Brown University hosted a celebration Monday at Jefferson Hall. launch One of our podcasts, Sister Revolutions, a four-episode story about the American and French revolutions in Charlottesville and one of its sister cities, Besancon, France. Attendees at the panel event included representatives from the city of Besançon, university students, university faculty, the Charlottesville Sister Cities Committee, and the podcast's production team.
The event was attended by a three-member delegation from the city of Besancon, including Sadia Galette, Deputy Mayor for International Relations of the City of Besancon, and Florent Verguet, Director of International Relations of the City of Besancon, both of whom spoke at the beginning of the panel. The we. . The third member of the delegation was Sylvie Schmidt, International Education Partnership Coordinator for the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.
Besancon and Charlottesville signed The two cities concluded a sister city agreement in 2006 because they have many things in common, such as population size, distance from their respective capitals, and the presence of large universities in both cities. This French city is located southeast of Paris and is home to the University of Franche-Comté.
“Sister Revolutions” is a four-part public history documentary podcast that explores the French and American Revolutions in both cities, featuring conversations with scholars, public historians, and civic groups. His first three episodes of “Sister Revolutions” focus on the French Revolution in Besancon, and the final episode covers the role of the city of Charlottesville in the American Revolution.the first episode is released Monday morning, with the next three episodes scheduled to be released every Monday.
This podcast was co-produced by Benjamin Barnard, a postdoctoral resident faculty member at Brown University, and Sage Tanguay, a 2016 alumnus and multimedia creative producer who oversees Brown University's community media initiatives. . This semester, the two co-taught an interdisciplinary course for Brown University students titled “Sister Revolutions: Charlottesville and Besancon,” which focused on podcast production.
Mr. Tanguay talked about using podcasts as a medium to tell the story of each city's revolution. She said podcasts are more accessible to more people and have the unique ability to go beyond just providing information and turning listening into an experiential medium.
“Podcasting is a way to reach more people than something like an academic article or a book,” Tanguay said. “I think it's a really fun way to tell a story, and it allows you to get a sense of the audience's emotions, timing, and heart and tell a very vivid story.”
During the panel discussion, Bernard spoke about lessons learned from his work on the podcast and the importance of broader sister city connections. He said international diplomacy and sister city connections will help bring national stories about their respective revolutions to a more local audience.
“For me, the sister city initiative is very attractive and important in maintaining these cross-border connections,” Bernard said. “What was great about doing this project was finding serendipitous connections that I didn't necessarily expect.”
Three students taking this class, college junior Lara Howell, engineering sophomore Brennen Mueller, and college sophomore Emily Hemlinger, are also listed as assistant producers on the podcast and lectures. I sat on a panel of five people. Event with Bernard and Tanguay. They answered questions about the podcast from moderator Kurt von Daake, assistant dean of the university and professor of history. Hemlinger praised Barnard as a great experience for Brown University students.
“I think [the podcast] It’s part of the great connections we have with the university and our peers,” Hemlinger said. “He is willing to give us this funding and this opportunity that he has.”
in Charlottesville four The total number of sister cities is Huehuetenango in Guatemala, Poggio a Caiano in Italy, and Winneba in Ghana.
Von Daake said listening to the podcast is a great opportunity to learn about the Sister Cities' purpose and contextualize Charlottesville's history as part of a broader global story.
“I had no idea what it was. [having sister cities] That's what I mean,” von Daake said. “What I liked about this project was that it really explained why sister cities exist and how it's an opportunity to learn about another culture.”
The podcast launch celebration is the second of three events held by the delegation. attended When I was in Charlottesville. The final event was a sister city community reception commemorating the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration of Friendship between Charlottesville and Besancon.of reception It was held on Tuesday night and was open to the public.
The podcasts are: streamed Available on numerous platforms through Symposia.
