Season 2 Episode 1: Julia Hauser

How does vegetarianism link to non-violence? In this podcast, Julia Hauser talks with Floris de Ruiter about the complexities behind this deceptively simple question. While vegetarians were opposed to exerting violence towards animals, vegetarianism was not necessarily linked to the idea of the equality of all living beings. Instead, some vegetarians claimed that a meat-free diet kept in check what they called the “animal” aspects of humans. This, they argued, not only elevated humans above animals, but also vegetarians above those who consumed meat. This connection between vegetarianism and an appropriation of evolutionary theory was a direct consequence of the dynamic exchange between protagonists in Europe, India, and North America, and in some cases, it actually helped legitimize the use of violence.

Season 1 Episodes

Episode 1: Introduction

Meet the team! Learn more about the project and the individual research our team members are carrying out, on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify.

In this episode:

“Welcome to the Peace History Podcast! Today is 12 July 2025, and we’re excited to share our very first episode with you. Did you know that the 12th of July is celebrated as the International Day of Hope? We’re delighted to bring you stories from our own ongoing research on peace movements and decolonization through this podcast. In this episode, we introduce the full Leiden University-based team and and the work we are doing. Upcoming episodes will feature guests from around world! ” 

Episode 2: Francisca de Haan

“Welcome to the Peace History Podcast! We’re thrilled to bring you our newest episode today, 12 August 2025. Did you know that the 12th of August is celebrated as International Youth Day? In this episode, we’re delighted to introduce you to our guest Francisca de Haan and her fascinating research on women in peace movements. Francisca de Haan is a Professor Emerita of Gender Studies and History at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, and she also serves as a Fellow at the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam. If you’re curious about the stories of women in peace movements, you’re in the right place. Stay with us and until the next episode!”

Episode 3: Elisabeth Forster

Join us for the third episode of Peace Talk! Listen as Elisabeth Forster and Floris de Ruiter engage in a wide-ranging conversation on peace discourses in modern China. Elisabeth Forster is a lecturer at the University of Southampton. Her book project A Peaceful Nation? China’s Peacefulness Claim from the 19th Century to the Present explores changing concepts of war and peace in China across different governments, localities and social groups.

Episode 4: Maria Kyveli Mavrokardopoulou

Listen to Maria Kyveli Mavrokardopoulou in conversation with Pratika Dewi! Kyveli is a postdoctoral researcher at the Free University of Amsterdam, working on the many ways in which artists and activists responded to the nuclear age. Kyveli and Pratika discuss gendered responses in particular, from the Greenham Women’s Peace Camp to nuclear ballet in the desert, and much in between.

Episode 5: Irina Gordeeva

In this episode, Irina Gordeeva of the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam has a wide-ranging discussion with our colleague Kamila Smagulova on peace activism and peace thought in Russia. She discusses Tolstoyan pacifism, transnational grassroots peace movements, and the lives of activists in the Soviet period and beyond.

Episode 6: Becky Alexis-Martin

Season 1 is a wrap! In this final 2025 episode, Pratika Dewi and Becky Alexis-Martin (University of Bradford), the author of Disarming Doomsday, talk about all things (anti)nuclear. Stay tuned for new episodes of Peace Talk in 2026!

New episodes launch on the 12th of every month!