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In this podcast, I talk to different people to explore what they believe history is, what it can do, and how they use it in their everyday lives. Because I firmly believe that people use history regularly without them even knowing, it would be very interesting to see what their views are.
What makes History-in-the-Now Conversations appealing is that my guests are people who do not work in any field directly related to history but — as we shall discover — hold valuable insights about its worth and relevance. The aim is to thus listen and learn from their everyday realities and experiences and how they believe history fits into the equation.
Through these exciting conversations, I hope that we come to better understand history’s practical life uses and through this perhaps find better ways of understanding our daily interactions in our families, with our friends and colleagues at work, and in broader society. What may result could point us into new directions for improving how we dialogue and share knowledge with each other, and through this perhaps learn to become fuller and more complete persons, happy and feeling fulfilled.
HOST: Paul Zanazanian. In this podcast series, Paul Zanazanian, author and Associate Professor at McGill University, explores what history is, what it can do, and how people use it in their everyday lives. What is unique about this series is that Zanazanian engages in conversations with scholars and other professionals who do not work in any field directly related to history but — as shall be discovered — hold valuable insights about history’s worth and relevance. The podcast is inspired by Zanazanian’s book, Historical Consciousness and Practical Life: A Theory and Methodology, which examines history’s life uses.
REFERENCING FOR CITATION PURPOSES: Zanazanian, P. (Host). (2024, September 1st). How history lives within us: Paul Zanazanian introduces History in the Now Conversations. https://historyinthenow.com/podcast/
Joseph (Joe) Levitan, (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University. Since 2010, he has been working with communities in multiple contexts on community-based action research projects to address deep challenges to education, wellbeing, health, and prosperity. Joe currently engages in Community-Based Participatory Action Research projects in Peru, Panama, India, and Canada and takes a multi-epistemological and ecological approach to his work in order to honor the diverse lived realities of community members, while ensuring that community collaboration and traditional ways of being are also honored and developed.
REFERENCING FOR CITATION PURPOSES: Zanazanian, P. (Host) & Levitan, J. (Guest). (2024, September) How history lives within us: Associate professor Joseph Levitan from McGill University talks history. History in the Now Conversations. https://historyinthenow.com/podcast/
Dr. Signy Sheldon is an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology and the director of the Sheldon Memory Lab at McGill University. Dr. Sheldon studies the mechanisms that allow us to recall the past in different ways and why we have such a flexible memory, using behavioural and brain imaging techniques. She has been recognized as leader in the field of cognitive neuroscience, receiving awards such as the Canada Research Chair in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory, the CSBBCS Vincent Di Lollo Early-Career Award Winner and has secured funds from several federal funding agencies. She lives in Montreal where she is often seen walking her dog, Phife.
REFERENCING FOR CITATION PURPOSES: Zanazanian, P. (Host) & Sheldon, S. (Guest). (2024, October). How history lives within us: Associate professor Signy Sheldon from McGill University talks history. History in the Now Conversations. https://historyinthenow.com/podcast/
Vivek Venkatesh, PhD is Dean of the Faculty of Education and a James McGill Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Since 2017, Vivek has held the UNESCO co-Chair in Prevention of Radicalisation and Violent Extremism. Vivek is a filmmaker, musician, curator and applied learning scientist whose research and research-creation programs focus on community resilience and pluralism through a resolutely public pedagogical approach.
REFERENCING FOR CITATION PURPOSES: Zanazanian, P. (Host) & Venkatesh, V. (Guest). (2024, November). How history lives within us: Full professor Vivek Venkatesh from McGill University talks history. History in the Now Conversations. https://historyinthenow.com/podcast/
Michael Lipset is a scholar, author, educator, artist, creative producer and Hip-Hop head. His work sits at the intersections of critical arts pedagogies, education change, pushout re-engagement, teacher preparation, and social justice. He holds a Ph.D. in Education Studies from McGill University with an Ed.M. in the Arts in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a published scholar and podcaster, having produced the Spotify Original podcast series, RecordEd Arts, and the Stanford d.school produced Sound Practice. He also serves as Director of 4 Learning, an international nonprofit working on school transformation through the recording arts and culturally sustaining pedagogies.
REFERENCING FOR CITATION PURPOSES: Zanazanian, P. (Host) & Lipset, M. (Guest). (2024, December). How history lives within us: Dr. Michael Lipset from McGill University talks history. History in the Now Conversations. https://historyinthenow.com/podcast/
Dr. Tina C. Montreuil is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and an Associate Member of the Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at McGill University. She is a Scientist at the Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre and a PI with the Montreal Antenatal Well-Being Study; a prospective cohort study investigating women’s health during and following pregnancy and the impact of parental mental health on child developmental outcomes. Tina is the recipient of a prestigious Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Santé, Research Scholar Jr. 1 Career Award, a provincial research chair. She is a leading clinical researcher in mood and anxiety disorders and has gained recognition as a child well-being and parenting expert. Tina is the author of a school-based mental health program called “Healthy Minds, Healthy Schools”. She has developed strong partnerships with community organizations, schools, and key stakeholders around pre- and post-natal care and early child development; facilitating knowledge translation and advocacy aimed at promoting parental psychological well-being and optimal child development.
REFERENCING FOR CITATION PURPOSES: Zanazanian, P. (Host) & Montreuil, T. (Guest). (2025, January). How history lives within us: Associate professor Tina Montreuil from McGill University talks history. History in the Now Conversations. https://historyinthenow.com/podcast/
Dr. Blane Harvey is an Associate Professor and William Dawson Scholar in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University (Canada), where he leads the Leadership and Learning for Sustainability Lab. He is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work spans across the social and natural sciences on the themes of learning, collaboration, environmental change, and education for sustainable development. Dr. Harvey’s research investigates how climate change knowledge is produced, validated, and communicated, and how facilitated learning and knowledge sharing can support action on climate change, especially within communities most vulnerable to its impacts. He is author or co-author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications on these themes and serves as an Associate Editor for the journalClimate and Development and Subject Editor for the journal Facets.
REFERENCING FOR CITATION PURPOSES: Zanazanian, P. (Host) & Harvey, B. (Guest). (2025, February) How history lives within us: Associate professor Blane Harvey from McGill University talks history. History in the Now Conversations. https://historyinthenow.com/podcast/
Steven Jordan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education and an Associate member of the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. He has published in several fields, including critiques of qualitative research, Indigenous program evaluation, workplace learning/education, participatory action research and whole person care. He serves on the editorial boards of the Canadian Journal of Action Research (CJAR), Education Action Research (EAR) and was the founding Editor of the International Journal of Whole Person Care. His administrative positions have included graduate program director (2001-2004) and Chair (2004-2021). He has served as Vice President (Communications) for the McGill Association of University Teachers (2021-2024) and is currently President-elect of the association.
REFERENCING FOR CITATION PURPOSES: Zanazanian, P. (Host) & Jordan, S. (Guest). (2025, March) How history lives within us: Associate professor Steven Jordan from McGill University talks history. History in the Now Conversations. https://historyinthenow.com/podcast/
Jayne Malenfant is an Assistant Professor at McGill University, in Tio’tiá:ke/Montreal.They work with institutional ethnography and anarchist education to explore the experiences of youth and adults navigating homelessness, the engagement of people with lived and living experience of housing precarity in advocacy and research, and the experiences of Two-Spirit, trans, and non-binary communities navigating housing precarity and institutional harm.
REFERENCING FOR CITATION PURPOSES: Zanazanian, P. (Host) & Malenfant, J. (Guest). (2025, April) How history lives within us: Assistant professor Jayne Malenfant from McGill University talks history. History in the Now Conversations. https://historyinthenow.com/podcast/
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