169 episodes
StocktonAfterClass Ronald Stockton
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- Science
Ron Stockton was a professor of political science at the University of Michigan-Dearborn for 48 years. His specialty was non-western politics and political change. He taught classes on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Religion and Politics, the Politics of Revolution, Non-Western politics, and American politics. He also taught in the Honors Program, focusing upon foundational readings from the 18th and 19th centuries. He has an interest in religion and politics and in the role of religio-ethnic groups in the political system. The listener can anticipate talks on Arab-Americans, Jews, African-Americans, the Scots-Irish, and Evangelicals. He has lectured and written on American politics, public opinion, and voting behavior and on the role of religious organizations and ideologies in the political system. There will be occasional discussions of books and films that address serious issues. And he has lectured and published and even taught a class on gravestones, especially those of different ethnic and religious groups such as Muslims, African-Americans, Jews, and Native Americans. The goal of the podcast series is to provide analysis and commentary by a political scientist to explain and make accessible political, historical, and cultural developments in the United States and around the world, and to give the listener analytical tools to understand those developments. It is also to entertain the listener.
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Roe V Wade Overturned. A Reposting two years after the event of the Alito decision.
Two years ago we learned that the Supreme Court would reverse Roe v Wade.
I worked through the leaked draft and tried to extract the logic of the decision.
It was painful to see such tortured analysis.
Some of those Trump justices had actually said that Roe was "settled law" during their hearings. That is a phrase that means, everyone agrees and it is not subject to reversal.
Now, in May of 2024, Trump is running on the fact that his justices were the ones that tipped the balance on the Court. And Biden is running as champion of women's rights, promising to pass a national law once again making this a decision of a woman and her doctor.
In case you missed this podcast the first time around (or want to refresh your memory) here it is once again. -
Nelson Mandela Freed, 1990 A Reposting
Back in February of 1990 Nelson Mandela was freed from 27 years in prison. When he walked out of prison that Sunday morning, the whole world was watching. At least everyone in our house was watching. Mandela quickly became the world's greatest statesman. This is my assessment of his life and contribution. And of the two times Jane and I crossed paths with him.
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Comments to the Graduating Class
I prepared this podcast last year (2023) but did not get around to posting it until now (2024). It focuses upon the time a few years ago when I was asked to speak to the graduating class. The students were there and their parents. Plus the Chancellor and Deans and other luminaries. It was a really nice event.
I did make one mistake. When I came to the campus in 1973 the state of Michigan funded over 80% of our budget. Today it is well under the 25% I mentioned, maybe closer to 15%. An event such as this was not a time to ask for money, but I thought I would plant the seed. -
Ottoman Perspectives on Zionism (and on Jews). A reposting
This summarizes the main findings of a book on this topic. The Ottomans had experts in Zionism who monitored writings and developments very carefully.
This podcast has surprising findings.
Note: This was recorded during covid times as a class lecture (when we were not allowed to go live). -
Evangeline. A Poem of Love and Loss by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Evangeline was a standard assignment in the 8th grade when I was a kid. It was long and had big words but we read it because it made us better people. This is the story of this poem, and of my experience with it.
It is also the story of Longfellow, the most popular poet of his age, and of his poems. The Village Smith, Paul Revere's Ride, Haiwatha, and the powerful Christmas poem/song, "I heard the Bells on Christmas Day."
Longfellow had a painful life, but he kept writing those wonderful poems.
Have you ever read a single poem by Longfellow? This is your chance to encounter his creativity. -
Hamas Narrative on the events of October 7. What we did; Why we did it; What we want; What we did not do.
In January, 2024 Hamas published a paper called "Our Narrative . . . Operation Al -Aqsa Flood." It is an 18 page document discussing their perspective on the events of October 7. I had not read any Hamas explanations, beyond short statements quoted by people not friendly to their side, so I immediately printed this out and read it. More than once.
As I read this document, I realized I was not the only person who had never heard the Hamas perspective on those events. I knew immediately that it was something I should turn into a podcast. So here it is.
I did make a mistake in the podcast. The Israeli representative to the UN tore up a document in 2021, which I reported as 2001. Then he got elected as Vice President of the organization in 2022, which I reported as 2002.
There is a word Nakba which many of you will recognize but some may not. The word means Catastrophe. It is the Palestinian term for the events of 1948 when Palestine ceased to exist and the Palestinian people lost most of their land and mostly ended up in exile.
March 3 update: Regarding whether there were sexual assaults during the attack of October 7, there was a New York Times story with the rather inflammatory headline about the "weaponization of rape." Then there was an expose of that story alleging that one of the authors had a bad history involving racist references to Palestinians. Then the NYT began an investigation of who had leaked such information (and more specifics) to the media. Arab-Americans claimed they were being singled out in this investigation. The NYT "guild" has filed a grievance against the Times leadership.
Second update: the UN issued a report saying there had been incidents of rape.
I have not read either of these stories.