Debate: It’s Time To Ditch the Canon of Great White Men, Part 1

Intelligence Squared

News Commentary, Arts, News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In recent years movements to change school curricula have argued that all students at schools and universities should be able to see themselves reflected in the books they read. But others argue that moves to recolonise the curriculum to include more diverse authors should be based on the universal value of their work rather than the identity of the individual. So how do we best go about updating those reading lists that include some of the most well-established classics in literature and academia? Jeffrey Boakye, former English teacher and author of the acclaimed memoir I Heard What You Said, and journalist Tomiwa Owolade are our guests for this debate to discuss this timely topic. Our chair is the writer, academic and broadcaster, Shahidha Bari. We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to get ad-free access to all Intelligence Squared podcasts, including exclusive bonus content, early access to new episodes and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today for just £4.99, or the equivalent in your local currency . Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, this is Jeremy Bowen, the International Editor of BBC News and I'm here because I want
0:05.1	to talk to you about an event I'm doing with Intelligent Squared on the 2nd of November in London
0:11.5	and I'm going to be talking about the more than 30 years that I've spent reporting on major
0:17.6	events in the Middle East with my great friend and colleague over many, many years just in web
0:25.6	and I'm sure we'll talk about a few other things as well, just in and I started at the BBC
0:31.5	on the same day in 1984. So if you'd like to join us either in person or online, then visit
0:41.6	IntelligentSquared.com to find out more. Welcome to Intelligent Squared. I'm Senior Producer,
0:49.3	Conor Boyle. Coming up or debate, it's time to ditch the canon of great white men. In recent
0:54.7	years, movements to change school curricula have argued that all students at schools and universities
1:00.4	should be able to see themselves reflected in the books they read, but others argue that moves
1:05.2	to decolonise the curricula and include more authors of colour like Tony Morrison or Walay Soyinka
1:10.8	should be included based on the universal value of that work and not the identity of the author.
1:16.2	So how do we best go about updating those reading lists then include some of the most well-established
1:21.3	classics in literature and academia, Jeffrey Boake, former English teacher and author of the
1:26.4	acclaimed memoir I heard what you said, and journalists Tomiwa Oolade are our guests today
1:32.0	to discuss this timely topic. Our chair for this debate is the writer, academic and broadcaster,
1:37.1	Shahida Bari. If you'd like to hear part two of the debate, become a member of IntelligentSquared
1:42.2	by heading over to IntelligentSquared.com slash membership and you can enjoy more bonus content,
1:47.9	add free listening and receive updates of our live events as part of the IntelligentSquared
1:52.1	Community. This episode was recorded live on the 7th of June 2023. Let's join Shahida now.
1:58.0	Hello and welcome to this online debate on the motion. It's time to ditch the canon of great
2:05.4	white men. First things first, I'm going to ask you to make your first vote straight away so that
	...

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