By Sean Graham This week I talk with Judith Weisenfeld, author of Black Religion in the Madhouse: Race & Psychiatry in Slavery’s Wake. We discuss about the origins of the book, how the antebellum period shaped perceptions of African American religion, and the role of ‘religious excitement’ in insanity diagnoses. We also chat about the connections between race and religion,… Read more »
Gordon S. Barker This is the second post in a series on tariffs based on a roundtable organized at Bishop’s University in February 2025. Read the introduction by David Webster here and the first post by Heather McKeen-Edwards here. Donald Trump’s transactional use of tariffs does not break new ground. In fact, tariffs have played an instrumental role in American… Read more »
By Robert Englebert The tariff war has begun. Since coming into office only weeks ago, Donald Trump’s on-and-off again threat of taking a sledgehammer to free trade has kept Canadians on edge. Canadians are angry and frustrated, especially at Trump’s continued assertion that our country is not viable and that we should become the 51st state. I am not… Read more »
Donald Wright Against the backdrop of the American election, and the vow to make America great yet again, I am reminded that there is a competing, and more expansive, definition of great with a long and inspiring history. But first, Donald Trump. He has co-opted the word, made it his own, and compelled it to do his bidding. Make America… Read more »
https://media.rss.com/whatsoldisnews/2024_11_07_05_07_53_be7eb30e-8d63-44a2-b2fd-af0c4d6025b5.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham This week, I talk with Holly Miowak Guise, author of Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II. We talk about the lived memory of the Second World War in Alaska, the American occupation of Alaska, and the diversity of the local population. We also discuss local community responses to the… Read more »
https://media.rss.com/whatsoldisnews/2024_10_16_04_11_19_e64b655c-ea72-4d8a-ba95-b2ba67e4284b.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham This week, I talk with Jennifer Clark, author of Producing Feminism: Television Work in the Age of Women’s Liberation. We discuss the role of women in the television in the 1970s, the ways in which women organized, and how societal changes were reflected in the industry. We also chat about the… Read more »
https://media.rss.com/whatsoldisnews/2024_10_02_03_46_00_0c47c98c-87d4-4f23-854d-81b52bafd1d2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham This week I talk with Rosemary Pennington, author of Pop Islam: Seeing American Muslims in Popular Media. We discuss how Ms Marvel contributed to the book’s origins, what forms of media are included in the book, and how stereotypes of Muslims are perpetuated in popular culture. We also chat about the… Read more »
J.M. Opal Anniversaries make you feel old and young at the same time. An important date marks the time, reminding you of how many years you’ve already trod during your sojourn on Earth. Then again, these dates also promise renewal, a chance to clean slates and start fresh. Today’s inauguration of Joseph Biden will be the 58th anniversary of this… Read more »
By Samantha Cutrara We all breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday afternoon when the news came out that Biden/Harris won the American election. But up until that point, many of us sat on our phones or in front of our laptops or TVs in anticipation of the election results. On Tuesday night specifically, many of us kept refreshing the… Read more »
https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/History-Slam-158.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham The years following the Second World War saw major changes to American society, from the rise of suburbs to powerful social movements to shifting international priorities. Within that change, popular culture took on a new significance in American life as television spread across the country and radio stations increasingly shifted to… Read more »
