History Talk

April 24, 2015 marks the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Beginning in 1915 in the midst of the strains of World War I, Ottoman officials oversaw the deportation and massacre of anywhere between several hundred thousand and 1.5 million Armenian people. The result was the physical annihilation of the Armenian communities that had lived in the Anatolian peninsula for more than 2500 years. But labeling it as a “genocide” has proven controversial and unacceptable for the Turkish Republic. Join your History Talk hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy as they interview Ronald Grigor Suny, Ayse Baltacioglu-Brammer, and John Quigley to discuss what is now known about the  history of these events, the meaning of the legal and historical label “genocide,” and why coming to terms with mass atrocities is so difficult today. - Posted April 2015

NATO “officially” ended its combat operations in Afghanistan in late December 2014, but the country remains fractured by ethnic and geographical fissures, with local warlords controlling their own fiefdoms and the government in Kabul only nominally in control. And the Taliban — that American forces went in to banish in 2001— remains a force to be reckoned with. On today's History Talk, hosts Patrick Potyondy and Leticia Wiggins talk with scholars Robert Crews, Scott Levi, and Alam Payind about Afghanistan’s complex history to ask what the past of these peoples and this country tell us about prospects for the future. -Posted April 2015

How we understand policing in the United States depends not only on what issues we focus on but also how far back we look. In this episode of History Talk, hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy sit down with the historians Marcus Nevius, Lilia Fernández, and Clay Howard to take a longer and broader view of the matter. They discuss how modern policing problems are connected to a range of historical issues such as slave patrols, the spectacle of lynching, mental health problems, the War on Drugs, as well as controlling publicly-acceptable behavior, labor, immigration, and gender. - Posted February 2015

This month History Talk hosts Patrick Potyondy and Leticia Wiggins explore the political climate of a nation that's remained on distant diplomatic terms with the United States though it's only 90 miles away from the U.S.'s southernmost point. But U.S. - Cuba relations could be in for a dramatic change since President Obama's mid-December announcement. Join in the conversation with historians of Latin America - U.S. relations, Lilia Fernandez, Hideaki Kami, and Jaime Suchlicki. - Posted January 2015

Join hosts Patrick Potyondy and Leticia Wiggins and their guests, historians David Brakke, Tina Sessa, and Daniel Watkins as they discuss Pope Francis—the “people’s pope”—and how his actions fit into the Church's traditions and its commitment to social justice. Listen and explore hundreds of years of history of a group with over a billion adherents! -Posted December 2014

Join hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy in a conversation with historians—and award-winning teachers—Kevin Boyle, Stephanie Shaw, and Hasan Kwame Jeffries about the importance and difficulties of teaching race and civil rights in the classroom. “Learning about the Civil Rights Movement,” Boyle declares, “really explores the tension between America’s promise and the reality of the United States.” The first part of this conversation, referred to in the current episode, can be found in our previous podcast, “Putting Race on Display: The National Civil Rights Museum.” - Posted December 2014

Join hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy for part one of a two-segment History Talk on race in America. In “Putting Race on Display,” they interview Ohio State historians Stephanie Shaw and Hassan Jeffries about their work renovating the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. “It really is a place,” says Jeffries, “for living history.” The Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Now it is part of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.   - Posted November 2014  

Twenty-five years ago this autumn, the world watched in amazement as events in Eastern Europe transformed the planet. Socialist states that had looked a permanent fixture on the map of Europe disintegrated, often with little resistance. And the Berlin Wall—that most iconic symbol of the Cold War—came tumbling down in November. The sense of possibility and astonishment were palpable: the world could change in the blink of an eye if only we tried. But where are we now, twenty-five years later? Why should 1989 matter to us now? On this edition of History Talk, hosts Patrick Potyondy and Leticia Wiggins welcome historians Nicholas Breyfogle and Theodora Dragostinova and Slavic Studies Professor Angela Brintlinger as they consider these questions and more as we remember the year that changed it all. Monument to the Soviet Army, Sofia Bulgaria. Painted as popart characters, June 2011. - Posted October 2014

Listen as History Talk explores the relationship between American university sports and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. In this episode, Origins authors Marc Horger, Steve Conn, and Anna McCullough join hosts Patrick Potyondy and Leticia Wiggins and chew on the definition of amateurism, talk over the growth of college athletics, and hash out how each has shaped the university yesterday and today. Ohio Stadium Dedication Game, OSU vs. Michigan, 1922 - Posted September 2014

In this episode of History Talk, host Leticia Wiggins interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Taylor Branch on the contentious yet interlinked history of the American university system and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. In addition to completing the monumental King Era Trilogy, Branch has published The Cartel: Inside the Rise and Imminent Fall of the NCAA. He has also been featured in The Atlantic, MSNBC, and NPR to list but a few places. Ohio State's first football squad, 1890. Photo credit: Ohio State Archives    - Posted September 2014

The summer of 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. In this month’s podcast, three Ohio State historians travelled far and wide to bring us first-hand stories of how the Great War is being commemorated across the globe. Brenna Miller joined us from Sarajevo (Bosnia), where Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke, the famous spark that set off the war. Kirsten Hildonen phoned in from Belgrade (Serbia), an epicenter of the Great War still feeling aftershocks of the wars of the past 25 years. And Keshia Lai reported from Singapore, then an important colony in Britain’s Asian empire and now an economic powerhouse. - Posted August 2014

The rapid shift in attitudes toward same-sex marriage in the United States has been one of the most dramatic cultural transformations in recent memory. But with these changes have come many questions and tensions. Is the focus on the politics of marriage limiting to broader rights movement? How have popular representations like those in Modern Family, crime procedurals, or even Levi’s jeans commercials changed the public’s perceptions, and has it always been for the better? How has the study and teaching of gay and lesbian history changed? What is the relationship between sexuality and neighborhood transformation (often termed “gentrification”)? In this month’s episode of History Talk there’s something for everyone as hosts Patrick Potyondy and Leticia Wiggins discuss the historical background behind the news headlines with three experts: Daniel Rivers and Clayton Howard are two Ohio State history professors, and J. Brendan Shaw is a doctoral candidate in the Ohio State Uni

Many consider suicide bombing an exclusively recent or even novel phenomenon, carried out by crazed individuals that defy all reason. But is this actually the case? When and why did suicide bombing begin? Are there similarities among Russian anarchists of the nineteenth century, kamikaze pilots, and today’s suicide bombers? How can the history inform policy decisions to try and prevent such acts? Join your hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy who interview guests Corbin Williamson, Jonathan Romaneski, and Jeffrey Lewis as they tackle these and other tough questions on the terrors of suicide bombing. - Posted June 2014

Jesse Owens winning four gold medals in front of Adolf Hitler in 1936 Berlin. The 1942 Dynamo Kyiv soccer team which went on to defeat Hitler’s squad after being told, “If you win, you die.” Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising gloved hands in the Black Power salute in 1968. Gay rights and Vladimir Putin’s Russia at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The role of sport in dismantling South Africa’s apartheid regime and the 2010 World Cup in putting the nation on display on the global stage. And coming up, Brazil: about to host to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics and home to tumultuous popular demonstrations. Politics and international sports seem to go hand-in-hand, but why? Join History Talk hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy as they discuss the historical dimensions of this contentious topic with experts Russell Field, Marc Horger, and Steven Conn. New stadium in Fortaleza, Brazil, one of the 2014 World Cup host cities - Posted May 2014

The crisis between Ukraine, Russia, and the European Union/United States continues to dominate headlines with fears of a second cold war or worse emerging. In Part I of this podcast double-feature, we discussed Crimea’s rich and varied history. Join hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy for Part II as they talk with Trevor Brown and Rudy Hightower, both from OSU’s Glenn School of Public Affairs, about Ukraine’s struggles to achieve democracy in the post-Soviet era. Photo by Nessa Gnatoush -- Podcast posted April 20, 2014

The world has been electrified these past weeks by the explosive events in Ukraine: a dramatic political revolution in Kyiv's Independence Square, the surprise annexation of Crimea into Russia, and rising tensions between Russia and the United States/European Union that are reminiscent of the darkest of Cold War days. Join hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy as they talk with Myroslava Mudrak, Sergei Zhuk, and Origins editor Nick Breyfogle about Crimea's rich and varied history, how Crimea was absorbed into Russia, and what the future holds for Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula. Photo by Nessa Gnatoush -- Posted on April 10, 2014

Given all the furor about the role of academics in public life—a debate taking place in The Atlantic, Politico, and The New York Times among other places—History Talk naturally wanted to dive headfirst into the topic. We tracked four well-regarded academics who might be labeled “public intellectuals” to get their thoughts on the issue. This episode of History Talk features Professors Stanley Fish, Thomas Sugrue, Peter Mansoor, and Jessica Adler. Each interview segment provides an important piece of the larger puzzle to understanding the public intellectual in today’s world. (And don’t forgot to pop over to our Connecting History blog to read four responses from the next generation of historians from Ohio State.) -- Posted March 20, 2014

Join your usual History Talk co-hosts Leticia and Patrick along with this month's expert guests Sandra Tanenbaum, Origins editor Steven Conn, and Tamara Mann as they discuss the contentious history of healthcare policy in the United States—specifically the Affordable Care Act, also known pejoratively and positively as "Obamacare." Is the label "socialist" a kiss of death? Does the ACA move away from the "public charge" model? Is Obamacare about cost-effective healthcare or is it more about health coverage for all? How long has it taken policymakers in the past to craft effective programs? Origins has covered both aging and veterans’ in the U.S. healthcare system. --Posted February 25, 2014

Co-hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy interviewed guests Ayse Baltacioglu-Brammer and Patrick Scharfe on the the civil war in Syria, which continues to dominate headlines across the globe. As negotiations and fighting continue, Leticia and Patrick spoke with the two historians of the Middle East to explore the nation’s diversity, the role of women in the Arab Spring, intervention, and the way forward. For more on Syria, see Origins’ two articles, “Syria's Islamic Movement and the 2011-12 Uprising” and “Alawites and the Fate of Syria” --Posted January 2014 [A transcript of this podcast is available here.]

In a nationally-televised speech on January 17, 2014, President Obama announced reforms to the National Security Agency (NSA). OSU History Department’s very own David Hadley covered the history of the NSA in December within, "America’s "Big Brother": A Century of U.S. Domestic Surveillance," so co-hosts Patrick Potyondy and Leticia Wiggins sat down with David Hadley and Origins editors Nicholas Breyfogle and Steven Conn to discuss the NSA in the current national and global environment. Let us know what you think of our inaugural “History Talk” podcast! --Posted December 2013