Historians' shop talk, from the Báb to Boston's artisans.
Evoking History is a conversation podcast that moves between historians' research, the working life of a university, and the political arguments of the present. One guest traces Boston artisans from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the Revolution, and a conversation with a Georgia General Assembly candidate ends up on why local races deserve more attention.
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Evoking History is a conversation show about history and the people who make it their work. The host talks with guests, many of them colleagues from academia, and lets each conversation move across research, the running of a university and the political mood of the moment. Episodes open with the same spoken passage, which talks about a century of tempest, the masses of Asia awakening, and thrones toppling as new nations are born. Then the introductions start, and the talk follows the guest. The research covers a lot of ground. Dr. Zackery Heern, introduced as chair of history, describes a project on the idea of the Mahdi and on the Báb, one of the claimants in 19th-century Iran, who started the Babi movement. Sam Harshner follows Boston artisans from the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the Revolution. He looks at how they used their shared identity to push back against economic regulation, and at the misogynistic symbolism in their parades and protests. He says Alfred F. Young's writing on Pope's Day is what drew him into the subject. Titles such as 'The Wehrmacht, the Holocaust, and the Janowska Concentration Camp with Dr. Waitman Wade Beorn' show how far the subject range stretches. The practical side of scholarship gets real attention too. Dr. Waitman Wade Beorn talks about time spent as a museum director, when a single exhibit panel meant hard choices about word count, text size and images. Dr. Heern describes the pandemic as exhausting alongside administrative work, but also as an unexpected source of room to think. A conversation with Maggie Nettesheim Hoffman, Dr. Douglas Woods and Dr. Timothy McMahon turns to career diversity for humanities graduate students. It covers placements in university offices and a new search for nonprofits willing to offer paid internships. Other titles mention Marquette's public service degree and unionization efforts. Politics runs through the show as well. Angela Mayfield, a Democratic candidate for the Georgia General Assembly, is part of a conversation about why local elections get less energy than presidential ones, even though local decisions shape daily life. Returning guest Michael Carter bluntly calls the fights over fort names and removed statues a culture war. That episode ends by admitting it rambled a bit and served as a chance to clear the air. The register is warm and informal. Guests talk like colleagues catching up, and the goodbyes are generous. Near the end of his episode, Dr. Beorn argues that anyone who knows a small slice of the world well should share it, and that idea fits the rest of the show. Where to start depends on the listener: the Harshner conversation for early American history, the Heern episode for Iranian religious history, and the Carter episode for the politics of monuments.
Made for: Suits a listener who enjoys hearing historians talk shop about their research and about the universities they work in, and who is comfortable with present-day politics entering the conversation.
What sets it apart: It puts conversations about the Báb and Boston's pre-Revolution artisans alongside a Georgia legislative race and a university humanities award, and treats research, campus working life and current politics as one continuous conversation, with every episode introduced by the same spoken passage about a century of upheaval.
To quote Richard Carrier, "Historians are the memory cells of the metaphorical 'brain' that is the whole human race." In a time of "fake news" and the appropriation of facts for ideologic purposes, it is crucial for those of us who fulfill that role to engage with the public. Evoking History is a podcast where historians will discuss both their research and current events to preserve social memory.
Ben's guests take you from Pope's Day brawls to the arguments inside museum labels.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A candid episode on the Bab's religious claims and the pressures shaping a historian's work during a pandemic.
Dr. Zachary Hearn's conversation with Evoking History moves through Shiism, religious authority, and the strain of academic administration during a pandemic.
A grounded conversation about family politics, ideological change, and the pull of local government.
Angela Mayfield's campaign for Georgia House District 67 opens into a measured conversation about political inheritance, local government, and the gap between national political intensity and the decisions that shape daily life.
Bourne's museum work turns the episode into a clear look at how complex history is made public.
Evoking History opens with war, upheaval, freedom, and public responsibility, then settles into Dr. Wightman Bourne's work in Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
A loose, pointed conversation about monuments, public memory, and political grievance.
Evoking History uses monument debates as a way into larger questions about public memory, grievance, and who gets honored in civic space. In conversation with Michael Carter, an adjunct professor in the Genocide Studies program at Keene University, the episode moves from…
A wide-ranging conversation traces the Revolution through Boston's artisans, rituals, and unruly popular politics.
The episode ranges across the American Revolution, graduate study, and Samuel Harshner's route into historical research, with its strongest material centered on his work on Boston's artisans.
History from inside the dissertation grind.
History from the field, not the pedestal.
Phoebe Judge narrates true crime history and interviews the authors who uncovered it.
Dramatized deep dives into American history, from the Galveston hurricane to Harper Lee's Mockingbird.
Dana Schwartz narrates the violent lives of monarchs, warlords, and queens.
Dr.
Angela Mayfield, a Democratic candidate for Georgia House District 67, talks with Evoking History host Benjamin about Southern identity, local politics, and why she ran.
Dr.
Evoking History talks with Michael Carter, an adjunct professor in Keene University's Genocide Studies program, about how pandemic shutdowns froze archive-based research trips and delayed a genocide-memory symposium.
["Samuel Harshner connects the American Revolution to Act 10, Wisconsin budget cuts, and the way employer-based healthcare shapes work.", "He says his route ran from Beloit College to an MPA at the University of Wisconsin, then through HHS, the Wisconsin State Budget Office, COWS, the Department of Children and Families, and UWM.", "He argues that COVID exposed state-by-state policy fragmentation, Medicaid and CHIP limits, and a U.S.
Maggie Medicine-Hoffman announces that Marquette University has joined Humanities Without Walls after the Andrew Mellon Foundation renewed the consortium for five years and awarded Marquette about $1.3 million.
Samina Mulla and Donna Aine Davis explain why the Association of Feminist Anthropology created Feminist Anthropology, a journal designed to support varied feminist approaches rather than enforce one definition.
Seth Reeves explains why The Iberian Knot devotes approximately 18 hour-long episodes to the Spanish Civil War rather than treating events such as Guernica as brief historical examples.
Evoking History host Ben interviews University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Ph.D.
Evoking History host interviews Dr.
An interview with a historian and comic book professional about his background and interest in history.
Historians discuss their research and current events to preserve social memory, featuring an interview with a cartoonist about his new book.
A historian interviews a PhD candidate about her dissertation on Irish national identities through soccer from 1920 to 1998.
Host Benjamin Lindsey interviews Laura Giebert, a dual master's student in history and library science, about her work and interests in public history.