PODCAST · society
Essays On Air
by The Conversation
Join us as we read aloud fascinating, meticulously researched essays penned by academics who are experts in their fields.
Episodes
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Nimbin before and after: local voices on how the 1973 Aquarius Festival changed a town forever
A scene at the Aquarius Festival, Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY-SA In the north-east corner of Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales is a small former dairying and banana farming community. Today, however, that village is unrecognisable. Nimbin is now widely...
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Essays On Air: the politics of curry
I had never encountered the word 'curry muncher' until I arrived in Australia 10 years ago. Shutterstock Opening Night, Melbourne Comedy Festival 2018. Dilruk Jayasinha’s introductory salvo: This is so exciting. I honestly… Sorry, it’s unbelievable — that I get to do stand-up comedy here at the...
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Essays On Air: The female dwarf, disability, and beauty
Detail from Little Big Woman: Condescension, Debra Keenahan, 2017. Designed and made by Debra Keenahan, Photograph by Robert Brindley., Author provided (No reuse), Author provided For centuries, women with dwarfism were depicted in art as comic or grotesque fairytale beings. But artists are...
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Essays On Air: Australia’s property boom and bust cycle stretches back to colonial days
In the 1980s, Australian geographer Maurice Daly exposed the urban planning system as a policy toolkit developers could capitalise on to drive subdivision and speculation – an insight that remains true even today. AAP Image/Lukas Coch Australia’s property market is slowing and many people are...
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Essays On Air: how archaeology helped save the Franklin River
The battle for the Franklin River runs far deeper than simply providing the backdrop for a political tug-of-war. PETER DOMBROVSKIS/ LIZ DOMBROVSKIS/AAP On 1 July 1983, in a dramatic four-three decision, the High Court of Australia ruled to stop the damming of the Franklin River. It ended a long...
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Essays On Air: can art really make a difference?
Ben Quilty, Life vest, Lesbos. 2016, oil on polyester, 60 x 50cm Australian War Memorial Before the early 19th century, war was commonly depicted as a heroic venture, while death was both noble and surprisingly bloodless. Then came Goya with his collection of etchings called Disasters of War to...
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Essays On Air: Monsters in my closet – how a geographer began mining myths
The Loch Ness Monster and other folk tales might not be pure fiction, but actually based on memories of events our ancestors once observed. Shutterstock So you think the Loch Ness Monster never existed? Think again. The science of “geomythology” is breathing new life into such stories. The Loch...
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Essays On Air: Joan of Arc, our one true superhero
Why did this woman, so devoted to her political cause and to her vision of a united France, chose to be burnt at the stake at the age of 19 instead of acquiescing to her judges’ directives? shutterstock.com One need not be a parent of a young child, as I am, to be conscious of the full-blown...
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Essays On Air: The personal is now commercial – beauty, fashion and feminism
Eva Blue/Flickr, Southern Cross Austereo, CC BY-SA Second wave feminists protested against women’s magazines and beauty pageants. Today, however, beauty and fashion editors such as Elaine Welteroth (recently of Teen Vogue) are some of the most high profile voices of a resurgent feminist movement....
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Essays On Air: On the Sydney Mardi Gras march of 1978
Marchers at the 1978 Mardi Gras parade. Sally Colechin/The Pride History Group, Author provided On a cold Saturday night in Sydney on June 24, 1978, a number of gay men, lesbians and transgender people marched into the pages of Australian social history. I was one of them. On today’s episode of...
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Essays On Air: When did Australia’s human history begin?
In July 2017, new research was published that pushed the opening chapters of Australian history back to 65,000 years ago. Marcella Cheng/The Conversation, CC BY-NC-ND In July 2017, new research was published that pushed the opening chapters of Australian history back to 65,000 years ago. It is…
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Essays On Air: Why grown-ups still need fairy tales
Fairy tales are extremely moral in their demarcation between good and evil, right and wrong. Marcella Cheng/The Conversation NY-BD-CC, CC BY-SA Originally for adults, many fairy tales can be brutal, violent, sexual and laden with taboo. When the earliest recorded versions were made by collectors...
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Essays On Air: Reading Germaine Greer’s mail
From the initial avalanche of mail triggered by Germaine Greer's book The Female Eunuch grew a collection of 50 years of letters, emails, faxes, telegrams and newsletters. Marcella Cheng/The Conversation NY-BD-CC, CC BY-SA From the initial avalanche of mail triggered by Germaine Greer’s book The...
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Essays On Air: Why libraries can and must change
The much heralded 'death of the book' has nothing to do with the death of reading or writing. It is about a radical transformation in reading practices. Marcella Cheng/NY-CC-BD, CC BY-NC-ND In the age of the globalisation of everything – and the privatisation of everything else - libraries can…
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Essays On Air: The cultural meanings of wild horses
Ongoing controversy around wild horses in Australia encompasses debate about their impact and their cultural meaning, argues Michael Adams. Marcella Cheng/The Conversation NY-BD-CC, CC BY-NC-ND While Australia debates how to reduce our wild horse numbers, other countries are working to…
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Essays On Air: Journeys to the underworld – Greek myth, film and American anxiety
A central convention of Greek mythological narratives called katabasis, the hero’s journey to the underworld or land of the dead. Marcella Cheng/The Conversation NY-BD-CC A central convention of Greek mythological narratives is katabasis, the hero’s journey to the underworld or land of the dead –...
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Essays On Air: a new podcast from The Conversation bringing the best writing to you
Our first episode is from Paul Salmond, an expert on the Classics and Ancient History at La Trobe University, reading his essay 'Journeys to the underworld – Greek myth, film and American anxiety'. Wes Mountain CC-BY-ND, CC BY The Conversation is launching a new podcast, Essays On Air. It’s the...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Essays On Air have?
Essays On Air currently has 17 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Essays On Air about?
Join us as we read aloud fascinating, meticulously researched essays penned by academics who are experts in their fields.
How often does Essays On Air release new episodes?
Essays On Air has 17 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Essays On Air?
You can listen to Essays On Air on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Essays On Air?
Essays On Air is created and hosted by The Conversation.
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