Podcast- Us and Them
The new HGGS Podcast, created by members of the Organizing Committee of the Summer Forum 2025 is a special pre-Forum series, the organizers dive into this year’s central theme: "Us and Them". Drawing from their own PhD research, they explore how boundaries are drawn, identities are shaped, and power is negotiated across disciplines—from history and literature to sociology, political science, and beyond.Tune in as they unpack how the theme resonates in different cultural, political, and theoretical contexts, offering fresh insights ahead of the Forum itself.The podcast is available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.
Episode 1: The Trauma Hero in Films about the War on Terror
Our first episode introduces our theme “Us and Them” and opens the series with an interview between Sinan and PhD candidate Laura Herges (Heidelberg University): The traumatized war hero has become a well-known film trope. But how does the image of the suffering veteran influence our opinions on wars that happened in real life? Laura, who writes her thesis in American studies, discusses two movies about the War on Terror: Zero Dark Thirty (2012), which justifies the CIA’s torture of prisoners, and American Sniper (2014), which turns a controversial Navy SEAL into a patriotic martyr-icon. How strongly do films influence our judgement and moral values? Find out in the first episode of “Us and Them.“
