When the idea for Dr. Jonathan Church’s newest podcast series first came to him, he knew he wanted to approach things differently. Instead of being the one on the microphone as he was in his first podcast, the Frank and Evelyn Steinbrucker ’42 Endowed Chair in Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice wanted to take a step back and facilitate conversations for his colleagues. Thus, “The Steinbrucker Conversations – Shifting Perspectives: Imagining Europe From the Margins,” was born.

“These podcast conversations were an outcome of being awarded the 2023-2025 Frank and Evelyn Steinbrucker Endowed Chair,” Church explained. “I wanted to facilitate and financially support my Arcadia colleagues to have a sustained conversation with a scholar, artist, or activist who, in some broad way, was addressing this theme [Europe from the Margins] from a concrete situation. So, I didn’t choose the topics; my colleagues did, following their interests, disciplinary expertise, and the podcast guest with whom they chose to converse. For me, the best part was learning so much from these conversations.”

There are currently six episodes, which can be found on Apple, Spotify, and Amazon Music. Episodes include:

For Interim Provost Alex Otieno, who, like most others involved in the project, was new to podcasts, the experience was a creative outlet. 

“I particularly enjoyed the process of co-creating the ideas and agreeing on how we would pursue the conversation,” he said. “It bears mentioning that there was a great deal of spontaneity as well. I loved that the medium gave me the unique opportunity to collaboratively engage with and joyfully explore issues with colleagues–a historian in Portugal and a Romani rights activist in Brussels. It is not only a viable space for knowledge sharing and dissemination that is accessible and portable, but it provides an opportunity to reach more people ‘where they are.’”

Dr. Kate Bonin, a professor of French and chair of the Modern Languages and Cultures Department, developed an episode for the series that she considers vital. As a French scholar, Bonin took the opportunity to record an interview with Jo Crampon, the lifelong romantic partner of French author Mireille Best. By doing so, Bonin was able to preserve insights into Best’s creative process, as well as learn more about what life was like for both Crampon and Best coming of age in the 1960s and 70s.

“Dr. Church described the project as an opportunity to conduct an interview and to work with someone international,” Bonin said. “That description clicked with something I had been thinking about–Jo is in her 80s, and it would be important to connect with her sooner rather than later. There was a lot to talk about as the theme of ‘Reimagining Europe from the Margins’ made me look at Mireille Best’s fiction and her life experience in a whole new way.”

Certain challenges popped up while making the episodes, ones that the expert hosts may not have faced when working on other types of research.

“Writing a scholarly article, for me, is typically a solitary kind of work–it’s just me in the library most of the time,” she said. “I have control over every part of the project, usually. For the podcast, it was a completely different workflow. I had to coordinate with Jo, an 80+ year old French lady whom I had never met, with my friend and colleague Dr. Stephanie Schechner from Widener University, and with Dr. Church, of course. We had to find times that worked with everyone’s busy schedule, across different time zones and two languages.”

She added: “And, I know nothing about audio recording. Luckily, Dr. Church took care of this part. All I had to do was avoid tapping my foot or my hand on the table, or any of the tics that I sometimes do without realizing!”

Dr. Jennifer Riggan, department chair and professor of Historical and Political Studies, also contributed to a recent episode of the podcast, tying research on Eritrean refugees and migrants back to Dr. Church’s central theme of the margins of Europe.

“In many ways, Europe exists in the margins of Africa, and Africa exists in the margins of Europe,” explained Riggan. “They are only distinct and separate places because our geopolitical imaginations have construed them as such. Europe and Africa are bound together through economics, policy, politics, and geography. In the podcast, Dr. Sabine Mohamed and I wanted to explore how Europe and Africa exist in each other’s margins and construct each other from those margins. We did this by looking at the experience of Eritreans in Europe, along the migration route, migration policies, and more!”

Despite the learning curve that came with podcasting, Riggan enjoyed working in this format.

“It was a lot of fun. Much more spontaneous and creative and generative than working on a journal article or book,” Riggan said. “It was interesting to see what kinds of ideas were generated. At the same time, it was hard–I think there is a lot to learn about this particular form. It would be great to see Arcadia produce more podcasts!” 

While this is only the second series Church has produced, he’s looking forward to producing more in the future.

“I find podcasts are more accessible,” he said. “The sound of human voices in conversations nuanced by tonal shifts, by laughter, by pauses in finding the right turn of phrase gives humanity to complex and difficult subjects.”