Podalot is the podcast of the Aydelotte Foundation at Swarthmore College, an interdisciplinary research center that supports the creation and dissemination of knowledge about liberal arts education as it exists across the broadest possible range of contexts and institutions. The podcast facilitates conversations about critical investigations into higher education and the liberal arts. You can subscribe on Spotify, Amazon or Apple Podcasts to keep up to date with new episodes as they are released.
Ep. 4 On “South Africa to Gaza” with Ahmad Shokr, Sangina Patnaik, Alejandra Azuero-Quijano, and Sabeen Ahmed
Aydelotte Foundation director, Patricia White, speaks with four Swarthmore faculty members who have organized the speaker series, “From South Africa to Gaza: World History and the Politics of Responsibility.”
More information about the series and additional recordings can be found here.
Ep. 3 Universities and Democracy with Vineeta Singh, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Donna Murch, and Davarian Baldwin
In late February, Andy Hines and Dennis Hogan organized a symposium at Haverford College called, ”Universities and Democracy: The Politics of Higher Education Today.” It brought together researchers, organizers, elected officials, and many others in the Philadelphia region to discuss the local and national transformation of the political economy of higher education. Published on the same day as the AAUP’s national day of action for higher education, we bring you four of the talks from that symposium by Vineeta Singh, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Donna Murch, and Davarian Baldwin. We plan to broadcast more of the talks from this event in the future.
Episode Two: “Land Grab Universities” with Tristan Ahtone and Maria Parazo Rose
Tim Burke, Rachel Buurma, and Andy Hines speak with Tristan Ahtone and Maria Parazo Rose about their work on “Land Grab Universities,” a project that makes a direct, irrefutable claim about how the wealth of land-grant universities is linked to indigenous dispossession. The discussion considers how to understand the present ramifications of the Morrill Act of 1862, how the process associated with land-grant universities might extend to other institutions, and the next phase of their project. Tristan Ahtone is a member of the Kiowa Tribe and is Editor at Large at Grist. Maria Parazo Rose is a spatial data analyst at Grist, where she writes and makes maps about Indigenous affairs, conservation, and climate migration.
Episode One: ChatGPT and Cheating in South Africa with Stephen Sparks
Tim Burke, Rachel Buurma, and Andy Hines speak with Stephen Sparks take a somewhat different approach to talking about every professor’s favorite subject, namely ChatGPT and AI generally. It is not just an issue for American academics: faculty in South African universities are also reckoning with its impact. The problem of technologically sophisticated strategies for cheating (as well as some of the classics) is painfully familiar there as well as here, all the more so during the pandemic. Stephen Sparks is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Historical Studies at University of Johannesburg.
