Named after our seminar room, The Virtual Jewel Box hosts conversations at the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. We share research, commentary, interviews, dialogue, and storytelling from across humanities disciplines. Views expressed on The Virtual Jewel Box do not represent the official views of the Center or University.
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Tanner Humanities Center University Of Utah Podcasts
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Humanities perspectives on AI, with Lizzie Callaway and Rebekah Cummings
35:42
35:42
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The leaders of the University of Utah summer institute Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence, Elizabeth Callaway and Rebekah Cummings, join Scott Black to discuss the human limitations of AI, as well as the points of contact between AI and the humanities. Links: Marriott Library, The ARPANET Project Brigham Young University, Office Dig…
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The humanities and public life, with Jodi Graham and Scott Black
26:47
26:47
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26:47
What are the humanities, and how do they function in our daily lives? It might be that they’re primarily academic disciplines studied in universities and cultural institutions. Or some say they're the everyday conversations and reflections that make us fully human—like discussing a movie with friends or questioning our assumptions. In this episode,…
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Authenticity work, with Kate Bowler and Gretchen Case
27:16
27:16
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27:16
Kate Bowler joins Gretchen Case to discuss authenticity in academic, spiritual, and medical life; the limits of toxic positivity; and how joy can be both a surprise and a discipline. Reflecting on her own experience, Bowler examines what it means to seek truth and integrity within imperfect systems and bodies. Kate Bowler is Associate Professor of …
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Race, Religion, and Slavery in Antebellum Utah - Paul Reeve and Jordan Watkins
48:17
48:17
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48:17
Historians Paul Reeve and Jordan Watkins discuss This Abominable Slavery: Race, Religion, and the Battle over Human Bondage in Antebellum Utah (by Reeve, Christopher B. Rich, Jr., and LaJean Purcell Carruth), published by Oxford University Press in 2024. Their discussion explores the origins and transcription of primary sources integral to the book…
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Aesthetic experience, with Bryan Counter and Nathan Wainstein
47:50
47:50
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47:50
This episode features Bryan Counter (Framingham State University) discussing his new book Four Moments of Aesthetic Experience: Reading Huysmans, Proust, McCarthy, and Cusk (published by Anthem Press) with Nathan Wainstein (Department of English, University of Utah). Counter theorizes aesthetic experience as something that mediates between subjecti…
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Abolitionist, Saint, Queen: Balthild of Francia - Isabel Moreira and Scott Black
30:31
30:31
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30:31
A slave becomes Queen and later is sainted for her work as an abolitionist. A new book by Isabel Moreira (Distinguished Professor of History, University of Utah) explores not only the life of Balthild of Francia (c. 633-80), but also the methods of late-medieval historical research. Professor Moreira discusses Balthild of Francia: Anglo-Saxon Slav…
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Freedom, kindness, and beauty: The legacy of Obert C. Tanner - Mark Matheson and Scott Black
31:58
31:58
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31:58
This episode explores Obert C. Tanner’s life and legacy, which includes the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center and the Tanner Lectures on Human Values. Mark Matheson, Lecturer in English at the University of Utah and Director of the Tanner Lectures on Human Values, discusses Obert’s remarkable journey from poverty to philanthropy, inclu…
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Mistrusting the news, with Jake Nelson and Robert Carson
52:21
52:21
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52:21
Under what conditions do people trust the news, if at all? How did Covid lockdown change news consumption? What are we to think of journalists who leave establishment news organizations and build their own following on platforms like Substack? And does our mistrust of news organizations mirror mistrust of other professional sectors, like health car…
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Dr. Strangelove, the Cold War, and American culture - Matt Basso and Megan Weiss
39:35
39:35
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39:35
Matt Basso and Megan Weiss discuss the iconic film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. They explore the film’s historical context, its satirical take on Cold War politics, and its depiction of gender. The Red and Lavender Scares, consumerism, and militarization all helped set the stage for the Cold War culture lam…
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Cultures of the Black diaspora, with Louis Chude-Sokei and Scott Black
47:00
47:00
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47:00
Louis Chude-Sokei, author of Floating in a Most Peculiar Way, discusses the Black diaspora, sound, accent, masculinity, Afrofuturism, dub music, and AI with Scott Black. Links: Louis Chude-Sokei, Floating in a Most Peculiar Way Louis Chude-Sokei, The Last “Darky”: Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora Louis Chude-Sokei,…
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Writing in the age of AI, with Lizzie Callaway and Scott Black
32:41
32:41
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32:41
Why learn to write in the age of artificial intelligence? Elizabeth Callaway, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Utah, talks with Scott Black about writing pedagogy with and about AI. Links: Josh Dzieza, “Inside the AI Factory” Ethan Mollick, “I, Cyborg: Using Co-Intelligence” NYT review of Chris Hayes, The Siren’s Call: How Attent…
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Oscar Wilde in Utah, with Randell Hoffman and Robert Carson
1:04:18
1:04:18
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1:04:18
In 1882, Oscar Wilde visited Utah during his famous lecture tour of the United States. Local historian Randell Hoffman discusses the scandals of Wilde's visit, and the Victorian-era conventions that Wilde challenged. Robert Carson examines Wilde's lectures on the importance of beauty and his provocations about taste and artificiality. Links: Michèl…
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Sex and the Planet, with Peggy Battin and Jim Tabery
25:17
25:17
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25:17
What if advances in technology were already changing the causal logic of human reproduction which is now taken for granted? Could pregnancy shift from an event which some opt out of through prevention or termination, to an intentional, elective choice? How should such a system work, and what would be its likely consequences? These questions compris…
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Bloodborne and the Aesthetics of Video Games - Nathan Wainstein and Michael W. Clune
35:47
35:47
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Nathan Wainstein (Assistant Professor of English at the University of Utah) discusses his new book, Grant Us Eyes: The Art of Paradox in Bloodborne. Joining him is Michael W. Clune (Samuel B. and Virginia C. Knight Professor of Humanities at Case Western Reserve University). See also: Video Games: The Artistic Medium of the Future. Introduced by Ro…
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On Death and Memory: Alice Dailey, author of Mother of Stories, with Lindsey Drager
28:09
28:09
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28:09
Alice Dailey recounts the life and death of her mother, who was “a gifted teacher, a passionate reader, and a pathological liar.” Dailey is Professor of English and Director of Faculty Affairs at Villanova University. She discusses her scholarly memoir, Mother of Stories: An Elegy, with Lindsey Drager (Assistant Professor of English, University of …
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