Focus
Interviews on global affairs and daily life
Monday thru Friday, 10 am to noon on WILL-AM 580
Interview Archives: Cultural Studies
Tuesday June 19, 2012, 10:06 AM
The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes
Scott Wallace, Journalist; Photographer; Speaker; Producer
Host: David Inge
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Categories: Cultural Studies • South America • Brazil
Tuesday May 29, 2012, 11:06 AM
The Statue of Liberty: A Transatlantic Story
Edward Berenson, Ph.D., Director, Institute of French Studies; Professor of History, New York University
Host: David Inge
Categories: Cultural Studies
Tuesday April 24, 2012, 10:06 AM
White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf
Aaron Bobrow-Strain, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Politics, Whitman College
Host: David Inge
Over the past century commercially baked white bread has been considered the height of modern progress and a symbol of America’s decline. How is it that one food could inspire so much love and so much disdain. On Focus we’ll explore the social history of white bread with Aaron Bobrow Strain. He teaches the politics of the global food system at Whitman College. He says that industrial white bread has played an incredibly important and largely unnoticed role in American politics, diet, culture and food reform movements.
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Categories: Cultural Studies • Gender issues • History • Immigration • Race/Ethnicity
Tuesday April 17, 2012, 11:06 AM
The Irish Way Becoming American in the Multiethnic City
James R. Barrett, Ph.D., Professor of History; Professor of African American History, History Department, University of Illinois
Host: Celeste Quinn
Historian James Barrett says America’s first ethnic group, its first immigrants, were the Irish. As such, they laid the foundation for the immigrants who followed. That foundation was at once hostile and welcoming. Barrett says, in the end, it led to a new sense of American identity that continues to influence today. James Barrett, author of "The Irish Way," joins us.
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Categories: Cultural Studies • Immigration
Thursday March 08, 2012, 10:06 AM
Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone
Eric Klinenberg, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Public Policy, and Media, Culture, and Communications, New York University; Editor of the journal, Public Culture
Host: David Inge
In 1950, only 22 percent of American adults were single. Today, more than 50 percent of American adults are single, and roughly one out of every seven adults lives alone. David Inge’s guest , renowned sociologist and author Eric Klinenberg, explores the dramatic rise of solo living, and examines the seismic impact it’s having on our culture, business and politics.
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Categories: Behavior • Cultural Studies
Tuesday February 21, 2012, 11:06 AM
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Katherine Boo, Staff Writer, The New Yorker; Pulitzer Prize Winner
Host: David Inge
Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo has written about the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the 21st century’s great, unequal cities. Her book "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" is based on three years of uncompromising reporting.
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Categories: Cultural Studies • Asia • India
Thursday February 09, 2012, 11:06 AM
The Sublime Engine: A Biography of the Human Heart
Stephen Amidon, Novelist, Essayist, Critic
Thomas Amidon, M.D., Cardiologist in Kalispell, Montana
Host: David Inge
Our hearts beat roughly every second of our lives, pumping around 74 gallons of blood every hour once we become adults. But the heart is filled with more than the blood it pumps. It is also the source of a vast supply of stories, reflecting the fact that it has long been a central image for describing those qualities that make us human. We’ll sample some of these stories as we talk with novelist Stephen Amidon and cardiologist Thomas Amidon, authors of "The Sublime Engine."
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Categories: Biography • Cultural Studies • Health • Cardiology • History
Tuesday January 24, 2012, 11:06 AM
Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Leaners
Michael Erard, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, The Frameworks Institute; Linguist; Author, Journalist, and Editor
Host: David Inge
Almost everyone learns at least one language as a child. Some may learn two or three. But through history there have been accounts of “super learners.” For example, Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian priest, was said to speak 72 languages. Could such a feat have been possible? Is there someone alive today who could match it? Michael Erard tells the story of his search for the world’s most extraordinary language learners, the subject of his book "Babel No More."
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Categories: Cultural Studies • Language and Linguistics
Monday January 09, 2012, 10:06 AM
How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival
David Kaiser, Ph.D., the Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science; Department Head, Program in Science, Technology, and Society; and Senior Lecturer, Department of Physics, MIT
Host: David Inge
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Categories: Biography • Cultural Studies • Innovation • Science
Tuesday November 08, 2011, 11:06 AM
Abandoned in the Heartland: Work, Family, and Living in East St. Louis
Jennifer F. Hamer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of African American Studies, University of Illinois
Host: David Inge
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Categories: Community • Cultural Studies • Race/Ethnicity • African-American • United States • Illinois
