The Joel Shepherd Podcast

Stephen Poropat is a paleontologist with the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, and Curtin University. He's a brilliant speaker on all things dinosaurs, and I've wanted to have him on the podcast for a long time.Australian dinosaurs are especially interesting because with the fragmenting geology of the ancient super-continent of Pangaea, Australia was part of a landmass that included for a time New Zealand, Antarctica, India and South America.  In this episode we spend a lot of time setting the scene for what this strange land was like when dinosaurs roamed, and how there were forests in Antarctica rather than ice (and presumably, dinosaurs who lived through dark winter nights 24 hours long).We also discussed evolution, fossilisation, and the inevitable Jurassic Park scenarios of bringing old, dead species back to life, how possible it may be in the future, and whether it's a good idea. I really enjoyed this discussion, and if you're interested in any kind of dinosaurs, I think you will too.Stephen's personal website can be found at; https://stephenporopat.weebly.com/

Salvatore Babones is a quantitative comparative sociologist whose current research focuses on the political sociology of democracy. He recently hit the headlines in India because of an article he published in the Quadrant Magazine, titled 'Indian Democracy at 75; Who are the barbarians at the gates?'I was immediately fascinated, because I've long been fascinated by India's rise to major power status, and I've seen many claims of Western anti-Indian bias made by Indians of all political stripes. In his Quadrant Magazine article, Salvatore appears to have caught major Western  democracy ratings agencies red handed, as he forensically analyses their claims that Indian democracy is in some form of terminal decline, and demonstrates with facts just how absurd most of those claims are.But then, just as it seems we finally have a clear-cut case of devious Western elites engaging in what Indian intellectuals often claim is a 'colonial mindset', Salvatore turns the whole thing around and says that it's not actually Westerners who are primarily to blame for this, but those Indian intellectuals themselves. So how does that happen? And is there really such a thing as anti-India bias in major Western institutions? Listen and find out what the man himself has to say.

Dorinda Hafner is an international TV celebrity chef, actor, businesswoman and best-selling author with five TV series and eight books to her credit. She's been named 'African-Australian Woman of the Year', and in August 2012 she was awarded the title of 'Living Legend' at the Sydney Opera House, where Prime Minister Julia Gillard named her as a 'People of Australia Ambassador'.Dorinda has led a fascinating life, from her early training as a nurse and optician in London, to her emigration to Australia and subsequent rise to celebrity, she has many experiences to talk about. In this podcast, among many topics, we discuss her early life in Ghana, her feelings about the residues of colonialism and what it's like to be caught, linguistically and culturally, between two worlds. Her tale about how she got her first TV show, by cornering senior TV executives in the most private of places, has to be heard to be believed!Dorinda is the perfect guest for someone just starting out in podcasting, because she's such an infectiously enthusiastic speaker, I don't need to do so much work! I'd like to thank her for being one of my very first guests, and for being so much fun to talk to.

Pratim Ranjan Bose is an Indian business journalist, op-ed writer and researcher who is based in India's North East. His work has appeared in the Hindu Business Line, MSN India, Swarajya, The South Asia Journal and others, while he's also made appearances on MSN India and CNN News 18.I met Pratim nine years ago when I was doing a PhD in Indian foreign policy (never completed, you don't have to call me Doctor). I found him to be a font of information about all things Indian, particularly those politically or business-related. In this episode we talk about India's suddenly explosive economic prospects, and why after so many false dawns, it really seems like this present moment might be the Indian economy's time to shine.It's also very interesting that there are so many in the International media talking down the BJP as a fascistic or otherwise very unpleasant development in Indian democracy. Is there any truth to their claims?

Don DeBats is Professor and Head of American Studies and Director of the Jeff Bleich Center for the US Alliance in Digital Technology, Security, and Governance. His research interests cover contemporary and past US politics; he is a frequent commentator on current US politics and has written extensively on US political history. In this episode we discuss the idea that the current political and social division in the USA is somehow unprecedented. This always struck me as very strange and ahistorical, if you know anything about US history. Furthermore, isn't the USA constitutionally constructed to  BE divided? And isn't the entire idea behind the constitution to allow for this kind of division, without endangering the Republic? Problem is, of course, that the constitution didn't prevent one civil war... but surely there could never be another?