The first speakers of the session will be Joanne Diaz and Abram Van Engen with "Podcasts and Pedagogy". Their questions will include: How does a podcast reach and teach the public? And how does the reach of a podcast allow us to enliven our pedagogies in higher education? They will explore these questions through an account of their podcast Poetry For All. Episodes feature poems by William Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, and Phillis Wheatley; and just as often contemporary poets like Ada Limón, Arthur Sze, and Carl Phillips. In their presentation, they will describe how the creation of this podcast arose from their teaching, how it has changed their pedagogical approaches, and what they have learned from other educators along the way.
The presentation of Benjamin Williams, Calvin Pollak, and Alex Helberg is titled "The Podcast as Critique: Making Critical University Studies Accessible on re:verb". In this collaborative presentation, the speakers will discuss the editorial work and humanistic commitments central to their long-running podcast, re:verb. Taking a critical university studies approach, re:verb bridges intellectual labor and activist practice, showcases social justice movements, and discusses political issues. They intend to splice together clips from recent episodes that have engaged with questions about how cultural institutions are formed and reformed or made and remade. They will show how re: verb and other podcasts like it offer the humanities and critical university studies a medium for critique, public dialogue, and pedagogy that extends beyond the classroom.
Following these two presentations by practicing podcasters, Milica Hinic will close the session with "Podcasting as part of our civic and democratic practices within the Humanities". This presentation will situate podcasting within broader conversations about digital citizenship and democratic engagement. Podcasting emerges as a transformative medium within democratic life—one that connects the human dimensions of the Humanities by bringing text to life and amplifying diverse voices across communities and spaces.
Hinic will foreground the human-centric and community-building qualities of podcasting in the Humanities, emphasizing its accessibility and adaptability across institutional contexts. Drawing on experiences from teaching, research, and public scholarship, she will invite discussion on how podcasting can be ethically, creatively, and sustainably mobilized as part of our civic and democratic practices within the Humanities.
This session will include a presider, along with the five presenters above, including, as described, two groups of co-presenters.The presentations will be allotted 15 minutes each, which, with 5 minute assigned to introductions, will leave 25 minutes for a question and answer, along with unstructured discussion. Our participants come from a wide range of disciplinary and positions: American studies, early modern Studies, media and communication studies. They include tenure track faculty, creative writers, and higher ed administrators . The session will be presided over, and moderated by Saronik Bosu, founding member of the Humanities Podcast Network and co-editor of the upcoming The Palgrave Handbook of Humanities Podcasting , forthcoming later this year. We are excited to expand the conversation by bringing in new voices as we join ongoing conversations in the field, and as we plan our future work at the Network.