This is Echora’s new podcast series, ‘Global Echo’, We’ll invite scholars in the humanities for half-academic, half-casual conversations—packed with pro insights but never hard to follow—hoping to bring the charm of the humanities to more people.
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🌟Echora Host
Adella @Adella GuGu
* Translator of 【Desire and Domestic Novel】（Chinese version）
* First Prize of the CUHK Literary Award（全球华文青年文学奖）
🌟Global Guest
Martin Puchner is the Professor of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University; a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts; the general editor of the renowned"The Norton Anthology of World Literature"; the author of "The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, and Civilization".
🌟Global Content
In the first episode of Global Echo, Professor Puchner elaborate on many issues that young people are concerned with nowadays. For example, What changes will the new media, like short videos, bring to our society? How to view the tension between cultural fluidity and cultural purity? How to step out of the comfort zone brought by algorithm? How could we fairly evaluate the value of popular culture? What is the meaning or significance of arts and humanities today?
We hope this conversation will be helpful in shedding new lights on these issues.
🌟Timeline
03:30 : Only when we zoom out, can we see something clearly
08:40: How does culture work?
09:05: The main idea of cultural borrowing
14:05: There's evidence everywhere once you start looking without prejudices
19:00: The role played by 'cultural mediator'
23:05: Projecting home culture to foreign countries
28:18: Curiosity as the key in cultural interaction
32:30: Is our society progressing?
37:50: The way we accessed the past has changed
41:20: Why is there resurgence of nationalism and cultral nativism
43:45: We need a cultral filter in dealing with overwhelming information
51:20: Cultral identity is not a bad thing unless it shuts down all the other possibilities
52:45: Surprising role played by women in the history of culture
57:50: Is novel irrelevant to history?
63:15: How have short videos shaped our society?
70:15: Apocalyptic narrative
78:35: The essence of being human in the age of AI
82:40: How to step out of your comfort zone brought by algorithm
87:30: K-pop as a typical example of soft power
96:50: Two understandings of culture
99:35: New classic of the future
104:30: Contemporary hierarchical chains of culture
107:50: What should wedo in the winter season of arts and humanities?
116:40: ‘Not every one needs a phd.’
122:00: An impossible question
🌟About Echora
Echora is a community for cultural resonance initiated by veteran humanities creators—translators, freelance writers, literary editors, and more. It dedicates itself to exploring an ecology of humanities and social sciences content that carries intellectual depth yet remains accessible, profound without being obscure.
We regularly craft fluid conversational gatherings in urban humanities spaces, where through diverse perspectives we perceive, unpack, and confront the plights of real life. May the contours of growth become threads weaving through each other’s lives; may we find, within this spiritual aura, the courage to face life head-on.
🌟Team members
Host: Adella
Planner: Dancy @丹丹的一隅
Producer: Eason @复杂生活
🌟Music Source
* Rootless tree – Damien Rice
* Jets – Blur
🌟Contact Us
* Email：zengyingsheng@pictrip.com.cn easoneng@163.com
* Wechat：sunmerineason