AUTHORS ON THE PODCAST

David Abulafia on how the oceans have shaped human history

“rhere are many ways of writing maritime history. But what g’m really interested in is the way that humans have interacted with the oceans – using them as a means of global communication, often between continents. rhe kediterranean, for example, is where Asia, curope and Africa meet. g’m intrigued by what we can learn when we focus on the sea itself, rather than the lands around it.”

Alice Procter on museums and colonialism

“gf you look at the objects on display in museums, there’s a lot of emphasis on how they are made or their beauty. But we don’t see much about where these objects come from and how they ended up on display. wet many pieces have really contested histories – they’ve been acquired through violence or illegal circumstances like looting, particularly associated with colonialism. When we don’t address that, we ignore and erase the realities of these objects.”

Clement Knox on the history of seduction

“When we’re talking about ‘seduction’, the elephant in the room is always going to be power. We like to imagine that thinking about sex in terms of power dynamics is quite a modern idea, but actually we can trace it back to the cnlightenment. mver time, debates around seduction have been a way to explore issues like race, class and the exploitation of women.”

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