Blood

• One-on-one with Massey Lecturer Lawrence Hill

With the 2013 CBC Massey Lectures, bestselling author Lawrence Hill offers a provocative examination of the scientific and social history of blood, and on the ways that it unites and divides us today.

Blood runs red through every person's arteries and fulfills the same functions in every human being. The study of blood has advanced our understanding of biology and improved medical treatments, but its cultural and social representations have divided us perennially. Blood pulses through religion, literatureand the visual arts. Every time it pools or spills, we learn a little more about what brings human beings together and what pulls us apart. For centuries, perceptions of difference in our blood have separated people on the basis of gender, race, classand nation. Ideas about blood purity have spawned rules about who gets to belong to a family or cultural group, who enjoys the rights of citizenship and nationality, what privileges one can expect to be granted or denied, whether you inherit poverty or the right to rule over the masses, what constitutes fair play in sport, and what defines a person's identity.(From Anansi)

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Ideas53:58Lecture 1 : "Blood Counts" by Lawrence Hill (2013 CBC Massey Lectures)

Renowned author Lawrence Hill takes us on a fascinating journey through the story of blood- how it shapes the way we think about who we are, what happens when we meddle with it, why notions about the meaning of blood have such hold over us, and how who we are shapes how we think about the lifeblood that courses through us.

Massey Panel Clip 1: "Is culture something we're born with or people develop over time?"

11 years ago

Duration 1:53

Part of the 2013 CBC Massey Lectures panel discussion, "Is Race A Fiction?" which you can watch in it's entirety at cbc.ca/masseys."...people are afraid to be alone...to find out who they actually are...people want downloadable identities" In this clip, you see Priscila Uppal, a poet, novelist, playwright and York University Professor in the Department of English.The panel asks: If blood should tie you to family, country and race. It is moderated by Ideas host Paul Kennedy.The other panelists are: Lawrence Hill is the author of Blood: The Stuff of Life, his ninth book. His earlier works include the novels Some Great Thing, and the memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada.Hayden King is an Anishinaabe writer, student, teacher, researcher at Ryerson University, McMaster University and Beausoleil First Nation.Karina Vernon is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and co-founder and editor of Commodore Books, the first black literary press in western Canada.Other questions explored in this panel include: What happens to personal identity when race is removed as a marker of who you are? What happens when we use the term "culture" to replace the idea of race?" To learn more about the Massey Lectures and immerse yourself in an interactive site of content related to this year's lectures, visit the CBC Massey Lectures website http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/masseys/...

Massey Panel Clip 2: "You're not truly black...."

11 years ago

Duration 1:13

Part of the 2013 CBC Massey Lectures panel discussion, "Is Race A Fiction?" which you can watch in it's entirety at cbc.ca/masseys.In this clip, you see Lawrence Hill, the author of Blood: The Stuff of Life, his ninth book. His earlier works include the novels Some Great Thing, and the memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada.The panel asks: If blood should tie you to family, country and race. It is moderated by Ideas host Paul Kennedy.The other panelists are: Priscila Uppal is a poet, novelist, playwright and York University Professor in the Department of English.Hayden King is an Anishinaabe writer, student, teacher, researcher at Ryerson University, McMaster University and Beausoleil First Nation.Karina Vernon is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and co-founder and editor of Commodore Books, the first black literary press in western Canada.Other questions explored in this panel include: What happens to personal identity when race is removed as a marker of who you are? What happens when we use the term "culture" to replace the idea of race?" To learn more about the Massey Lectures and immerse yourself in an interactive site of content related to this year's lectures, visit the CBC Massey Lectures website http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/masseys/...

Massey Clip 3: "I'm going to give Canada's approach to multiculturalism an F."

11 years ago

Duration 1:22

In this clip, you see Hayden King, an Anishinaabe writer, student, teacher, researcher at Ryerson University, McMaster University and Beausoleil First Nation.This clip is part of the 2013 CBC Massey Lectures panel discussion, "Is Race A Fiction?" which you can watch in it's entirety at cbc.ca/masseys.The panel asks: If blood should tie you to family, country and race? It is moderated by Ideas host Paul Kennedy.The other panelists are: Lawrence Hill is the author of Blood: The Stuff of Life, his ninth book. His earlier works include the novels Some Great Thing, and the memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada.Priscila Uppal is a poet, novelist, playwright and York University Professor in the Department of English.Karina Vernon is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and co-founder and editor of Commodore Books, the first black literary press in western Canada.Other questions explored in this panel include: What happens to personal identity when race is removed as a marker of who you are? What happens when we use the term "culture" to replace the idea of race?" To learn more about the Massey Lectures and immerse yourself in an interactive site of content related to this year's lectures, visit the CBC Massey Lectures website http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/masseys/...

Massey Clip 4: "It's only one hyphen per customer... "

11 years ago

Duration 1:03

Part of the 2013 CBC Massey Lectures panel discussion, "Is Race A Fiction?" which you can watch in it's entirety at cbc.ca/masseys.In this clip, you see Karina Vernon, an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and co-founder and editor of Commodore Books, the first black literary press in western Canada.The panel asks: If blood should tie you to family, country and race. It is moderated by Ideas host Paul Kennedy.The other panelists are: Lawrence Hill is the author of Blood: The Stuff of Life, his ninth book. His earlier works include the novels Some Great Thing, and the memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada.Hayden King is an Anishinaabe writer, student, teacher, researcher at Ryerson University, McMaster University and Beausoleil First Nation.Priscila Uppal is a poet, novelist, playwright and York University Professor in the Department of English.Other questions explored in this panel include: What happens to personal identity when race is removed as a marker of who you are? What happens when we use the term "culture" to replace the idea of race?" To learn more about the Massey Lectures and immerse yourself in an interactive site of content related to this year's lectures, visit the CBC Massey Lectures website http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/masseys/...