Poison, medicine or magic potion? Drugs can probably be all of that. But what makes a drug legal or illegal? Or rather: who decides on that?

“Who will ever relate the whole history of narcotics? It is almost the history of ‘culture’,” wrote Friedrich Nietzsche more than a hundred years ago – and he might be onto something. In today’s episode, Antonia and this week’s guest, Brigitte Adriaensen, talk about how drugs have been perceived throughout time and why colonialism wasn’t only built on the drug trade but continues to influence how we view substances like cocaine.

Brigitte Adriaensen is a professor of Hispanic Literature and Culture. For her VICI project ‘Poison, Medicine or Magic Potion’, she and her team research the perception of peyote, ayahuasca and coca across time.

Would you like to learn more about the history of drugs? Then follow Brigitte’s recommendations and watch the movie Embrace of the Serpent (2015), visit the website Microcosms: A Homage to Sacred Plants of the Americas or read the book One River by Canadian anthropologist Wade Davis.

What makes scrolling on our phones dangerous? What does our scrolling have to do with digital surveillance? And who is surveilling whom, and for what reason?

In this episode, Jara explores the unsettling world of digital surveillance. Together with this week’s guest, Guilel Treiber, she uncovers who the surveillers of the digital world are and peeks behind the curtains of their sleek self-staging to reveal their hidden desires. Yes, this episode will probably make you feel a strong urge to throw your phone away. But luckily, Guilel has some ideas on how to resist digital surveillance without having to live off the grid.

Guilel is an assistant professor of ethics and political philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Studies. One of his specializations is the societal stakes of digitalization.

If you want to delve deeper into the rabbit hole of digital surveillance, follow Guilel’s suggestions and listen to the podcasts Black Box by The Guardian and The Coming Storm by the BBC. Or read the books suggested by Guilel (best in conjunction): Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Edit: Jara Majerus

Cover: Antonia Leise

Why do insects in the house make us jump? Have we always hated bugs that much? And what do the small animals have to do with morality – and warfare?

In this episode of In a Nutshell, Antonia takes a peek at insects that make people’s skin crawl and, together with this week’s guest researcher Charlotte Meijer, answers the question of why we’re so bugged by bugs. Spoiler alert: there hasn’t always been such straightforward hatred against flies, worms, cockroaches and co.

Charlotte is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Arts, where she researches the history of insects, focussing on the development of a negative narrative surrounding the little animals. In her research, she is answering, amongst other things, why many insects today are seen as dirty and undesirable.

Would you like to learn more about the history of insects? For literature about insects and warfare, follow Charlotte’s recommendation and read Edmund Russell’s book War and Nature or J. R. Mcneill’s book Mosquito Empires. For literature about insects and disease, read J. L. Cloudsley-Thompson’s book Insects and History or Plagues and Peoples by William McNeill. For more information on insects and pests, read Getting under our skin by Lisa Sarasohn. And if you're interested in insects and the arts and sciences, read Onderkruipsels (in Dutch) by Jan de Hond, Eric Jorink and Hans Mulder.

Edit: Jara Majerus

Cover: Antonia Leise