Historian of science, monster consultant, and author of the brilliant new book '⁠Humans: A Monstrous History⁠'. Today I'm joined by DR. SUREKHA DAVIES, and we'll talking the perception of category breakers as monsters in history and storytelling and how our relationship to these 'monsters' helped invent race, gender, and nations along the way. This conversation couldn’t be more relevant to our world today – from migrant crises, to trans rights, to Gaza.

A BONUS EPISODE with Surekha is also available via Apple Podcasts or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠at ⁠Substack⁠. In it, Surekha discusses a seminal piece of art from her life — the iconic 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' episodes, 'THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS' Parts 1 and 2, which involve one of her favorite fictional monsters…the Borg.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonus-dr-surekha-davies-talks-star-trek-tngs-the-best/id1807437928?i=1000723059163

Substack: https://colehaddon.substack.com/p/bonus-episode-surekha-davies-talks

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Get access to this podcast episode, the bonus episode, and hundreds of other arts and culture articles, essays, and educational resources.

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Links:

• Learn more about Dr. Surekha Davies and buy ‘Humans: A Monstrous History’ here: https://www.surekhadavies.org/
• Watch the trailer for ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’: ‘The Best of Both Worlds’ Parts 1 and 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RPxUenDwSE&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fcolehaddon.substack.com%2F
• In my conversation with Surekha, I mention my artist-on-artist conversation with historian, author, and screenwriter Alex von Tunzelmann. You can read that here: https://colehaddon.substack.com/p/q-and-a-historian-and-screenwriter?utm_source=publication-search

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5AM StoryTalk would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which this podcast is recorded, the Djarra people of the Kulin Nation and pay respects to Elders past and present.

This podcast's music is by ⁠⁠Cary Brothers⁠⁠.