Facing History: Voices

Ethan Zuckerman, Director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT and principal research scientist at the MIT Media Lab, delivers a talk at Facing History and Ourselves’ Day of Learning “Thought, Judgment, Action: Choosing to Participate.” Zuckerman illustrates some new ways in which young people are participating and trying to affect change, and discusses how to most effectively build movements.

Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University and Chair of the Facing History Board of Scholars, delivers a talk at Facing History and Ourselves’ Day of Learning (2015) “Thought, Judgment, Action: Choosing to Participate.” Appiah describes and defines the concept of honor, and how it can be used to bring about social change.

Jon Sawyer, founding Director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, delivers a talk at Facing History and Ourselves’ Day of Learning: Confronting Evil in Individuals and Societies. Sawyer describes how the Pulitzer Center does, uses new media and platforms to expand the reach of traditional print journalism, engage new audiences, and sustain the conversation around the issues that it covers.

Jeffrey Burds, professor of History at Northeastern University, delivers a talk at Facing History and Ourselves' Day of Learning: Confronting Evil in Individuals and Societies. Burds examines the "microhistory" of the events in Lvov, Ukraine during the summer of 1941 that led to the massacre of thousands of Jews.  

Luis Moreno Ocampo, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, delivers a talk at Facing History and Ourselves’ Day of Learning: Confronting Evil in Individuals and Societies. Moreno Ocampo describes the importance of international law in preventing atrocities by illustrating examples, including the trials at Nuremburg and the Junta Trial in Argentina. He explains that the role of law in society is to clarify limits of behavior and provide incentives to behave well.

Elaine Pagels, Professor of Religion at Princeton University, delivers a talk at Facing History and Ourselves’ Day of Learning: Confronting Evil in Individuals and Societies. Pagels explains that many interpretations of evil throughout history are inspired by the Book of Revelation, and she uses artistic depictions to describe the events of the story. She then illustrates examples of people using the imagery from the Book of Revelation at different times of war to justify their position and vilify their enemy.

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Assistant Professor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California, delivers a talk at Facing History and Ourselves’ Day of Learning: Confronting Evil in Individuals and Societies. Immodino-Yang uses examples from experiments she has run to describe some of her findings about how humans relate physical actions they see or perform and emotions they feel.She then explains the implications that these findings have for modern education. Immordino-Yang is an affective neuroscientist and human development psychologist who studies the development of social emotion and self-awareness across cultures, and connections to social resilience and morality.

Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy at New York University, delivers a talk at Facing History and Ourselves’ Day of Learning: Confronting Evil in Individuals and Societies. Appiah demonstrates the difficulties philosophers in the 18th century faced in determining how natural evil (natural disasters, for example) was possible in a world created by an omnipotent, loving God, and describes the ways in which some philosophers sought to respond to this problem.

Elizabeth Eckford of the Little Rock Nine describes her experience during the first days of integration at Central High School.

Kwame Anthony Appiah from Princeton University describes the three basic principles of ethics and applies them to personal and group identities, illustrating how ethics can help shape the way we think about and approach diverse identities. While he acknowledges that people have used identity to place limits and negative associations onto a group ofpeople, Appiah also demonstrates how we can think about identities in a positive way.

Deborah Plummer, a psychologist from the Univ. of Massachusetts discusses how humans must navigate a variety of obstacles, including basic scientific processes such as our biological instinct of fight or flight, when interacting in a diverse world.

Martha Minow, dean of the Harvard Law School, delivers a talk titled “Making All the Difference – American Law’s Treatment of Race and Identities” as part of Facing History’s Day of Learning “Reimagining Self and Other.” In this episode, Minow explains how the law can be used to reinforce social prejudices and create power imbalances, but can also be used as a resource to challenge those patterns. Minow uses examples of current and past court cases brought in countries around the world, such as Slovakia, to illustrate that the law can reflect legacies of inequality, but can also be a powerful tool in helping to fix these inequities.

Omer Bartov, a historian from Brown University, delivers a talk titled “Nationalism and Violence” as part of Facing History’s Day of Learning “Reimagining Self and Other.” In this episode, Bartov uses the history of the Eastern European region of Eastern Galicia as a case study of how nationalism can be a source for violence. To illustrate this point, Bartov traces the often bloody history of the region from the 1860s to post-World War II, including the transitions in policies and governments that led to the creation of various religious and national identities, and the conflicts that arose among the various groups.

David Jones, a Professor of the Culture of Medicine at Harvard University, delivers a talk titled “Genetic (Mis)understandings – The Modern Science of Human Difference” as part of Facing History’s Day of Learning “Reimagining Self and Other.”  Jones traces an extensive historical overview of the theories behind human difference, from ancient Greeks to the eugenics movement to modern day scientists, in order to better inform how we answer the question: If genetics shows how we are all different, does it matter?

Binna Kandola, a psychologist and diversity scholar from Leeds University, delivers a talk titled “Diffusing Bias” as part of Facing History’s Day of Learning “Reimagining Self and Other.” In this talk, Kandola explains the different types of biases we face in society today, using examples from studies that he and other scholars have conducted. He goes on to suggest ways in which individuals can work to minimize the impact of the biases that they already possess.

Michael Inzlicht, a psychologist from the University of Toronto, delivers a talk titled “What Does Neuroscience Suggest About Prejudice” as part of Facing History’s Day of Learning “Reimagining Self and Other.” Inzlicht illustrates that stereotypes and the idea of stereotype threat have very real consequences in terms of achievement, behavior, and perhaps even health. He explains studies that both he and other scholars in the field have conducted that show how stereotypes and stereotype threat affect those who experience them, even showing how these experiences can affect a person’s ability to restrain his or her impulses and to exercise self control.

Genocide scholar and author Daniel Goldhagen discusses the history of antisemitism and its relevance today. Facing History's Doc Miller concludes the podcast. A middle school teacher for over 30 years, Miller discusses the importance of bringing conversations about this history into the classroom.

Congressman and civil rights movement veteran John Lewis speaks about the responsibility of citizens in a democracy.

Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, John R. Bowen, and Sir Keith Ajegbo explore how migration is changing the way individuals, groups, and nations consider what it means to belong.

In this podcast, we explore the legacies of public school integration in the United States as seen through the eyes of Jessica Green, daughter of Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine.