The Hayseed Scholar Podcast

Professor Rita Abrahamsen joins the Hayseed Scholar podcast. Rita grew up on a small island off the coast of Southern Norway. She was a good student, very interested in the world with parents who had been the Merchant Marines, and a father who had served during World War II. She talks about the subjects she enjoyed in school, the decision to go to university and pursue journalism, and her career in journalism, especially radio, working including serving as an anchor for the Norwegian Broadcasting Company. Her purpose in graduate school was to get more training to become a foreign correspondent, but at Swansea she pursued a PhD with training in both African politics and International Relations. She tried out the market, and after a few interviews, landed a Lecturer position at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. She reflects upon those years at Aber and its dynamic intellectual environment, the British academy, and her rapidly expanding research profile throughout that time. She concludes by talking about her move to Canada and helping build out the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at Ottawa, her approach to writing, what she does to recharge (and how she's hoping to get back to running), and more!

After months, and perhaps years, of cajoling and haranguing the Hayseed Scholar, friend of the pod (ep14) Matt McDonald finally convinced Brent to turn the tables and become a guest on the podcast. Matt interviewed Brent at the end of the International Studies Association conference in Montreal, in Matt's hotel room. This was after Matt had enlisted throughout the week a host of conspirators who helped him lobby Brent to be interviewed. Over a few beers and with much good cheer, they chat about Brent's growing up in Iowa, attending Chicago Bears games as a kid, having two teachers as parents, and how golf shaped his college decision-making. They discuss Brent's journey through graduate school, the PhD, and his positions at the University of Kansas and now the University of Utah. Often pounding the table like some 1930s-era dictator, Brent discussed what the tenure process was like for him at KU, the difficult but also life-changing move to Utah, walking with Chase pups for all kinds of reasons, how he approaches writing and how he unwinds and recharges by going back to Iowa and seeing his family. Matt and Brent first connected in 2010 when Brent reached out to Matt about his IPS article, and that prompted a discussion here about how and why Brent has sent those complimentary emails to scholars.
A number of F-bombs were dropped, razzing of Jelena Subotic, Tony Lang, and Chris Agius ensued and friend of the pod and special guest Cian O'Driscoll made an appearance towards the end of the conversation. It’s a whirlwind discussion and one Brent remains self-conscious about, but also a rewarding experience for him in chatting with, and about, longtime friends in this vocation.

Professor Debbie Lisle of Queens University, Belfast, grew up in North Vancouver, in an environment of 'liberal feminism' which gave her a sense of possibility in life, but it was an interesting journey thereafter. Debbie chats with Brent about her decision to go to McGill for college, playing soccer throughout her undergrad and Master's years, and an in-between period of working at a lumber store and then traveling the world including to Southeast Asia and South Africa. Those months of traveling in her early 20s shaped for Debbie the major threads of research she would pursue throughout her academic career. This started at Victoria, where 'chance played a role' when she took a seminar with Rob Walker that would get her thinking of academia as a career. She went to Keele in the UK for PhD, working initially with David Campbell and then, when he left for Newcastle, finishing with Andrew Linklater. She talks about how critical IR, especially in the UK, had a different dynamic back in the late 90s and early 2000s, before it 'exploded' onto the scene and branched into different streams of research. Debbie reflects on getting a job at Queens, being a working parent, how she handled the criticism of a harsh review of her first book, incorporating it for her second book, and her approach to writing. She closes the conversation discussing her recent health challenge and how she has worked through it in the past year.

Professor Ann Towns of the University of Gothenburg visits the Hayseed Scholar podcast. Professor Towns grew up in Sweden, and was interested in playing music and especially performing classical music as a child. But by the time she was in high school, she wanted to broaden her horizons, and get out of not only her town but Sweden. That led her to Kansas, where she finished high school in an exchange program. She lived outside of a small town, and she reflects on the different contexts in the rural US compared to Sweden - religion, expectations on teenagers, and the social environment of that time and place. She went to Nebraska for undergraduate, and she talks about the classes she took, the music scene in Lincoln, and what she wanted to do after college. Professor Towns traveled to Peru after college, and ended up working for an NGO that helped those who suffered from political violence. She talks about going to the Univ of Minnesota for graduate school, some post-docs she took after her PhD, going on the market and working at the University of Delaware, her experience at the ISA-Northeast Circle in 2009, and then eventually going back to Sweden where she is now. She concludes with how she approaches writing, what she does to decompress, and more!

Professor Sebastian Kaempf of the University of Queensland joins the Hayseed Scholar podcast this week.
Seb grew up in Germany, with the fall of the Berlin Wall happening when he was entering his teenage years. While it had a big impact on him, he distinctly remembers his parents’ emotional reactions to that moment. He also was a conscientious objector and thus did not serve in the German military but his service was in some ways even more challenging as he notes here. Seb talks about going to uni in Germany before transferring to the LSE for his Bachelor’s and Masters, heading towards the academic track being trained for his PhD under Nick Wheeler and Alastair Finlan at University of Aberystwyth Wales. His first gig on a post-doc working with Alex Bellamy at UQ where he has been ever since. He discusses how the Theaters of War film project came about, what that was like, how he approaches writing, his co-hosted podcast with Al Stark, Higher Ed Heroes, what he does to unwind, and how he and friend of the pod and Hayseed Scholar co-host Matt McDonald will likely become the next big indie rock band as they are currently playing venues in Brisbane where they have achieved almost cult status at this point.