Moral Histories: Experience a Podcast and Oral History Archive to Engage with the Past and Inform the Future

This innovative audio exhibition provides a guided introduction to two new publicly available resources—an oral history collection from the founding voices of bioethics, and a related multi-episode narrative podcast. The two freely available resources are designed to support scholarly research and teaching as well as public education and engagement in bioethics. We will introduce participants to these unique resources by offering shared listening opportunities. Several audio installations will be provided for listening and audience feedback. Attendees will be encouraged to think creatively about potential uses of the collection in scholarship and teaching, and will be asked for feedback on the project to date, and for suggestions for future oral history interviews and podcast topics. Feedback will be obtained through live polling during the session, additional Q&A and discussion, and live online exchange and feedback.

Moral Histories is a new oral history collection that captures the personal stories of founding figures in American bioethics. Conducted by a professional oral historian, the archived audio and transcribed long form interviews enlighten lay and professional audiences about bioethics history and the motivations of the founding generation of an increasingly influential area of study, policy analysis, and public influence.

Moral Histories supports and informs a new globally distributed bioethics podcast series, playing god?. Co-produced with a leading podcast production company, Pushkin Industries, the series examines bioethics issues through compelling real-life stories of the past and present, and imagines what bioethics issues we can expect in our futures.