Best Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities Podcasts (2025)

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In Edward Said's Shadow 1:08:47

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21d ago1:08:47

1:08:47

Edward Said famously wrote most of "Orientalism" during his 1975-76 CASBS fellowship. The book criticized Western worldviews and representations of the East (or 'Orient') and their perpetuation of romanticized or colonial mindsets. A half-century later, "Orientalism" continues to shape scholarship, frame debates, and resonate in disparate regions a…

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Colin Camerer: Econ's Neurovisionary 45:58

2M ago45:58

45:58

An absorbing conversation featuring Colin Camerer (CASBS fellow, 1997-98), among the world's most accomplished scholars in both behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, with economist Stephanie Wang (2024-25). Camerer discusses his groundbreaking work on the neuroeconomics of self-control and habit formation; offers insights on generating ideas for…

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Grand Master of the Sociology of Immigration & Assimilation 54:52

4M ago54:52

54:52

For decades, Alejandro Portes (CASBS fellow 1980-81) has been among our most distinguished scholars elucidating the causes and consequences of immigration and assimilation. René D. Flores (CASBS fellow 2023-24) engages Portes in a conversation spanning large swaths of Portes's formidable intellectual biography, including his personal journey from C…

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Can AI Take Common Sense from a Baby? 37:17

7M ago37:17

37:17

Generative AI tools built on large language models are increasingly "intelligent" yet lack a baby's common sense – the ability to non-verbally generalize to novel situations without additional training. What can developmental science contribute to AI? Tech journalist and former CASBS fellow John Markoff chats with 2023-24 CASBS fellow David Moore, …

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Make the Atmosphere Great Again 57:26

8M ago57:26

57:26

Given deeply polarized domestic politics and insufficient international commitment to the Paris Accord, can we reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avert some of the worst effects of climate change before it's too late? It's an elemental question that warrants despair, yes, but plenty of hope too. Political scientist Leigh Raymond, a 2021-22 CASBS f…

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Anthropology at the Borderlands of Experience 57:45

9M ago57:45

57:45

Two-time CASBS fellow and renowned anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann discusses her past and current work as an anthropologist of the mind, both in religious and psychological contexts, in conversation with 2023-24 CASBS fellow Erica Robles-Anderson. Luhrmann's award-winning work investigates visions, voices, psychosis, the supernatural, and other unusu…

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Demystifying the Disinformation Marketplace 46:43

10M ago46:43

46:43

There never will be enough independent fact checking of online political advertising and their ecosystems. Can we develop methods and tools to demonetize or at least disincentivize the behaviors of disinformation producers as well as the ad firms and content providers in business with them? 2023-24 CASBS fellow Ceren Budak navigates the disinformat…

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Nature's Apothecary: Monarchs, Milkweed, and the Art of Self-Medication with Dr. Jaap de Roode 1:12:14

10M ago1:12:14

1:12:14

Send us a text Today's episode is all about royalty. No, not those odd primates shuffling around palaces in crowns and robes, but the monarchs of the butterfly world. We're joined by Dr. Jaap de Roode, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory University, who's one of the world's experts in insect self-medication. Yup, you heard that right…

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Transforming Science Engagement: Amanda Mathieson on the Power of Escape Rooms and Playful Learning 1:02:40

11M ago1:02:40

1:02:40

Send us a text In this episode of The PrimateCast, your host sits down with science communicator Amanda Mathieson, Head of Public Engagement, Education and Communications at Biorbic, Ireland's National Bioeconomy Research Centre. She's also a pioneer in the space of developing STEM-themed escape rooms. And that was the main topic of discussion in t…

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Evolving Zoo Animal Welfare Science with Dr. Lance J. Miller of Brookfield Zoo Chicago 1:17:52

11M ago1:17:52

1:17:52

Send us a text Explore zoo animal welfare with Dr. Lance J. Miller, a leading authority in animal welfare science at Brookfield Zoo Chicago, formerly Chicago Zoological Society's Brookfield Zoo. Lance is Vice President of Animal Welfare Science at Brookfield Zoo Chicago, but he also holds a slough of other appointments. He’s Chair of the Alliance o…

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From Conventions to Culture: Social Cognition in Techno-Baboons with Dr. Nicolas Claidiere 1:16:04

12M ago1:16:04

1:16:04

Send us a text In this episode I sit down with my friend and colleague, cognitive scientist Dr. Nicolas Claidiere from the Center for Research in Psychology and Neuroscience at Aix-Marseille University. Nico was on the podcast once before, in episode 30 when we recorded from the International Primatological Society's conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, b…

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A Primatologist's Journey from Japan to the Wilder West (And a call to action!) 22:16

1y ago22:16

22:16

Send us a text What happens when a primatologist and podcaster leaves behind an academic career in Japan to embrace a new chapter in wildlife conservation in Canada? Crickets on the show, for one... Join me as I share my emotional decision to move on from Kyoto University and take up the role of Senior Scientist, Wildlife Conservation at the Wilder…

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The Humanity of Connective Labor 51:23

1y ago51:23

51:23

Are jobs requiring high levels of human interaction worth preserving in the age of automation? Can we design machines to achieve something profound – the mutual recognition that occurs when human beings truly "see" each other? CASBS faculty fellow Mitchell Stevens explores these questions with Allison Pugh, author of the 2024 book The Last Human Jo…

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Organized Civic Benevolence and Nationhood 51:37

1+ y ago51:37

51:37

Santi Furnari (CASBS fellow, 2023-24) engages renowned political sociologist & 2015-16 fellow Elisabeth Clemens on the role of private civic volunteer organizations in co-constructing national identity and state capacity as well as serving as tools of governance, solidarity, and inclusion for much of American history. In what form does civic benevo…

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Exposing Sources and Impacts of Election Disinformation Campaigns 42:07

1+ y ago42:07

42:07

Legendary tech journalist John Markoff (CASBS fellow, 2017-18) chats with 2023-24 CASBS fellow Young Mie Kim on her groundbreaking efforts to identify how shadowy groups use algorithms and targeted disinformation campaigns during presidential election cycles; measure their real-world distorting effects on voter mobilization or suppression; and illu…

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The Gold Standard of Economic Historians 1:12:58

1+ y ago1:12:58

1:12:58

Stefan Link, a 2023-24 CASBS fellow, chats with Barry Eichengreen, a 1996-97 CASBS fellow and world renowned for his expertise at the nexus of international economics and economic history. They discuss some of Eichengreen's most prominent works — including "The European Economy Since 1945," which emerged from his CASBS experience, and "Golden Fette…

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A Scholar's Commitment to Workers' Economic Justice 50:44

1+ y ago50:44

50:44

Labor historian & 2023-24 CASBS fellow Gabriel Winant in conversation with 2018-19 CASBS fellow Ruth Milkman, among the nation's most renowned sociologists of labor. In addition to interrogating divisions within and segmentation across labor markets in recent decades, Milkman also has remained attuned to the complexity of the overall working class …

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Bridging Adaptive Algorithms and the Public Good 42:23

1+ y ago42:23

42:23

Pulitzer Prize-winning tech journalist John Markoff chats with 2022-23 CASBS fellow Nathan Matias about often-overlooked public interest questions and concerns regarding the deployment of tech platform algorithms and AI models. Specifically, Matias is a player in filling the two-way knowledge gaps between civil society and tech firms with an eye on…

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A Social Science of Caregiving 1:04:20

1+ y ago1:04:20

1:04:20

Recorded before a live audience, Margaret Levi, Alison Gopnik, & Anne-Marie Slaughter discuss a CASBS project, "The Social Science of Caregiving," which is reimagining the philosophical, psychological, biological, political, & economic foundations of care and caregiving. The goal is a coherent empirical and theoretical account or synthesis of care …

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The Shadow of Cybersecurity Expertise 39:30

2y ago39:30

39:30

Pulitzer Prize-winning tech journalist & 2017-18 CASBS fellow John Markoff chats with 2022-23 CASBS fellow Rebecca Slayton on how the field of computing expertise evolved, eventually giving rise to the niche of professionals who protect systems from cyber-attacks. Slayton's forthcoming book explores the governance & risk implications emerging from …

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The Enemy of Morality Is Not Modernity, It's Me 44:20

2y ago44:20

44:20

The great English essayist and linguist Samuel Johnson was writing during the Enlightenment – the period some historians identify as the beginning of the modern age. American author and philosopher David Foster Wallace worked more than two centuries later, in the "post-modern" style. But these two writers shared a common problem: once modernity fra…

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Challenging History Erasures to Expand Possible Futures 1:05:50

2y ago1:05:50

1:05:50

Two-time CASBS fellow Fred Turner engages CASBS board of directors chair Abby Smith Rumsey before a live audience to discuss her new book "Memory, Edited: Taking Liberties with History." When the erasure or distortion of collective memory through storytelling hijacks fact, truth, and history itself, what kind of information infrastructures can effe…

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A Genealogy of Gun Violence 51:21

2y ago51:21

51:21

The problem of gun violence is as old as guns themselves. According to historian Priya Satia, America's present epidemic of gun violence has its roots in the industrial revolution. Satia tells the story of British gun-maker Samuel Galton, Jr., who was called to task by his Quaker community for manufacturing rifles. As a professed pacifist, Galton h…

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A Medieval Anti-Racist 52:09

2y ago52:09

52:09

What if racism shared an origin with opposition to racism? What if the condemnation of injustice gave rise both to an early form of anti-racism and to the racial hierarchies that haunt the modern era? Rolena Adorno, David Orique, María Cristina Ríos Espinosa tell the story of how Bartolomé de las Casas, a Dominican missionary to New Spain, came to …

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Picturing Race in Colonial Mexico 1:00:06

2y ago1:00:06

1:00:06

Race is sometimes treated as a biological fact. It is actually a modern invention. But for this concept to gain power, its logic had to be spread – and made visible. Art historian Ilona Katzew tells the story of how Spanish colonists of modern-day Mexico developed theories of blood purity and used the casta paintings – featuring family groups with …

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Toward a Society of Shared Recognition 46:53

2y ago46:53

46:53

Renowned sociologist Michèle Lamont (CASBS fellow, 2002-03) discusses her new book, Seeing Others, with former CASBS director Woody Powell. The book assembles decades of Lamont’s scholarship, engaging some of contemporary society’s most elemental challenges and advancing key building blocks toward a shared human experience marked by greater inclusi…

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From Cacophony to Symphony: The Harmonious Interplay of Animal Cognition and Communication with Dr. Tecumseh Fitch 1:08:16

2y ago1:08:16

1:08:16

Send us a text In today’s installment of the podcast, I’m really excited to share a fascinating conversation I had with Dr. Tecumseh Fitch about the evolution of cognition and communication. Tecumseh Fitch is Professor of Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna where he co-founded the Department of Cognitive Biology and plays a leading role i…

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Jamestown and the Myth of the Sovereign Family 45:28

2y ago45:28

45:28

What is the "traditional American family?" Popular images from the colonial and pioneer past suggest an isolated and self-sufficient nuclear family as the center of American identity and the source of American strength. But the idea of early American self-sufficiency is a myth. Caro Pirri tells the story of the precarious Jamestown settlement and h…

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What Is Genealogy? 45:49

2y ago45:49

45:49

Genealogy, in Charles Darwin's terms, is the study of "descent with modification." Taken as an analogy for the study of history, genealogy can guard against the potential dangers of claiming modernity. Against the effort to erase the past, genealogy asserts that our ancestry will always be with us. Against the effort to master the past, genealogy r…

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What Is Modernity? 36:01

2y ago36:01

36:01

We often think of modernity as a distinct time period in history – one that is said to start at different places, but which always includes us. Yet people have been claiming to be modern since at least the third century BC. Harvard scholar Michael Puett takes us back to ancient China, when a series of emperors laid claim to modernity in order to co…

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Climbing the Mountains of Modernity 46:03

2y ago46:03

46:03

We all know many stories about how modernity came about. But what does it mean to be "modern?" This episode comes at the question through the test case of mountain climbing and rock climbing. Claims to becoming modern through climbing often point back to Italian humanist Francesco Petrarch's ascent of Mt. Ventoux in 1336, a climb that made him, acc…

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Toward Cross-disciplinary Consensus About Our (Mis)Information Environment 49:07

2y ago49:07

49:07

Fully understanding and regulating our complex information ecosystems will require creating new cultures and modes of collaborating, new organizational frameworks and, yes, working with generative AI models in service of aggregating actionable scientific knowledge. Angela Aristidou (CASBS fellow, 2022-23) navigates the crucial questions and challen…

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Unraveling the Secrets of Cold Adaptation and Hybridization in Primates with Evolutionary Anthropologist Dr. Laura Buck 1:19:45

2y ago1:19:45

1:19:45

Send us a text For this episode, I sat down in the studio with evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Laura Buck in the Research Centre for Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology of Liverpool John Moores University. Dr. Susumu Tomiya of CICASP also joined the conversation. After waxing on the plausibility that some ancient hominins in cold climates m…

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Exploring Human-Primate Coexistence with Dr. Paula Pebsworth: A Journey from the Vineyards of Napa Valley to the Wilds of Africa, Asia and Beyond 50:19

2y ago50:19

50:19

Send us a text In today’s lecture, Dr. Paula Pebsworth joined us from her home in Texas to give a lecture titled “You never know where life will take you: an interdisciplinary and unconventional path”. This lecture was extra special for me, because Paula and I were grad students together at Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute over a decad…

Institute For Advanced Studies In The Humanities Podcasts