J P LINSTROTH EPOCHAL RECKONINGS PODCAST

About J P LINSTROTH EPOCHAL RECKONINGS PODCAST

These AI Podcasts are a survey of the scholar and poet, J. P. Linstroth's academic and creative works published since 2002 but still relevant today with his most recent non-fiction book, Politics and Racism Beyond Nations: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Crises, published in 2022 (Palgrave Macmillan) and current publications of poetry in various online sources. His last book, mixed-genre, short stories and poetry, was a volume titled: Swimming in Blue Shadows: A Collection of Short Stories and Poems (2022, Winner of Supplementary Book Publication Prize, Proverse Hong Kong). He is also, author of the Award-Winning, poetry book, Epochal Reckonings (2019 International Proverse Prize, 2020 Proverse HK. His first non-fiction book is: Marching Against Gender Practive: Political Imaginings in the Basqueland (2015, Bloomsbury Books). The podcasts are based upon his Award-Winning poetry book, Epochal Reckonings, because the themes within it touch upon multiple subjects relevant to the 21st Century and also link to the themes relevant throughout Linstroth's published work. The poetry book, Epochal Reckonings, describes and responds to some of the crises of the first years of the 21st century. Linstroth aims as he puts it, to cause concern, discussion, and surprise as well as to evoke the emotions of anger, empathy, and sadness. The events covered in Epochal Reckonings include the huge migrations of people seeking to cross borders, whether in the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, or Europe, hoping for safety and a better life. Linstroth also comments on human and natural acts of astonishing violence: the 9/11 destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York; the Hurricane named Katrina of 2005; the Haitian earthquake of 2010. Linstroth often portrays man's inhumanity to man, whether callous, careless, mistaken, or deliberate the police-killings of African-American youths; the genocide of Brazilian indigenous peoples; the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison; mass school-shootings in the USA; and the Yemeni civil war. Linstroth describes his poetry as emergent and inchoate, outlining the struggles and sufferings of various groups during major crises in the 21st century, embodied by racism, extremism, violence, and tragedies too many to be told. Thus, the poems in the Award-Winning, Epochal Reckonings book capture various calamities of our times, defining their symbolic significance for many of those who have experienced these disasters of the present across the globe. Moreover, this podcast series will go beyond this one particular book and cover the wide range of Dr. Linstroth's work throughout his academic career and his creative works. ***BIOGRAPHY***: J. P. Linstroth has a PhD (D.Phil.) in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Oxford, UK with several awards for his research concentrating on the Spanish-Basques, Brazilian urban Amerindians, and Cuban, Haitian, and Guatemalan-Mayan immigrants in South Florida. He is an Adjunct Professor at Palm Beach State College (PBSC) and the author of several books: Marching Against Gender Practice: Political Imaginings in the Basqueland (2015, Bloomsbury Books); The Forgotten Shore (Poetic Matrix Press, 2017); Epochal Reckonings (Proverse Publishers HK, 2020, Winner of Proverse Prize 2019); Politics and Racism Beyond Nations: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Crises (2022, Palgrave Macmillan); and Swimming in Blue Shadows: A Collection of Short Stories and Poems (2022, Proverse HK, Proverse Supplementary Prize). He was awarded a J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholar Grant (2008-2009) to study urban Amerindians in Manaus,

Publisher

J P Linstroth

Category

news · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Mar 2026

Latest episode

24 Apr 2026

Latest episodes

34 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   24 Apr 2026

   WHY INDIGENOUS LIVES SHOULD MATTER

   In this week’s Podcast #28, the topic is “Why Indigenous Lives Should Matter”, and really the topic is not just a subject but addresses real human lives we are losing every day and diminishing our diversity as humanity year to year. In the United States, we live in a “post-genocide” society, whether or not we are cognizant of this fact or not. What do I mean by that? In order for the United States to have fulfilled its so-called “Manifest Destiny”—the divine right to conquer the lands west of the Mississippi River—we needed to wipe out the remaining Native Americans living on western lands. Today, unfortunately, many indigenous peoples are still broken because of this past genocidal history. Native Americans were put on reservations, their lands were stolen, and their cultural heritage was dismissed and eradicated through the boarding school system. Yet, the United States has not been alone in its maltreatment of its indigenous populations. For example, Australia, Brazil, and Canada, have similar histories of genocide against their aboriginal peoples. In the cases of Australia and Canada, like the United States, are only recently coming to terms with their genocidal histories. While Brazil is still massacring its indigenous peoples in favor of agro-businesses, cattle ranching, hydro-electric dam construction, timber extraction, mining and oil operations, and other development schemes in Amazonia. There is a psychological pattern among Native peoples which follows on from massacres of indigenes, which is suffering from alcoholism, child neglect, domestic violence, and sexual abuse. Moreover, there is increasing evidence demonstrating an epigenetic association of transgenerational trauma, that is traumatized parents genetically passing on trauma effects to their children. The trauma of the external is internalized, scarring populations for years. First, we must recognize how indigenous peoples have been dehumanized and how such dehumanization has led to genocide. Moreover, we must recognize many indigenous peoples live in areas of the world needing protection for the sake of our environment and our planet. The Brazilian Amazon is just one good example. Second, we need to recognize the needs for a healing process to begin for past atrocities against Native peoples. While indigenous peoples themselves must be recognized as having the right to decide for themselves appropriate ways to remember genocides against them. So, truth and reconciliation commissions should be established to be able to heal and listen to truth telling. Likewise, apologies should be official and made by governments and reparations should be established for survivor-descendant victims.

2. 

   17 Apr 2026

   HISTORY & SCIENCE AS CANDLES IN THE DARK

   In this weeks’ podcast title, J. P. Linstroth Epochal Reckonings Podcast (27), “History & Science as Candles in the Dark”, is an intellectual nod to Carl Sagan and his perspicacious book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1997) because I believe we must not only look to our history for answers but to science as well. So, when we see political triggers, say, “Trump” flags, or MAGA hats, or to others, as Biden/Harris signs—our brains react to these signals because of our social predispositions and because symbols mean things to human primate-brains. What part of the brain is tied to “fear and anxiety”, the amygdala, and what part of the brain is tied to “aggression”, again the amygdala. Is it any wonder when politicians promote fear mongering among the population, in turn, for some, fear turns toward aggression? What about the insular cortex activating when we are confronted with something we find morally disgusting, the same region of the brain responsible for processing gustatory disgust such as aversion to rotten meat. In Robert Sapolsky’s book, Behave: the Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst (2017), he explains how cerebral regions and neural chemistry help to manipulate human behavior. Now examine the hormone “oxytocin”, which enhances human social behavior. On the one hand, oxytocin may heighten feelings of compatibility, positivity, and trust, on the other hand, it may increase feelings of belligerence, hostility, and exaggerate unconscious biases. Some researchers, Merolla et. al. (2013) in their article, “Oxytocin and the Biological Basis for Interpersonal and Political Trust”, in fact proved that subjects intranasally stimulated with the peptide oxytocin were generally more trusting of the government. So, not only must we consider how media influences how we think but we also need to consider what effects it has on our brains. Thus, being cognizant of such effects may help us, if we are able, to limit how we are being controlled, directed, and swayed. As Carl Sagan asserted in his book, The Demon-Haunted World: “But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.” (p. 408).

3. 

   10 Apr 2026

   ON LOVE & GENIUS

   Part of this discussion in today’s podcast, J P Linstroth Epochal Reckonings, will analyze “higher love”, or the love of the muse, and its significance for understanding “our creative output”, some of our best human qualities. This is known to artists, sculptors, musicians, theoretical physicists, mathematicians, philosophers, and everyone following a higher calling who also contribute something marvelous for humanity. While many theorists have discussed cognitive functionality associated with artistic processes as Bayesian, or computational, or situated, or structural, and so on, it has also been well-established how many neural-chemicals are utilized for creation, many of which are shared by “being in love”. Thus, whether we think of love as expressing our muse, or being in love with others, or the greater love of God, we are describing or narrating our emotions as humans. Such emotional states, and their origins, may have biological and neurological underpinnings, and may have evolved with us as mammals, helping us care for one another. We as humans, the most intelligent species on this planet, must continue to strive to care for one another better, to love each other more, to empathize with those who suffer, to love ourselves, to love our planet, to love others in healthy ways.

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