malorynye's podcast

This is the first episode of season 2, which is on the general theme of religion, race, and coloniality. The episodes for this season are recordings from lectures that I presented at the University of Stirling in autumn 2018

What are we looking for when we look at 'religion and popular culture'? In this episode I explore the ways in which religion in books, film, and dramas is a way that authors and readers engage with ideas of specific religions. This can be broadly understood through the concept of 'religionization'.

  How should Australia try to understood its unsavoury history? In this episode, I discuss a recent TV drama series called Cleverman about an Indigenous superhero who finds himself fighting a securitised white establishment. So what does Cleverman tell us about the dynamics of race, history, and Indigeneity in contemporary Australia?

There can be no doubt that the academic study of religion emerged out of European colonialism. There are various lines of descent for the discipline, and like much of the humanities and social sciences, they all lead back to colonialism, and in particular the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. And so, during a time when there is a widespread movement for the decolonisation of knowledge, is there a need for a decolonisation of the study of religion? And if so, then what does it involve? These are some initial thoughts on this major issue.

I am a student of religion who does not study religion. I study what people think and talk about as religion. I study the spaces, places, things, objects, ideas, practices, and conflicts that can be found in particular discourses that get labelled and thought about as 'religion'. I study the idea of religion.

In this podcast I do something a little different, reading the text of King James I & VI's short 1604 tract called A Counterblaste to Tobacco

In 1604, King James I of England wrote a short tract against the smoking of tobacco, which had recently arrived in the country from America. This episode is a short exploration of the significance of this book.

When we speak of religion are we in fact talking about race? Does the idea of 'religion' only make sense if we consider it as a particular instance of a racial formation?

To understand the burkini bans in France in summer 2016, our starting point needs to be based on an assumption of intersectionality. The bans are not only about religion or security, they also involve gender, sexuality, race, power, and history.

The history of the idea of chocolate is somewhat similar to the history of how we think about religions. Chocolate became chocolate through colonial encounter and appropriation. Without colonialism, we would not talk about chocolate - the same with religion.

So, here is a question that is rarely asked in Religion 101 classes: What type of gloves should you be wearing? All studies of religion are a study of humans, people and the worlds, cultures, meanings, ideas, and practices they live within. What we choose to wear (perhaps metaphorically) on our hands helps to shape what we do in the study of religion.

This episode explores the riots in the city where I live, that is in Perth, May 1559 following John Knox's sermon in St John's Kirk. These riots caused the destruction of four very wealthy religious monasteries in the city, and kick started the Scottish Protestant reformation.

This episode is a continuation of the discussion I started in episode 9 (HIP009), on the issues of what is known as the 'doctrine of discovery' and the Europeanisation of the land that became north America.

Today, I discuss a fundamental starting point in our understanding of the 'discovery' and settlement of America by Europeans. That is, the encounter with the Indigenous people of the lands the Europeans (and their descendants) went on to colonise. Historically this has come to be thought of as being based on the 'doctrine of discovery', an idea with significantly Christian religious underpinnings.

In this episode, I aim to introduce the history of Scotland as part of this exploration of the 'ink with which history is written'. That is, I do not intend to write the story of Scotland. Instead, my hope is to bring to the fore certain histories, certain stories, events, ideas, and people within the context of history in and of Scotland that have impacted the wider world that we live in.

In the last five episodes I have covered some introductory issues about three of the major themes of the History's Ink podcast. That is on European encounters in episode 2, on the Protestant reformations in 3 and 4, and on the development of the idea of Europe (vis a vis Islam and the Muslim world) in episodes 5 & 6. Going hand in hand with all this is the development of that aspect of European society — particularly in the rise of colonialism — that was slavery. That is, the kidnapping of people (mostly from Africa), their forced transportation across the Atlantic Ocean, their 'sale' as property, followed by their enforced lifetime of enslaved labour. In short, an economic and political system that was based on the fundamental idea that people could be treated almost entirely as property, and the inevitable violence that was required to enforce this. It was a system that began very early in the westward expansion of Europe, and which largely fuelled the economic development of European settlement in the new colonies, from the sixteenth century onward. Indeed, it was largely hard wired into the formation of the independent US and which helped to power the economic development of the new nation.

This is the second of two episodes (HIP005 and HIP006) in which we look at the long history of interactions between Europe and the Muslim world. The boundaries of Europe are the product of the long history, from the rise of Islam and its spread around the Mediterranean, to the battles of Tours, the fall of Constantinople, and the siege of Vienna. All these created Europe, or more specifically they created the idea of Europe.

This is the first of two episodes in which we look at the long history of interactions between Europe and the Muslim world. The boundaries of Europe are the product of the long history, from the rise of Islam and its spread around the Mediterranean, to the battles of Tours, the fall of Constantinople, and the siege of Vienna. All these created Europe, or more specifically they created the idea of Europe.

The 16th century was a time of incredible change in Europe. Not only due to the expansion into new territories, but also due to the political changes of the Protestant reformations. How and why did these happen, and what were their impact? The introductory discussion of these issues is spread across two episodes (HIP003 and HIP004). This is the second part of that discussion.

The 16th century was a time of incredible change in Europe. Not only due to the expansion into new territories, but also due to the political changes of the Protestant reformations. How and why did these happen, and what were their impact? The introductory discussion of these issues is spread across two episodes (HIP003 and HIP004). This is the first part of that discussion.

The first theme of the History's Ink podcast is on empires and encounters. Europe changed in the late 15th and early 16th century - with the encounter with the New World of America and the Portuguese expansion around Africa to the Indian Ocean. This set up a series of encounters by Europeans (Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, British, French, etc.) that have shaped the world today.

Welcome to History's Ink. This first episode is about what to expect from the podcast series - what am I going to talk about, and what are the main themes of looking at history through the lens of 'History's Ink'.

This podcast is a slightly expanded version of a blog that I published on the Huffington Post, a link to which can be found here. Ta-Nehisi Coates' book, Between the World and Me, can be found here.

This podcast is a slightly expanded version of a blog that I published on the Huffington Post, which can be found here. The Disney Pocahontas film can be found on YouTube here. You can also find a short trailer of the 2005 Terrence Malik film The New World here, as well as the opening part of the film that shows the arrival of the English settlers in the Chesapeake Bay. My modern version of the anti-tobacco pamphlet, This Vile Habit: A counterblast to tobacco by King James can be found here. The quote from Professor Cornel Pewewardy, a Comanche-Kiowa writer is: 'We live in a society that suffers from historical amnesia, and we find it very difficult to preserve the memory of those who have resisted and struggled over time for the ideas of freedom, democracy and equality. America has always been both deeply xenophobic and a land of relative opportunity. 'White interest in the American Indian surges and ebbs with the tides of United States history…, forever linking Indians with the untamed forests, fields and streams. '… We need to carefully review our historical past in order to understand the present, move on to the future, and not get caught up and trapped in old negative stereotypes of the American frontier past, freeze dried and recycled as modern cultural myths — all of which were mostly established by white inventors of Indian images.'

This podcast is a discussion about issues related to the deaths in the AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. In particular, the intersections between race, violence and whiteness.   On Wednesday 17 June 2015 a young white male went into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Calhoun Street, Charleston. Reports say that he sat in a Bible study meeting for a short while, and then took out a gun and shot nine people dead: six women and three men. He left a further person seriously injured.   The people who died were:   Cynthia Hurd, Clementa Pinckney, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Tywanza Sanders, Ethel Lance, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Susie Jackson, and Daniel Simmons Sr   Neither the time or the place of this act of political violence were randomly chosen.   The AME Church is the oldest black, African American church in the US south of Baltimore. It dates back to 1816, and has been attacked (at times destroyed) by hostile white groups (including the local government) on several occasions. It was associated with the attempt by Denmark Vesey to organise a slave revolt and lead African American slaves in Charleston to freedom. The date of that planned revolt would have been the early morning of 17 June 1822.   It is probably correct to say, that America in the wake of these 2015 killings will not be the same.   Or at least, the hope is that the deaths will enable the USA to find a better way of living with its difficult past and its contemporary tensions.  

An understanding of power, in its many forms, is an important part of the study of religion and culture. In this podcast on 'Religion, Power and Ideology' I give an outline of Michel Foucault's understanding of the concept of power. In particular, 'power is everywhere because it comes from everywhere'. One instance of power and religion is the idea of an ideology – religion as a means by which power relations (and inequalities based on such power relations) are naturalised and legitimated. Religion is not the only form of ideology, but I raise the important question to ask in any study of religion: 'where is the money?'.

Religion does not just exist within the context of culture. What we think of as religion always also exists within contexts of power, gender, race, ethnicity, and other areas of identity and difference. Or to put this another way: power, gender, and race are basic (and universal) aspects of human behaviour. To understand what humans do, we have to understand the contexts of power, gender, and race, etc in which that human action is located. Whenever we do something, it can be understood and analysed (if we wish) in relation to power, gender, and race. And likewise so with religion. A key part of understanding any religious context requires also asking similar questions.

Henry Dundas: 11 reasons why we should remember Henry Dundas, from slave trading to empire building Although he has been largely forgotten, the late nineteenth century Scottish politician Henry Dundas had a considerable impact on the contemporary world. Not least, he delayed by 15 years the abolition of the slave trade, promoted the expansion of British colonialism in Asia, and he was probably the most powerful Scot since the union of England and Scotland.   For more information about Henry Dundas, see the following: Henry Dundas: lofty hero or lowlife crook? by Chris Holme, the History Company Dundas Despotism, by Michael Fry Henry Dundas, first viscount Melville, 1741-1811, political manager of Scotland, statesman, administrator of British India by Holden Furber Henry Dundas Viscount Melville by James Lovat-Fraser

This episode is a compilation of three episodes in the Religion Bites series – exploring the interplay between religion and culture. Although we may often assume there is a gap between these two, I suggest we recognise that there is no easy separation of religion and culture. To explore the significance of religion we need to understand culture – in its various forms.

Building on the discussion in the last two episodes, I introduce here the idea of subculture to explore through examples the linkages between such cultures of resistance, the cultural products that come from them, and religious ideas and practices.

This discussion follows three different blogs written in 2014, which are:   What does it mean to be British? Why the British may one day learn to be more like the Scandinavians Scotland's #IndyRef: Some Historic Reflections on Devo-Max and Independence from Britain I voted Yes to an independent Scotland… and look forward to the day when it happens   These are all included in my book, There shall be an independent Scotland, available on Amazon at http://t.co/AUd8BwrKiC

A written version of this episode is also available, http://malorynye.com/daesh-islamic-state/

This podcast is made up of two separate discussions that have emerged from a particular book: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, which was broadcast as a BBC TV drama in January and February of 2015. As I explain in the podcast I came across the book quite recently, as I have been doing some research around topics related to the Protestant reformation in Scotland. In the first longer section of this show, I explore some of the issues of Reformation, and how the politics of England – particularly related to King Henry VIII and his heirs (Mary and Elizabeth) set up certain issues for what happened later in Scotland, and how the two are related to each other in a number of ways. The second section is shorter but still relates to the Wolf Hall book by Mantel. An important starting point for the book is the downfall of the English Cardinal Wolsey, who was thrown out of office by King Henry VIII. There are some painful resonances here for me, particularly what I call the 'York Place' moment when it all turns from success to defeat.

Defining religion This third in the podcast series is a discussion of issues relating to religion – in particular definitions and approaches to understanding 'what religion is'. This is a taster of a new podcast series I am developing titled 'Religion Bites'.

In this second podcast I discuss in outline the themes of my forthcoming book on the challenges of multiculturalism, exploring six key areas and issues in the management of difference and diversity in contemporary society.