IDEAS is a deep-dive into contemporary thought and intellectual history. No topic is off-limits. In the age of clickbait and superficial headlines, it's for people who like to think.
Our homes hold our memories and hopes for the future. But today, our homes have become commodities. Leilani Farha, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, considers what happens when humanity is stripped out of housing — and what it means for us to collectively ‘return home.’ *This episode is part of our IDEAS at Crow’s Theatre series.
We think nothing today of calling healthcare workers “front line workers,” engaged in a “battle” against disease. But the roots of the war metaphor in medicine go way back — entrenched by pop culture icons like the TV show M*A*S*H and Hawkeye’s army. Dr. Jillian Horton explores a less heroic but healthier way forward for doctors and health professionals. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 21, 2023.
Right now, more than 55% of the world's population live in cities. In a few decades, that percentage will rise to 70%. But with rising sea levels and mass migration, not to mention the state of geopolitics, where does all this leave cities of the future? Three experts weigh in.
It's the world's most prominent climate case in history. Iranian-Canadian human rights lawyer Payam Akhavan discusses the legal arguments he made before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on behalf of Bangladesh and small island states. The hearings seek to establish the legal obligations of states to mitigate climate change and the damage done by it — and the legal consequences for states which don’t fulfil those obligations.
In part two of our series about the 1970s journalistic experiment known as the Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool, IDEAS turns to journalists who continue to grapple with the challenges that were first highlighted more than five decades ago. Their concerns and critiques about representation and fairness at the heart of those conversations persist in newsrooms today.
In the 1970s, countries in what became known as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) embarked on an ambitious journalistic experiment to create a new kind of journalism — decolonizing the flow of information. The project came with a utopian promise, internal tensions and fierce opponents in the West. IDEAS explores its history and afterlife today in a two-part series.
IDEAS takes a deep dive into Fate Is the Hunter , Ernest K. Gann's celebrated memoir of flying and the capricious hand of fortune. The book is a nail-biting account of his early days in aviation. Gann wonders: why did I survive when so many other pilots perished? *This episode originally aired on Nov. 28, 2022.
Theatrical plays in Elizabethan England set the stage for our modern news culture, argues Stephen Wittek in his post-doctoral work. He says the cross-pollination between theatre and news developed the norms for our contemporary public conversations. The updated episode of Ideas from the Trenches was originally broadcast in 2014.
They were known as school cars and schools on wheels. Trains that brought the classroom to children in the most isolated communities of Northern Ontario. It was a novel six-month experiment that lasted 40 years, from 1926 to 1967. IDEAS producer Alisa Siegel explores remote education, homeschooling and nation-building. *This episode originally aired on January 9, 2023.
The celebrated writer M.G. Vassanji argues that there’s a more fundamental and even slipperier endeavour than establishing one’s identity, and that’s how — if ever — can we establish a sense of belonging? For many, he says, our true home is nowhere... exactly.
She’s one of Canada’s most decorated journalists, having won a Pulitzer Prize, a Peabody and a Columbia-Dupont Prize for her podcast series, Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s . Yet Connie Walker had been reluctant to feature stories about her family in her journalism. Until she realized her family's survival in residential schools embodies the defining reality for virtually all Indigenous Peoples in Canada. She discusses this with Nahlah Ayed at the Samara Centre for Democracy's annual, In Defence...
One of the most important roles of a university is to advance research that benefits society. Meet two winners of the prestigious 2024 Killam Prize. Humanities winner Janine Marchessault's work looks at the crisis in Canada’s film and video archives, and Social Sciences winner Tania Li examines how the good intentions of international development affects the rural people of Indonesia. (Pt 1 of 2)
A Danish geneticist who found camels in Greenland meets the Irish author excavating a thousand tales from the streets of Cork, Ireland. This year’s Beatty Lecture is a double-act. Both Eske Willerslev and Cònal Creedon draw from their contrasting expertise and share their personal tales of discovery.
Take a look at the motivations behind homophobia and racial prejudice, and you’ll find a shared emotion: disgust. At a time of increasing social divides, theorists say we need to reckon with an emotion that keeps us safe — and can make the world more dangerous. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 12, 2023.
Medieval Irish tales are sexier, funnier, and bloodier than any of the better-known myths of the medieval era. They reveal a world full of mighty demi-gods, shapeshifting beauties, and determined heroes. In her book, Otherworld , Lisa M Bitel retells Irish tales of wonder and romance, acting as our guide in the tradition of ancient storytelling.
Ninety years ago, the Chatham Coloured All-Stars became the first all-Black team to win the Ontario baseball championship. Now the story of their historic 1934 season, including the racist treatment they endured and their exploits on the field has resurfaced in an online project, and they’re getting their due as trailblazing Black Canadian athletes.
What makes a great conversation? The subject? Not so much. It’s more that it’s filled with layers and that you never really know where it’ll end up — how it will change you by the time it ends. Ian Williams delivers the final 2024 CBC Massey Lecture on the art of good conversation.
We’re in an era where many people feel an ownership over certain words, and how a community expresses itself; the term ‘appropriation’ has come to create guardrails around what can be said, and by whom. In his fourth Massey Lecture, Ian Williams considers the role of speech and silence in reallocating power, and what it means to truly listen.
Difficult conversations are almost always about something under the surface, and hidden. In his third Massey Lecture, Ian Williams illustrates what we’re listening for isn’t always obvious. He explains how personal conversations aren't about finding answers — it's for communion.
In his second Massey Lecture, Ian Williams explores the power of conversation with strangers. He says humanity comes out when interacting with them. But how do we open ourselves up to connect with strangers while safeguarding our personal sovereignty? Williams believes we can learn a lot from our conversations with strangers and loved ones alike.
Ever felt that no one is really listening? In the first of his 2024 CBC Massey Lectures, novelist and poet Ian Williams explores why we need to have a conversation about conversations. His five-part lecture series confronts the deterioration of civic and civil discourse and asks us to reconsider the act of conversing as the sincere, open exchange of thoughts and feelings.
2024 CBC Massey lecturer Ian Williams speaks with IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed about the forces that have shaped him as a thinker and writer, from the encyclopedias he read as a child in Trinidad to his years as a dancer to the poetry of Margaret Atwood. 'I believe in multiplicity,' he says. The 2024 Massey Lectures, What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation in Our Time, begin this coming Monday.
Digital assistants, in your home or on your phone, are usually presented as women. In this documentary, IDEAS traces the history of the feminized, non-threatening machine, from Siri and Alexa to the "women computers" of the 19th century. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 26, 2022.
In an era of rampant commodification of life-saving medicines, healthcare must be secured as a global public good, argues health justice advocate Fatima Hassan. In her Boehm Lecture on Public Health she explores ideas of solidarity and leadership in pandemic, epidemic and war responses.
The world is full of problems — our broken healthcare, out-of-reach housing, a democracy in shambles and a dying planet. Is it actually possible to fix this mess? IDEAS hears from people working to fix our most intractable problems at a time when it can feel easier to just give up. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 21, 2023.
Canada’s veterans have a conflicted relationship with Remembrance Day, an idea that may be shifting as older war vets leave us. In a two-part series, IDEAS continues exploring postwar experiences from The Canadian War Museum’s oral history project called In Their Own Voices. *This is part two of a two-part series.
Even when wars end, they go on — transforming the people who fought them, their families, and even society. More than 200 veterans were interviewed for a project by the Canadian War Museum called In Their Own Voices . The initiative explores the profound changes that come after veterans return home. *This is part one of a two-part series.
Doris Lessing addressed Canadian audiences with her CBC Massey Lectures in 1985, warning warn us against groupthink and what she called the intellectual “prisons we choose to live inside." Now, a response from the present day: Professor Miglena Todorova reflects on Lessing’s message and puts it into the context of today’s politics.
More than 2,000 years ago, someone sat down and drafted a list of what they thought were the seven man-made wonders of the ancient world. From the Pyramid of Giza to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, historian Bettany Hughes shares her enthusiasm for the monumental achievements brought into existence by ancient cultures.
Animals — what on earth are they thinking? A panel of scientists explore the notion of animal cognition from what your dog means when it wags its tail, to the incredible problem-solving skills of crows, as part of the Aspen Ideas Festival. *This episode originally aired on November 5, 2021.
