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HGGS - Us and Them

HGGS - Us and Them

Written by: Heidelberg Graduate School for the Humanities and Social Sciences
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In the Us and Them podcast series, we invite scholars of different fields and discuss their approaches to the theme “Us and Them,” including concepts like integration, tolerance, mutual understanding and the value of conflict. Our podcast invites academics from diverse disciplines to reflect on the formation of boundaries—and to consider whether those boundaries ought to be challenged or crossed.

Heidelberg Graduate School for the Humanities and Social Sciences Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Episode 1: The Trauma Hero in Films about the War on Terror (Interview with Laura Herges (Heidelberg University))

    Episode 1: The Trauma Hero in Films about the War on Terror (Interview with Laura Herges (Heidelberg University))
    Jun 20 2025

    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.“
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    39 mins
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