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Category: Podcast

Translating Homer’s Odyssey, with Daniel Mendelsohn and Jordan Johansen

Categories: Podcast

Daniel Mendelsohn discusses his new translation of Homer’s Odyssey (University of Chicago Press) with Jordan Johansen, Assistant Professor of Classics in the Department of World Languages and Literatures at the University of Utah. They discuss the musicality of translating Homer’s poetry for the human voice, the discovery of sarcastic swineherd personalities, and the 15-hour marathon […]

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November 3, 2025

Writing and memory, with Jesmyn Ward and Kase Johnstun

Categories: Podcast

Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward speaks with Kase Johnstun of Utah Humanities about the craft of writing, resilience, and historical memory, in anticipation of her 2025 David P. Gardner Graduate Lecture in the Humanities and Fine Arts. Ward’s lecture is hosted by the Tanner Humanities Center and the Salt Lake City Public Library, and is part of […]

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October 20, 2025

Humanities perspectives on AI, with Lizzie Callaway and Rebekah Cummings

Categories: Podcast

The leaders of the University of Utah summer institute Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence, Elizabeth Callaway and Rebekah Cummings, join Scott Black to discuss the human limitations of AI, as well as the points of contact between AI and the humanities. Links: Marriott Library, The ARPANET Project Brigham Young University, Office Digital Humanities Catherine D’Ignazio […]

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September 24, 2025

The humanities and public life, with Jodi Graham and Scott Black

Categories: Podcast

YouTube     Apple Podcasts     Spotify What are the humanities, and how do they function in our daily lives? It might be that they’re primarily academic disciplines studied in universities and cultural institutions. Or some say they’re the everyday conversations and reflections that make us fully human—like discussing a movie with friends or questioning […]

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August 22, 2025

Authenticity work, with Kate Bowler and Gretchen Case

Categories: Podcast

YouTube     Apple Podcasts     Spotify Kate Bowler joins Gretchen Case to discuss authenticity in academic, spiritual, and medical life; the limits of toxic positivity; and how joy can be both a surprise and a discipline. Reflecting on her own experience, Bowler examines what it means to seek truth and integrity within imperfect systems […]

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July 25, 2025

Race, Religion, and Slavery in Antebellum Utah – Paul Reeve and Jordan Watkins

Categories: Podcast

YouTube     Apple Podcasts     Spotify Historians Paul Reeve and Jordan Watkins discuss This Abominable Slavery: Race, Religion, and the Battle over Human Bondage in Antebellum Utah (by Reeve, Christopher B. Rich, Jr., and LaJean Purcell Carruth), published by Oxford University Press in 2024. Their discussion explores the origins and transcription of primary sources integral to […]

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July 17, 2025

Aesthetic experience, with Bryan Counter and Nathan Wainstein

Categories: Podcast

This episode features Bryan Counter (Framingham State University) discussing his new book Four Moments of Aesthetic Experience: Reading Huysmans, Proust, McCarthy, and Cusk (published by Anthem Press) with Nathan Wainstein (Department of English, University of Utah). Counter theorizes aesthetic experience as something that mediates between subjective judgment and objective art, emphasizing the role of chance, […]

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June 23, 2025

Abolitionist, Saint, Queen: Balthild of Francia – Isabel Moreira and Scott Black

Categories: Podcast

A slave becomes Queen and later is sainted for her work as an abolitionist. A new book by Isabel Moreira (Distinguished Professor of History, University of Utah) explores not only the life of Balthild of Francia (c. 633-80), but also the methods of late-medieval historical research. Professor Moreira discusses Balthild of Francia: Anglo-Saxon Slave, Merovingian […]

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June 12, 2025

Mistrusting the news, with Jake Nelson and Robert Carson

Categories: Podcast

YouTube     Apple Podcasts     Spotify Under what conditions do people trust the news, if at all? How did Covid lockdown change news consumption? What are we to think of journalists who leave establishment news organizations and build their own following on platforms like Substack?  And does our mistrust of news organizations mirror mistrust […]

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May 15, 2025