Global Guru Radio

Series produced by Rachel Louise Snyder

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Image by: Genna Duberstein 

The Global Guru uncovers the world one small mystery at a time. We offer cultural views of places in the world that often only get a single story line in the American media, or no story line at all. Places like Rwanda, Afghanistan, Cambodia, East Timor, even England or Malta or France. Each week, our mandate is to surprise listeners. Episodes run a uniform 3:00.

The Global Guru is a weekly public radio spot that celebrates the oddities, the curiosities, the unknowns of global culture, particularly in countries where Americans have either single narrative story lines, like Afghanistan (war), Thailand (sex tourism), Rwanda, (genocide), or perhaps no story lines at all, like East Timor, Moldova, Malta, Lesotho, etc. Engaging and rich in sound, the 3:00 interstitial helps us connect to the vastness of human experience. Presenting station is WAMU in Washington, DC and sponsored by American University in DC. Some of our favorite past shows include: How do Cambodians predict the harvest each year? What messages do cigarettes send in Chinese business dealings? How did Tanzania become the capitol of barbershops? How and why does Thailand categorize food? What is Iceland’s most feared culinary delight? How do you track a Tasmanian devil? What are the hidden messages in Zulu beadwork? Hide full description

The Global Guru is a weekly public radio spot that celebrates the oddities, the curiosities, the unknowns of global culture, particularly in countries where Americans have either single narrative story lines, like Afghanistan (war), Thailand (sex tourism), Rwanda, (genocide), or perhaps no story lines at all, like East Timor, Moldova, Malta, Lesotho, etc. Engaging and rich in sound, the 3:00 interstitial helps us connect to the vastness of human experience. Presenting station is WAMU in Washington, DC and sponsored by American University in DC. Some of our favorite past shows include: How do Cambodians predict the harvest each year? What messages do cigarettes send in Chinese business dealings? How did Tanzania become the capitol of barbershops? How and why does Thailand categorize... Show full description


28 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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A girl. A boy. A horse. A chase. Listen as this week's Global Guru takes you inside the world of courtship in Kazakhstan...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio, KAWC / Border Radio - KOFA, PRX Remix, KZYX, Prairie Public and more


  • Added: Jan 26, 2011
  • Length: 02:56
  • Purchases: 7
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This week, the Global Guru ventures waaaaaayyyy up into the bell towers of an English church to learn just how mathematical -- and dangerous -- bel...

Bought by WABE, HCC Radio The Dragon, New Hampshire Public Radio, PRX Remix, and WTIP


  • Added: Jan 09, 2011
  • Length: 02:59
  • Purchases: 5
Caption: Rice Flour Cookies
This week the Global Guru stays up all night for the winter solstice in Iran, where acclaimed cookbook author, Najmieh Batmanglij, leads us into th...

Bought by KZYX and PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 20, 2010
  • Length: 02:57
  • Purchases: 2
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This week the Global Guru explores the rural Sicilian cure for spider bites. Put on your dancing shoes!

Bought by WTIP, HCC Radio The Dragon, PRX Remix, and KUT


  • Added: Dec 16, 2010
  • Length: 03:00
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Papa Susso
This week the Global Guru goes to Mali to learn the art of a griot, where storyteller, historian, political advisor, detective and genealogist are ...

Bought by WABE, WTIP, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 16, 2010
  • Length: 03:00
  • Purchases: 3
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This week's Global Guru visits a temple in India where an unlikely rodent reigns supreme

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon and WTIP


  • Added: Dec 16, 2010
  • Length: 02:59
  • Purchases: 2
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The writer Peter Hessler decodes the hidden messages of Chinese cigarettes in business deals.

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon, WBEZ, and WTIP


  • Added: Dec 16, 2010
  • Length: 03:02
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Umalulik in Timor Leste
This week the Global Guru learns how to negotiate land deals, family disputes, wedding arrangements, cattle sales and other deals in Timor Leste.

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 05, 2010
  • Length: 02:59
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Champagne Bottles Post-Sabrage, Credit: Jane Alexander
This week we sharpen our swords in the Champagne region of France to learn how the French sabrage!

Bought by KMXT, WABE, HCC Radio The Dragon, New Hampshire Public Radio, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Sep 23, 2010
  • Length: 03:00
  • Purchases: 5
Caption: Umaganda 2009 with Rwandans and US Embassy personnel, Credit: US Embassy -- Kigali
Today we go to Rwanda to see how the population spends the last Saturday of every month. And how those Saturdays have created surprising moments of...

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon and PRX Remix


  • Added: Sep 23, 2010
  • Length: 02:53
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: How the heck do you cook on this thing?
The Global Guru production team got hardly any burns at all in the making of our latest episode. This week we travel to England to learn to cook th...

Bought by WABE, WTIP, HCC Radio The Dragon, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Sep 06, 2010
  • Length: 02:58
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Buzkashi in Kabul
In this moment of World Cup frenzy, the Global Guru takes us to Afghanistan, where we learn about buzkashi -- the country's favorite sport.

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 19, 2010
  • Length: 02:53
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Memm at Angkor Wat, Credit: Cambodia Living Arts
A thousand years ago, the image of a strange instrument was carved into the walls of Angkor Wat. It had a lizard scale on one end, attached to a so...

Bought by WABE, HCC Radio The Dragon, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 02:56
  • Purchases: 3
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This week the Global Guru uncovers the rules behind Japanese baseball. Accidentally smack the matter with the ball? You better practice your bowing...

Bought by WABE, HCC Radio The Dragon, WTIP, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 07, 2010
  • Length: 02:58
  • Purchases: 4
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You're Russian and your son's about to get married. But what if the girl can't be trusted? What if your son's marriage is doomed? Or worse, what if...

Bought by WABE, HCC Radio The Dragon, KUT, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 01, 2010
  • Length: 03:03
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: A Zulu girl wears her beadwork, Credit: Hlengi We Dube
You're fourteen, and you're in love with a boy in the next village. How do you tell him? Well, you bead it of course. This week's Global Guru uncov...

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon and PRX Remix


  • Added: May 26, 2010
  • Length: 03:08
  • Purchases: 2
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Unique to the state of Colima, this week's Global Guru explores the familial vaudevillian antics of a Mexican botanero through the eyes of a charmi...

Bought by WABE, HCC Radio The Dragon, and PRX Remix


  • Added: May 26, 2010
  • Length: 02:53
  • Purchases: 3
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What's Donald Duck got to do with a Swedish Christmas?

Bought by KMXT, KRZA, KUER, KCMJ Community Radio, KZYX and more


  • Added: May 05, 2010
  • Length: 02:56
  • Purchases: 14
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How do the Hopi bring rain to the desert?

Bought by WTIP, New Hampshire Public Radio, and PRX Remix


  • Added: May 05, 2010
  • Length: 03:04
  • Purchases: 3
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Today, the Global Guru ventures into the Viking's culinary history by looking at the delicacy known as hakarl -- or rotten shark.

Bought by WABE, HCC Radio The Dragon, WTIP, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Apr 13, 2010
  • Length: 02:50
  • Purchases: 4