Crossing Knowledge Boundaries in the Early Modern World

This week we examine the fascinating life of Luso-Malay mestiço cosmographer Manuel Godinho de Erédia, who lived and worked in the Portuguese Estado da Índia (including Malacca) around the turn of the seventeenth century. Chase Caldwell Smith, co-producer of the Global History Podcast, crosses over…

The Ajaib-khana - The Museum Today and Wonder

Museums in our part of the world used to be called the Ajaib-khana, or the wonder house. It was a place that inspired through the collection and display of artefacts to tell a story about belonging to a place and also in the world. Joining us this week is Qaleeda Talib, a history graduate with a pa…

The Ajaib-khana - The Museum Today and Wonder

Museums in our part of the world used to be called the Ajaib-khana, or the wonder house. It was a place that inspired through the collection and display of artefacts to tell a story about belonging to a place and also in the world. Joining us this week is Qaleeda Talib, a history graduate with a pa…

Believing in Conversations

What value can Islam bring to a state that prides itself for upholding laïcité (or secularism) as its founding principles? This week we are joined by Abdennour Bidar, a French philosopher on Islamic culture, who insists that understanding religion in our increasingly multicultural society can only …

Beyond Fakta - New Values in Thinking Historically

There is renewed interest in history amongst the younger generation today and they are thinking about the value of history differently. One of them is Nadine Azalea Faisal, who joins us in our conversation this week. She has just returned from the University of Chicago from her undergraduate studie…

Marginalia - Migrants and Refugees

The measure of democracy is not always defined by a process of consensus-building. The majority is not always right. Helping us understand the rights of migrants and refugees in this light, and her process of learning how to care is Elise Arya Chen, programme officer at Tenaganita.

Hong Kong - Everyday Engagement and Intergenerational Reconciliation under Duress

Media reportage on social movements can sometimes verge on the sensational. The story of a protest is often more than the confrontations one sees in the news. Joining us this week is creative hubs researcher and urbanist, Clarissa Lim, to explore what is at stake and the community building work tha…

Making One's Way in the World Through Punk

Punk is more than the music one listens to or the fashion one spots. Joining us this week is Joe Kidd, guitarist of punk rock band Carburetor Dung and historian of Southeast Asian rock and roll, to explore the moral universe of punks in Malaysia. We talk about his coming of age in Dungun Terengganu…

Making One's Way in the World Through Punk

Punk is more than the music one listens to or the fashion one spots. Joining us this week is Joe Kidd, guitarist of punk rock band Carburetor Dung and historian of Southeast Asian rock and roll, to explore the moral universe of punks in Malaysia. We talk about his coming of age in Dungun Terengganu…

Virtual Lives - A New Kind of Human or a Post-Human?

We spend so much of our time living in a space that takes on various degrees in semblance to reality - the digital world. What do we make of this world? How is it compelling us to rethink our commonplace notion of self and identity? Ong Kar Jin, full-time tech policy analyst, and amateur internet e…