Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | The Background Hum | 20211004 | 20211006 (R4) | Ekow Eshun is a writer and a curator of art exhibitions. He looks at the images and ideas that we use to build our view of the world - and, as a black person living in a mainly white society, he's been thinking about race all his life. In this series, he's on a personal journey to explore what he believes could be one of the most influential and elusive ideas of the modern age - whiteness. In this first episode, Ekow goes in search of the origins of whiteness with help from his friend, the artist Grayson Perry. He looks at art and literature and science. He speaks to the geneticist Adam Rutherford and discovers that our ideas of race came from one of the founding fathers of modern science. Ekow also travels back to 17th century Barbados to trace the legal origins of white supremacy. Producer: Philly Beaumont Executive Producer: John Shields A Loftus Media production for Radio 4 How did whiteness become one of the most influential yet elusive ideas of the modern age? |
| 02 | Kind Of Nightmarish | 20211011 | 20211013 (R4) | Ekow Eshun is a writer and a curator of art exhibitions. He looks at the images and ideas that we use to build our view of the world - and, as a black person living in a mainly white society, he's been thinking about race all his life. In this series, he's on a personal journey to explore what he believes could be one of the most influential and elusive ideas of the modern age - whiteness. In this second episode, Ekow looks at the role artificial intelligence has to play in reinforcing ideas about whiteness. From stock images to fictional robots, he finds out how whiteness dominates. He also hears why algorithms and machine learning are more powerful than the programmers themselves. And he goes back in time to discover how persistent tropes about East Asia and technology originated. Producer: Philly Beaumont Executive Producer: John Shields A Loftus Media production for Radio 4 Artwork inspired by The Late Estate of Broomberg and Chanarin How did whiteness become one of the most influential yet elusive ideas of the modern age? |
| 03 | Dream For A Moment | 20211018 | 20211020 (R4) | Ekow Eshun is a writer and a curator of art exhibitions. He looks at the images and ideas that we use to build our view of the world - and, as a black man living in a mainly white society, he's been thinking about race all his life. In this series, he's on a personal journey to explore what he believes could be one of the most influential and elusive ideas of the modern age - whiteness. In this final episode, Ekow asks whether we can live without whiteness. He speaks to writers Bernadine Evarasto, Nikesh Shukla, and Ronan Bennett to investigate the notion of white privilege. And he finds out how ideas of race and class percolate into politics, with Robert Halfon MP and former ministerial advisor Peter Cardwell. Ekow discovers how ideas about whiteness have changed over time and how they're likely to change again. Finally, he returns to his friend, the artist Grayson Perry, to talk about the importance of curiosity and openness in moving beyond the fraught politics of whiteness. Producer: Philly Beaumont Executive Producer: John Shields A Loftus Media production for Radio 4 Artwork inspired by The Late Estate of Broomberg and Chanarin How did whiteness become one of the most influential yet elusive ideas of the modern age? |