Oklahoma Humanities’ BrainBox podcast uses the humanities to take listeners on a deep dive into the issues affecting American society and culture. Join some of Oklahoma’s most interesting and knowledgeable humanities scholars along with BrainBox host and OH Program Officer Chris Carroll to explore how history, literature, ethics, philosophy, and other humanities fields inform our understanding of current events and the human experience.

Dr. Ryan Kiggins, a political science professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, talks with BrainBox host Chris Carroll about the history of the Internet and social media and their (not great) effects on American democracy.

Check out the new book The Political Economy of Robots, edited by Dr. Kiggins.

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Oklahoma Humanities recently sponsored a series of talks in four cities across the state about race and social issues. The writings of Oklahoma's own Ralph Ellison were used at the programs to give context to the state of race relations today. In this episode, the Ralph Ellison Foundation's Executive Director, Michael Owens, talks with BrainBox host Chris Carroll about the legacy of Ralph Ellison and his relevance to discussions of race in America today.

Learn more about the Ralph Ellison Foundation.

Read Ralph Ellison's essay "What America Would Be Like Without Blacks."

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In this episode, Dr. Sunu Kodumthara, a history professor at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, talks with BrainBox host Chris Carroll about the #MeToo movement and its place in the history of women’s protests and activism.  

In the wake of the allegations of sexual harassment and assault by film producer Harvey Weinstein in fall 2017, a movement originally inspired a decade earlier by activist Tarana Burke went viral, encouraging hundreds of thousands of women to share their own experiences. Dr. Kodumthara has deeply researched the history of women’s activism and protest, and she discusses key issues in the long, diverse, and ever-evolving struggle for equal rights for women.

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On the very first episode of Oklahoma Humanities’ BrainBox podcast, Dr. Ben Alpers of the OU Honors College talks with host Chris Carroll about why the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s is important to understanding American politics and culture today. Ben and Chris talk about Americans’ historical memory and the changing ways Americans have thought about Watergate, Richard Nixon, and the presidency itself in the decades since Nixon’s resignation. We’ll also find out why the suffix “-gate” gets attached to every other scandal since Watergate. 

Want to read more from Ben Alpers? Check out his blog at https://s-usih.org/author/ben_alpers/  

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