Ideas at Stratford: The Shock of the New
Why does change happen? Human society seems to lean towards things not changing at all. And why do there seem to be moments in history where a tsunami of significant things happen at more-or-less the same time? And what about events perhaps years beforehand, the tremors that might have set the stage for the earthquake?
Moderated by Ideas host Nahlah Ayed, The Shock of the New is a series of panel discussions about five years that profoundly shaped the modern world, ‘hinge’ years that have had a profound effect on our lives today. Each year signifies a ‘new beginning’ in politics, the sciences, human rights - and illuminates some of the obvious and not-so-obvious forces that have shaped the modern world.
In photo: Nahlah Ayed
The Year 1833: Evolution and Entrenchment
Britain abolishes slavery and introduces crucial labour rights, Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbidge invent the computer, and Charles Darwin has a revelation that will revolutionize science and challenge religions - but his work will also be used to justify the ongoing oppression of people of colour.
Maydianne Andrade is a professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto and President and co-Founder of the Canadian Black Scientists Network (CBSN) She has a strong affinity for public science education, and hosts the podcast The New Normal.
Padraic Scanlan is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources at the University of Toronto, and a Research Associate at the Center for History and Economics at Harvard University and the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on labour, enslaved and free, in Britain and the British empire during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Sandra den Otter is a professor of History at Queen’s University who studies late 18th, 19th and 20th century British history and the relationship between Britain and the world. She specializes in the history of colonial legal cultures, intellectual history, and the history of the social sciences.