In the latest episode of the Nostalgia podcast series, Chris Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies, interviews Heidi Campbell, Professor of Communications at A&M University in Texas.
Heidi became a Religious Studies scholar after training as a journalist and has just edited an online collection on the coronavirus pandemic titled Religion in Quarantine: The Future of Religion in a Post-Pandemic World (Oaktrust, 2020), and talks about her findings, including asking what Covid-19 means for a Muslim who can’t practice their religion in a physical mosque.
Heidi reflects on the influence that seeing the space shuttle Challenger blow up on live TV had on her when growing up, the different ways news is presented in the UK and US in a post-truth era, the culture shock she had when she moved to Texas from Edinburgh, how her students have never heard of Robbie Williams and why she can no longer use ‘The Matrix’ in her teaching.