Big Thinking Podcast
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
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The Big Thinking Podcast is the podcast of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, featuring some of the most interesting and innovative people in the humanities and social sciences in conversation about their research on important issues of our time.
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3 days ago
Droit de l'intelligence artificielle : l'importance d'une régulation juste
Est-ce que ChatGPT, DALL-E et Midjourney vous dit quelque chose? Ces plates-formes sont quelques exemples parmi de nombreux nouveaux logiciels d'intelligence artificielle qui voient le jour actuellement.
Durant ces dernières années, l'IA a été au centre de nombreux débats et discussions, notamment dans le monde académique. Alors que l'IA commence à faire partie de nos vies professionnelles et personnelles, il est important de discuter des enjeux et risques liés à l'explosion de ces technologies et comment et pourquoi les réguler.
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Nov 24, 2023
She-cession: unveiling the pandemic's impact on women in the workforce
Historically, most recessions have been described as being "he-cessions"; most jobs lost were male dominated industries, and the women led sectors shortly followed.
When the Covid-19 pandemic started, women's employment was hit especially hard by the economic slow down that followed, causing some to call it a "she-cession." But what exactly does the term mean, why did it happen, and what does it tell us about the future of our economy?
For this Big Thinking Podcast episode, our host Gabriel Miller is joined by Armine Yalnizyan, the Canadian economist and writer who helped coin the term to discuss the she-cession and the broader impacts of economics crises on women.
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Nov 17, 2023
Reconciliation as an everyday practice
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its First Report which documented the experiences of more than 6,000 witnesses who survived living in residential schools as students. Eight years later, it is important to assess what progress we've made and what work remains for us to do in our journey towards Reconciliation.
For this Big Thinking Podcast episode, our host Gabriel Miller is joined by Crystal Fraser, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, to discuss Reconciliation as an everyday practice.
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Apr 27, 2023
L'avortement au Canada est-il un droit acquis?
Bienvenue sur la page de notre balado Voir Grand, où l'on discute de quelques unes des questions les plus importantes de notre époque avec des chercheur.se.s de premier plan.
Suite au renversement de l'arrêt Roe contre Wade par la Cour suprême des États-Unis l'an dernier et aux récentes interdictions de procédures d'avortement au sud de la frontière, il est légitime de se demander ce que tout cela signifie pour le Canada.
Gabriel Miller donne la parole à Annie Pilote, doyenne de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales de l'Université Laval et présidente du conseil d'administration de la Fédération. Annie est notre animatrice pour cet épisode consacré à la justice reproductive, en conversation avec Marie-Laurence Raby, étudiante au doctorat en histoire à l'Université Laval.
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Apr 20, 2023
How worried should we be about ChatGPT?
Welcome to the Big Thinking Podcast, where we talk to leading researchers about their work on some of the most important and interesting questions of our time.
Gabriel Miller, President and CEO of the Federation, is our host.
Artificial Intelligence is on the rise, and ChatGPT is one of the most prominent examples of a new technology that is changing our lives. But what do we really know about ChatGPT and how is it affecting higher education and research?
Miller is joined by Lai-Tze Fan, Assistant Professor of Technology and Social Change in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo.
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Apr 13, 2023
What is the future of books?
Welcome to the Big Thinking Podcast, where we talk to leading researchers about their work on some of the most important and interesting questions of our time.
Gabriel Miller, President and CEO of the Federation, is our host.
Digital technologies are reshaping every aspect of our society, and books are no exception. But as physical objects, books have a powerful connection to us and our culture. As our world continues changing, it’s worth asking what books mean to us and to our future.
Miller is joined by Claire Battershill, Assistant Professor cross-appointed in the Faculty of Information and the Department of English at the University of Toronto.
Thank you to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for making this podcast possible.
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Apr 5, 2023
From the Jheri curl to TikTok: Canada and the global business of Black beauty
Welcome to the Big Thinking Podcast, where we talk to leading researchers about their work on some of the most important and interesting questions of our time.
Gabriel Miller, President and CEO of the Federation, is our host.
Every day we are bombarded by words and images telling us what we should find beautiful, and what we should aspire to look like. Black Canadians are subject to specific beauty ideals – but where do those expectations come from and how do they affect peoples’ lives?
Miller is joined by Cheryl Thompson, Associate Professor in Performance at the Creative School of Toronto Metropolitan University and author of the book “Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada’s Black Beauty Culture.”
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Mar 29, 2023
Is sport a means for Indigenous self-determination in Canada?
Welcome to the Big Thinking Podcast, where we talk to leading researchers about their work on some of the most important and interesting questions of our time.
Gabriel Miller, President and CEO of the Federation, is our host.
Sports aren’t just fun and games, they’re a deeper part of who we are and where we come from. Today’s conversation is about Indigenous sport and its connection to self-determination and cultural regeneration.
Miller is joined by Allan Downey, Associate Professor in the Department of History and Indigenous Studies at McMaster University and Janice Forsyth, Professor in Indigenous Land-Based Physical Culture and Wellness at the University of British Columbia.
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Mar 22, 2023
Who cares for the caregivers?
Who cares for the caregivers? is a question too important to ignore especially after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed how our society treats the immigrant care workers we rely on.
Miller is joined by Naomi Lightman, Associate Professor of Sociology at Toronto Metropolitan University whose research focuses on migration, care work, gender, inequality and critical research methodology.
Thank you to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for making this podcast possible.
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Dec 15, 2022
What don't we understand about the war in Ukraine?
Welcome to the Big Thinking Podcast, where we talk to leading researchers about their work on some of the most important and interesting questions of our time.
Gabriel Miller, President and CEO of the Federation, is our host.
When Vladimir Putin launched a new military offensive last February, Canada condemned Russia’s actions and support Ukraine. As the war spills into 2023, what should we know about this conflict? What are we to make of the competing narratives about the war’s political, cultural, and historical context? How is our understanding affected by mythology and misinformation?
Today, Miller is joined by Natalia Khanenko-Friesen, Professor in the Modern Language and Cultural Studies Department and Director of the Canadian Institute for Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta.
Her research areas are diaspora studies and migrant communities, oral history, folklore and Ukrainian studies, and she will use her expertise to help us answer the question "What don't we understand about the war in Ukraine?"
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Dec 8, 2022
What will hybrid or online learning look like going forward?
Welcome to the Big Thinking podcast, where we talk to leading researchers about their work on some of the most important and interesting questions of our time.
Gabriel Miller, President and CEO of the Federation, is our host.
The global pandemic transformed our classrooms, forced instructors to reinvent their teaching methods and accelerated the use of online learning tools.
Today, Miller is joined by two exciting guests: Professor in the Department of Geography, Earth and Environmental Science at Okanagan College and Adjunct Professor of Geography at Simon Fraser University, Dr. Terence Day, and PhD candidate in Educational Studies at the University of Windsor Thi Kim Thu Le, to discuss the future of hybrid and online learning.
Dr. Day recently published a collaborative study on lessons learned from the online pivot, and with Thu Le’s insights both in terms of her personal experience as a PhD student and her research on online learning, we’re hoping to shed light on what the future of learning may look like post-pandemic.
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Dec 1, 2022
Is bilingualism in peril in Canada?
Welcome to the Big Thinking podcast, where we talk to leading researchers about their work on some of the most important and interesting questions of our time.
Gabriel Miller, President and CEO of the Federation, is our host.
With so many developments occurring at various levels of governments on bilingualism and official languages, we wanted to get an expert opinion on the situation in an attempt to answer today’s burning question: is bilingualism in peril in Canada? We are joined by Professor François Larocque, lawyer and Full Professor of Common Law at the University of Ottawa. Professor Larocque holds UOttawa’s Research Chair in Language Rights and Issues, which is the very first research chair in Canada dedicated to the study of minority language rights and the development of the standards that govern them, focusing on constitutional protection of French.
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Nov 22, 2022
How does race shape the experiences, education, and achievements of Black youth?
Welcome to the Big Thinking podcast, where we talk to leading researchers about their work on some of the most important and interesting questions of our time.
Gabriel Miller, President and CEO of the Federation, is our host.
Today we talk about the question of race and the role it plays in shaping the experiences, education and overall life of black youth. We are joined by Dr. Carl E. James, the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora in the Faculty of Education at York University, to further discuss this subject.
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Nov 16, 2022
Are pandemic times really unprecedented?
Welcome to the Big Thinking podcast, where we talk to leading researchers about their work on some of the most important and interesting questions of our time.
Gabriel Miller, President and CEO of the Federation, is our host.
Today we talk about the still-evolving COVID-19 pandemic, a health crisis that’s often been called ‘unprecedented.’ But was it? Miller is joined by Madeline Mant, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toronto to explore this question through the lens of pandemics past.
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