TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE
from Wisconsin Public Radio
January 21, 1996 Programs
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1100 - 1159 Hour #1 Culture Clash
1200 - 1259 Hour #2 Nature of Nature
1300 - 1359 Hour #3 Music
PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 1:Clash of Cultures
SEGMENT 1:
Political scientist Benjamin Barber sees two cultural trends in
the contemporary world -- "jihad" or parochial fundamentalism
and "McWorld" or global consumer capitalism. Barber tells Jim
Fleming that these forces are in opposition to each other, but
also need each other, and both undermine democracy. Barber's
latest book is "Jihad vs. McWorld." Also, former State
Department analyst Francis Fukuyama tells Steve Paulson that
social trust is the hidden virtue in sucessful societies.
Fukuyama's new book is "Trust: The Social Virtues and the
Creation of Prosperity."
SEGMENT 2:
Mexican novelist and social critic Carlos Fuentes talks with
Steve Paulson about the rifts in Mexican-American relations
which, he says, can be attributed to contrasting national myths
- Mexico's obsession with its tragic past and America's belief
in its own innocence. Fuentes' latest novel is "Diana: The
Goddess Who Hunts Alone."
SEGMENT 3:
Writer and film-maker Ginu Kamani (gee' new kah mah' nee) has
lived the clash of cultures. She was born in India but came to
the United States as a teenager. She tells Judith Strasser
that much of her fiction is set in India and talks about her
experiences in both cultures.
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
01-21-A.
PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 2:Nature of Nature
SEGMENT 1:
Environmental historian William Cronon tells Judith Strasser
that the idea of "nature" is a human construction and that we
must re-invent nature making a place for the human animal.
There is a book from a seminar Cronon organized on this topic.
It's called "Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing Nature."
Also, Jim Mason, author of "An Unnatural Order," tells Steve
Paulson that he believes there is a place for nature devoid of
a human presence and that all of our problems with nature
result from humans' attitude of domination over other animals.
SEGMENT 2:
Heidi Hadsell teaches social ethics at McCormick Theological
Seminary in Chicago and has spent a great deal of time in
Brazil studying political and social movements. She tells
Judith Strasser about the impact of commercial fishing on a
tiny community of river dwellers along a tributary of the
Amazon and how the people there are organizing to preserve
their precarious lifestyle. Hadsell has an essay in a
collection called "Ecological Resistance Movements" edited by
Bron Raymond Taylor.
SEGMENT 3:
Alistair McIntosh directs the graduate program at the Center
for Human Ecology at the University of Edinburgh. He tells Jim
Fleming that Scotland was forested until the English cleared
the land for sheep in the eighteenth century and describes how
local people, including the urban poor, are organizing to
reclaim the land, uniting their efforts in support of
ecological justice with the struggle for social justice.
McIntosh is a contributor to "Ecological Resistance Movements,"
cited above.
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
01-21-B.
PROGRAM RUNDOWN: HOUR 3: Music
SEGMENT 1
Keith Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Pops, tells Judith
Strasser that classical music needs to change its packaging to
attract and appeal to new audiences. But Leon Botstein, music
director of the American Symphony Orchestra, thinks the
theatrics are unnecessary. He tells Steve Paulson that the
concert hall is a place for contemplating beauty. Also, pianist
Laura Spitzer who tours the rural West with a piano and a van
giving concerts in places like Goldfield, Nevada, tells Jim
Fleming why she's glad she doesn't work in Carnegie Hall every
night.
SEGMENT 2:
English psychiatrist Anthony Storr explores the question of why
music has the power to move us in his book "Music and the
Mind," and in this conversation with Steve Paulson. Storr says
it's because music reaches us on a more primitive level than
other art forms.
SEGMENT 3:
Historian Richard Lieberman tells Judith Strasser why the
Steinway piano became the American piano -- a combination of
technical innovations and brilliant marketing and promotion.
Lieberman has written a history of America's premiere piano
builders. It's called "Steinway and Sons."
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
01-21-C.
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Last modified: Friday January 19, 1996