Presented by Nick Eckstein and Sophie Loy-Wilson, both of the History Department at the University of Sydney, HWIR? asks why historians do what they do. What makes someone study modern China, colonial Australia, renaissance Italy, the indigenous peoples of Canada, or freedom fighters in West Papua? Why do historians become obsessed by their subject, and can they ever really find out "how it really was" in the past? HWIR? asks how talking to the past changes the present, and how it transforms the way we think about ourselves today. Nick Eckstein Cassamarca Associate Professor Nick Eckstein is a historian of Renaissance and Early-Modern Italy in the History Department at the University of Sydney. Sophie Loy-Wilson Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in the History Department at the University of Sydney, where she specialises in the social and cultural history of Australia’s engagement with China. Series Producer: Peter Adams Theme Music: Performed by Dr Vanessa Witton Written & Produced By Dr Vanessa Witton / Peter Adams Additional spoken introductions: Dr Vanessa Witton