It's good to be back with you all. It's been a minute since we've had an episode. But no matter what you listen to us for, we've got a feeling that this episode is for you! Because today, we've got with us multi-hyphenate, Hanif Fazal—an activist, a writer, a race equity facilitator and consultant, a business owner, awesome father, brother, and son. We're talking about his new book, "An Other World: The Fight For Freedom, Joy, and Belonging". Pre-order it now!https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-other-world-hanif-fazal/1142911253
Today, we were lucky enough to have a conversation with a scholar, public intellectual, and activist who happens to be one of our favorite human beings on the planet – Dr. Claudia Ford. We began by asking Claudia to explain the relation between Planetary Consciousness and Blackness. From there, she talked about the intersection of Black ecology and Afro-pessimism. This led to a discussion of her new book project and her term Black “Grandmother Epistemology”, which unfolded into conversations on balance, flexibility, life, individualism, fear, and rebirth. Dr. Claudia Ford has done wonderful work on all of this season’s themes – the role of emotion in social justice work, ideas around transformation and revolution, and uplifting ways of being and knowing that are marginalized in our white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist world. Named here: “Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Readings”; “The Triple Pandemic: Revolt is the Only Option”; “Black to Nature: Pastoral Return and African American Culture by Stephanie K. Dunning”; “The Gift of Touch”; “Pain Pollen: The Twisted Ethnobotanical Roots of Cotton, Black Haw and Ground Hemlock”; and “Watering the Gardens of the Grandmother of Plants”.
Welcome back for our second episode of season 2 which, as we said last time, is going to forefront things like the role of emotion in racial justice and social justice work more broadly, concepts of transformation and revolution, and uplifting ways of being and knowing that are marginalized in our white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist world. We were lucky enough to have a scholar, public intellectual, and activist who has done wonderful work that touches on all of these fronts–Dr. Myisha Cherry. We began by getting Myisha’s thoughts on Nekima Levy Armstrong's response to Mayor Frey and Deputy Police Chief Huffman, who all spoke at the Amir Locke press conference in Minneapolis. Our hearts yearn for and with the family of Mr. Locke and the Minneapolis community. This was a murder, and the cops and mayor need to be held accountable. We continued by discussing her most recent book “The Case for Rage”. Please go pick up a copy! It is a fantastic book! We then asked her about teaching and advice for graduate and undergraduate students, especially those wanting to do radical work, and we concluded by asking, “What feeds your strength and resilience?”
Alright, welcome folks. We are back at it again with SEASON 2. We are extremely excited about this season and what we have in store for you all. In this episode, we talk about transitions we’ve both been going through since Season 1, what’s been happening in the worlds around us, and how those things came together in our thinking about themes for Season 2. We talk about protest, loss, grief, emotions, and how they all come together when trying to fight for a more racially and socially just world. We conclude this episode by discussing some of the guests that we are attempting to bring on the podcast to talk about these themes. We may not be able to get them all, but we are going to try! We encourage you all to live “larger, freer, and more loving”!