History Talk, the history podcast from Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

Violence against women has a long history in human communities. Yet, we live in a time when people across the planet are beginning to give greater attention to this problem and, at times, to stand against misogynistic violence in all its forms. Recently, the United Nations created the "He for She" campaign, which highlights that violence against women remains a global problem that exists at "alarm...

April 24th, 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 fo...

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...

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 histo...

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 La...

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! An in-text version of this episode can be found...

Join hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy in a conversation with historians—and award-winning teachers—Kevin Boyle, Stephanie Shaw, and Hassan Kwame Jeffries about the importance and difficulties of teaching race and civil rights in the classroom. “Learning about the Civil Rights,” Boyle declares, “really explores the tension between America’s promise and the reality of the United States.” T...

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.” An in-text version of the episode can be found at: ht...

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 coul...

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 universit...

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. How we debate college sports connects to a long history, dating all the way back to the Greeks and Romans. In addition to completing the monu...

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 Hildone...

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 commer...

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?...

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...

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 Affai...

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 Mudr...

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,...

Co-hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy interview 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 wa...

In a nationally-televised speech on January 17, 2014, President Obama announced reforms to the National Security Agency (NSA). Co-hosts Patrick Potyondy and Leticia Wiggins sat down with OSU historian David Hadley and Origins editors Nicholas Breyfogle and Steven Conn to discuss the NSA's history in the current national and global environment. (January 2014) An in-text version of this article can...

Join your usual History Talk co-hosts Leticia and Patrick along with this month's expert guests Sandra Tanenbaum, 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...