Summary
Could the modern world be built on the back of our craving for an addictive substance? Matthew Sweet marshals historians Mimi Goodall and Dexnell Peters, and artist and theorist Ayesha Hameed, to see how far we can push the idea that our desire for sugar led to the development of new forms of agriculture, as well as slavery, empire and capitalism, indeed the initiation of a new era in the earth's geological history and climate. And they consider how we can think through such massive, world-historical shifts.
Ayesha Hameed is Co-Programme Leader for the PhD in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her video Black Atlantis: The Plantationocene is here: https://vimeo.com/415428776 Dexnell Peters is Teaching Fellow in History at the University of Warwick and Supernumerary Fellow at Exeter College, Oxford Mimi Goodall has just finished a DPhil in History at Oxford
Producer: Luke Mulhall
You might be interested in episodes exploring Black history available on the Arts & Ideas podcast or a playlist on the Free Thinking programme website https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08t2qbp
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Can I just say? |
| 0:01.5 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | It's such a wonderful listen. |
| 0:05.6 | So nice. |
| 0:06.5 | There are loads more like it on BBC sounds. |
| 0:08.8 | Different paces, different heights. |
| 0:10.6 | The roof is buckling. |
| 0:11.9 | Where you can also listen to live sports commentary. |
| 0:14.2 | It's right foot goes for goal. |
| 0:16.7 | And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories. |
| 0:21.7 | The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession. |
| 0:25.2 | And she's had to live with that. |
| 0:26.8 | So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion. |
| 0:29.7 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.7 | Sort of expecting that every week now. |
| 0:35.8 | BBC Sounds, music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:40.0 | A sticky subject on this edition of the Arts and Ideas podcast, Sugar, it's in our food, |
| 0:45.5 | our histories and our desires. |
| 0:47.7 | Join me, Matthew Sweet, and my guests after this message. |
| 0:51.6 | Hiya, I'm Linton Stevens. |
| 0:53.4 | I just wanted to tell you about the Classical fixed podcast. It's a great way to discover classical music. I mean, it's kind of something you just know exists. I was never really like an avid listener. I'm sort of impressively illiterate. Each week, I mix my guest a playlist. They take a listen in their own time, then we get together and they |
| 1:11.2 | tell me honestly what they thought. It can be a mixed bag. I loved it. Slightly tedious. |
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