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 1913: The World on the Brink

On the eve of the First World War, storm clouds gather in Europe, a coup and a war spell the beginning of the end for the Ottoman Empire, Gandhi leads a march against racism in South Africa, women worldwide agitate for suffrage, and Modernism bursts onto the artistic stage.

Deborah Neill is a professor of history at York University. Her teaching interests are focused on the history of modern Europe since 1789 and include imperialism, World Wars One and Two, the Holocaust, modern Germany, modern France, European colonialism in Africa, war, revolution and society in the 20th century, and globalization.

Adam Hammond is a professor of English at the University of Toronto. His work focuses on British modernism - specifically, the relationship between technology, politics, and artistic expression in the period.

Sandeep Banerjee is a professor of English at McGill University. His teaching and research includes Postcolonial, Global Anglophone and World literature, Literary Geography, the Environmental Humanities and the Cultural Cold War, Realism, Modernism and South Asian Literature.