Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Series
  • People
  • Depts & Colleges
  • Open Education

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Series
  • People
  • Depts & Colleges
  • Open Education

On Paradise: Between Hope and Memory

Image
On Paradise series artwork

Lost edens, hoped for utopias. The idea that a better place exists haunts the human imagination.

Accompanying the ‘On Paradise’ exhibition at the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, this podcast series features members of the University of Oxford Humanities community discussing conceptualizations of paradise and utopia in different historical and cultural context. The exhibition, featuring the work of Oxford-based artist Saad Qureshi, was curated by Paul Basu, Professor of Anthropology and Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum, who also interviewed the podcast participants.

‘On Paradise’ was programmed as part of Utopia Now!, a season exploring the role of the arts in making a better future possible.

Related

On Paradise (homepage)Schwarzman Centre for the HumanitiesHumanities Division

Subscribe

Audio RSS Feed
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 episodes
Episode Description People Date Accessible
6. J. C. Niala: Everyday Paradises Dr J. C. Niala reflects on her research with allotment gardeners. She discusses how ‘paradise’ may be found in everyday places, acts, and what she terms ‘banal utopias’. J C Niala, Paul Basu 28 Sep 2026 Captions
5. Sondra Hausner: Transcending Paradisal Imaginaries Professor Sondra Hausner questions the assumed universalism of concepts of Paradise. From a Hindu and Buddhist perspective, such imaginaries are vehicles for transcendence. Sondra Hausner, Paul Basu 28 Sep 2026 Captions
4. Peter Boxall: Paradise and the Drama of Hope Professor Peter Boxall discusses Paradise and Utopia in a secular context. Images of perfect worlds must be more than mere wish-fulfillment, they must be put into relation with the world as it is in order to generate hope. Peter Boxall, Paul Basu 28 Sep 2026 Captions
3. Wes Williams: Paradise and Utopia Professor Wes Williams discusses Paradise as a fictional construct that can be imagined into being or made in the act of naming. He considers Thomas More’s Utopia as a moment in the longer history of Paradise. Wes Williams, Paul Basu 28 Sep 2026 Captions
2. Kathryn Murphy: Paradises Lost and Regained Professor Kathryn Murphy discusses 17th-century Christian thought concerning humanity’s expulsion from Paradise, nostalgia for a lost originary state, and possibilities for reinstantiating Paradise within. Kathryn Murphy, Paul Basu 28 Sep 2026 Captions
1. Veronika Poier: Paradise Gardens and Divine Order Dr Veronika Poier discusses the Persian origins of Paradise as an enclosed garden, expressive of divine order on Earth.
Veronika Poier, Paul Basu 28 Sep 2026 Captions
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 episodes

Footer

  • About
  • Accessibility
  • Contribute
  • Copyright
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Login
'Oxford Podcasts' X Account @oxfordpodcasts | Upcoming Talks in Oxford | © 2011-2026 The University of Oxford