Podcast: Travelling Concepts on Air
Travelling Concepts on Air is a podcast series that explores the promise and ideal of interdisciplinarity. Interdisciplinarity is increasingly projected as an objective goal within academia, framed as something that both encourages and facilitates collaboration across fields and disciplines.
In this podcast series, dr. Tessa Diphoorn and dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh, both member of the Utrecht Young Academy, question some of these underlying assumptions by focusing on the idea of travelling concepts. Travelling concepts refers to concepts that 鈥榯ravel鈥 across disciplines and often act as the focal point for interdisciplinary efforts. With this podcast series, they are interested in posing the following questions:
- Why and how do concepts travel across disciplines?
- How do concepts change across disciplines?
- Why do particular concepts travel when others don鈥檛?
- What are the benefits and limitations of travelling concepts?
- Do such concepts allow scholars to 鈥榮peak鈥 across disciplines?
Tessa and Brianne address these questions by organizing monthly sessions wherein guest speakers will unpack various concepts, such as sustainability, war or citizenship, delineate how they are used in their disciplines, and discuss what this entails for interdisciplinary scholarship. Each session is thus centered around a particular concept. The organisers will host and interview two scholars per session, who each use a particular concept in a specific (and often different) way.
Listen to the to get a first impression. Season 2 of the podcast series promises a great line-up of travelling concepts, including: sea level, surveillance, equilibrium, youth, and many more.
Travelling Concepts on Air Season 2:
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 3:
Episode 4: &
Episode 5:
Episode 6:
Episode 7:
Episode 8:
Episode 9:
Travelling Concepts on Air Season 1:
In this introductory episode Dr. Tessa Diphoorn and Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh discuss how this podcast came into being and the idea behind "Travelling Concepts". In addition to sharing how they met, they discuss what the notion of travelling concepts entails by providing examples from their own research and what they hope to achieve.
They also ask themselves questions such as: are concepts getting richer when they travel? Do they enhace interdisciplinarity or do they cause confusion? And why do some concepts travel while others don't? While they don't provide an immediate answer to these questions, they give an idea on what kind of questions this podcast is interested in and what they expect from future episodes.
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Literature list and further reading
On Travelling Concepts:
Bal, Mieke and Marx-MacDonald, Sherry. 2002. 'Travelling Concepts in the Humanities: A Rough Guide' , 木瓜福利影视 of Toronto Press.
On Travelling:
Baer, Susanne.2013. 鈥楾raveling Concepts: Substantive Equality on the Road鈥, 46 Tulsa Law Review 59.
Risse, Thomas. 2017. Domestic Politics and Norm Diffusion in International Relations: Idea Do Not Float Freely, Routledge.
On Transformation:
Degener, Theresia. 2016. 鈥楧isability in a Human Rights Context鈥, 5 Laws 35.
Fredman, Sandra; Kuosmanen, Jaakko and Campbell, Meghan. 2016. 鈥楾ransformative Equality: Making the Sustainable Development Goals Work for Women鈥, 30 Ethics and International Affairs 177.
Gready, Paul and Robins, Simon. 2014. 鈥楩rom Transitional to Transformative Justice: A New Agenda for Practice鈥, 8 The International Journal of Transitional Justice 339.
McGonigle Leyh, Brianne and Fraser, Julie. 2019. 鈥樷, 8 Cambridge International Law Journal39.
On Sovereignty:
Bonilla, Yarimar. 2017. 鈥淯nsettling Sovereignty.鈥 Cultural Anthropology 32(3): 330-339.
Buur, Lars. 2006. 鈥淩eordering Society: Vigilantism and Expressions of Sovereignty in Port Elizabeth鈥檚 Townships.鈥 Development and Change 37 (4): 735-757.
Bryant, Rebecca and Madeline Reeves, eds. 2020. Sovereign Longings: Anthropological Perspectives on Political Agency. Ithaca: Cornell 木瓜福利影视 Press.
Hansen, Thomas B., and Finn Stepputat. 2006. 鈥淪overeignty Revisited.鈥 Annual Review of Anthropology 35: 295鈥315.
Humphrey, Caroline. 2007. 鈥淪overeignty.鈥 In A Companion to the Anthropology of Politics, ed. D. Nugent and J. Vincent. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 418-426.
Ong, Aihwa. 2000. 鈥淕raduated Sovereignty in South-East Asia.鈥 Theory Culture and Society 17 (4): 55-75.
Oosterbaan, Martijn and Wil Pansters. 2015. 鈥淚ntroduction: Sovereignty and Social Contestation. Between Violence and Alternative Sociocultural Orders.鈥 Conflict andSociety 1: 125-128.
Sieder, Rachel. 2011. 鈥淐ontested Sovereignties: Indigenous Law, Violence and State Effects in Postwar Guatemala.鈥 Critique of Anthropology 31(3): 161鈥184.
In this episode Dr. Tessa Diphoorn and Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh invite Dr. Katharine Fortin (Assistant Professor at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视's Netherlands Institute of Human Rights - SIM) and Prof. Dr. Jolle Demmers (Full Professor at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视's Center for Conflict Studies) to discuss the concept of 'war'. How does each one of them go about using the concept war in their work? What do they expect from 'war' as an academic concept and what kind of future do they see for it? Are there similarities or differences in the usage of this concept in each of their disciplines?
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Literature list and further reading
Barkawi, Tarek and Brighton, Shane. 2011. 鈥楶owers of War: Fighting, Knowledge, and Critique鈥, International Political Sociology, Volume 5, Issue 2, June 2011, Pages 126鈥143.
Chamayou, Gr茅goire. 2015. 'Drone Theory', Penguin Books Ltd.
Jabri, Vivienne. 1996. 'Discourses on Violence: Conflict Analysis Reconsidered', Manchester 木瓜福利影视 Press.
Modirzadeh, Naz K. 2020. 鈥楥ut These Words: Passion and International Law of War Scholarship鈥. 61 Harvard International Law Journal 1
In this episode Dr. Tessa Diphoorn and Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh are joined by Dr. Nikkie Wiegink and Dr. Joost Vervoort to discuss the concept of 鈥榮ustainability鈥. Dr. Wiegink is Assistant Professor Utrecht 木瓜福利影视鈥檚 Department of Cultural Anthropology and Dr. Vervoort is Assistant Professor in the Environmental Governance Group at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development.
Some of the concepts discussed in this episode are sustainability, sustainable development, and sustainable development goals (SDGs). How do these concepts play a role in their work? Do they use or approach the concept similarly or do they differ?
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Literature list and further reading
Fry, Stephen. 2018. Mythos: the Greek Myths Retold. Penguin Books.
Maggs, David, and John Robinson. 2020. Sustainability in an Imaginary World: Art and the Question of Agenc, Routledge.
Tsing, Anna L. 2017. "A threat to Holocene resurgence is a threat to livability." The anthropology of sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2017, pages 51-65.
Wiegink, Nikkie. 2020. Former Guerrillas in Mozambique. 木瓜福利影视 of Pennsylvania Press.
ZA/UM. 2019. Disco Elysium. Videogame
In this episode鈥Dr. Tessa Diphoorn鈥痑苍诲鈥Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh discuss the concept of 鈥榯ime鈥 together with Dr. Jo茫o Trabucho Alexandre and Dr. Susanne Knittel. Dr. Trabucho Alexandre is a Sedimentary Geologist and Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视, while Dr. Knittel is Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视.
In their inspiring and discipline-bridging discussion, the guests discuss how time they encountered the different notions of 鈥榯ime鈥 in their respective research and how the concept travels between their fields.
Listen to this episode on鈥 or on鈥!
Literature list and further reading
Bjornerud, Marcia. 2018. Timefulness. How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World. Princeton: Princeton 木瓜福利影视 Press.
Frisch, Max. 1979. Man in the Holocene, translated by Geoffrey Skelton. Dalkey Archive Press.
Gould, Stephen Jay. 1987. Time鈥檚 Arrow, Time鈥檚 Cycle. Myth and Metaphor in the Discovery of Geological Time. Cambridge, MA: Harvard 木瓜福利影视 Press.
McPhee, John. October 20, 1980. 鈥淚-Basin and Range. Annals of the Former World.鈥 New Yorker. October 20, 1980, page 68.
Powers, Richard. 2018. The Overstory. W. W. Norton.
Proulx, Annie. 2016. Barkskins. 4th Estate.
In this episode, Dr. Tessa Diphoorn and Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh discuss the concept of 鈥楥ivil Society鈥 together with Prof. dr. Antoine Buyse and Dr. Chris van der Borgh. Prof. Antoine Buyse is professor in Human Rights in Multidisciplinary Perspective and is director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM). Dr. Chris van der Borgh is assistant professor at the Centre of Conflict Studies at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 and is specialized in conflict analysis, political development, and international conflict resolution.
In this episode, they discuss what the concept of 鈥楥ivil Society鈥 means, how the concept has developed, travelled, and what the opportunities and challenges are of using this concept in and outside academia. The role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in civil societies is central to the discussion, as well as the notion of 鈥楥ivic Space鈥.
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Literature list and further reading
Borgh, Chris van der, and Carolijn Terwindt. 2014. NGOs under Pressure in Partial Democracies. Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Edwards, Michael. 2019. Civil Society, 4th edition. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Keane, John. 2020. The New Despotism: Imagining the End of Democracy. Harvard: Harvard 木瓜福利影视 Press.
Putnam, Robert D., and Robert Leonardi. 1994. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton: Princeton 木瓜福利影视 Press.
In this episode, Dr. Tessa Diphoorn and Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh discuss the concept of 鈥楬eritage鈥 together with and . Dr. Markus Balkenhol is an anthropologist at the Meertens Institute in Amsterdam. Drs. Theo Pronk is a historian at the School of History, Culture and Communication at Erasmus 木瓜福利影视 Rotterdam.
How has the meaning and usage of the concept of heritage developed over time? How do the hosts and guests use the concept of heritage in their work? Are there differences in their approach or do they concur? How to make sense of the current societal and academic debates concerning heritage? These are just some of the questions asked in this episode.
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Literature list and further reading
Balkenhol, Markus. 2021. 鈥楾racing Slavery: The Politics of Atlantic Memory in The Netherlands鈥, New York: Berghahn Books.
Balkenhol, Makrus, Ernst van den Hemel, and Irene Stengs. 2020. 鈥楾he Secular Sacred: Emotions of Belonging and the Perils of Nation and Religion鈥, Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Balkenhol, Markus, Ruy Llera Blanes, and Ramon Sarr贸. 2019. 鈥楢tlantic Perspectives: Places, Spirits and Heritage鈥, New York: Berghahn Books.
Imagine IC. 2021. 鈥楨rfgoed Up to Date鈥, retrieved Feb. 18 2021 ().
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek. 2013. 鈥楬eritage Dynamics: Politics of Authentication and Aesthetics of Persuasion in Brazil, Ghana, South Africa and the Netherlands鈥, Retrieved Feb. 18, 2021 ().
Stichting Verborgen Stad. 2021. 鈥5D projecten, Retrieved Feb. 18, 2021 ().
Vereniging Oud-Dordrecht. 2018. 鈥極ud-Dordrecht鈥, retrieved Feb. 18, 2021 ().
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. 鈥楳apping Slavery NL鈥, retrieved Feb. 18, 2021 ().
In this episode, Dr. Tessa Diphoorn and Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh discuss the concept of 鈥楢gency鈥 together with Dr. Annemarie Kalis and Dr. Julie Fraser. Dr. Kalis is Associate Professor of theoretical philosophy at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视, while Dr. Fraser is Assistant Professor at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) and the Montaigne Centre at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视.
In this episode they examine the concept of 鈥榓gency鈥 and how it has developed over time. The hosts discuss how they respectively use the concept of agency and whether there are differences/similarities in their approach.
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Literature list and further reading
Barker, Roger. 1968. 鈥楨cological Psychology: Concepts and methods for studying the environment of human behavior鈥, CA: Stanford 木瓜福利影视 Press.
Godfrey-Smith, Peter. 2016. 鈥極ther minds: the octopus, the sea, and the deep origins of consciousness鈥, William Collins.
Fraser, Julie. 2018. 鈥楨very Organ of Society鈥 - Exploring the Role of Social Institutions in the Effective Implementation of International Human Rights Law鈥, Utrecht 木瓜福利影视, Dissertation.
Fraser, Julie. 2020. 鈥楽ocial Institutions and International Human Rights Law Implementation 鈥 Every Organ of Society鈥, Cambridge: Cambridge 木瓜福利影视 Press.
In the eighth episode of the podcast series Travelling Concepts on Air, Dr. Tessa Diphoorn and Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh discuss the concept of 鈥楲egitimacy together with Dr. Amy Nivette and Dr. Niels Terpstra. Amy Nivette is Assistant Professor at the Sociology Department at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视. She is specialized in the areas of violence & crime and is particularly interested in police legitimacy. Niels Terpstra is Assistant Professor at the Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 School of Governance and a policy advisor at USG Consultancy. His research focuses on questions of governance, legitimacy, security, various forms of violence, insurgency, terrorism, and international relations.
In this episode they examine the concept of 鈥榣egitimacy鈥 and how it has developed over time. The hosts discuss how they respectively use the concept of legitimacy and whether there are differences/similarities in their approach.
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In this episode, Dr. Tessa Diphoorn and Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh discuss the concept of Transformation together with Johan Schot and Joost de Laat. Johan Schot is Professor of Global History and Sustainability Transitions at the Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 Centre for Global Challenges. He is Director of the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC). Joost de Laat holds the Chair of Global Economic Challenges at the Utrecht School of Economics and is currently also directing the Utrecht Centre for Global Challenges.
In this episode they examine the concept of 鈥榯ransformation' and how it has developed over time. The hosts discuss how they respectively use the concept of transformation and whether there are differences/similarities in their approach. In addition to this, they discuss how we can transform society to meet the many challenges of the future, and the role that academia plays in such transitions.
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In this episode, dr. Tessa Diphoorn and dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh discuss the concept of 鈥楧iplomacy鈥 together with dr. Lorena De Vita and dr. David Henig.
Dr. Lorena De Vita is Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视. As a researcher she mainly focuses on various ways of cooperation in international politics. Lorena De Vita is also the coordinator of the MA International Relations in Historical Perspective and won the 2020 Teacher Prize for 'creating a learning environment where debate and exchange are central'. Dr. David Henig is Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视. He mainly wants to understand how people remake their lifeworlds after dramatic societal ruptures. In his research, he focuses on 鈥 among other things: conflict and co-existence; violence and memory; Muslim politics; and secularism and sovereignty.
In this episode they examine the concept of 鈥楧iplomacy鈥 and how it has developed over time. The hosts discuss how they respectively use the concept of diplomacy and whether there are differences/similarities in their approach. In addition to this, they discuss how the disciplines of International Relations and Anthropology can reinforce each other when using the concept of 鈥楧iplomacy鈥.
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