Arts & Ideas Folgen

How does money shape history and how do we write about it? Anne McElvoy discusses those questions with a finalist in the political writing category of the 2022 Orwell Prize. In Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire, Kojo Koram traces the some of the economic problems faced across the world today with wealth inequality, with sovereign debt, austerity, and precarious employment and how they are bound up in decolonisation. She also talks to leading UK economist Richard Davies about how Covid has had an impact on our understanding of economics. And John Ramsden is concerned with restoring the forgotten place of economics in poetry from Coleridge's interest in cycles of boom and bust to Jonathan Swift's fascination with trade sanctions. Dhruti Shah is a journalist and the author of Bear Markets and Beyond: A bestiary of business terms.Kojo Koram teaches at the School of Law at Birkbeck College, University of London, and writes on issues of law, race and empire. He is the editor of The War on Drugs and the Global Colour Line and author of Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire.Richard Davies is the author of Extreme Economies: Survival, Failure, Future Limits for the World’s Economies. A former adviser at the Bank of England and HM Treasury, he now runs the UK’s Economics Observatory.John Ramsden is a former career diplomat and ambassador. He is the author of The Poets’ Guide to EconomicsDhruti Shah is a journalist and the author of Bear Markets and Beyond: A bestiary of business terms.The Orwell Festival of Political Writing, held across Bloomsbury and online from 22nd June to 14th July, when the winners are announced: https://www.orwellfestival.co.uk/Producer: Ruth Watts

Whether it’s Jane Eyre transported to India, childrens masks used for political protests or film posters that trigger memories, there are endless fascinating stories nestled amongst archives that researchers are diligently bringing to the fore. Dr Naomi Paxton meets three researchers who work in archives that focus on Indian culture and history to find out more about some of the unexpected stories hiding amongst the books, prints and film paraphernalia. Dr Monia Acciaria is Associate professor in Film and Television History at DeMontfort University and Associate Director of the UK Asian Film Festival. You can explore the Creative Archives of Indian Cinema YouTube channel here https://youtube.com/channel/UCN-wV7Jl9YeR3pGzJaP7-mwDr Pragya Dhital is the curator of ‘Crafting Subversion: DIY and Decolonial Print’. Her research focuses on paper crafts and communications in modern India. The exhibition ‘Crafting Subversion: DIY and Colonial Print’ is on until 3rd September 2022 at the SOAS Brunei Gallery https://www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/crafting-subversions/ Olivia Majumdar is project curator of ‘Two Centuries of Indian Print’ project at the British Library and specialises in novels in translation in Colonial India. Explore ‘Two Centuries of Indian Print’ at the British Library online here https://www.bl.uk/early-indian-printed-books Olivia’s article on the Tarakeswar Affair is here https://www.bl.uk/early-indian-printed-books/articles/notes-on-a-scandalThis episode was made in partnership with the AHRC, part of UKRI.You can find more conversations about New Research in a playlist on the Free Thinking website https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03zws90Producer: Sofie Vilcins

Varney the Vampire was a blood soaked gothic horror story serialised in cheap print over the course of a couple of years in the nineteenth century. The resulting "penny dreadful" tale spilled out of a large volume when it was finally published in book form. In spite of his comfort with crosses, daylight and garlic, Varney's capacity to reflect on his actions made him an early model for Dracula. Matthew Sweet explores why a work, so often overlooked, was so important to the development of the vampire genre.Roger Luckhurst is Professor in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of Gothic: an illustrated history and editor of The Cambridge companion to Dracula.Joan Passey is a lecturer at the University of Bristol. She is the author of Cornish Gothic and editor of Cornish Horrors. And, she is a 2022 New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to turn research into radio.Sam George is an Associate Professor at the University of Hertfordshire and is the convener of the Open Graves, Open Minds Gothic research project. Her books include: In the Company of Wolves: Werewolves, Wolves, and Wild Children and Open Graves, Open Minds, Representations of the Vampire from the Enlightenment to the Present Day.Producer: Ruth Watts