Humanities Now
Humanities Now is the official podcast of the Humanities Center at Texas Tech. We feature conversations with members of the humanities community at Texas Tech University. With every episode, these varied voices help us realize the Center’s mission: asking out loud, “What does it mean to be human?” and demonstrating how can we answer that question from so many different perspectives.
Episodes
21 episodes
On Shakespeare, Monkeys, and the Divine: A Conversation with Heather Warren-Crow and T.J. Geiger II
Could a gaggle of monkeys randomly typing produce a literary classic? Could they by chance produce the complete works of Shakespeare, as many have speculated in an ongoing thought experiment for over a century now.These questions are the...
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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40:10
On the Value of the Avant-Garde: Jerry Hunt Visits Lubbock
In this episode, Michael Borshuk looks back on our February art exhibition, Jerry Hunt: Transmissions from the Pleroma, which the Humanities Center hosted in collaboration with Brooklyn's Blank Forms and the TTU School of Art. In think...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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25:10
On Censorship: Conversations with Rob Weiner and Belinda Kleinhans
On this episode, we continue our Value/Values theme by thinking about the value of confronting works of art that challenge our values. Michael Borshuk speaks with Rob Weiner from Texas Tech libraries about transgressive cinema and...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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46:29
Our Theme for 2023-2024 is Value/Values!
On the first episode of our new season, Michael Borshuk introduces our programming theme for 2023-2024, Value/Values. Speaking about recent volatile debates in American universities about fiscal responsibility and academic programming,...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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23:25
Living with #longcovid: A Conversation with Dr. Bill Poirier
On this episode, Michael Borshuk speaks with Dr. Bill Poirier, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Joint Professor of Physics, and Chancellor’s Council Distinguished Research Awardee at Texas Tech. In a very personal conversation, Bi...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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31:52
A Conversation about Art and The Body with Ghi Fremaux and Lando Valdez
As we continue the Humanities Center's year-long Health theme we move to a conversation about art and the body with Texas Tech School of Art faculty member Ghi Fremaux and her collaborative partner Lando Valdez. As As Ghi and Lan...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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29:17
A Conversation on Public Health with Dr. Paul Bjerk and Dr. Heri Tungaraza
On this episode, a special feature to continue our ongoing conversation about health: a conversation between one of the members of our Health programming theme this year, TTU History professor Dr. Paul Bjerk, and Dr. Heri Tungaraza, a ...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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22:31
Our Theme for 2022-2023 is Health!
As we return from hiatus to begin a new season, we introduce the Humanities Center's programming theme for 2022-2023: "Health." This year, we will imagine multiple ways of being healthy, and critique definitions of wellness or ability. We will ...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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35:14
Happy Anniversary to Women's and Gender Studies: Elissa Zellinger and Julie Willett in Conversation
On our season finale, we wish a happy fortieth anniversary to Texas Tech's Women's and Gender Studies program by talking at length with two WGS-affiliated faculty members about their recent books. Dr. Elissa Zellinger from the Department ...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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54:37
A Conversation with Dr. Bryan K. Hotchkins: "My Black is Exhausted"
On this first episode back from winter break, we sit down with Dr. Bryan K. Hotchkins, a faculty member in TTU's College of Education, to hear about his new book My Black is Exhausted: Forever in Pursuit of a Racist-free World Where Ha...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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44:30
Dr. Sebastian Ramirez on the Importance of Philosophy to Anti-Racism
For our final fall episode before our winter break hiatus, Michael Borshuk sits down with Dr. Sebastian Ramirez, the Humanities Center's 2021-2022 Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Humanities. Sebastian speaks with us about his research on whit...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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44:39
How Can Art Support Anti-Racism?
On this episode, we think about the relationship between art, racism, and social justice as we continue to engage our year-long Anti-Racism theme. We speak with Dra. Leslie C. Sotomayor II, Visiting Assistant Professor of Women's...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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48:15
Our Theme for 2021-2022 is Anti-Racism!
On this first episode of season two, Michael Borshuk sits down with members of the programming team for the Center's scholarly theme for 2021-2022, Anti-Racism. We hear from Dr. Nadia Flores-Yeffal, dr. aretha marbley, Dr. J...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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48:15
Alumni College Fellows IV: New Perspectives on Everyday Life
On this final episode of our first season, we conclude our ongoing discussion with this year's Alumni College Fellows by considering the new perspectives their research offers on the texture of everyday life. We hear from Dr. Heather Warr...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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37:47
Alumni College Fellows III: New Perspectives on Freedom, Culture, and Identity
On this episode, we continue visiting with our 2020-2021 Alumni College Fellows as they lead us in conversation on the relationship between who we are, how much freedom we possess, and the cultures we navigate in establishing either of the two....
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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39:04
Alumni College Fellows II: New Perspectives on Art, Aesthetics, and the World at Large
On this episode, we reflect on creativity in its worldly context as we continue to visit with the Humanities Center’s most recent cohort of Alumni College fellows. Our topic is New Perspectives on Art, Aesthetics, and the World at Large,...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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43:55
Alumni College Fellows I: New Perspectives on History and Society
As we come back from winter break, we begin a new sequence of episodes featuring the research of our 2020-2021 Alumni College Fellows. Between now and May, we have arranged our twelve scholars into four audio panels, all speaking under th...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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38:57
Meet our Working Groups
To wrap up our first half-season before we take a pause for winter break, we discuss the Humanities Center's focus on interdisciplinary collaboration by introducing two of our funded working groups. Belinda Kleinhans tell us the history o...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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27:31
Democracy and Elections
In this special Election Day episode, we put our democracy in context through various humanities perspectives. Sydnor Roy helps us compare American democracy with its long ago antecedents in ancient Athens, Carol Flueckiger tells us about her n...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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31:16
The Electric Guitar in American Culture
On this episode, Michael Borshuk speaks with musicologists Roger Landes and Christopher J. Smith about their recurring conference "The Electric Guitar in American Culture," hosted here in Lubbock at Texas Tech. We hear about what makes th...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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52:09
Our Theme for 2020-2021 is Forests!
In this inaugural episode, Michael Borshuk, Director of the Humanities Center at Texas Tech, introduces you to the Center and its mission by previewing our scholarly theme for 2020-2021: Forests. We hear from our theme programmers, Bruce ...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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33:24