Episodes
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Her Compliance is a Response to Destiny
I’ve been analyzing the character of Shamhat in The Epic of Gilgamesh. Shamhat is a woman who has sex with, and civilizes, King Gilgamesh’s friend, the wild-man Enkidu. While Shamhat is wise and nurturing, we know nothing about her inner world. She is an enigma worth studying. Because she has…
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Article Review: The Origin of Prostitution in Ancient Mesopotamia
What was Shamhat’s profession and how much can we really know about women like her in ancient Mesopotamia? In this episode, I dig into Gerda Lerner’s 1986 essay “The Origin of Prostitution in Ancient Mesopotamia” to see what it can, and can’t, tell us about the woman who civilizes Enkidu in The...
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The Chalice and the Blade
In this episode, I review Riane Eisler’s The Chalice and the Blade, an important book that contrasts Dominator societies, built on hierarchy, with Partnership societies, based on cooperation and equality. Eisler helped broaden the study of the past by showing that women, domestic life, and…
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Book Review: The Language of the Goddess
Welcome to the podcast. In the 1990s, it seemed that the goddess movement was everywhere, both in popular and scholarly press. Since then, the fervor has cooled, however the myth of a unified, peace-loving goddess religion of Old Europe has persisted, especially in popular consciousness. An early...
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The Missing Component: AI Without Critical Thinking
Key Points: * The use of AI is a personal choice that requires ethical boundaries * Not all AI tools are created equal * Good prompts prevent crap results * Watch for bias * AI doesn’t replace critical thinking * AI knows data but it doesn’t know literature I’d love to hear from you! * How to you...
About this show
Are you interested in literature and how it influences our beliefs? Would you like to learn more about the Western Canon? Come join me as we discuss these and other exciting topics!
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Hosted by
Irene Banks
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