In this episode, Professor Javier Corrales joins hosts Briana Bao ’28 and Anthony Xu ’29 to talk about Political Science, what makes teaching at Amherst special, Venezuela, a recent class trip to Colombia 👀, and, of course, Lady Gaga.

In this episode, Briana Bao ’28 and Rita Xing ’28 sit down together with Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture Ilan Stavans to discuss his academic journey, language learning, and teaching experience at Amherst College. He offers insights into his work on “Spanglish” as a curious linguistic phenomenon as well as his other career exploration as a TedEd storyteller and as the founder and publisher of Restless Books. Additionally, he discusses his profound interests in Hispanic literature, namely Don Quixote and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

What is the potential of literature? How and why do we read, teach, and critique books? What do we learn about life when we bury our nose in a book? What are Professor Sanborn’s five book recommendations? All this and more are discussed in this episode, which invites the listener to relax, meditate, and feel. 

Although aid efforts are often seen as purely altruistic and humanitarian, they are usually influenced by forces that have the potential to both unite and divide communities. How do historical crises, like famine in the Ottoman Empire, inform us of modern humanitarian interventions? And are these efforts always truly helpful, or do they perpetuate divisions? Professor Ghazarian addresses these questions, and the ethical dilemmas and hidden consequences of aid. This episode also explores the role historians have in navigating the moral complexities of global crises, reconciling how past events shape current and future humanitarian approaches.

Many people’s impression of the Russian language is just that it’s very difficult. It is, and more so, carries with it important literary traditions and a cultural spirit. In this episode, Briana Bao ’28 and Rita Xing ’28 sit down together with Howard M. and Martha P. Mitchell Professor of Russian Catherine A. Ciepiela (Amherst ’83) to discuss her academic journey, language learning, and teaching experience at Amherst College. She offers insights in her translation of Russian poetry as well as her journey of learning Russian during the Cold War at Amherst College and Yale University. Additionally, she discusses her broader interest and research in the larger Slavic world.

LJST: Let’s Just Sit Together? In this episode, Briana Bao ’28 and Rita Xing ’28 sit down together with Assistant Professor of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought Youssef Ben Ismail to discuss his academic journey, language learning, and teaching experience during his first year at Amherst College. He offers insights in his past cultural and legal studies of China and his home country Tunisia, elucidating how the two nations’ history of law helps his work today. Additionally, he offers personal advice on being patient and open-minded while finding your academic passion that balances interest and personal identity.

How did Greece and Rome come to be seen as the cultural ancestor of western Europe and Anglo-America, when a Roman would have called a Briton a barbarian? In this episode, Center for Humanistic Inquiry Fellow Francesca Bellei sits down with Priscilla Lee ’25 to trace how empires use the figure of the mother to claim hegemonic power.Under a patriarchal and exclusionary view of family, a mother passes power from one generation of men to another without being able to exercise it herself — her role is simply to produce rightful heirs. When Greece is called the mother and nurse of Rome, then, or when the British elite take Grand Tours to the bosom of the “classical” Mediterranean, they are using the metaphor of mothers to relegate another empire to the past while appropriating their cultural prestige. This episode analyzes the Athenian origins of this metaphor, how it has figured in Anglo-American claims to the “classical” legacy, and how Italy and Italian migrants to the United States have responded to and employed it in their self-conception. Episode Notes and Further Reading: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MT7YNfdl-lkvBe2M-eNFQg35eDlgLn2usUiWEbn4D1A/edit?usp=sharingEdited and produced by Priscilla Lee '25.

Language is a sign of culture. Objects are a sign of culture. Different languages encounter different objects, creating cultural exchange between the Spanish-speaking Iberian Peninsula and the Arab world of North Africa during the Medieval Ages. How do the image of Virgin Mary, Western colonialism, and Arabic root words influence culture?  In this episode, Briana Bao ’28 and Rita Xing ’28 sit down with Associate Professor of Spanish and Department Chair of Spanish Catherine Infante to discuss her own book projects, learning new languages, and teaching Spanish literature — specifically, how Don Quixote and two coasts of the Mediterranean have led her into the world of academia and other exciting interests like travelling and gardening.

Are you ever confused about the thunderous laughter reverberating through Seeley Mudd? Are your dreams infiltrated by math problems? Do you have math competition trauma? In this episode, Briana Bao ’28 and Rita Xing ’28 sit down with Associate Professor of Mathematics Ivan Contreras to discuss the highs and lows of his “complicated” but ultimately loving relationship with mathematics. The episode features his opinions on how students should position themselves toward math, suggestions for what courses to take as a non-major,  and his various other exciting interests.  Episode notes can be found here.  Edited and produced by Briana Bao ’28 and Rita Xing ’28.

Baby bonuses, enhanced parental leave, and childcare access are public policies aimed at slowing the declining birth rate —  but by themselves, they are unlikely to change anyone’s mind about having children. Faced with an aging population’s need for health care and pensions, how can policymakers realistically intervene? Is the birth rate an effective policy target in the first place? In this episode, Visiting Associate Professor of Political Science Alex Jingwei He joins Host Priscilla Lee ’25 to ask what policies can (and cannot) do to encourage childbirth in their shared home of Hong Kong and East Asia. More broadly, this episode is about the role of public policy — and policy scientists — in complex social issues.   Episode notes and further reading: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-01ey8vXPQz7yW-Artmh2hfN1Z9anlfr745z9XzyBFs/edit?usp=sharing