Free Thinking

What is left unsaid and who is missing from historical archives? Reading against the grain is a way of thinking about these questions and in the week when Woman's Hour marks 80 years of broadcasting, Radio 4's Friday night round table discussion programme about ideas traces the way thinking about representation has changed through the decades. Matthew Sweet is joined by: Sally Alexander, an activist with the Women's Liberation Movement and founding editor of the History Workshop Journal, where ideas like reading against the grain were developed and put to use; Suzannah Lipscomb, whose book The Voices of Nîmes uses overlooked sources to reconstruct the lives of women in Early Modern France; Adjoa Osei researches women singers and performers who made their names in Paris and on stage in the 1930s including Josephine Baker; the Afro-Brazilian erotic acrobatic dancer, Miss Bartira; the Malian performer Melka Soudani; the British Tiller Girls; the Afro-Guadeloupean dancer and muse of Man Ray, Adrienne Fideline…

He renounced his fortune and lived amongst animals so does the example of St Francis help us think about issues like the wealth gap and our relationship with the environment and the natural world. October 4th is his feast day and this year the Catholic church is marking the 800th anniversary of his death. For Radio 4's Friday night roundtable discussion programme about ideas past and present Anne McElvoy is joined by: Peter Stanford is an author of articles and books on religion including about pilgrimage, angels, 50 religious ideas you really need to know and most recently Gaudí: God’s Architect. New Generation Thinker Dr Jakub Kowalewski, a Senior Research Fellow at St Mary's University Twickenham, author of A Philosophy of Climate Apocalypticism. He is working on the Guardians of Creation Project investigating paths to sustainable and ecologically sensitive change in the Catholic Church. Carmody Grey, is professor of Integral Ecology at the Laudato Si’ Institute at Radboud University. She also appears as…

What is the role of intellectuals in public life? Matthew Sweet hosts Radio 4's Friday night round table discussion programme about ideas. His guests are: Emile Chabal, author of a new biography about Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm; Sophie Scott Brown, who’s researching BBC TV programme The Brains Trust, in which historians, philosophers and others answered questions sent in by the audience; critic and columnist Muriel Zagha; former editor of Prospect magazine David Goodhart; and curator and critic Pierre d'Alancaisez. Producer: Luke Mulhall

What does trade set in motion beyond the exchange of goods? Anne McElvoy explores the movement of commerce across time as a carrier of habits, ideas, ambitions and influence, as well as of material things. From the early modern world, where trade was entangled with colonial expansion and shaped by unequal, sometimes unexpected encounters, to the supply chains and diplomatic negotiations of the present, this discussion asks how economic exchange has also mediated cultural contact. Alongside rivalry and wealth, how has trade given rise to its own languages of civility, reciprocity and trust? Guests include: Nandini Das is Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture at Oxford University and author of This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart England Jeremy Hunt is a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and the author of Can We Be Rich Again? Soumaya Keynes is an economist and columnist at the Financial Times and the author of How to Win a Trade War Professor Rana Mitter is ST Lee Chair in US-Asia…

Shahidha Bari investigates the child’s-eye view of the world. From navigating AI to living through war and the joys of reading, what makes children’s perspectives so distinctive? With writer Katherine Rundell, psychotherapist Josh Cohen, nature writer and novelist Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, historian Emma Butcher and psychologist Nomisha Kurian. Producer: Luke Mulhall

How has the figure of the outsider or eccentric been used to explore English culture, history, politics, and our relationship with nature and the countryside? Matthew Sweet discusses, including a re-reading of Sylvia Townsend Warner's 1926 novel Lolly Willowes, in which a middle aged woman leaves her suburban life behind to become a witch. With philosopher Charles Foster, literary historian Jade Munslow Ong, political philosopher Sophie Scott Brown, and psychotherapist Mark Vernon. Producer: Luke Mulhall

Do we have a responsibility to inform ourselves about the state of the world? Is the experience of some people valued more highly than that of others? Matthew Sweet investigates the ethics of knowledge in Radio 4's round table discussion programme. With: Quassim Cassam, philosopher and author of Intellectual Vices Havi Carel, a philosopher who's worked extensively on imbalances of knowledge in healthcare and other areas Ian Kidd, philosopher specializing in the ethics of knowledge Ebony Reid, author of Trapped Lives Marianna Spring, the BBC's misinformation correspondent Producer: Luke Mulhall Part of a series of programmes across Radio 4 looking at what drives us apart and how to bring us together – look for Common Ground.

Henry VIII's encounter with Brazilian royalty, Inuit hunting in the Somerset countryside, Aztecs at the court of Charles V: Caroline Dodds Pennock's research flips history to focus on the impact of indigenous Americans on early modern Europe. And how is this kind of approach influencing museum displays? Anthropologist Adam Kuper has written a history of The Museum of Other People, charting the changing ethnological approaches to colonialism, cultural appropriation, and scientific authority. Plus musicologist Rupert Till has co-created a virtual sound map of the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacán. John Gallagher hosts. On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe by Caroline Dodds Pennock is out now and can also be found serialised on BBC Sounds. The Museum of Other People: From Colonial Acquisitions to Cosmopolitan Exhibitions by Adam Kuper is published next week. You might also be interested in conversations available as Arts & Ideas downloads asking What language did Columbus speak ?…

Martin Amis, whose death has been announced at the age of 73, was noted for his writing style and literary voice. His novels included The Rachel Papers, Money and London Fields and a series of works exploring figures including Stalin (in Koba the Dread) and the Holocaust in Time's Arrow and The Zone of Interest. On publishing this in 2014, he joined Radio 3's Philip Dodd and recorded a discussion in front of an audience at a Prom Plus event. Their conversation centres on ideas of evil, culpability and Jewish history.

Pankaj Mishra's Run and Hide tells a story of modern Indian times, as the hidden pasts of wealthy, Gatsby-style tech entrepreneurs must be reckoned with. And to help put this modern India in context, Dr Pragya Dhital will consider the resonances of the tumultuous period of "The Emergency", the response of the Indian government to a period of "internal disturbance" in the 1970s. She discusses the homemade or samizdat style leaflets which journalists like Ram Dutt Tripathi used to great effect. The cuisine of India is a national symbol around the world, but Dr Sharanya Murali explores how this most traditional artform, cookery, can become iconoclastic when utilised in performance art by the likes of Pushpamala N and Raj Goody. And Dr Vikram Visana will consider populism in India, telling us how differing parties are vying to answer questions of national identity which seem increasingly ill-suited to the challenges facing this modern democracy - and one of the key figures he discusses is KM Munshi. Asked for…

Anne Applebaum's new book The Twilight of Democracy has the subtitle The failure of democracy and the parting of friends. She talks to Anne McElvoy about what happened when she tried to connect up with past friends whose politics are now different to her own. The American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman is most famous now for her short story The Yellow Wallpaper. Will Abberley tells us about her view of fashion and why women should not seek to stand out because a focus on their appearance was counterproductive to them gaining more public power. Gilman conjured a female utopia in her 1915 book Herland. And 2020 New Generation Thinker Sophie Oliver from the University of Liverpool writes us a postcard about the actress Ingrid Bergman and the way she and her would-be biographer Bessie Breuer tried to carve out a different public image for a female star in a novel Breuer published in 1957 called The Actress. Will Abberley's book is called Mimicry and Display in Victorian Literary Culture You might be interested…

Anne McElvoy looks at changing fashions and values in the art world as she talks to Observer critic Laura Cumming about her researches into a 19th-century court case involving a Velázquez portrait. New Generation Thinker Joe Moshenska joins the conversation to explain more about the trip to Spain during which the future Charles I was painted by the Spanish artist. Curator Liz Gilmore and dealer Julian Hartnoll discuss the British painter John Bratby who was celebrated and seen as an enfant terrible of the art world in the '50s and '60s. He is believed to have painted over 1500 works and an exhibition at the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings has drawn upon paintings brought in by members of the public. Artist Gayle Chong Kwan is working on a project based upon the North Eastern food dish Pan Haggerty. She talks about the walks, videos and photographs she has been creating as part of her residency in East Durham. Laura Cumming's book is called The Vanishing Man: In Pursuit of Velázquez John Bratby: Everything But…

This year's Free Thinking Lecture is given by the American poet Claudia Rankine. Her book 'Citizen: An American Lyric' is a New York Times best seller and has become an instant classic. At one of the most volatile moments in American race history, her meditations on the language used to describe tennis star Serena Williams and on events such as the Ferguson riots and the shooting of the teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida provide the vehicle for an incisive interrogation of justice and injustice, exposing the myth of a 'post-racial' 21st century. A professor of English at the University of Southern California and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Claudia Rankine grew up first in Kingston Jamaica and then New York City and has also lived in England. 'Citizen' has been called 'the book of a generation' and one which 'throws a Molotov cocktail' at the idea that the struggle against racial injustice has been won. The winner of this year's Forward Prize for Poetry, the PEN Open Book Award and the…

Sue-Ann Harding, one of Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers, gives a talk in which she ponders the differences between an expat and an immigrant. She draws on television portrayals of migrants and personal experience to explore and challenge the ideas we have about migration. Recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at The Sage, Gateshead on Saturday 3 November 2012.

What does it mean to belong? Multiculturalism, integration and social division are increasingly part of the political debate. But what impact does immigration have on everyone's sense of national identity? To debate, Philip Dodd is joined by David Goodhart, director of Demos think-tank, Migration Watch Vice Chairman Alp Mehmet, Professor Jean Grugel of Sheffield University, and Sunder Katwala, director of think-tank British Future. Recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at The Sage Gateshead on Sunday 4 November 2012.

Joshua Nall, one of Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers, gives a talk on the Victorian obsession with the planet Mars at the Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival. With the recent success of NASA's Curiosity lander, Mars is firmly back on the agenda. But where did our fascination with the red planet start? Recorded at The Sage Gateshead on Saturday 3 November 2012.

As Scotland heads towards a referendum on independence, Vicky Featherstone discusses the role of a modern day national theatre in shaping and capturing national identity and history. Recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at The Sage Gateshead on Sunday 4 November 2012.

Nandini Das, one of Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers, gives a talk on the 16th Century craze for crime pamphlets; a phenomenon which revealed a new secret world to readers and which became the first best-selling sensation of the popular press. Recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at The Sage, Gateshead on Saturday 3 November 2012.

Does World History still mean Western History, or do we need a radical new understanding of the past? To discuss, Rana Mitter is joined by historian Antony Beevor, broadcaster Andrew Marr and India expert Maria Misra. This event was recorded as part of Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival at The Sage Gateshead on Saturday 3rd November.

Amos Oz, one of Israel's most influential thinkers, gives a talk on the Middle East and the prospect of future co-existence between Israel and Palestine. The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Philip Dodd and recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012 on Saturday 3 November 2012 at The Sage Gateshead.

Timothy Secret, one of Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers , gives a talk during Free Thinking 2012 exploring how we react when looked at by animals. Our world changes when we're on display. But how do we react when an animal, rather than a human, looks at us? Is there a difference, and what does this say about our relationship with animals? Recorded on Saturday 3 November 2012 at The Sage Gateshead.

Emma Griffin, one of Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers, gives a talk on what makes a good mother, recorded at the Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival 2012. Historian Emma Griffin of the University of East Anglia turns to the poor of Victorian Britain to ask what made a good mother then in families struggling to keep body and soul together. She finds that our own values and ideas about motherhood may not be as instinctive as we like to believe. Recorded on Sunday 4 November 2012 at The Sage Gateshead.

An audience with Lee Hall, writer of Billy Elliot and The Pitmen Painters, recorded at The Sage Gateshead as part of the Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival. From a working-class background, much of Hall's work explores the complexities of what class means in the UK. At the festival Lee Hall discusses class and art, his own life, writing and ideas. The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Philip Dodd and recorded on Sunday 4 November 2012.

Jonathan Healey, one of Radio 3’s New Generation Thinkers, gives a talk questioning the value of lessons learnt from history and applied to our own world today. Recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at The Sage Gateshead on Sunday 4th November 2012.

Theologian Mona Siddiqui and historian Tom Holland join Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival to explore what differentiates Islam from Christianity, and the impact that this has on the world today, from their different historical origins to their alternate versions of God. Presented by Samira Ahmed and recorded on Sunday 4th November 2012 at The Sage Gateshead.

Adriana Sinclair, one of Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers, gives a talk on the control ex-colonies increasingly exert over their former colonial powers. Recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at The Sage, Gateshead, on Sunday 4th November 2012.

Is Social Mobility Overrated? Anne McElvoy chairs a debate from the Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival, tackling this pertinent topic which raises issues of class, wealth and education. To discuss, she is joined by Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, Oxford historian Lawrence Goldman, management consultant Jamie Whyte, and Director of SCHOOLS NorthEast Beccy Earnshaw. Recorded on Saturday 3 November 2012 at The Sage, Gateshead.

Charlotte Blease, one of Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers, gives a talk that questions the relationship between doctors and patients. Recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at The Sage, Gateshead on Saturday 3 November 2012.

On the eve of the US election, Michael Ignatieff gives a talk at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival on Enemies in Politics, revealing what he believes needs to be done to restore faith in politics. Presented by Matthew Sweet and recorded on Saturday 3 November 2012 at The Sage, Gateshead.

Mary Robinson delivers the opening lecture of the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival 2012, arguing that women leaders are better placed than men to sort out the crises of the 21st Century. Presented by Matthew Sweet and recorded on Friday 2 November 2012 in front of a live audience at The Sage, Gateshead.

Updated corrected audio: Rana Mitter chairs a debate about the Luddites to mark their 200th anniversary. Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival 2011.

Landscape architect Charles Jencks calls for a new cosmic art, in a talk entitled Reclaiming the Universe. Jencks argues that understanding the universe is too important to be left to scientists and theologians, and wants us to connect to pre-historic ideas about the cosmos, present in monuments such as Stonehenge.

Neuro-scientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore gives a talk on changes in the teenage brain. Teenagers often act on impulse, are lazy, emotional and get into trouble with the police and parents. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London and a leading expert on teenage brains. Using recent research about the radical changes taking place in the adolescent brain, she argues it's time to rethink our attitudes towards youth and the place of teenagers in society.

Psychotherapist Susie Orbach challenges the obsession with personal change. Susie is Britain's most high-profile pyschotherapist, whose book Fat is a Feminist Issue revolutionised the way we understand our bodies. She co-founded The Women's Therapy Centre, has been a consultant for The World Bank and NHS, and is an advocate for body diversity and emotional literacy.

How will our world change as traditional energy supplies shrink and climate change forces us to use less fossil fuels? Should we return to a locally-focused pre-modern lifestyle where travel is a luxury for the few, will conflict over declining resources destabilise the globe, or will science save the day?

Economist Aditya Chakrabortty examines the impact of economic change on society. Over the past 30 years governments of every political hue have promised that great prizes will follow economic change, whilst parts of society have been effectively written off. So argues Aditya Chakrabortty, economics leader writer at The Guardian. He believes even the newly fashionable zeal for a manufacturing revival will do little to help and calls for a radical solution.

Philip Dodd chairs a debate on the obsession with change, at the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival 2011. Panel includes the film-maker Molly Dineen and the Rev Dr Giles Fraser.

Julian Savulescu, Oxford Professor of Ethics, makes the case for human enhancement and genetic selection at the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival 2011.

Leading historian Linda Colley gives a talk on how we have dealt with periods of dramatic change in the past and how history can help us to understand change today.

Germaine Greer delivers a talk questioning the pursuit of freedom at the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival 2011.

Kevin Fong, who presents BBC2's Horizon and is a leading expert on space medicine, gives a talk at the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival 2011calling for a second Space Age.

William Hague discusses the dramatic changes taking throughout the globe and Britain's role in this transforming world order.

Rev Dr Giles Fraser, the former Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, gives a talk at the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival 2011 on the crisis of commitment in our society.

One of the world's top heart surgeons, Francis Wells, discusses the future of the heart, his work at the cutting-edge of surgery, and his fascination with Da Vinci at the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival 2011.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales launches this year's BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival with a lecture on how the internet will continue to radically change our world

What kind of societies will the Arab Spring give birth to? Democratic, Capitalist, Islamic, or Unstable? Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s Middle East Editor, and Egyptian political economist Tarek Osman join Samira Ahmed to discuss this issue and to explore what the possible implications may be for the western world. Recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at The Sage Gateshead on Saturday 3rd November 2012.

Matthew Sweet debates how the discovery of alien life might change the way we think about humanity and how it will impact our moral and philosophical universe. Matthew is joined by the best-selling science-fiction writer Stephen Baxter, the science broadcaster and journalist Sue Nelson, the futurist and neuroscientist Anders Sandberg, and one of our leading space scientists, John Zarnecki, Professor of Space Science at the Open University. This event was recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at The Sage Gateshead on Sunday 4th November 2012.

Julie Bindel gives a talk arguing that sexuality is a choice at the Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival. In a talk titled Not Born This Way, the feminist, lesbian, columnist and writer Julie Bindel challenges liberal thinking by arguing that sexuality is indeed a choice, and that the current scientific quest to identify a gay gene is both pointless and dangerous. The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Samira Ahmed and recorded at The Sage Gateshead on Saturday 3 November 2012.

Matthew Smith, one of Radio 3’s New Generation Thinkers, explores why the simple peanut has become a battleground of medical debate. Recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at The Sage, Gateshead on Sunday 4th November 2012.

Why have humans evolved to speak so many incomprehensible languages? Why do we work against our own survival by going to war with one another? Evolutionary Biologist Mark Pagel explores how humanity will evolve in the future and if we are likely to become a world with one state and one language. This event was recorded as part of Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival at The Sage Gateshead on Sunday 4th November.