as Dean of the College of Social Sciences & Communication for three years. He is the co-founder of the Positive Communication Network, as well as the author of two books on positive communication published by Peter Lang: The Art of Positive Communication: Theory and Practice and How Communication Scholars Think and Act: A Lifespan Perspective. ...Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution....Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann....CMM Institute SubstackCMM Institute Events PageCMM Conference Interest Form…⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Explore all things CMM Institute here.

Stijn Schmitz welcomes back Colonel Douglas Macgregor to the show. Douglas is a Retired U.S. Army Colonel and a Decorated Combat Veteran. In their discussion, Macgregor assesses the leaked 14-point MOU between Iran and the United States as an admission of strategic defeat, signaling that Iran has emerged victorious from the conflict. He emphasizes that the war is not over, predicting Israel will soon resume its offensive, prompting an Iranian counterattack and forcing President Trump to reengage militarily, albeit briefly, before ultimately disengaging. Macgregor argues that the United States was doomed to lose due to Iran's mastery of integrated surveillance and strike capabilities, which render traditional naval and air superiority ineffective without robust ground forces, a capability he claims the U.S. currently lacks. Shifting to economic implications, Macgregor advises a focus on energy, metals, minerals, fertilizer, and food as the only secure investments in the current climate, dismissing AI and SpaceX as speculative bubbles. He warns that the Strait of Hormuz remains at risk, ensuring oil prices will surge again as global demand outpaces supply, with countries racing to build strategic reserves. The depletion of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the potential for further conflict will drive inflation and economic instability, likening the coming effects to a tsunami. He foresees a structural reset where American military hegemony retreats, leading to the collapse of artificial state boundaries in the Middle East and the rise of Iran and Turkey as dominant regional powers, which will reshape alliances and likely end Israel’s long-term viability. Macgregor also discusses the financial front, projecting that gold will reemerge as the ultimate reserve currency, with prices potentially reaching $10,000, while Bitcoin may serve as a transactional alternative to the dollar. He underscores that the geopolitical shifts will redirect American focus inward, forcing a painful but necessary reorientation toward domestic prosperity and core industries. Overall, his analysis presents a bleak near-term outlook marked by military defeat, economic disruption, and profound global realignment. Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:00:45 – Iran US MOU Assessment 00:06:00 – Energy Metals Commodity Focus 00:08:50 – Oil Prices and Reserves 00:11:50 – Rise of Iran & Turkey 00:20:14 – Trump Pressures & MOU 00:23:30 – Gold and Bitcoin Outlook 00:27:56 – U.S. Strategic Petro Reserve 00:31:38 – Sulphuric Acid, Urea, & Ag. 00:34:47 – Use of Ground Forces? 00:37:08 – Gold In A Tsunami 00:38:50 – Purchasing Power Gold & BTC 00:40:01 – Substack and Final Remarks 00:42:11 – Concluding Thoughts Guest Links: Website: https://douglasmacgregor.com X: https://x.com/DougAMacgregor YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@douglasmacgregorTV Articles: https://breakingdefense.com/author/doug-macgregor/ Substack: https://substack.com/@coloneldoug Douglas Macgregor is a decorated combat veteran, an author of five books, a PhD, and a defense and foreign policy consultant. Macgregor was commissioned in the Regular Army in 1976 after 1 year at VMI and 4 years at West Point. In 2004, Macgregor retired with the rank of Colonel. In 2020, the President appointed Macgregor to serve as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense, a post he held until President Trump left office. He holds an MA in comparative politics and a PhD in international relations from the University of Virginia. Macgregor is widely known inside the U.S., Europe, Israel, Russia, China and Korea for both his leadership in the Battle of 73 Easting, the U.S. Army's largest tank battle since World War II, and for his ground breaking books on military transformation: Breaking the Phalanx (Praeger, 1997) and Transformation under Fire (Praeger, 2003). Macgregor's recommendations for change in Force Design and “integrated all arms-all effects” operations have profoundly influenced force development in Israel, Russia and China. In 2010, Macgregor traveled to Seoul, Korea to advise the ROK Ministry of Defense on force design. In 2019, Transformation under Fire was selected by Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi, Chief of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), as the intellectual basis for IDF transformation. His fifth book, Margin of Victory: Five Battles that Changed the Face of Modern War from Naval Institute Press is available in Chinese, as well as, English and will soon appear in Hebrew. In 28 years of service Macgregor taught in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point, commanded the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, and served as the Director of the Joint Operations Center at SHAPE during the 1999 Kosovo Air Campaign for which he was awarded the Defense Superior Service medal. In January 2002, at Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's insistence the USCENTCOM Commander listened to Colonel Macgregor's concept for the offensive to seize Baghdad. The plan was largely adopted, but assumed no occupation of Iraq by U.S. Forces. Macgregor has also testified as an expert witness before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees and appeared as a defense analyst on Fox News, CNN, BBC, Sky News and public radio. He is fluent in German.

What does doctoral supervision actually look like in contemporary academia? In this NBN episode, Fredrik Saxegaard discusses the open-access book Doctoral Supervision Across Boundaries: Interdisciplinarity as Process and Practice (Scandinavian UP, 2026), co-edited with Mia Lövheim, and Geir Afdal. The conversation challenges the traditional image of supervision as a private relationship between a supervisor and a PhD candidate. Instead, the book argues that supervision today is distributed across networks, institutions, peers, reviewers, research schools, and academic cultures. We discuss: Why interdisciplinarity complicates doctoral identity formation, How Accountability Pressures Reshape Supervision, The hidden curricula of doctoral education, Writing and evaluation across disciplinary boundaries Drawing on experiences from the Scandinavian RVS research school, the book offers a critical rethinking of supervision as a relational, collective, and institutionally embedded practice. This episode will be particularly relevant to supervisors, doctoral candidates, academic developers, and anyone interested in the future of higher education. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Professor Zahia Smail Salhi is Chair of Modern Arabic Studies at the University of Manchester since 2013 and Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science at Sharjah University for the last three years. She specialises in Arabic literature, culture as well as women and gender in the Middle East and North Africa. Her Keynote talk “Algeria and the Anxiety of Decolonisation: Case Studies in Language and Gender” takes us from the traumas of colonialism and the War of Independence to the challenges of decolonisation of both colonised and colonizer. She focuses in on questions of language and culture in newly independent Algeria, before moving on to her recent research into the role of women. Drawing on their historical legacy as resistance fighters, and Fanon's work on the malleability of the veil, Zahia explores contemporary roles where women contest and affirm their place in the constantly shifting social environment of Algeria, via processes of ‘a quiet' and ‘soft altering' of social reality that subverts patriarchal power.

In this episode of the New Books Network, we explore Ethnographic Reflections on Marriage in Dhofar, Oman (Anthem Press, 2026), with anthropologist Dr Marielle Risse. Drawing on nearly two decades of ethnographic fieldwork, Dr Risse offers a nuanced examination of marriage practices among Sunni Muslim communities in southern Oman, challenging many of the assumptions that often underpin Western discussions of gender, family, and personal autonomy. Rather than portraying marriage as either oppressive or emancipatory, Dr Risse presents it as a complex social institution shaped by kinship networks, religious values, and community expectations. Risse's work encourages readers to reconsider familiar ideas about family, marriage, household, intimacy, autonomy, and social life. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this episode of the New Books Network, we explore Ethnographic Reflections on Marriage in Dhofar, Oman (Anthem Press, 2026), with anthropologist Dr Marielle Risse. Drawing on nearly two decades of ethnographic fieldwork, Dr Risse offers a nuanced examination of marriage practices among Sunni Muslim communities in southern Oman, challenging many of the assumptions that often underpin Western discussions of gender, family, and personal autonomy. Rather than portraying marriage as either oppressive or emancipatory, Dr Risse presents it as a complex social institution shaped by kinship networks, religious values, and community expectations. Risse's work encourages readers to reconsider familiar ideas about family, marriage, household, intimacy, autonomy, and social life. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

In this episode of the New Books Network, we explore Ethnographic Reflections on Marriage in Dhofar, Oman (Anthem Press, 2026), with anthropologist Dr Marielle Risse. Drawing on nearly two decades of ethnographic fieldwork, Dr Risse offers a nuanced examination of marriage practices among Sunni Muslim communities in southern Oman, challenging many of the assumptions that often underpin Western discussions of gender, family, and personal autonomy. Rather than portraying marriage as either oppressive or emancipatory, Dr Risse presents it as a complex social institution shaped by kinship networks, religious values, and community expectations. Risse's work encourages readers to reconsider familiar ideas about family, marriage, household, intimacy, autonomy, and social life. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/islamic-studies

In this episode of the New Books Network, we explore Ethnographic Reflections on Marriage in Dhofar, Oman (Anthem Press, 2026), with anthropologist Dr Marielle Risse. Drawing on nearly two decades of ethnographic fieldwork, Dr Risse offers a nuanced examination of marriage practices among Sunni Muslim communities in southern Oman, challenging many of the assumptions that often underpin Western discussions of gender, family, and personal autonomy. Rather than portraying marriage as either oppressive or emancipatory, Dr Risse presents it as a complex social institution shaped by kinship networks, religious values, and community expectations. Risse's work encourages readers to reconsider familiar ideas about family, marriage, household, intimacy, autonomy, and social life. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

In this episode of the New Books Network, we explore Ethnographic Reflections on Marriage in Dhofar, Oman (Anthem Press, 2026), with anthropologist Dr Marielle Risse. Drawing on nearly two decades of ethnographic fieldwork, Dr Risse offers a nuanced examination of marriage practices among Sunni Muslim communities in southern Oman, challenging many of the assumptions that often underpin Western discussions of gender, family, and personal autonomy. Rather than portraying marriage as either oppressive or emancipatory, Dr Risse presents it as a complex social institution shaped by kinship networks, religious values, and community expectations. Risse's work encourages readers to reconsider familiar ideas about family, marriage, household, intimacy, autonomy, and social life. Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, especially within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

One of the things that stood out in my conversation with John Longhurst about his book Can Robots Love God and Be Saved? A Journalist Reports on Faith (CMU Press, 2024) was his seriousness about journalism itself. Longhurst understands the journalist's vocation not as providing definitive answers but as asking good questions, paying close attention, and engaging thoughtfully with the people and events that shape our world. Our discussion focused on a theme that runs throughout the book: if religion's enduring strength lies not in providing final answers but in sustaining meaningful questions, then what sustains belief amid suffering, doubt, and uncertainty? Longhurst's work suggests that faith often emerges not from certainty but from ongoing engagement with life's deepest mysteries. Rather than offering simple conclusions, Can Robots Love God and Be Saved? invites readers into conversations about faith, technology, culture, politics, and everyday life. It reminds us that religious questions remain central to how many people understand themselves and the world around them. In an age increasingly shaped by AI and our histories, these questions may become even more important, not less so. My thanks to John Longhurst for joining me on the New Books Network and for sharing insights drawn from a lifetime of careful observation, thoughtful reporting, and persistent questioning.  Amisah Bakuri (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research examines the intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, and migration, particularly within African diasporic communities in the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Parental Relocation in Divorce: Legal and Social Science InsightsIn this episode of Divorce at Altitude, Ryan Kalamaya and Amy Goscha explore the complex and high-stakes world of parental relocation after separation or divorce. Joined by Dr. Kate McNamara, a child and family evaluator, they dive into the legal framework in Colorado, social science research, and practical strategies for navigating relocation cases—where children's stability, parental rights, and family dynamics intersect.Guest InformationDr. Kate McNamara, PhD is a licensed psychologist and child/family evaluator with decades of experience in parental responsibility evaluations, long-distance parenting coordination, and therapy. She provides expert insight on social capital, risk factors, and protective factors that influence children's adjustment to relocation.Episode HighlightsLegal framework for relocation – Understanding Colorado statutes (C.R.S. 14-10-124 & 129), pre-decree vs. post-decree relocation, and burden-shifting standards from key cases like Cheslick, Spawner, and In re Dale. Social capital and children's outcomes – How the web of relationships with family, friends, teachers, and community supports affects adjustment to relocation. Age-specific risks – Young children, adolescents, and children with special needs face unique challenges in maintaining relationships and routines. Gatekeeping and parental involvement – Restrictive behaviors that limit access to the non-relocating parent can significantly impact relocation outcomes. Practical planning – Designing parenting plans, summer schedules, and decision-making protocols to mitigate stress and preserve relationships. Evidence-based evaluation – Using tools like PREs, CFIs, and risk assessment models to forecast potential impacts on children and guide informed judicial decisions. Why Listen? Whether you are a parent, attorney, or family law professional, this episode equips you with the knowledge to understand relocation risks, legal requirements, and strategies to support children through high-stakes transitions. Learn how to balance parental rights, child stability, and long-term well-being in complex relocation scenarios.What is Divorce at Altitude? Ryan Kalamaya and Amy Goscha provide tips and recommendations on issues related to divorce, separation, and co-parenting in Colorado. Ryan and Amy are the founding partners of an innovative and ambitious law firm, Kalamaya | Goscha, that pushes the boundaries to discover new frontiers in family law, personal injuries, and criminal defense in Colorado. To subscribe to Divorce at Altitude, click here and select your favorite podcast player. To subscribe to Kalamaya | Goscha's YouTube channel where many of the episodes will be posted as videos, click here.  If you have additional questions or would like to speak to one of our attorneys, give us a call at 970-429-5784 or email us at info@kalamaya.law.************************************************************************DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS ON THIS PODCAST IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL ADVICE. CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE OR AREA TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE ON ANY OF THESE ISSUES.

We are more sensitive than ever to our differences. Most people I know are really striving to be aware, kind, considerate, and inclusive. But is this sensitivity also increasing our cultural anxiety around the issue? My guest in this episode is social psychologist Claude M Steele, and he feels this is the case. Claude is the Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences, Emeritus, at Stanford University. Over a decade ago Claude authored the book, Whistling Vivaldi, which became a groundbreaking resource on stereotypes and identity. His new book is, Churn: The Tension That Divides Us and How To Overcome It. Claude lays out that we all, inherently, are more comfortable with people like us. Which by proxy means we discomfort ourselves with people who are different. Many of us try to be "color blind" and pretend there is not difference, but we all feel the elephant in the room. Claude says, "Prejudice doesn't survive proximity. As you will hear, Claude has a primary solution. If someone is different, and if you really care, be curious. And seek to connect. This sounds simple, and I'm not sure it is, which is why I offer you the following conversation. Sign up for your $1/month trial period at shopify.com/kevin Go to shipstation.com and use code KEVIN to start your free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed El' Deity Princey.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed El' Deity Princey.