
Blue Humanities
New approaches to humanities and arts disciplines, exploring the relationship between humankind and the oceans. From the Humanities Institute of Arizona State University, hosted by Professor Jonathan Bate.
Episodes
10 episodes
How the Maritime World made the West
With sail came trade—and with trade came connection between cultures. When did that begin in the West? In this episode we go to ancient Mesopotamia, the Levant, Egypt, and the islands of the Mediterranean; we learn about the Phoenicians (who di...
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47:28

Is a River Alive?
In this episode of the Blue Humanities podcast, we turn from the oceans to the rivers that feed the sea. Host Jonathan Bate joins Britain’s leading writer of the natural world,
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42:08

Oceanic Histories
When, why and in what ways did modern historians turn their attention to oceanic encounters and crossings? In this episode of the Blue Humanities podcast, presenter Jonathan Bate talks to David A...
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49:35

Deepwater Alchemy
How do we imagine the ocean bed? Who owns the sea floor? What does our obsession with shipwrecks such as the Titanic tell us about ourselves? What is the history of the deepwater extractive economy? And its future? In this episode of the Blue H...
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35:24

Shakespeare and the Sea
“There are some who are oceanic in effect,” pronounced Victor Hugo with regard to Shakespeare. “As for the sea, it thunders in passage after Shakespearian passage, and is indeed Shakespeare’s main poetic symbol, its roughness especially being u...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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50:21

Noah's Arkive
In a world of torrential storms and rising sea levels, what can we learn from the ancient and enduring story of Noah's ark? In this episode, Jeffrey J. Cohen and
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37:33

From Unincorporated Pacific Territory
In this episode of the Blue Humanities podcast of the Humanities Institute at Arizona State University, presenter
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39:28

Sailing with Ahab and Sailing Alone
In this episode of the Blue Humanities podcast of the Humanities Institute at Arizona State University, presenter
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41:00

The Blue Machine
How do the oceans work? And how have they influenced human history? In this episode of the Blue Humanities podcast of the Humanities Institute at Arizona State University, Jonathan Bate interview Helen Cz...
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53:58

What are the Blue Humanities and who invented the term?
From Homer's Odyssey to Shakespeare's tempestuous late plays to Melville's Moby Dick to recent writings by authors immersed in the Indian and Pacific oceans, literature has again and again gone down to the sea, to - in the wor...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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43:06
