The Institute’s Year in Review 2024
December 18, 2024 | Ruby Wang
The Institute is the IAH’s podcast where we profile faculty, IAH grant recipients, and guest lecturers to share their expertise in teaching, service and research. At the end of each episode, we ask guests about a piece of media that has made a significant impact on them. From novels to theater productions, we’re looking back what each guest shared in 2024.
Episode 132: International Collaborative Research with Associate Professor Andrea Bohlman
In January, The Institute invited associate professor of music Andrea Bohlman to share the research she conducted with the Summer International Collaborative Research grant. She recommended “A Sound Map of the Danube” by Annea Lockwood, a three-hour installation piece of the Danube River.
“The Danube goes through Central Europe and then southeastern Europe, and it makes me think about the complexity of those histories and how they sound,” Bohlman said, describing the impact the installation had on her.
Episode 133 – Examining Biblical Texts with Assistant Professor Hugo Mendez
Then, Hugo Mendez (FFP ’22) came on the podcast in February to share his recent book projects. He cited Patricia A. Rosenmeyer’s Ancient Epistolary Fictions as a work that made an impact on his book project on Biblical texts.
According to Mendez, “her book helped me entertain possibilities for how ancient texts might have been written that I had never thought of before.”
Episode 134 – Weil Speaker Judy Woodruff on ‘America at the Crossroads’
A few weeks before Judy Woodruff came on campus to deliver the 2024 Weil Lecture, IAH Director Patricia Parker interviewed Woodruff on her career in journalism. When asked about her favorite book, Woodruff confessed how she couldn’t exactly cite one book: “I’m trying to think of one book. I wouldn’t be honest to say one book changed my life.”
Instead, Woodruff recalls how Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens made an impact on her growing up. She also recommended Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.
Episode 135 – Historian Michelle King and the Impact of Fu Pei-mei
For the first episode of the fall semester, we invited associate professor of history Michelle King (FFP ’23). Specializing in modern Chinese gender history and food history, King shared the research behind her book Chop Fry Watch Learn.
In terms of books that impacted her, she cited The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal and The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman.
“What is so great about both these books is they open up an entire world to you that you did not know existed… you could travel in that way and immersively experience history and cultures. When a good book does that — I mean, that’s what I aspire to do.”
Episode 136 – Adam Versényi on Dramaturgy, Translation, and the Chairs Leadership Program
In October, CLP Director and professor of dramaturgy Adam Versényi (FFP ’93, ALP ’04) joined us to discuss his collaborations in dramaturgy and translation. He also shares how “the first piece of theater I ever saw was when I was five years old… I saw my mother as Jenny Diver in Brecht’s Three Penny Opera.”
Along with the 1928 play by Bertolt Brecht, Versényi mentions the Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, Dune by Frank Herbert, and The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, among many others.
Episode 137 – How Inger Brodey Applies Public Humanities to Jane Austen Scholarship and SCiLL
In the fall, Inger Brodey (FFP ’11, ’24) started her service as Associate Dean and faculty member in the School of Civic Life and Leadership. She shared a conversation with the IAH about her new role, details about her Jane Austen scholarship, and Japanese aesthetics.
Because traditional Japanese aesthetic has had a profound influence on Brodey, she cites the Ryoanji temple garden rather than a work of literature. Brodey describes the Ryoanji temple garden as a Japanese Zen Garden with 15 stones, “but you can never see them all from any angle at once. And the idea is that truth can never be complete, or any one person’s access to it is limited, and I love that.”
This month, IAH Faculty Director for Strategic Initiatives Milada Vachudova (FFP ’05, ’15) joins The Institute to discuss her research on democratic backsliding in Europe and her new role at the IAH. She recommended Under a Cruel Star by Heda Margolius Kovály.
“I really recommend that to anyone who wants to understand 20th century European history,” said Vachudova of the book, which is about a young Czech Jewish woman who survives the Holocaust and later returns to Czechoslovakia. “[Kovály] writes this book for students to try to help them understand how authoritarian and totalitarian regimes operate and how individuals can be crushed by them but still remain resilient and have hope.”
New episodes of The Institute are released on a monthly basis during the school year. Listen to all episodes from 2024 and upcoming episodes of The Institute by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
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