unfinishing is the podcast about projects that are incomplete, abandoned, works-in-progress or not public. It’s presented by Emily Anderson and the artwork is by Graham Oakes. If you have an incomplete or private project you’d like to talk about, please contact us via our website: https://unfinishing.co.uk/.

Our guest in this episode is Professor Manuel Barcia. Professor Barcia is Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement) at the University of Bath, with responsibility for developing and leading the university’s international engagement. He’s also a world-leading scholar in Atlantic and global history. His work focuses on slavery, resistance, and the legacies of colonialism. Over the years he has been a recipient of multiple research fellowships and awards, including a prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2014. His global perspective is deeply informed by both the nature of his scholarship and his extensive experience working with institutions and researchers from all over the world.

Professor Barcia studied History at undergraduate level at the University of Havana in Cuba, then went on to experience life as an international student in the UK when he took a MA in Comparative History (as a Chevening scholar) and a PhD in History at the University of Essex. After concluding his PhD, he taught at the universities of Essex and Nottingham before going to Leeds in 2006.

Manuel is here to tell me about two unfinished books.

One is titled, The Cuban Sugar Kings: The Untold Story of a Minor League Baseball Team and the Cuban Revolution. It tells the story of the Cuban Sugar Kings, better known as the Havana Sugar Kings, a team who made history. Not only did they maintain a historical relationship with the Cincinnati Reds, but also won the most important prize in Minor League baseball, the mini-World Series of 1960, and found themselves immersed in the events that led to and followed the triumph of the 1959 Revolution led by Fidel Castro.

Despite having conducted interviews with members of the team, and having a rich body of research material ready to go, this is a project Manuel has had to abandon and will never be able to finish.

The future of Manuel’s other unfinished book is looking more hopeful. It’s called The First Anglo-Asante War: Colonialism and Abolition in the Gold Coast, 1823-1831. Manuel tells us about this complex (and often gory) period of history, as well as the surprising things he’s found in the archives while researching it.

Links of interest

About Manuel: Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement)

The Havana Sugar Kings: Havana Sugar Kings – Official League

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unfinishing is the podcast about projects that are incomplete, abandoned, works-in-progress or not public. It’s presented by Emily Anderson and the artwork is by Graham Oakes. If you have an incomplete or private project you’d like to talk about, please contact us via our website: https://unfinishing.co.uk/.

Our guest in this episode is Chanel Comis, who possibly has the best job ever. Chanel is the co-founder of Wildlife Sense, a conservation and research organisation that specialises in protecting sea turtles on the beautiful Greek island of Kefalonia.

Chanel talks about how conservation is ongoing, continuous, potentially un-finishable. work. We learn about what Wildlife Sense has achieved so far, what Chanel and her colleagues want for the future, and why sea turtles are always surprising...

You can learn more about Wildlife Sense here: Wildlife Sense - Research & Conservation Organization - Kefalonia

About Chanel: Chanel’s devotion to conservation efforts and scientific research has led her to work with sea turtles since 2010. She's worked with environmental conservation organizations in America and Greece. She earned her B.S. in Biology and minor in Chemistry with honors from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, NY, while interning at the Bronx Zoo, where she became interested in animal behavior. Chanel graduated from Coastal Carolina University, SC, with a master’s degree in Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies. She conducted her research thesis on loggerhead sea turtle hatchling orientation in Kyparissia, Greece. Soon after she co-founded Wildlife Sense where she now enjoys spending her days working with others to protect sea turtles in Kefalonia, where her family is from.

If you liked this episode you can:

1. Give it a rating or a review:

On Apple: tap on the podcast thumbnail (the logo), and scroll down to below the episodes until you find the ratings and reviews section.

On Spotify: click on the three dots below the podcast art and title (next to settings), and select ‘Rate show’.

2. Check out the website and sign up to the unfinishing newsletter: https://unfinishing.co.uk/contact This is the best way to stay up to date!

3. Tag us in your social media posts:

Instagram: @unfinishingpod

Bluesky: @unfinishing.bsky.social

Twitter: @TrueBagglerag

unfinishing is the podcast about projects that are incomplete, abandoned, works-in-progress or not public. It’s presented by Emily Anderson and the artwork is by Graham Oakes. If you have an incomplete or private project you’d like to talk about, please contact us via our website: https://unfinishing.co.uk/.

My guest in this episode is Fuschia Sirois, a Professor in Social and Health Psychology at Durham University, and a former Canada Research Chair in Health and Well-being.

For over twenty years, Professor Sirois has researched the causes and consequences of procrastination, so she’s the perfect person to speak to about things not getting finished.

We talk about what procrastination is, why we do it, and how we can help ourselves to overcome it. Fuschia gives some brilliant insights into why procrastination is bad for your health, and how it's linked to our emotions.

Fuschia’s advice on what to do when you find yourself procrastinating are at the end of the episode, but she's also developed a tool to help stop procrastination. It's called TEMPO and you can find out more via the link below.

Links of interest

Fuschia’s website: https://fuschiasirois.com/2024/11/12/do-you-or-someone-you-know-struggle-with-procrastination/

Sign up for the TEMPO tool: https://durhamuniversity.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eJzXFb6SBwNPI46

If you liked this episode you can:

1. Give it a rating or a review:

On Apple: tap on the podcast thumbnail (the logo), and scroll down to below the episodes until you find the ratings and reviews section.

On Spotify: click on the three dots below the podcast art and title (next to settings), and select ‘Rate show’.

2. Check out the website and sign up to the unfinishing newsletter: https://unfinishing.co.uk/contact This is the best way to stay up to date!

3. Tag us in your social media posts:

Instagram: @unfinishingpod

Bluesky: @unfinishing.bsky.social

Twitter: @TrueBagglerag