10-Minute Talks

Nov 29 2024 88 ep. 11 mins 24

10-Minute Talks Podcast artwork

The world’s leading professors explain the latest thinking in the humanities and social sciences in just 10 minutes.

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Schubert’s Die Forelle: how a classical music piece changes over time

Nov 29 2024 11 mins

Classical music is often wrongly considered to be unaffected by political and social change. Exploring Franz Schubert’s ‘Die Forelle’, Laura Tunbridge FBA considers the cultural history of a song and the importance of a piece of music changing over time – both in sound and meaning. Speaker: Professor Laura Tunbridge FBA, Professor of Music, University of Oxford This podcast

'Salvator Mundi': Leonardo da Vinci's missing masterpiece?

Nov 15 2024 10 mins

‘Salvator Mundi’ is a painting surrounded by mysteries. In this talk, Professor Martin Kemp FBA explores evidence that it is indeed a work of Leonardo Da Vinci, the painting’s key components, and the alleged whereabouts of the ‘Salvator Mundi’ today. Speaker: Professor Martin Kemp FBA, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford; Honorary Fellow, Trinit

What does a neuropsychologist do?

Nov 01 2024 6 mins

What exactly is the work of a neuropsychologist? In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Barbara Sahakian FBA unpacks some of her key work over the years and more recent ventures – from developing early models of memory testing to now transforming psychological tests into game apps. Speaker: Professor Barbara Sahakian FBA, Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology, Department of Psychiatry

Traditional Japanese theatre and audience interaction

Oct 25 2024 9 mins

Japanese theatre has, from its beginnings, encouraged audience participation – from formal fan-clubs to lessons on dancing and chanting. Hear Professor Drew Gerstle FBA take us through the key characteristics of Kabuki, Bunraku and Noh theatre and the ways viewers interacted with these 14th-17th century performances, both as patrons and amateur practitioners. Speaker: Professor D

What are empires, nation states and colonialism?

Oct 18 2024 9 mins

How do we understand empire in the modern age? In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Gurminder K Bhambra challenges the idea that modern nation-states emerged as a result of the break-up of empire, and instead invites us to rethink what defines empire entirely. By considering different colonial processes and the impact these have on how we understand empires, Bhambra unpacks the specif

Books in wartime: innocent victims or guilty parties?

Oct 11 2024 9 mins

While books are often thought of as victims of war, looted or burned in libraries, in this 10-Minute Talk Professor Andrew Pettegree suggests an alternative narrative: books are essential in the waging of war. Sharing insights from his recent publication, ‘The Book at War’, Pettegree explores the active role of books in wartime from the Napoleonic era to the Second World War. S

What was the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings?

Oct 04 2024 9 mins

Expanding on her book, ‘Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy’, Professor Annette Gordon-Reed unpacks the evidence around this contested relationship and the role of historians in erasing the narratives of enslaved people. Exploring the ‘American dilemma’, this talk investigates the contradiction between Jefferson’s commitment to equality and his own

Shakespeare in popular culture

Sep 27 2024 7 mins

What is it that makes great works from the past endure in the present? In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Sir Jonathan Bate FBA explores Shakespeare’s legacy and his continued cultural presence over time. From influencing Jane Austen’s writing, to inspiring modern-day TV and film adaptations like 1999’s ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ and 2023’s ‘Anyone but You’, or pro

What have sign languages taught us about human language development?

Sep 20 2024 11 mins

Sign language and how we use it and implement it into society has developed rapidly in the last 50 years, from little-to-no representation in education in the 1970s to the British Sign Language (BSL) Act 2022 and a new British Sign Language GCSE to be taught from 2025. In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Bencie Woll FBA unpacks her research and involvement in understandings of langua

Aesthetics and emotions in pre-modern India

Sep 13 2024 14 mins

In the West, emotions are often understood through the philosophy of cognition and experimental psychology – separated from the world of art and aesthetic. However, in pre-modern India, aesthetic and emotion were deeply intertwined. In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad FBA discusses how the aesthetics of drama and literature were key to understanding emotions