Interventions | The Intellectual History Podcast

What can decolonisation in twentieth century Africa tell us about the history of political thought? How might African intellectual history shed light on new methods and modes of inquiry? And what does it mean to ‘decolonise’ intellectual history? Emma Hunter, professor of global and African history at the University of Edinburgh and the 2018/19 Quentin Skinner Fellow, joins us to discuss these questions and more in this episode. 

What can history contribute to the pursuits of contemporary political theory? What does the notion of the Anthropocene have to do with the history of political thought? And what exactly is the legacy of the political thought produced during the First World War?  These are some of the questions discussed in this episode with Duncan Kelly, professor of political thought and intellectual history at the University of Cambridge, and the author of Politics and the Anthropocene (2019).

What is the place of history in the study of law? How do historians of international law conceive of emergent actors on the global stage? To what extent do legal histories shape the expectations and commitments of today’s international institutions? Dr Megan Donaldson, recently appointed to a lectureship in Public International Law at University College London, addresses these questions and shares her experience of a complex intersection between law, legal history and the history of political thought. #Globalgovernance #legalhistory #internationallaw #deliberativedemocracy #publicity #interwarperiod 

How does an attention to gender change our understanding of Renaissance political texts and the history of ideas more broadly? How can we challenge the traditional divide between the political public and the apolitical private spheres? And in what ways is re-evaluating the conceptual relationship between disadvantaged groups in the early modern period fruitful for our own times? We spoke to Anna Becker, from the Centre of Privacy Studies at the University of Copenhagen, to discuss these questions and more. #gender #Renaissance #household #Machiavelli #Bodin #power #sovereignty

Which ideas and values shaped the relationship between humans and  their environment in early modern Europe? Why did authors become  interested in translating their own work, and what ramifications could  this have? How can the ways in which authors were read, copied, and  censored in the past enrich our understanding of their work? These are  some of the questions we discuss with Dr Sara Miglietti, Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Intellectual History at the Warburg Institute in London.

How do we write the history of both the theory and the practice of socialism and welfarism? How do historians negotiate the relationship between their politics and their scholarship? And in what way is Karl Marx's political thinking relevant for us today? Gareth Stedman Jones, Professor of the History of Ideas at Queen Mary, University of London, talked to us about the history of poverty in nineteenth century Europe, his recent biography of Karl Marx, and what Dickens can teach us about writing history.  #welfare state #poverty #socialism #nineteenth century #Marx #Marxism #New Left

How does the world of ideas impact our understanding of political practice? What notions of freedom shaped the Roman republic? And how can Roman understandings of rhetoric empower our thinking in the twenty first century? These are some of the questions we discussed with Dr Valentina Arena, Reader in Roman History at University College London.

What's the relationship between ideas and life experiences, politics and scholarship? How does our methodological self-consciousness evolve? What is the interaction between different schools of intellectual history? Martin Jay reflects on his life and career as an intellectual historian.

Prof. Avi Lifschitz discusses the Enlightenment in 18th century Europe, including debates on language origins, human mind, and political rulers as philosophers. He compares French and German Enlightenment movements, explores the influence of classical antiquity on Enlightenment thinkers, and examines the political agency and philosophical authorship of historical figures like Frederick II of Prussia.

What makes early modern political thought fruitful for our thinking today? How do language and translation inform the writing of history? And why should animals be our starting point for thinking about the political? These are questions we discussed with Dr Annabel Brett, who is a Reader in the History of Political Thought at the University of Cambridge.