The Heel and the Sneaker
The significance and history of footwear with Elizabeth Semmelhack, Giorgio Riello, Thomas Turner and Rajan Datar
What’s in a shoe - apart from a foot? Shoes can be so much more than a protection and ‘dressing’ of our feet: from Egyptian pharaohs to European paupers, footwear has been linked not just with the wearer’s social and economic standing but also cultural identity, personality and even moral values.
Rajan Datar follows the history of footwear with the help of Elizabeth Semmelhack, Senior Curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto; Giorgio Riello, Professor of Global History and Culture at the University of Warwick; sports shoe historian Thomas Turner; and footwear researcher at the KASK School of Arts in Gent, Catherine Willems.
Photo: A fancy high-heeled shoe. (Getty Images)
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Next
Clip
-
Where does the word ‘sneakers’ come from?
Duration: 00:58
Broadcasts
- Thu 24 Jan 2019 09:06GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service
- Fri 25 Jan 2019 00:06GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service
- Sat 26 Jan 2019 14:06GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service News Internet
- Sun 27 Jan 2019 15:06GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, East Asia & South Asia
- Mon 28 Jan 2019 04:06GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East, News Internet & West and Central Africa
Featured in...
Luxuries and obsessions—The Forum
How the world's desires were fuelled
Do you think political or business leaders need to be charismatic? Or do you prefer highly competent but somewhat stern people?
Podcast
-
The Forum
The programme that explains the present by exploring the past