Arts & Ideas

From prejudice against accents to early attempts to create an artificial voice - Matthew Sweet is joined by the academics Sadie Ryan, Allison Koenecke and Lynda Clark.Sadie Ryan hosts a podcast Accentricity and is part of the Manchester Voices project team https://www.manchestervoices.org/project-team/ You can find a New Thinking podcast episode looking in more detail at that project https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07h30hmLynda Clark is part of the InGAME (Innovation in Games and Media Enterprise) project at the University of Dundee. She's interested in interactive fiction and AI storytelling. She's been researching the experiments of Joseph Faber who created Euphonia in 1846 and created her own take working with games and digital experiences.Allison Koenecke works in the Stanford University Computational Policy Lab and the Golub Capital Social Impact LabYou might also be interested in these programmes from the Free Thinking archives - all available to download as BBC Arts & Ideas podcasts What is Speech? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b1q2f3 What is Good Listening? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000djtd The pros and cons of swearing https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09c0r4m Language and Belonging https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006fh9 AI and creativity: what makes us human? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005nml Robots https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08chbpcProducer: Luke Mulhall

Paranoia, the collateral damage on his family and the investigations he makes into drugs used to treat such a breakdown: Horatio Clare talks to Laurence Scott about his Journey through Madness, Mania and Healing. Plus the poetry of Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971). Author of the much quoted lines Not Waving but Drowning; Stevie Smith suffered from depression and acute shyness. New Generation Thinker Noreen Masud looks at her writing.Horatio Clare has recorded a series of different walks for BBC Radio 3. His books include The Light in the Dark: A Winter Journal; A Single Swallow; Down the Sea in Ships and his new memoir Heavy Light. Dr Noreen Masud teaches on twentieth century fiction at Durham University. You can hear her talking about nonsense writing in this episode of Free Thinking about Dada https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000k9ws and in this Sunday Feature she looks at aphorisms https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rtxbProducer: Torquil MacLeod

The films Cuties and Rocks present a contemporary image of girlhood. What do they tell us about what it is to be a girl and to negotiate growing up? We hear from three researchers who look at: the influence of such films made by female directors; the role of aunties in giving advice about health and the body; and the portrayal of female friendship in boarding school novels by authors like Enid Blyton. Shahidha Bari is joined by Chisomo Kalinga, Tiffany Watt Smith, and Elspeth Mitchell. Chisomo Kalinga is researching the way storytelling informs concepts of health and wellbeing in Malawi, and has written about fictional portrayals and the idea of stereotypes. She is a Wellcome Trust Medical Humanities Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.Elspeth Mitchell's Phd looked at ‘the girl’ and the moving image in work by Simone de Beauvoir, Chantal Akerman, and Eija-Liisa Ahtila. She is now researching feminine identities, costume and burlesque at the University of Leeds.Tiffany Watt Smith is the author of books including The Book of Human Emotions, and Schadenfreude, and she is now researching women and friendship. She is Director of the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary University London and is a New Generation Thinker - the scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), turning research into radio. You can find a range of programming for International Women's Day on 8 March on BBC Radio 3, including a Words and Music playlist of readings and music exploring the idea of Women Walking Alone, and a series of broadcasts featuring the work of women composers - part of an ongoing project BBC Radio 3 is running with the AHRC to record more music written by women past and present. In the Free Thinking archives there is a playlist which includes discussions about women in academia, the woman writer and reader, discrimination and British justice, women and war, and women’s bodies, and hearing from guests including Helena Kennedy, Layla AlAmmar, Kiley Reid, Helen Lewis, and Maaza Mengiste. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p084ttwp This episode was made in partnership with the AHRC, part of UKRI. You can find more about New Research in a playlist on the Free Thinking programme website - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03zws90 - where you’ll find other episodes in the New Thinking strand, showcasing academic research.Producer: Emma Wallace

Catherine Pepinster, Kate Kennedy, Tim Stanley and New Generation Thinker Dafydd Mills Daniel join Rana Mitter to look at the poet, theologian and now Saint John Henry. The programme marks 175 years since Newman's conversion from the high church tradition of Anglicanism and the Oxford Movement to the Catholic faith on 23 Feb 1846, with a conversation exploring his thinking and poetic writing.Catherine Pepinster is former editor of the Tablet and the author of The Keys and the Kingdom: The British and the Papacy Dafydd Mills Daniel is McDonald Departmental Lecturer in Christian Ethics at the University of Oxford and a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker. His book is called Ethical Rationalism and Secularisation in the British Enlightenment Tim Stanley is a columnist and leader writer for the Daily Telegraph who studied history at Cambridge and who is a contributing editor for the Catholic Herald https://www.timothystanley.co.uk/index.html Dr Kate Kennedy is Oxford Centre for Life-Writing Associate Director and a music specialist who has written on Ivor Gurney, and co-edited The Silent Morning: Culture and Memory after the Armistice and The First World War: Literature, Music, Memory.You can find a playlist Free Thinking explores religious belief https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03mwxlp including contributions from Ziauddin Sardar, Richard Dawkins, Karen Armstrong, Rabbi Sacks, Marilynne Robinson and Simon Schama.Producer: Ruth Watts

Shahidha Bari is joined by Lisa Downing, Stuart Elden, and Stephen Shapiro to read volume 4 of Foucault's History of Sexuality, translated into English for the first time, which examines beliefs and practices among the early Christians in Medieval Europe. Although he had specified in his will that his works shouldn't be published after he died (in 1984), the rights holders of Foucault decided that these ideas could now be made public. So what do they tell us and how influential has his approach to sexuality been?Lisa Downing, Professor of French Discourses of Sexuality at the University of Birmingham. She writes about gender and sexuality and she’s the author of The Cambridge Introduction to Michel Foucault and editor of After Foucault.Stuart Elden's books include The Early Foucault, which will be published in June 2021. This continues the work in his earlier books Foucault’s Last Decade and Foucault: The Birth of Power. He is Professor of Political Theory and Geography at the University of Warwick.And Stephen Shapiro, Professor of English and Comparative Literature also at the University of Warwick. He is co-author of how to Read Foucault's Discipline and Punish.Producer: Luke MulhallYou can find other episodes on philosophical themes in a Free Thinking playlist https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07x0twx

Joanna Bourke is an historian whose previous work has looked at fear, pain, sexual violence and dismemberment. Her new book is a history and examination of bestiality and zoophilia, tracing our changing understandings from Leviticus, to modern psychiatry, the animal rights movement, and beyond.Anna Tsing's book The Mushroom at the End of the World was an examination of human interactions with fungi and their environments, and vice versa, in post-industrial landscapes. Her new online project Feral Atlas charts the complex and shifting relationships between humans, animals, plants, bacteria and other natural phenomena.Loving Animals: On Bestiality, Zoophilia and Post-Human Love by Joanna Bourke is out now. Her lecture series Exploring the Body for Gresham College is available online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/series/exploring-the-body/Anna Tsing's book The Mushroom at the End of the World is out now. You can find her online project at https://feralatlas.org/ It is made in conjunction with Stanford University curated and edited by Anna L. Tsing, Jennifer Deger, Alder Keleman Saxena and Feifei ZhouMatthew Sweet hosts a Free Thinking discussion Fungi: An Alien Encounter https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dr46 and looks at the ideas in Darwin's Descent of Man 1871 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s31z Other discussions about animals include Should We Keep Pets? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09hzj3y Does My Pet Love Me? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004dr9 Animals: Watching Us Watching Them Watching Each Other https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04nqv0nProducer: Luke Mulhall

Overcoming long term illness, controlling her money and eloping to revolutionary Italy: Fiona Sampson's new biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning focuses on her as someone interested in inventing herself - not as an ailing romantic heroine. Peggy Reynolds began her academic career studying Browning's long poem Aurora Leigh. She's been reading about motherhood in literature and psychology books as preparation for adopting a child and her new book traces the pain and pitfalls involved in navigating the adoption process. They talk to Anne McElvoy and they're joined by Jane Aitken who's publishing new English language translations of books by Renée Vivien & Violette Leduc.Two Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning by Fiona Sampson is out now. You can also find her presenting series of the Essay for Radio 3 exploring her favourite fictional character Mother Courage https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p068jrch and her biography of Mary Shelley in this episode of Free Thinking https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09m1dvhThe Wild Track by Margaret Reynolds is out now. She is also the editor of The Sappho Companion In the Free Thinking archives you can find her discussing Mill on the Floss https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bf70 and the poetry of Sappho https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0586k6n You can find a Free Thinking discussion about motherhood hearing from Jessie Greengrass, Sheila Heti and Jacqueline Rose Motherhood in fiction, memoir and on the analyst's couch https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b3fjvg Sylvan Baker discusses children in care and the Verbatim Formula in this Free Thinking exploration of Kindness https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000j9cdThe Woman of the Wolf and Other Stories by Renée Vivien translated by Karla Jay and Yvonne M Klein and Violette Leduc's Asphyxia translated by Derek Coltman are out now in English from Editions Gallic.Producer: Robyn Read

Turkey and 50s Prime Minister Menderes, Erdogan today, and how history is used for political power. Matthew Sweet is joined by Jeremy Seal, Ece Temelkuran, Michael Talbot & Nilay Ozlu.Before his execution in 1961, the Turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes saw Turkey admitted to NATO, investment in agriculture, education and health care, but also conflict with the Greek community. On 17 February 1959 he was involved in a plane crash near Gatwick on his way to a conference about Cyprus. Jeremy Seal traces his story and looks at the parallels with President Erdogan's Turkey now in a new book. He talks with journalist and author Ece Temelkuran and presenter Matthew Sweet. Plus new research on the Ottoman Empire from Michael Talbot and Nilay Ozlu.Jeremy Seal's book A Coup in Turkey: A Tale Of Democracy, Despotism & Vengeance In A Divided Land is out now.Ece Temelkuran is the author of How To Lose A Country: The 7 Steps From Democracy To Dictatorship; Turkey - The Insane & The Melancholy; novel The Time Of Mute Swans; and a forthcoming book, Together: 10 Choices For A Better Now.Michael Talbot is an historian at the University of Greenwich and a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker.Nilay Ozlu is an architectural historian and Chevening Postdoctoral Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.Matthew Sweet's journey on London's 29 bus route with researchers looking at the history of the Greek Cypriot Community in London: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00014qkEce Temelkuran on Dictators, alongside Francesca Santoro L'hoir who acted alongside Chaplin as a child, Peter Pomerantsev and Frank Dikotter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009bf3Interviews with Turkish author Elif Shafak: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00066qd; and at the Free Thinking Festival https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04nqtrtAlev Scott and Michael Talbot on the Ottoman Empire: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000qj7Producer: Emma Wallace

In Karachi Vice, journalist Samira Shackle tracks the lives of a Karachi ambulance driver, street school teacher and crime reporter amongst others - and uses their story to map a history of different political groupings across the city and the recent decades. New Generation Thinker Majed Akhter from Kings College, London researches water shortages and dam building. Ejaz Haider is a journalist based in Lahore. They share their views of Pakistan with Rana Mitter. Karachi Vice: Life and Death in a Contested City by Samira Shackle is out now from Granta and has been a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week available to listen on BBC Sounds. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p034wrq4 Majed Akhter is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council which turns research into radio. You can hear more about his work in a conversation with Dustin Garrick in an episode of Free Thinking called Rivers and Geopolitics https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00051hb Ejaz Haider is one of Pakistan’s most prominent journalists, writing for the Friday Times independent paper and presenter of a TV show.In the Free Thinking archives we hear from novelists Neel Mukherjee, Preti Taneja, Mohsin Hamid and Nadeem Aslam about their view of Partition https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b090tnyp Kamila Shamsie discusses her novel Home Fire https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b095qhsm Philip Dodd explores Islam, Mecca and the Qur'an with professor of Islamic and interreligious studies Mona Siddiqui, and scholars Ziauddin Sardar and Navid Kermani https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04tcc1lProducer: Harry Parker

From minting coins to digital currencies, Anne McElvoy is joined by Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, British Museum coin curator Tom Hockenhull, historian of science Patricia Fara and political economist Ann Pettifor to explore the physical and virtual life of money as we approach the fiftieth anniversary of Decimal Day in the UK. The discussion ranges from the symbolism of images we find stamped on individual coins to the cashless society, and whether or not there is a magic money tree. February 15th 1971 was the date when the old British system of pounds, shilling and pence changed, following earlier unsuccessful attempts and the founding of a Decimal Association in 1841. But what is our relationship with money at the moment in a world of bitcoin, and paying by credit cards not loose change ?Patricia Fara's books include Life after Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career; Pandora's Breeches - Women, Science and Power; Science: A Four Thousand Year History Tom Hockenhull is Curator of Modern Money in the Coins and Medals department at the British Museum which was built upon the various collections of Hans Sloane - amongst them were 20,000 coins. His books include Making Change: The decimalisation of Britain's currency and Symbols of Power : Ten Coins That Changed the World. Kenneth Rogoff is a Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University. From 2001-2003, he was Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. His books include The Curse of Cash; This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly co-authored with Carmen Reinhart Ann Pettifor is the author of books including The Green New Deal, and The Production of Money. https://www.annpettifor.com/Producer: Eliane Glaser.You might be interested in the episode of Radio 3's Words and Music broadcasting on Sunday February 21st at 5.30pm which features a series of readings and music exploring the idea of money. In the Free Thinking archives: "new money" and the wealth gap depicted in Edith Wharton's 1920 novel The Age of Innocence https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000c4ln Does Growth Matter? Anne McElvoy talks with demographer Danny Dorling and economists Richard Davies and Petr Barton https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gbtl Economics: Anne McElvoy talks to Juliet Michaelson, Liam Byrne, John Redwood and Luke Johnson https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03qbv3q Linda Yueh gives the Free Thinking Festival Lecture on Globalisation and restoring faith in the free market https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p062m7mj