Professor Jenny Kaminer on Minds Over Matters Podcast

In the 6,000 or so years since human civilization began, there have been a lot of humans. Factor in the incredible cultural diversity and technological advances that have occurred over time, and you’d assume that there aren’t many similarities between us. Yet despite all the variables, there is an underlying sameness that connects us deeply with each other. Whether we’re considering the ancients or our contemporaries around the world, humans seem to relate to humans at a level that transcends our individual circumstances. In today’s episode of Minds Over Matters, we are joined by Jenny Kaminer from the Davis Humanities Institute to talk about what it means to be human. 

Bio: Jenny Kaminer is an interdisciplinary scholar of Russian culture whose publications have encompassed a broad range of historical epochs—from the nineteenth century to the present day—as well as genres and media, including drama, prose, film, and television. She established her reputation within the field of Slavic Studies as a specialist in gender and Russian culture, the representation of maternity in particular. Her first book, Women with a Thirst for Destruction: The Bad Mother in Russian Culture (Northwestern UP, 2014), received the Heldt Prize for Best Book in Slavic/East European/Eurasian Gender Studies.