IDEAS schedule for June 2024
* Please note this schedule is subject to change.
Monday, June 3
SMELL: THE INVISIBLE SUPERPOWER
As the COVID-19 pandemic made clear, many of us take our sense of smell for granted — at least until we find ourselves without it. But scientists are increasingly revealing olfaction to be a hidden superpower, with deep ties to our experience of memory and emotion, and strong potential as a medical diagnostic tool. Producer Annie Bender takes a second look at the oft-misunderstood sense of smell — and asks what we lose when we take it for granted.
Tuesday, June 4
2023 CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE: TANIA BRANIGAN
The Cultural Revolution is everywhere felt in China, yet rarely talked about. Beginning in 1966 and ending in 1976, it upended the lives of millions of people, dividing families and communities irreparably — and leaving a profound set of scars on the national psyche. How does the present function when the past has been largely sealed off? That question lies at the heart of Tania Branigan's book Red Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural Revolution, which won the 2023 Cundill History Prize.
Wednesday, June 5
ON CULTURE WARS IN CHRISTIANITY: PHILOSOPHER JAMES K.A. SMITH
"Culture wars" divide faith communities, as well as secular society. But Christian thinker and philosopher James K. A. Smith argues that solidarity is possible, and a state that exists beyond our identification with what we know and believe. The only way to get there, in his view, is through what he calls "the mystic crucible of unknowing". The Calvin University professor is a Canadian-born, U.S.-based philosopher and author. He spoke about Christianity and social division in April 2024 at a conference called 'Beyond Culture Wars', sponsored by the Institute for Christian Studies, and Martin Luther University College at Wilfrid Laurier University. You'll hear his talk, and a conversation with IDEAS producer Sean Foley.
Thursday, June 6
DUTCH LIBERATION: A WALK OF REMEMBRANCE
More than a million Canadians served in the Second World War, among them Gilbert Hunter and Harry Bockner. In 1941, the two were in the same regiment. One died. One survived. Nearly 80 years later, their descendants were part of a group of Canadian pilgrims to the Netherlands who participated in a walk of remembrance. Following in the footsteps of the Canadian troops together, they walked, they sang, they prayed, and they remembered. *This episode originally aired in May 1, 2023.
Friday, June 7
BRING BACK GRUMPY GEORGE
A pessimist, realist, and Red Tory who died in 1988 provides the perfect counsel for our times, argues PhD candidate Bryan Heystee of Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland. Heystee seeks to revive the work of Canadian philosopher George Grant, best known for the books Lament for a Nation and Technology & Empire. Grant became a truly public intellectual, injecting his skeptical takes into political debate via the national media (and presenting the CBC Massey Lectures in 1969). Today, few Canadians continue to read or discuss his thoughts. Heystee tries to change that in our series, Ideas from the Trenches, featuring the unique insights of PhD students across the country. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 6, 2023.
Monday, June 10
BBC REITH LECTURES 1: ARTIFICIAL DEMOCRACY
Liberal democracy, as we know it, has existed for only a minuscule moment in the whole of human history. And judging by recent events, it might appear that many people are already tired of it. In this year's BBC Reith Lectures, Ben Ansell, Professor of comparative democratic institutions at Oxford University and author of the 2023 book Why Politics Fails, examines the threats facing modern democracy, how artificial intelligence can distort the integrity of democracy, and how politicians can invest in a democratic future.
Tuesday, June 11
WALKING AMONG THE ANCIENTS: THE WABANAKI-ACADIAN OLD GROWTH FOREST
To walk in an old growth forest is to be stunned by its untouched beauty, its otherworldliness — soaring ancient trees above, rolling thick ground underfoot, and astounding biodiversity all around. (Scientists are even researching its compound-rich air, for a potential role in preventing and treating cancer.) The Wabanaki-Acadian Forest, which stretches from parts of the Maritimes and Southern Quebec down into several New England states, is comprised largely of newer forests, already cut down and logged, over and over. Just one per cent of its old growth is left, and the World Wildlife Fund lists it as endangered. On this episode, accompany IDEAS to a secret old growth forest stand in Nova Scotia, to learn of its many wonders.
Wednesday, June 12
RILEY YESNO: (LAND) BACK TO THE FUTURE
From our ongoing series of talks, each inspired by a theme in a play at Toronto's Crow's Theatre, Anishinaabe scholar Riley Yesno reflects on Indigenous Futurism and the role of dreams and dreaming in making a better world. Can First Nations imagine a future — for all of us — and dream it into being? Inspired by Lakota playwright Cliff Cardinal's play Huff, which tells the story of brothers struggling with their mother's death, a reserve school system that's abandoned them, and their solvent-abuse problem.
Thursday, June 13
THE NATURE OF NONFICTION: ROBERT MACFARLANE
Robert Macfarlane says his writing is about the relationship between the landscape and the human heart. He is a modern-day re-interpreter of the sublime — the profound feeling of awe, insignificance and terror that the grandeur of the natural world evokes. It's present when writing about following ancient foot trails, traversing perilous mountain glaciers, or descending into the mysterious, but wondrous world beneath the Earth's surface. Hear his talk from the Royal Ontario Museum, where he accepted the Weston International Award 2023, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to recognize excellence in non-fiction. *This episode originally on Oct. 25, 2023.
Friday, June 14
QUEER DIPLOMACY: NEGOTIATING 2SLGBTQ+ RIGHTS IN A FRAUGHT WORLD
Hilary Clinton ushered in a new age of diplomacy in 2011, when she addressed the UN Human Rights Council, declaring that gay rights are human rights. But in the decades since, global progress on the rights of sexual minorities have been profoundly uneven. Nahlah Ayed speaks to Canadian diplomat Douglas Janoff about the delicate world of international queer diplomacy and what's at stake in an era of backlash. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 07, 2024.
Monday, June 17
BBC REITH LECTURES 2: ARTIFICIAL PROSPERITY
Democracy is not supposed to be harmonious — but it is supposed to be inclusive. Everyone is supposed to feel represented and part of the system. In the second part of the BBC Reith Lectures, Ben Ansell, Oxford University professor and author of the book Why Politics Fails, argues that artificial intelligence can increase inequality, while appearing to increase prosperity, leading to skepticism about democracy.
Tuesday, June 18
TAKEN IN: EXPLORING CREDULITY
Few people would call themselves gullible. Yet from financial fraud, to online scams, many individuals are getting bamboozled — and intelligence has little to do with it. At a societal level, too: thousands are swimming into chaotic spirals of misinformation and conspiracy-minded thinking. This episode looks to understand, rather than judge, our capacity to be credulous. IDEAS talks to thinkers who both study the phenomenon, and have personal experience of it. *This episode originally aired on April 20, 2023.
Wednesday, June 19
ANTHROPOLOGIST DAVID SAMSON ON OUR TRIBAL FUTURE
David Samson, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Toronto, says that political tribalism constitutes an existential threat to humanity. And yet, as he argues in his book Our Tribal Future, winner of the 2023 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy — tribalism was an essential development in the evolution, indeed the survival, of homo sapiens and our civilization. Our tribal instincts are now maladapted for the individualistic, highly technologized times we live in. However, the emerging science around the origins of tribalism can help us avoid the worst outcomes of our tribe drive.
Thursday, June 20
CULTIVATING BELONGING: JAMIE CHAI YUN LIEW
What does it mean to seek belonging in a new place, while also being a good guest on Indigenous lands? Can you ever truly "arrive"? Lawyer and writer Jamie Chai Yun Liew considers the "inbetween spaces" created by migration — the gaps between places and between generations — and the new forms of belonging may grow in those liminal zones. This public lecture, inspired by the play The Wrong Bashir by writer Zahida Rahamtulla, was delivered in front of a live audience at Crow's Theatre in Toronto.
Friday, June 21
JESSE WENTE ON REMEMBERING THE FUTURE
Many people feel uncertainty, even dread, about the future. But Jesse Wente says that Indigenous people have particular expertise to share with others on this count. After all, says the Anishinaabe writer and arts leader, "we are evidence that cultures can withstand global systems change: adapt, and rebuild. We are evidence of the power of memory and remembering." In this public talk, Jesse Wente explains how the best of this past gives everyone a blueprint for a better future. This episode features the closing keynote speech at "Imagining 2080: A Forum on Canada's Futures," held at McMaster University in November of 2023.
Monday, June 24
WHITE WINE WITH LUNCH
The pleasant experience of having a civilized lunch, unrushed, at a half-decent restaurant, with the food accompanied by— perhaps — a glass of white wine… relies on a vast matrix of societal conditions, the expertise of others, the financial resources of the luncher, and even the state of the planet. Upon noticing his commitment to enjoying a moderate number of such lunches into the foreseeable future, IDEAS producer Tom Howell investigates the politics and morals he has accidentally signed up for, with help from a restaurateur, an economist, an anti-poverty campaigner, and a light golden Chablis.
Tuesday, June 25
SUBVERTING IDENTITY
Identity is our rock, the very foundation of who we are, and how we present ourselves to the world. But identity is also a slippery, malleable thing, unpredictably shaped by forces internal and external. Writers often map the grey zones of identity, and the 2023 winners of Governor General's Literary Awards are no exception. Hear fiction, essays, poetry, and thinking on the theme of subverting identity in this annual IDEAS collaboration with CBC Books and the Canada Council for the Arts. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 12, 2024.
Wednesday, June 26
MASSEY AT 60: PAYAM AKHAVAN
In 2017, renowned Canadian human rights lawyer Payam Akhavan delivered the Massey Lectures — In Search of a Better World: A Human Rights Odyssey. The lectures recount how some of his most formative experiences — his family's flight from Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, his work for UN Tribunals prosecuting those responsible for ethnic cleansing in Bosnia in the early 1990s and for the Rwandan genocide of 1994 — galvanized his commitment to pursuing justice for the victims of human rights abuses. As part of the Massey at 60 series, marking six decades of the Massey Lectures, Akhavan reflects upon how the themes explored in his lectures have taken on even more relevance in the divided, conflict-ridden world of today.
Thursday, June 27
PAYAM AKHAVAN'S MASSEY LECTURE: THE KNOWLEDGE OF SUFFERING
Payam Akhavan's 2017 Massey Lectures — In Search of a Better World: A Human Rights Odyssey — recounts his journey from a boy arriving in Canada after fleeing Iran with his family in 1979, to becoming one of the world's most renowned human rights lawyer. He's worked investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of some of the most egregious atrocities of the past 35 years. In the first lecture, Akhavan tells of the courage and indomitable spirit of his childhood friend, Mona Mahmudnizhad, who was executed for defying Iranian authorities and speaking out about religious freedom. Her example compelled him to make it his mission to fight for justice for people who have suffered at the hands of human rights abusers.
Friday, June 28
THE GENOCIDE PROBLEM: WILLIAM SCHABAS
When does killing in a time of war become a genocide — the deliberate attempt to wipe out some, or all, of a national, ethnic, religious or racial group? There is universal agreement that the Nazi attempt to annihilate the Jews and the Roma people during the Second World War constituted genocide, but parsing the differences between genocide and other crimes against humanity is complex. A Genocide Convention exists, and was one of the founding documents of the United Nations in 1948. Yet applying the laws against genocide since that time has been a struggle. Canadian scholar William Schabas wrote one of the first and most important books on the subject. He's in conversation with Nahlah Ayed.
