Arts & Ideas

Kick-starting second-wave feminism with her 1949 book The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir was a key member of the Parisian circle of Existentialists alongside Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Her philosophical influences include Descartes and Bergson, phenomenology via Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, the assessment of society put forward by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and ideas about idealism from Immanuel Kant and GWF Hegel. Shahidha Bari and her guests consider her role in contemporary philosophy and Lauren Elkin describes translating a newly discovered novel The Inseparables.Kathryn Belle is Associate Professor of Philosophy, Pennsylvania State UniversitySkye Cleary is Lecturer, Barnard CollegeLauren Elkin is a Writer and translator of Simone de Beauvoir's The Inseparables, which follows two friends growing up and falling apart.Kate Kirkpatrick is Fellow in Philosophy and Christian Ethics, Regent’s Park College, University of OxfordRecorded in partnership with LSE Forum for Philosophy. You can find a playlist of Free Thinking discussions about philosophy on the programme website https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07x0twx You can find a Radio 3 Sunday Feature hearing from some of our guests and archive of Simone de Beauvoir called Afterwords: Simone de Beauvoir https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011m4hProducer: Luke Mulhall

Deciphering Dickens's shorthand, how the National Health Service uses graphic art to convey messages, creating a comic strip from Greek myths: these are some of the events taking place at the annual Being Human Festival in which universities around the UK introduce their research in a series of public talks, walks, workshops and performances. Laurence Scott meets some of those taking part and discusses different ways of recording and presenting information from comics to coded notebooks, to a scheme that projected books onto the ceilings of hospitals, which made it possible for thousands of people with disabilities to read after the Second World War.Dr Claire Wood is at the University of Leicester. Her event is called Cracking the Dickens CodeProfessor Anna Feigenbaum is at the University of Bournemouth. Her event is called Covid Comics and Me. Find out more at https://www.covidcomics.org/Dr Amanda Potter is at the Open University. Her event is called Greek Mythology Comic Writing WorkshopProfessor Matthew Rubery is at Queen Mary University of London. His event is called Projected Books for Veterans of the Second World WarThe Being Human Festival runs from November 11th to 20th https://beinghumanfestival.org/Producer: Phoebe McFarlane.This New Thinking episode of the Arts and Ideas podcast was made in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UKRI. You can find other programmes hearing insights from academics in our New Research playlist on the Free Thinking programme website https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03zws90

Melting perma-frost in Alaska has led to crooked housing, an eroded air-strip and changes to the hunting and fishing diets of the inhabitants. But are their views and experiences being properly registered in our discussions about climate change? Today's conversation looks at the idea of climate justice. Des Fitzgerald is talking about community based research with: Dr Tahrat Shahid - the Challenge Leader for Food Systems, and cross-portfolio Gender Advisor at the Global Challenges Research Fund, a UK government fund managed primarily by UK Research and Innovation. https://www.newton-gcrf.org/gcrf/challenge-leaders/dr-tahrat-shahid/ and Dr. Rick Knecht - Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at University of Aberdeen where he specialises in working with the Yup’ik communities of Alaska, both past and present https://www.abdn.ac.uk/geosciences/people/profiles/r.knechtProfessor Des Fitzgerald is a New Generation Thinker based at the University of Exeter.The podcast series Green Thinking is 26 episodes 26 minutes long looking at issues relating to COP26 made in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UKRI. It explores the latest research and ideas around understanding and tackling the climate and nature emergency.The podcasts are all available from the Arts & Ideas podcast feed - and collected on the Free Thinking website under Green Thinking where you can also find programmes on mushrooms, forests, rivers, eco-criticism and soil. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07zg0r2For more information about the research the AHRC’s supports around climate change and the natural world you can visit: Responding to climate change – UKRI or follow @ahrcpress on twitter. To join the discussion about the research covered in this podcast and the series please use the hashtag #GreenThinkingPodcast.Producer: Sofie Vilcins

Cold, civil, world, uprising, conflict, war on terror: Anne McElvoy and her guests Elif Shafak, Christina Lamb, Lincoln Jopp and Hilary Roberts explore the impact of the words we use to describe conflict. The Imperial War Museum has just revamped its "Second World War" galleries with changed dates and a wider focus and Cold War history is being rewritten in the light of current politics. So this year's Remembrance discussion asks how does language affect attitudes to war?Elif Shafak's latest novel The Island of Missing Trees explores the division of Cyprus. Journalist Christina Lamb's books include Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women and Farewell Kabul: From Afghanistan to a More Dangerous World and with Nujeen Mustafa she published The Girl from Aleppo: Nujeen's Escape from War to Freedom and with Malala Yousafzai she published I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. Hilary Roberts is the IWM's Senior Curator and Historian of Cold War and Late 20th Century Conflict. Total War: A People’s History of the Second World War and The Holocaust by IWM curators Kate Clements, Paul Cornish and Vikki Hawkins an illustrated history of the Second World War, told with the help of personal stories from across the globe has been published to mark the re-opening of the IWM galleries. Lieutenant-Colonel Lincoln Jopp MC (retired) discussed war and modern memory on Free Thinking https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07jlbvp and at the Free Thinking Festival he debated decision making and quick reactions with Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Damon Hill https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08j9zshProducer: Torquil MacLeodYou can find a playlist on the Free Thinking website exploring war hearing from historians, writers, soldiers, diplomats, artists and including the previous Remembrance Discussions. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06kgbyb

Eliminating plastic from building houses, creating a house out of construction waste – rubble, chalk, ply timber and second hand nuts and bolts – and designing for circular cities are amongst the projects undertaken by Duncan Baker-Brown from the University of Brighton. Professor Flora Samuel from the University of Reading has been looking at the value of good architecture and how we can measure the social impact of sustainable housing. They talk to Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough. You can find out more about Flora’s work and publications here: https://research.reading.ac.uk/urban-living/people/fsamuel/ and https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/resources-landing-page/post-occupancy-evaluationThe Brighton Waste House: https://www.brighton.ac.uk/research-and-enterprise/feature/brighton-waste-house.aspx Designing for Circular Cities: https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/organisations/design-for-circular-cities-and-regions-dccr-research-and-enterpri-2 Dr Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough is a New Generation Thinker based at the University of Durham.The podcast series Green Thinking is 26 episodes 26 minutes long looking at issues relating to COP26 made in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UKRI. It explores the latest research and ideas around understanding and tackling the climate and nature emergency. New Generation Thinkers Des Fitzgerald and Eleanor Barraclough are in conversation with researchers about a wide-range of subjects from cryptocurrencies and finance to eco poetry and fast fashion.The podcasts are all available from the Arts & Ideas podcast feed - and collected on the Free Thinking website under Green Thinking where you can also find programmes on mushrooms, forests, rivers, eco-criticism and soil. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07zg0r2 For more information about the research the AHRC’s supports around climate change and the natural world you can visit: Responding to climate change – UKRI or follow @ahrcpress on twitter. To join the discussion about the research covered in this podcast and the series please use the hashtag #GreenThinkingPodcast. Producer: Sofie Vilcins

Modern theology often treats God as an abstract principle: a mover that doesn't move. But in the Bible, Abraham walks alongside him, Jacob (arguably) spends a night wrestling with him, Moses talks with him face to face, Ezekiel sees him sitting on a throne, and Amos sees him standing in his temple. Jesus is declared the son of God, and declares in turn that he has sat alongside God at his right hand. Biblical scholar Francesca Stavrakopoulou joins Matthew Sweet to discuss the embodied divine and what it means for our understanding of God, along with with Hetta Howes, who studies Medieval mystical Christianity, and psychotherapist and former priest Mark Vernon.On our website you can find a playlist called Free Thinking explores religious belief which includes conversations about Jewish history, Buddhism, interviews with Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins, a discussion of St John Henry Newman and about Islam and Mecca. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03mwxlpYou might also be interested in hearing the music picked out by Francesca Stavrakopoulou on Radio 3's Private Passions https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnv3Producer: Luke Mulhall

How can zines and board games help us understand climate change? Projects in Birmingham and Glasgow are using these techniques to allow young people to express their hopes and their experiences of activism. Dr Melanie Ramdarshan Bold and Simeon Shtebunaev talk to Rosamund Barraclough about why we should listen to and include the thoughts of young people. Dr Melanie Ramdarshan Bold is Senior Lecturer in Children’s Literature Studies at the University of Glasgow. More information on zine-making workshops: https://festivalofsocialscience.com/events/the-climate-in-your-hands-empowering-young-peoples-engagement-in-climate-action-through-zine-making/ Simeon Shtebunaev is a doctoral researcher and lecturer at Birmingham City University. You can find more information about ‘Are You Game For Climate Change?’ here: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/research/our-phds/news-and-events/new-board-game-to-educate-young-people-in-climate-change Both projects are funded through the AHRC’s ‘Engaging young people with climate research’ fund. More information can be found here: Food, theatre and music engage young people with climate research – UKRIThe podcast series Green Thinking is 26 episodes 26 minutes long looking at issues relating to COP26 made in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UKRI. It explores the latest research and ideas around understanding and tackling the climate and nature emergency.The podcasts are all available from the Arts & Ideas podcast feed - and collected on the Free Thinking website under Green Thinking where you can also find programmes on mushrooms, forests, rivers, eco-criticism and soil. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07zg0r2 For more information about the research the AHRC’s supports around climate change and the natural world you can visit: Responding to climate change – UKRI or follow @ahrcpress on twitter. To join the discussion about the research covered in this podcast and the series please use the hashtag #GreenThinkingPodcast.Producer: Sofie Vilcins

Is district heating, not boilers, the answer to lowering our energy use? How should we think of decommissioned factories? Professor Frank Trentmann and Dr Ben Anderson explain the concept of district heating and how cities need to adapt to be more sustainable.Frank Trentmann is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, where he is the principal investigator of the Material Cultures of Energy project.You can find more information at: http://www7.bbk.ac.uk/mce/about/ Dr Ben Anderson is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental History at Keele University. He is currently running two projects, including ‘Decommissioning the Twentieth Century’, which aims to establish a new role for local communities in decommissioning large industrial facilities.You can find more information at: https://chatterleywhitfieldfriends.org.uk/news/2524/decommissioning-the-twentieth-century/ Professor Des Fitzgerald is a New Generation Thinker based at the University of Exeter.The podcast series Green Thinking is 26 episodes 26 minutes long looking at issues relating to COP26 made in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UKRI. It explores the latest research and ideas around understanding and tackling the climate and nature emergency. New Generation Thinkers Des Fitzgerald and Eleanor Barraclough are in conversation with researchers about a wide-range of subjects from cryptocurrencies and finance to eco poetry and fast fashion.The podcasts are all available from the Arts & Ideas podcast feed - and collected on the Free Thinking website under Green Thinking where you can also find programmes on mushrooms, forests, rivers, eco-criticism and soil. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07zg0r2 For more information about the research the AHRC’s supports around climate change and the natural world you can visit: Responding to climate change – UKRI or follow @ahrcpress on twitter. To join the discussion about the research covered in this podcast and the series please use the hashtag #GreenThinkingPodcast. Producer: Sofie Vilcins

Caesars with the wrong beard, faint laurels in the background of a scene from Hogarth's A Rake's Progress and the experiences of the guardian of empty tombs, part of a ruined Neolithic necropolis in the Sharjah desert in the United Arab Emirates: Rana Mitter and his guests discuss the ghosts of history and depictions of power in art. Classicist Mary Beard has traced the collecting of images of Caesar over centuries in her latest book. Ali Cherri's artwork, born out of his experiences growing up in Lebanon, includes films like the Digger and interventions in galleries designed to make us notice what is on display and what is being hidden or erased. Alice Insley is Curator of Historic British Art at Tate Britain and she's been exploring the continental connections between Hogarth and his fellow artists.Hogarth and Europe runs at Tate Britain from November 3rd to 20th March 2022. Ali Cherri is the National Gallery’s new Artist in Residence for 2021. He is also making work inspired by the archives held by Coventry's Herbert Art Gallery and Museum. You can find examples of his work https://www.alicherri.com/ Mary Beard's book is called Twelve Caesars: Images of Power form the Ancient World to the ModernOur playlist of conversations about visual arts includes the 2021 Frieze Discussion with three directors of museums and galleries, an exploration of colour, and Aboriginal artworks on show at the Box Plymouth https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p026wnjlProducer: Robyn Read

A concrete diving suited figure apparently swimming into the gallery floor is one of the sculptures created by Tania Kovats for her current exhibition. Margo Neale Ngawagurrawa has curated the Songlines exhibition of Aborginal art and the importance of their landscape. Huhana Smith works on the Te Waituhi a Nuku project which looks at Māori Coastal Ecosystems and Economies and climate change. Michael Falk researches the poetry of Papua New Guinea, including Reluctant Flame by John Kaisapwalova, which was written 50 years ago. Laurence Scott hosts the conversation about our relationship with water, the land and a sense of identity.Tania Kovats: Oceanic is on show at Parafin London until Sat 20 Nov 2021. She is Profess of Drawing at Bath Spa University and her drawings and sculptures are inspired by reading Rachel Carson’s 1953 book The Sea Around Us https://www.drawingopen.com/tania-kovats has links to projects including Te Waituhi ā Nuku: Drawing Ecologies: Planning for Climate Change Impacts on Māori Coastal Ecosystems and Economies which Huhana Smith works on. Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters runs at the Box Plymouth until 27 February 2022 and includes the work of over 100 artists covering a landscape of 500,000 sq km. This link has more information about the poetry discussed by Michael Falk https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-kasaipwalova You can find a playlist on the Free Thinking programme website called Green Thinking which gathers together podcasts made for COP26 highlighting new research into ways of combatting climate change and a series of discussions with writers, artists and musicians interested in exploring nature in their work. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07zg0r2Producer: Sofie Vilcins.