Reflecting History

Traveling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find out he's been transformed into some sort of hideous bug. The story that follows in Franz Kafka's masterpiece "The Metamorphosis" offers insight into human nature, identity, change, the nature of kindness, and more. Does the mundane and day to day nature of life rob us of our spirituality and turn us all into monsters? What is the hideous bug that Gregor has tu...

Traveling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find out he's been transformed into some sort of hideous bug. The story that follows in Franz Kafka's masterpiece "The Metamorphosis" offers insight into human nature, identity, change, the nature of kindness, and more. Does the mundane and day to day nature of life rob us of our spirituality and turn us all into monsters? What is the hideous bug that Gregor has turned into an...

Traveling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find out he's been transformed into some sort of hideous bug. The story that follows in Franz Kafka's masterpiece "The Metamorphosis" offers insight into human nature, identity, change, the nature of kindness, and more. Does the mundane and day to day nature of life rob us of our spirituality and turn us all into monsters? What is the hideous bug that Gregor has turned into an...

While not being the book many fans wanted (and still haven’t gotten…), George R.R. Martin’s 2018 “Fire and Blood”, a fictional history prequel to "A Game of Thrones" is worthy of historical examination in its own right. Aside from being a lesson to historians in how to write entertaining, captivating history, it also offers insight into some of the bigger themes and ideas related to the study of history and the historical process. ...

Hello everyone, here is a bonus episode from my Patreon feed. Hope you enjoy it. It's been an amazing run for a long time now, so thank you for all the support and appreciation over the years. It means a lot. Hope you have a great year. 

How do we find meaning in an infinite universe? Is the pursuit of meaning a meaningful pursuit? Can humanity contemplate the meaning of the infinite? How is any of this relevant to daily life? Jorg...

This is Part II in a two part series on Alfonso Cuaron's 2018 masterpiece "Roma." This episode covers the second half of the movie and discusses themes of loneliness, isolation, and belonging. It also looks at struggles over land reform in the Mexican countryside, one of the primary instigators of the Dirty War. Finally it examines the 1971 Corpus Christi Massacre, a seminal moment in Mexican history. One of my favorite movies, I r...

The story of an indigenous housekeeper in 1970's Mexico City allows us to examine themes of Mexican history-class, race, status, violence, and more. As the Dirty War rages in the Mexican countryside, that violence starts to creep into the urban world and the personal life of the main character-Cleo. Both a personal and universal journey, the film is meant to be somewhat autobiographical account of director Alfonzo Cuaron's early li...

For the victims of the Mexican Dirty War and their families, all that's left of it now is spaces of memory. This episode is Part VI in a series on the Mexican Dirty War and takes a final look at the ideas of historical narrative being fluid, as well as the concept of history as a memory.  

-Consider Supporting the Podcast!-

Leave a rating or review on apple podcasts or spotify!

Suppor...

Does it make any sense to compare individual personality and memory to historical and collective memory? Much like our own memories, the past is often remembered according to the needs of the present. The Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968 offers an opportunity to think about questions of nationalism, historical memory, and collective identity. 

This episode is Part V in a series on the Mexican Dirty War. It discus...

Is violence necessary for change? The Mexican Dirty War provides an interesting lens through which to view this question. Leftist geurrilla movements in Mexico were made up of a diversity of disaffected and disenfranchised people who made several failed attempts to uproot corruption and authoritarianism. At what point should peace turn into violence?

This episode is Part IV in a series on the Mexican Dirty W...

What caused the Mexican Dirty War? A combination of economic, social, and political grievances built up over the course of hundreds of years to finally explode in the mid-20th century. The geurrilla warfare and the brutal counter-insurgent response from the government during the Dirty War had their roots in historical grievances and narratives that motivated ordinary people in Mexico through decades and centuries.

How does the broader context of history affect our personal lives on a daily basis? How does historical memory and narrative storytelling change the way we view the past and the present? This episode asks these questions in the context of the Mexican Dirty War by analyzing the conflict through the lens of the broader themes of Mexican history. Although history may be in the past, it's...

The Mexican Dirty War was fought from the 1960's into the 1980's between the Mexican government and geurrilla insurgents. Geurrilla warfare and government counter-insurgency would be a reality of life in many parts of Mexico for years-thousands would lose their lives, families and communities would be destroyed, and grief would linger for generations.

This episode is Part I in a series on the Mexican Dirty W...

"History is a dialogue between the past and the present." So how do we know anything about history? To what extent is our knowledge of history merely modern day historians projecting their own thoughts and interpretations on the past? How do we know that ancient peoples felt the same emotions we do? What role should emotion, feeling, and motivation play in the study of history? Archaelogist Guy Middleton's paper "I Will Follow You ...

"Sometimes I burn barns."

Things aren't always what they seem in Haruki Murakami's surreal and incredible short story "Barn Burning." What could be read on the surface as the tale of a love triangle and a little arson actually offers insight into the banality of evil, the ambiguity of responsibility, the power of memory, the nature of disappearance, and the reality of metaphor. Much like the narrator, after ...

In a dystopian future, humanity is faced with a choice: upload your consciousness into a machine and live forever in paradise, or stay behind and continue being human as we've come to know it. In his short story "Staying Behind," Ken Liu explores a possible future that feels all too real. In the process the story asks big questions about the nature of humanity: what does it mean to be human? What makes life meaningful? ...

In this episode I spoke with historian Chad Williams about his latest book-"The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War" We discussed the legacy of Du Bois; his views on identity and double consciousness; World War I and it's causes; the role of black americans and black soldiers in World War I; the connection between race, capitalism, socialism, and the labor movements of the early 20th century; the Great Migration a...

“The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; it’s kindness infinite.” Piranesi lives in an infinite house, with no long-term memory and only a loose sense of identity. As the secrets of the House deepen and the mystery of his life becomes more sinister, Piranesi must discover who he is and how this brings him closer to the “Great and Secret Knowledge” that the House contains. Touching on themes of memory, identity, mental health, know...

What if it was possible to "remember" the future? What if our typical conceptions of cause and effect didn't tell the whole story? If the story of your life was laid out in front of you, how would that change you as a person and your relationship with the people around you? All of these questions and more are discussed in this episode that takes a look at Ted Chiang's legendary short story "Story of Your Life," the inspiration for ...