The AskHistorians Podcast

Latest Episodes:

AskHistorians Podcast 059 - Abolition and Emancipation in the British Caribbean Apr 02, 2016

Show notes

Sowser discusses the end of slavery in the British Caribbean. We cover ideas held now (and then) about the death rates in the area, misconceptions about the role of the Irish, the 1807 abolition of the slave trade, and the political movements leading up official emancipation. Also covered are the failure of the apprenticeship system, payments made to slave owners, and the lasting legacy of slavery in the Caribbean. (73min)

AskHistorians Podcast 058 - Colonial German Venezuela Mar 18, 2016

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Yawarpoma explores the 16th Century colony in what is now Venezuela, granted by Charles V to a German banking family, the Welsers. The colony, established in the same period as Spanish successes in Mexico and Peru, struggled to meet those successes by searching for a quick route to the Pacific and for the fabled city of gold, always just one more valley over. Yet, at the same time, the Germans led some of the first European expeditions into northern South America, though they would occasionally race against and even clash with Spanish rivals in an attempt to stake a claim to wealth and territory.

AskHistorians Podcast 057 - Intentionalism and Functionalism in the Holocaust Mar 04, 2016

Show notes

Commiespaceinvader explores the academic debate over the causes and the development of the Holocaust. We discuss the early steps taken by the Nazis to make Jewish life untenable within Germany, ghettoization, the Madagascar Plan, and finally, the transition to mass murder. These actions are viewed through the lens of the intentionalism and functionalism debate, which has at its core the question of not just of why the Holocaust came about, but also the question of assigning culpability for its development. (73min)

AskHistorians Podcast 056 - AskHistorians Panel Presentation at the 2016 AHA Conference Feb 19, 2016

Show notes

For those who missed the live stream (and for posterity), the presentation by AskHistorians at the 2016 American Historical Association meeting in Atlanta, GA is presented here in full. The title of the panel session was "AskHistorians": Outreach and Its Challenges in an Online Space and featured five presentations on how AskHistorians has created, grown, sustained, and moderated an online space for historical discussion.

You can read our papers here: https://askhistorians.com/conferences/aha2016.html

AskHistorians Podcast 055 - History and Folklore Feb 05, 2016

Show notes

Ronald James, a historian and folklorist with 30 years of experience with the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office, Inductee into the Nevada Writer's Hall of Fame, former chair of the National Historic Landmarks Committee, and author of more than a dozen books, including The Roar And The Silence: A History Of Virginia City And The Comstock Lode and Introduction to Folklore: Traditional Studies in Europe and Elsewhere, takes some time to speak to the AskHistorians Podcast.

This episode looks at the development and practice of folklore as an academic discipline, while also exploring folkloric traditions from Cornwall, particular those spirits known as "Knockers." The importance of folktales and legends in everyday life are discussed, as well how those tales can change over time and in different situations, such as immigration from Cornwall to the American West. (59min)

AskHistorians Podcast 054 - East and West After the Fall of Rome Jan 22, 2016

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Shlin28 sheds light on the relationship between the eastern and western regions of Europe/Mediterranean in the centuries following the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire. This episode particularly focuses on the political nature of the interactions, while also discussing Justinian's restoration of Imperial control, religious schisms of the era, and the expansion of Muslim power in the latter part of the 7th Century. (70min)

AskHistorians Podcast 053 - Haitian Vodou Jan 08, 2016

Show notes

The podcast takes turn for the anthropological as Firedrops discusses Haitian Vodou, including some of her own fieldwork. This episode starts by asking what distinguishes it from "cousin" practices in the Caribbean and American South before moving into Vodou's role in Haitian society from the Colonial era to Independence and up through to today. We also look at the way American society has been exposed to Vodou, though the 1915 US Invasion of Haiti, sensationalist media, early scholarly works, and Haitian immigration. Zombies are discussed. (74min)

AskHistorians Podcast 052 - The People's Temple and Jonestown Dec 25, 2015

Show notes

cordis_melum discusses the group led by Jim Jones known as the People's Temple. We explore its development from a integration minded church in Indianapolis with socialist tendencies to it's final chapter of mass suicide in the jungles of Guyana. This episode aims to look at the People's Temple not as an inexplicable cult, but as an extreme response to the social and political situation of America at that time, set against the backdrop of the Cold War. (83min)

AskHistorians Podcast 051 - Zimbabwe, Part 2 Dec 11, 2015

Show notes

We wrap up our conversation with Rhodes regarding Zimbabwe. This episode picks up in the mid-20th century, as decolonization sweeps across Africa. We examine the efforts of the white minority to hold on to power, leading to the Unilateral Declaration of Independence and onwards to the Bush War. We continue through the Lancaster Agreement into post-independence Zimbabwe, the rise of Mugabe, and the Gukurahundi. The disastrous land reforms and hyperinflation are also discussed in the context of Zimbabwe as a symbolic state as much as it is a new one. (89min)

AskHistorians Podcast 050 - Zimbabwe, Part 1 Nov 20, 2015

Show notes

ProfRhodes educates us on the history of the modern nation of Zimbabwe starting by introducing the Shona and Ndebele, and proceeding forward with Cecil Rhodes, the British South Africa Company, the Rudd Concession, and the Pioneer Column. This episode, the first of two, takes us through those late 19th Century events up until the formation of the Central African Federation and post-war decolonizations in Sub-Saharan Africa. (67min)

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