Podcasts

Joe Salvatore - Development of the American Musical Form

Professor Joe Salavatore gives an historical overview of the American Musical Form as it developed over the 20th Century. The lecture is part of the course "Introduction to Theatre as Art Form" which introduces students to theatre as a live and performing art through a variety of experiences including attendance at live performances, readings of play scripts and theoretical texts, and the creation of original plays.
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Jonathan Zimmerman - Slavery and Abolition - The Culture Wars

According to James Marone, '[t]he struggle to curb dangerous others shapes American political thought and culture in every area. Enforcing the lines between us and them turns American policies into their distinctive forms: a first-world laggard in traditional social welfare programs, an international leader in government efforts to control (or improve or uplift) its people.' This lecture explores how the "us-and-them" division that developed in the first half of the nineteenth century. Does the history of this division gives us any clues about whether—and how—we might transcend it? Part of Jonthan Zimmerman's course The Culture Wars in America: Past, Present, and Future. (Full Syllabus)
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Biella Coleman - The Social Organization of F/OSS projects

Professor Biella Coleman (@BiellaColeman) and her students are visited by four open source developers to discuss the culture surrounding projects like Debian (a free operating system) and Drupal (a widely used content management system). The developers discuss subjects like cryptography, online identity, how conflicts between hackers are resolved, gender issues in the programming community, and their favorite Unix command. From the course Hacker Culture and Politics (View Syllabus).
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Robert Rowe - Music and the Brain

How do we process music and how does our brain understand rhythm, meter, and harmony? Why do certain kinds of music produce certain emotions? Professor Robert Rowe and his students examine these and many other questions in this class from the course The Psychology of Music (View Syllabus).
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Marcelo Suárez-Orozco - Immigrant Agency: Assimilation and Beyond

Immigration is now a global issue and the US is at the forefront of a new set of world-wide dynamics. For the first time in human history all regions of the world are involved in large scale migration: approximately 20 people cross national boundaries every second. Love, Work, and War are behind new migratory practices that cannot be easily managed by the apparatus of the state. This lecture is from Professor Marcel Suarez-Orozco's course Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the New Immigration (View Syllabus).
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Marita Sturken - The "Creative Revolution" of the 1960s Advertising

Advertising is is a key economic force in contemporary American society with social implications that cut to the heart of consumerism. Professor Marita Sturken's course Advertising in Society (View Syllabus) surveys the history of Advertising in the United States from the 19th - 21st centuries. This lecture focuses on how the counter-culture of the 1960's changed the strategies of advertisers and their role in our cultural ideology.
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Pedro Noguera - The State of Education in America

Dr. Pedro Noguera discusses the issues facing students in the United States and how inequality in our society undermines our ability educate children. Children come to schools with very different needs, and public education does not have the resources to meet all of those needs. Dr. Noguera questions whether a standardized test can be used as evidence of learning and how children of all backgrounds can have access to a better life.
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