Ideas

A groundbreaking study conducted in the wake of the Second World War by a group of scholars rocked the academic world when it was published in 1950 — but fell out of favour. Now a new generation of scholars is reviving the lessons of The Authoritarian Personality to understand who is drawn in by fascist propaganda.

There is a growing number of researchers who are 'forcibly displaced' worldwide. Thirty-four Canadian universities and colleges are currently hosting scholars who’ve left their jobs and homes to find safety. Scholars-in-exile from dozens of countries gathered at Carleton University in Ottawa to discuss ways to support free thinking and research whenever it is threatened.

From planting periwinkles on the graves of slaves, to the blues itself, the colour blue has been core to Black Americans’ pursuit of joy in the face of being dehumanized by slavery, argues Harvard professor Imani Perry. In her latest book, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of my People, she unpacks the deep, centuries-long connection between Black people and the colour blue, from the complex history of indigo dye to how the blues became a crowning achievement of Black American culture.

What happens to the land after a brutal wildfire? IDEAS visited St'át'imc territory near Lillooet, B.C., to follow land guardians and scientists from the Indigenous Ecology Lab at the University of British Columbia, as they document the effects of wildfires and chart a new future based on Indigenous approaches to healing and balancing an ecosystem. *This is part two of a two-part series. Guests in this series:Chief Justin Kane, elected Chief of Ts'kw'aylaxw First Nation Michelle Edwards, Tmicw coordinator for the St'át'imc Chiefs Council and the former Chief of the communities of Sekw'el'was and Qu'iqten Sam Copeland, senior land guardian for the P'egp'ig'lha Council Luther Brigman, assistant land guardian for the P'egp'ig'lha Council Travis Peters, heritage supervisor and interim lands manager for Xwísten First Nation Gerald Michel, council member and the Lands Resource Liaison for Xwísten First Nation Denise Antoine, natural resource specialist for the P'egp'ig'lha CouncilDr. Jennifer Grenz, assistant professor in the department of forest resources management at the University of British Columbia. She leads the Indigenous Ecology Lab at UBC, which works entirely in service to Indigenous communities on land-healing and food systems revitalization projects that bring together western and Indigenous knowledge systems and centres culture and resiliency. Virginia Oeggerli, graduate student in the Indigenous Ecology Lab in the faculty of forestry at UBCDr. Sue Senger, biologist working with the Lillooet Tribal CouncilJackie Rasmussen, executive director of the Lillooet Regional Invasive Species Society

In 2021, a deadly heat dome produced a devastating wildfire season across British Columbia. While immediate media coverage often focuses on evacuations and the numbers of homes destroyed, many First Nations say what these fires do to the land in their territories — and the cultural lives of their communities — is often overlooked. "These fires are killing our way of life," says a Tmicw coordinator for the St'át'imc Chiefs Council. IDEAS visited St'át'imc territory around Lillooet, B.C. to learn how 21st-century wildfires are reshaping the landscape — and their consequences for plants, animals, and humans alike. *This is part one in a two-part series.Guests in this series:Chief Justin Kane, elected Chief of Ts'kw'aylaxw First Nation Michelle Edwards, Tmicw coordinator for the St'át'imc Chiefs Council and the former Chief of the communities of Sekw'el'was and Qu'iqten Sam Copeland, senior land guardian for the P'egp'ig'lha Council Luther Brigman, assistant land guardian for the P'egp'ig'lha Council Travis Peters, heritage supervisor and interim lands manager for Xwísten First Nation Gerald Michel, council member and the Lands Resource Liaison for Xwísten First Nation Denise Antoine, natural resource specialist for the P'egp'ig'lha CouncilDr. Jennifer Grenz, assistant professor in the department of forest resources management at the University of British Columbia. She leads the Indigenous Ecology Lab at UBC, which works entirely in service to Indigenous communities on land-healing and food systems revitalization projects that bring together western and Indigenous knowledge systems and centres culture and resiliency. Virginia Oeggerli, graduate student in the Indigenous Ecology Lab in the faculty of forestry at UBCDr. Sue Senger, biologist working with the Lillooet Tribal CouncilJackie Rasmussen, executive director of the Lillooet Regional Invasive Species Society

For over 200 years, the Dandy has been a provocateur, someone who pushes against the boundaries of culture, masculinity and politics. From Beau Brummell to Oscar Wilde to contemporary Black activists, IDEAS contributor Pedro Mendes tracks the subversive role the Dandy plays in challenging the status quo. *This episode originally aired on April 15, 2021.Guests in this episode:Rose Callahan, photographer and director  André Churchwell, vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer for Vanderbilt University Chris Breward, director of National Museums Scotland and the author of The Suit: Form, Function and Style Ian Kelly, writer, actor and historical biographer. His works include Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Dandy Monica Miller, professor of English and Africana Studies at Barnard College, Columbia University and author of Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity 

In George Grant's famous 1965 essay, Lament for a Nation, the Red Tory philosopher argued that Canadian nationalism had died. He believed that when Canada was tied to the UK, the country was committed to a collective common good. But when it became integrated with the U.S., Grant says Canada abandoned this idea. Sixty years later, our relationship with the U.S. is being tested, igniting a rise in nationalism. PhD student Bryan Heystree finds hope in Grant's work and says there's valuable criticism worthy of our attention in the 21st century.

The 18th-century philosopher Adam Smith is often called “the father of economics,” and sometimes “the father of capitalism.” IDEAS contributor Matthew Lazin-Ryder examines how Smith’s name has been used and abused to both defend and attack free-market economics since his death.

When IDEAS contributor Sandra Bourque was diagnosed with ADHD in her early 50s, she was relieved. Finally, everything made sense to her. Bourque became obsessed with learning everything about how her brain worked. What she found was a mountain of information that focused on ADHD deficits and challenges, ways to "fit in better and be more normal." So Bourque became an ADHD coach so she could help others cut through the misinformation, focus on their strengths and learn how their brain actually worked. *This is part two in a two-part series called Myth of Normal.

Imagine a world without Mozart or Michelangelo, Einstein or Edison. Famous for their creativity, a "mysterious force" that psychiatrist and ADHD expert, Ed Hallowell, says is a commonality in neurodiverse people. Neurodiversity is a relatively new term, but the thinking behind it has been going on for a while. There’s increasing evidence that what we know today as Autism, ADHD, BipolarDisorder, Schizophrenia, and Dyslexia may have been a way for us to extend our species chances of survival. And yet the thinking around brain variations like ADHD is that it's a deficiency, something that needs to be fixed. Sandra Bourque's two-part series, The Myth of Normal traces the social and cultural response to neurodiversity and whether there's a way back to seeing this way of thinking as an advantage.

If you're someone who thinks reading is therapeutic, you aren’t alone. On the surface, bibliotherapy might sound like another personal wellness trend, but it definitely isn’t. In fact, it’s an approved form of mental health treatment in Canada. And it’s been around for at least a century. In this episode, researchers Sara Haslam and Edmund King discuss the World War Ⅰ roots of this practice in the UK. Author Cody Delistraty considers its role in moving him forward in the grieving process. And psychiatrist Martina Scholtens explains why she created an evidence-based reading list online, tailored to a range of mental health diagnoses.

Disgust — an emotion that makes us human. It can keep us safe from drinking milk that's gone off, thanks to the revolting smell. And as Charles Darwin suggests, disgust serves as part of our core evolutionary function. But it also has a dark side. Disgust has been co-opted by culture, to religious and political divides. Scholars say we need to reckon with this complicated emotion that has the ability to make the world more dangerous.

For centuries, Western philosophers have contemplated the question: “Who am I?” To get to the answer, 19th-century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel suggests, start by replacing the “I” with “we.” His philosophy looks at why we should care what others think of us because people’s perspectives play a huge part in how we see ourselves and how we look at the world. His theory is that traits and habits from the people around us impact what we see in ourselves.

Humans used fire as a tool. Now we fear its destruction. But we're responsible for changing the climate, argues John Vailliant, "in a way that favours fire way more than it favours us." The Vancouver author unpacks how fire made humans who we are — and how humans are changing fire in his award-winning book, Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast.*This episode originally aired on May 29, 2024.

Homosexuality is a crime in more than half of African countries — a crime punishable by prison sentences. Or in some cases: death. New laws in some states make it illegal for anyone to even advocate for LGBTQ rights. These laws bring up questions of foreign influence, neo-colonialism, and the role the international community could and should play in nudging human rights on the continent.

No one likes talking about child sex abuse. But prevention experts say we need to bring pedophilia out of the shadows if we ever want to end abuse. They insist, it is not inevitable. CBC producer John Chipman explores an innovative new program in Kitchener, Ontario, that has sex offenders and abuse survivors working together to prevent future harm and promote healing. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 23, 2024.

America is just not that into you anymore, says historian Marci Shore. It's not us — it's them. The Yale professor blames the U.S. for the failed relationship and warns the world that her own country can no longer be counted on to defend democracy, not even within its own borders. Shore has been studying the history of totalitarianism for nearly 30 years. She tells Nahlah Ayed why she relocated to Canada and how her knowledge of Eastern Europe informed her choice.

It might seem like the vast, turbulent ocean of information we call news has always existed, but that's not the case. 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. *This updated episode of Ideas from the Trenches was originally broadcast in 2014. 

It's not them, it's you. That's what fans of the cormorant argue, pointing out how people see the gangly aquatic bird all wrong. This common bird has gained a bad reputation by irritating communities with its large colonies, extreme fishing habits and tree-killing excrement. But defenders suggest maybe it's humans and their cultural assumptions that are the source of the problem. They say it's time for people to re-evaluate their perception of cormorants and acknowledge their beauty and worth. *This episode originally aired on October 6, 2021.

There are three components that could end constitutional democracy as we know it, says scholar Peter L. Biro — fear and its weaponization, habituation which involves the consequence of not noticing, and the 'stupidification' of our minds and of our discourse. He argues that we, as law-abiding average citizens, have the power to save our democracy and defend against backsliding forces. Biro recently delivered a keynote address at the ominously titled conference, Liberal Democracy in the Rearview Mirror? at Massey College in Toronto.

In 1859, an American shot a pig that belonged to the Hudson’s Bay Company. Suddenly, the U.S. and British Empire were on the brink of war once again. The incident became known as The Pig War, and it claimed one casualty: the pig. Over the years, tales about the conflict have been embellished and exaggerated, conspiracy theories invented, and lessons derived. But underneath all the folklore is a story of peace, diplomacy, and how we make meaning out of history. *This episode originally dropped on Oct. 15, 2024.

Historian Sergei Radchenko revisits the Cold War, focusing on what the idea of global power meant to the Soviet Kremlin. He argues that Soviet leaders, from Joseph Stalin to Mikhail Gorbachev, have always had a strong desire to be recognized as a superpower on the world stage, especially from the U.S. For decades, this desire could never be satisfied, resulting in frustration, and leading to outsized consequences throughout history. Radchenko’s call for a rethink of Moscow’s motivations has made him one of the most-read scholars on Soviet history today.

Métis archeologist Kisha Supernant was sometimes called a 'grave robber' when she started her line of work. With an eye to restorative justice, she tries to help Indigenous communities locate the graves of children who died at residential schools. Now, she's called on to find children's graves. In this public lecture, Supernant explains how the use of traditional knowledge systems, as well as cutting-edge ground radar techniques helps families find their loved ones. The work also allows communities to begin healing. It’s a science, she says, of the heart and head.

In the past decade, there has been one stable voting bloc: white evangelical Christians. Their support has been at a constant 80 per cent for Donald Trump, according to historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez. In her book, Jesus and John Wayne, she describes the Trump era as the latest chapter in a long story of exclusion, patriarchy, and Christian nationalism in the evangelical church. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 18, 2024. 

The grave consequences artificial intelligence poses aren't 'potential' — they are happening now, warns MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini. She argues that encoded discrimination embedded in AI systems — racial bias, sex and gender bias, and ableism — pose unprecedented threats to humankind. Buolamwini has been at the forefront of artificial intelligence research and encourages everyone to join in the fight for "algorithmic justice." Her book, Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines, uncovers the existential danger produced by Big Tech. "AI should be for the people and by the people, not just the privileged few.”

International law is clear: warring parties cannot kill civilians. It's a war crime. But there is one exception. An attacker can justify killing them if they’re being used as a shield for military objectives. This means a belligerent could kill a civilian and claim, after the fact, they were being used as shields by the enemy. Increasingly, that justification has been applied to neighbourhoods, districts, and even entire populations. IDEAS explores the long history of humans as shields and how this legal loophole has become a norm. Guests include Nicola Perugini, who teaches international relations at the University of Edinburgh. He is also co-author of Human Shields: A History of People in the Line of Fire. And Dr. Mimi Syed, an American emergency medicine physician who served two medical missions in Gaza in 2024.

More than 2,000 years ago, someone sat down and wrote a travel bucket list for the ancient world — suggesting must-see places that we now call The Seven Wonders of the World. It was kind of a Lonely Planet guide of its time, and included the Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the lighthouse of Alexandria, and the Temple of Artemis, among others. Historian Bettany Hughes brings monuments and archaeological discoveries back to life in her book, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. 

On May 5, 1945, Canadian soldiers played a key role in the liberation of the Netherlands from the German forces. Almost 80 years later, a large group of Canadians travelled to the Netherlands to pay tribute to their relatives who'd helped liberate the country in the Second World War. They walked on a nine-day pilgrimage through villages and towns, visiting old battlefields and the cemeteries where Canada's soldiers are buried. The group followed in the footsteps of the Canadian troops to honour their sacrifices. *This episode originally aired on May 1, 2023.

In the hour’s following her mother’s death, Martha Baillie undertook two rituals — preparing a death mask of her mother’s face, and washing her mother’s body. That intimacy shaped her grief. She had learned earlier to witness death and be present, living with regret after she left the room to get a nurse when her father died. For Baillie her mother's body was not a corpse that has no life. To her, it would "always be something alive." The novelist and writer explains what signified the difference in her book, There Is No Blue, the 2024 winner of the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.

"Never let anyone tell you that you're old," says Dag Aabaye, an 83-year-old super athlete who defies age. He runs two to six hours daily in B.C.'s Okanagan Valley, where he lives alone on a mountain. For him, running is “life itself." Blizzards, heat waves, even running 24 hours straight Until he met Aabaye, Brett Popplewell used to dread growing old. But now the sports journalist says he has reframed his thoughts about life, death, and the limits placed on us as we age. Popplewell chronicles Aabaye's life from childhood to being a stuntman and extreme athlete in his book, Outsider: An Old Man, a Mountain and the Search for a Hidden Past — winner of the 2024 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. Last month, Popplewell accepted his literary prize and delivered a public talk at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.

The cowboy — a symbol of the true American man who is anti-government, works independently and protects his family. Historian Heather Cox Richardson calls this rhetoric “cowboy individualism”, and says this myth is the basis for 40-year-old Republican ideology. In this public lecture, Cox Richardson argues that the current Trump administration has taken cowboy individualism to an extreme by gutting the government and centring power.

IDEAS listeners think deeply about the state of the world and how to improve it. To do that, you need to know what's going on. That's why we're recommending World Report.It's a daily news podcast that brings you the biggest stories happening in Canada and around the world, in just 10 minutes. Today you can get the latest Canadian election results and reaction from political leaders. It's the perfect update for IDEAS listeners who have been reimagining a better Canada.Make World Report your daily quick hit of news here: https://link.mgln.ai/fEUb9e

When reality TV first exploded in the early 2000s, the media panicked about the effect "unscripted" content would have on viewers. They found it difficult to distinguish between what was real and fake. But these days, people generally know better. Viewers now lean on the assumption that most of it is artfully manufactured. And according to experts, watching reality TV gives viewers analytical skills, media literacy — they are perceptive, which gets to the heart of deciphering when reality fits into reality TV. *This episode originally aired on May 6, 2024.

The Sermon on the Mount is one of the greatest gifts of scripture to humanity; just ask Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Leo Tolstoy. But who's making any use of it today? In a time when an eye for an eye still seems to hold sway, IDEAS producer Sean Foley explores the logic of Christian non-violence, beginning with Jesus' counsel to 'turn the other cheek.' *This episode won a Wilbur Award for excellence in communicating spiritual themes. It originally aired on Oct. 14, 2022.

IDEAS is a place for people who like to think. We value curiosity and deep conversation. And we work hard to bring you the ideas that shape and re-shape our world. No topic is off-limits. New episodes drop Monday through Friday at 5 pm ET.

Saturn, an alligator that was supposedly Hitler’s favourite animal was 'liberated' from the Berlin zoo when the Red Army invaded Germany at the end of the Second World War. The reptile was relocated to Moscow where it died in 2020. But with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Saturn’s story has become once again a symbol in wartime geopolitics. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 10, 2023.

It’s been a few months into Donald Trump’s second presidency, with the wealthiest man in the world, Elon Musk, overseeing government operations. The U.S. has been a platform for him, a source of money, resources and leverage, says historian and author Quinn Slobodian who has studied Musk's global history. Slobodian points out that Musk is “the symptom of a society which empowered him.” When we wanted technical solutions to social problems, Musk responded. He may not be what we wanted, “but as the saying goes, he’s the one we deserve.”

We are all vulnerable to digital surveillance, as there’s little protection to prevent our phones from getting hacked. Mercenary spyware products like Pegasus are powerful and sophisticated, marketed to government clients around the world. Cybersecurity expert Ron Deibert tells IDEAS, "the latest versions can be implanted on anyone's device anywhere in the world and as we speak, there is literally no defence against it.” Deibert is the founder of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, a group of tech-savvy researchers who dig into the internet, looking for the bad actors in the marketplace for high-tech surveillance and disinformation. In his new book, Chasing Shadows, he shares notorious cases he and his colleagues have worked on and reveals the dark underworld of digital espionage and subversion.

There's no universal definition for the word freedom, according to American historian Timothy Snyder. He divides the word into two categories for people — the freedom "from" and the freedom "to" various things. In the U.S., Snyder calls oligarchs like Elon Musk and President Donald Trump "heroes of negative freedom,” focused on being against things. But the author of On Freedom says it's a trap, because once you’re against one thing, it builds into an endless loop of the next thing. True freedom, he says, is to thrive for the sake of our common future.

The Gulf of America/Gulf of Mexico controversy reminds us that maps may appear authoritative, but are a version of reality. At the same time, they can be rich, beautiful and informative, as Vancouver’s Kathleen Flaherty explains, in this 2005 documentary made before Google Maps changed mapmaking forever.

At a time when Canadians are rallying around the flag, IDEAS thought we could all use a little Stompin’ Tom Connors to keep us going. Famous for his black cowboy hat, he was an original, writing hundreds of songs about what it means to be Canadian. He may have died 12 years ago, but his songs live on, and resonate today.

A German, a Canadian, and an American meet to discuss national borders — crossing them, defending them, and reimagining what they could become before the century is out. Our three experts dig into what’s happening to the concept of borders, how they work, and how border policies have changed in the past 10 years.

Between $21 and $32 trillion is hidden in offshore accounts. These secret stashes have been uncovered by the work of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) — a network of almost 300 investigative journalists. Their findings have led to multiple arrests and official inquiries in more than 70 countries, and the resignations of the leaders of Pakistan, Iceland, and Malta.

"The first kind of return before language or story is a return to one another," says novelist Janika Oza. She looks at the ways in which the narrative arcs of ordinary lives are shaped by ruptures like colonialism, war, and the Partition of India — and what it means to continually seek to return through stories, memories and objects. This episode is the fourth in a series collaboration with Crow’s Theatre in Toronto.