Professor Jason Ralph joins the Hayseed Scholar podcast. Brent has known Jason's work for two decades, but only fairly recently met him in person. Jason grew up in the village of Norton Canes in South Staffordshire near the West Midlands of England. His father had worked in the coal mines years prior, but then started a business where all of Jason's family would eventually work. The original plan was to get a teaching degree focused in physical education, but that didn't quite work out. Jason's intellectual turn happened in a number of locations - working back at his father's business during breaks while reading the newspapers, in the US during a stint at 'Camp America', which put him close to UMass-Amherst, and then in Wales at Aberystwyth, where he would get his Bachelor's and then Master's, concluding with a PhD in War Studies at King's College London. But it was equal parts critical theory and security, as well as strategic studies and intelligence, that inspired Jason's interests. Jason's earlier work was on American Exceptionalism and the ICC, including a Review of International Studies article that Brent would read and begin to know Jason's research through. Jason talks about breaking into academia through positions at Exeter, and then Leeds, where he remains to this day. He reflects on his approach to writing, what he does to unwind, how playing the guitar helps with both, and more!

We go through how Jamie figured out how to apply for graduate study, and what role Thomas Kuhn played in that. We cover how he ended up and then stayed at American University, his experiences on the market, his enriching experiences at Bridgewater, his development of the ISA-Northeast Pedagogies workshop, how he unwinds, how he approaches podcasting, and more!

Listen to Jamie’s podcast The Teaching Curve:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1976329

And on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG5L5ARIehIiSZkjVA816OefQqY8kTZru&si=A1xJsKjFN58uOJ5W

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.