Going Public: Broadcast, Podcast and Curation in a Digital Civil Sphere

In this brown bag lunch, Jerry Brotton will draw on his experience as an academic working in curation, broadcasting and podcasting to discuss the possibilities — and limitations — of crossing over from the academic to the public civil sphere, especially within recent developments in online digital media. The lunch will be illustrated with examples from his work over the years at the BBC, the Venice Art Biennale, the Bodleian Library and Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and independent arts organizations including Factum Arte. Brotton’s podcast “What’s Your Map?” was voted best educational series at the 2025 British Podcasts Awards.

Jerry Brotton is a writer, broadcaster and curator, and professor of Renaissance studies at Queen Mary University of London. His many books include The Sale of the Late King’s Goods (2006), the bestselling A History of the World in Twelve Maps (2012) and This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World (2016). He is a BBC TV and radio presenter, podcaster, and curator of exhibitions including “Talking Maps” (2019-2020), and a Tudor exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum (forthcoming 2028-29). His latest book is Four Points of the Compass (2024).

At Princeton, Brotton will serve as a Class of 1932 Short-Term Visiting Fellow in the Humanities Council and the Department of English. Cosponsored by the Humanities Council and Environmental Humanities Colloquium.

At Princeton, Brotton will serve as a Class of 1932 Short-Term Visiting Fellow in the Humanities Council and the Department of English.