tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/podcasts-13631/articlesPodcasts – The Conversation2024-03-14T11:08:01Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2257032024-03-14T11:08:01Z2024-03-14T11:08:01ZHow conspiracy theories help to maintain Vladimir Putin’s grip on power in Russia<p>As Russians head to the polls on March 15 for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-can-we-expect-from-six-more-years-of-vladimir-putin-an-increasingly-weak-and-dysfunctional-russia-224259">presidential election</a>, conspiracy theories are swirling everywhere. In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly podcast</a>, we speak to a disinformation expert about the central role these theories play in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.</p>
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<p>As soon as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/navalny-dies-in-prison-but-his-blueprint-for-anti-putin-activism-will-live-on-223774">death of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny</a> in a Siberian penal colony was announced in February, conspiracy theories about who was behind it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPn2zQWOU70">began circulating in Russia</a>.</p>
<p>“That he was killed by his puppet masters from the west, not the Kremlin. That he was killed by them because his murder would actually make Putin look awful in the eyes of global community,” explains Ilya Yablokov, a lecturer in digital journalism and disinformation at the University of Sheffield in the UK.</p>
<p>Yablokov studies the <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Fortress+Russia%3A+Conspiracy+Theories+in+the+Post+Soviet+World-p-9781509522651">spread of conspiracy theories in post-Soviet Russia</a>, and says the stories about Navalny are the most prominent of many circulating ahead of a presidential election that looks certain to keep Putin in the Kremlin until at least 2030. </p>
<p>Yablokov tells The Conversation Weekly that Russia’s conspiracy culture has become a key tool for Putin’s regime: “Conspiracy theories are one of the few ways of keeping the society together and to prevent the change of the regime.” </p>
<p>Fear of anti-Russian conspiracy now informs many pieces of domestic legislation, such as the 2022 changes to the <a href="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Guide-to-Understanding-the-Laws-Relating-to-Fake-News-in-Russia.pdf">criminal code</a> that were aimed at censoring criticism of the Russian military, and in particular its actions in Ukraine. Yablokov adds:</p>
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<p>Every possible activity that can shake up the regime and question its actions is forbidden on the grounds of an existing conspiracy against Russia and its regime.</p>
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<p>Conspiracy theories used to exist on the margins of Russian culture. Putin typically avoided mentioning them too much, except at key political moments such as elections or Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. But now, and in particular since the Ukraine war, they have moved to the centre of political debate. </p>
<p>Listen to <a href="https://pod.link/1550643487">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast to hear Ilya Yablokov talk about Putin’s changing relationship with conspiracy theories, plus an introduction from Grégory Rayko, international editor at The Conversation in France. </p>
<p><em>A transcript of this episode will be available shortly.</em></p>
<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Katie Flood, with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Stephen Khan is our global executive editor, Alice Mason runs our social media and Soraya Nandy does our transcripts.</em></p>
<p><em>Newsclips in this episode were from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPn2zQWOU70">Russia Media Monitor</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgydMTmhs50">BBC News</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nJGDsOswFc">Guardian News</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nYAM-Jbfh4">NBC</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAvMgUf8nyo">News</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdKDrIR8ASY&t=88s">CBS Mornings</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tim9AodGLhU">Channel 4 News</a>.</em> </p>
<p><em>You can find us on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225703/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ilya Yablokov does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Russian disinformation expert Ilya Yablokov tells The Conversation Weekly podcast about the president’s shifting relationship with conspiracy theories.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2249652024-03-07T19:24:04Z2024-03-07T19:24:04Z12 feminist podcasts to make you think, laugh, learn – and even disagree<p>At one of her early regular live podcast shows in Australia, Deborah Frances-White, host of <a href="https://guiltyfeminist.com/">The Guilty Feminist</a>, defined podcasting as “radio no one stops you making”. That accessibility has led to a proliferation of feminist podcasts.</p>
<p>Podcasting, unlike radio, is open to previously marginalised or minimalised groups in broadcasting. This includes women – and feminists in particular. Even at its most progressive, public broadcasting has rarely found room for more than one explicitly female-centred show, let alone shows that lean into the F-word (feminist).</p>
<p>Podcasting was built on the freedom of the blogosphere and the ubiquity of the smartphone. The form amplified the inherent accessibility of audio. Listening has never required formal literacy. With podcasting and production it was opened up by technological innovation, along with changing standards and ideas around “quality”. </p>
<p>No one is stopping you from making a feminist podcast (outside your objective life circumstances, but <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/a-room-of-ones-own-9780241436288">that’s another story</a>). And if the loftiest aims of feminism are to make a more equal society, it could be argued that podcasting itself is a feminist project.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/15-literary-podcasts-to-make-you-laugh-learn-and-join-conversations-about-books-218792">15 literary podcasts to make you laugh, learn and join conversations about books</a>
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<h2>A smorgasbord of feminist podcasts</h2>
<p>Some podcasts are explicitly feminist. With the word in the title, how could <a href="https://guiltyfeminist.com/"><strong>The Guilty Feminist</strong></a> be anything but? It’s a podcast and a live show where Frances-White and her guests have “candid discussions about our noble goals as 21st-century feminists and the hypocrisies and insecurities that sometimes undermine them”. </p>
<p>But if you read this description straight, you would be missing the joy and humour of the show. Each episode has a theme, and opens with a list of confessions from Frances-White and her guests – “I am a feminist, but …”, to general hilarity.</p>
<p>Guests have included former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard and the extraordinary New Zealand-born comedian Cal Wilson, a frequent contributor to episodes recorded in Australia and New Zealand. Wilson, who died unexpectedly in 2023, brought so much humour and warmth to so many episodes.</p>
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<p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3Q4YOPsPPSPdtehixbEe82"><strong>Australian Abortion Stories</strong></a>, a labour of love fuelled by volunteers and <a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/aussieabortions">virtual coffee crowdfunding</a>, is another explicitly feminist podcast. </p>
<p>Hosts Kelsey and Cassidy hold space for women to share their abortion stories, while exploring fundamental issues such as abortion stigma and equality of access. In its mission and form, it is a textbook example of the independent and feminist spirit of podcasting. </p>
<p>But what of a podcast like <a href="https://www.chat10looks3.com/"><strong>Chat 10 Looks 3</strong></a>? Hosts Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales talk about “books, television, radio, movies, food, politics and whatever else they feel like. Even showtunes.” </p>
<p>It’s no surprise that a social media phenomenon developed around this podcast and others like it, where women – and a good number of self-selecting enlightened men – bring joy, support and a can-do philosophy of helpfulness to their corner of the internet. I’d argue it is recognisably feminism. </p>
<p>The networked nature of podcasting and its widely distributed social media echoes the non-hierarchical methods women traditionally employ to organise.</p>
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<p>Book clubs are a similar example of women networking to combine social connection and talking about ideas. The award-winning podcast <a href="https://www.feministbookclub.com/blog/"><strong>Feminist Book Club</strong></a> identifies as both radically feminist and intersectional. </p>
<p>Their episodes range widely, though, from a recent episode on <a href="https://www.feministbookclub.com/graphic-novels-black-feminists/">Black feminist writers who’ve shaped us</a> to episodes on <a href="https://www.feministbookclub.com/britney-spears-the-woman-in-me/">Britney Spears’ memoir</a> and <a href="https://www.feministbookclub.com/steminist-romance-ali-hazelwood-love-theoretically/">romance featuring women in STEM</a>. It too is a social media phenomenon, and an explicitly political one. The hosts aim for “feminist theory in action” and prioritise marginalised communities, with a broad and encompassing approach to gender.</p>
<p>Australian feminism meets intersectionality in Nakkiah Lui and producer Nicola Harvey’s sensory and superb <a href="https://www.audible.com.au/pd/First-Eat-with-Nakkiah-Lui-Audiobook/B0C5XL6LZP"><strong>First Eat</strong></a> (from Audible), based on the question: what would our dinner look like if First Nations people owned the land?. “<a href="https://www.russh.com/nakkiah-lui-first-eat-podcast/">Part memoir, part docu-series</a>”, it ties into questions of decolonisation and self determination.</p>
<p>Lui, who shares hosting, travelled the world, interviewing women of colour (First Nations women in particular) about their relationships with food. She’s also researched how it has been used to oppress First Nations people. Food and body image have, of course, long been a focus of feminist discourse.</p>
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<p>Also clearly in the feminist space is the ABC’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/ladies-we-need-to-talk"><strong>Ladies, We Need to Talk</strong></a>, with Yumi Stynes. With an emphasis on sex and personal empowerment, Stynes brings the fun to feminism, along with straight talk and useful information about a range of issues: from the orgasm gap to the mental load.</p>
<p>And then there’s the girl-boss feminism of Australia’s <strong>Mamamia</strong>, which has a range of podcasts, such as <a href="https://www.mamamia.com.au/podcasts/mamamia-out-loud/">Mamamia Out Loud</a>. While the feminism is sometimes hard to pinpoint, <a href="https://www.mamamia.com.au/about-mamamia/editorial-guidelines/">Mamamia sells itself as</a> “a publisher with a purpose – to make the world a better place for women and girls”.</p>
<p>My friend, award-winning independent <a href="https://shows.acast.com/nobody-dies-here-inside-melbournes-medically-supervised-inje/">podcast producer</a> Michelle Ransom-Hughes, has some of the most discerning ears in Australian audio. Her favourite feminist podcast is an American-made chat show, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/everything-is-fine/id1491377174/"><strong>Everything Is Fine</strong></a>, aimed at women over 40. According to the show notes, each episode “digs deep into the identity shift that comes with navigating this alternately weird and liberating stage of life”.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theheartradio.org/"><strong>The Heart</strong></a>, billed as a podcast about power and love, is another favourite among podcast producers. Founded in the bedroom of host Kaitlin Prest in 2014, it is a cornucopia of queer feminist audio and provocative storytelling, but it’s so well crafted, it’s easy to forget its mission is fundamentally a feminist one.</p>
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<p>The forensically researched and produced <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-retrievals/id1691599042"><strong>The Retrievals</strong></a>, from the New York Times and Serial Productions, takes the listener into the experiences of a group of women undergoing IVF treatments who experienced excruciating pain. It includes harrowing stories of the gendered nature of industrialised health care – particularly, the problem of women not being believed when they report pain. While it focuses on a group of relatively privileged women, it’s a compelling and sobering listen. </p>
<p>And internationally, women of a certain age are enjoying podcasts (along with the sudden superpower of invisibility) such as <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wiser-than-me-with-julia-louis-dreyfus/id1678559416"><strong>Wiser Than Me</strong></a>. Here, Julia Louis-Dreyfus interviews – and honours – older women, learning along with her listeners how to live well as you age. Guests have included iconic critic <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/julia-gets-wise-with-fran-lebowitz/id1678559416?i=1000609443615">Fran Lebowitz</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/julia-gets-wise-with-jane-fonda/id1678559416?i=1000608323289">Jane Fonda</a> and 90-year-old comedian <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/julia-gets-wise-with-carol-burnett/id1678559416?i=1000615829276">Carol Burnett</a></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-tops-the-world-for-podcast-listening-why-do-we-love-them-so-much-208937">Australia tops the world for podcast listening. Why do we love them so much?</a>
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<h2>Policing women’s voices</h2>
<p>Of course, while anyone can make and distribute a podcast, if it becomes a professional endeavour, there are gatekeepers within the podcasting ecosystem. Spotify’s attempt to build a walled garden of exclusive podcasts might have, ahem, <a href="https://www.midiaresearch.com/blog/why-spotifys-podcast-exclusivity-era-is-coming-to-an-end">hit a wall</a>. But as significant capital flows in and out of podcasting, attempts to corral and contain audiences will continue. </p>
<p>The centrepiece in the Spotify garden is the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4rOoJ6Egrf8K2IrywzwOMk">Joe Rogan Experience</a>, a podcast hosted by a man <a href="https://jrelibrary.com/articles/stats/">who mainly talks to other men</a> – and the world’s most expensive podcast. While I argue for podcasting as feminist project, it does operate within the world as it is.</p>
<p>But it sits alongside <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/7bnjJ7Va1nM07Um4Od55dW"><strong>Call Her Daddy</strong></a>, a podcast by a young woman, for young women – and another huge acquisition for Spotify: it’s apparently the platform’s most listened-to podcast by women. There are <a href="https://www.themudmag.com/post/female-empowerment-vs-female-degradation">familiar debates</a> around <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/05/23/magazine/alex-cooper-interview.html">self-proclaimed feminist</a> host Alex Cooper’s feminist credentials as some (outside her target audience) question whether, say, proficiency in sexual techniques are a feminist concern. </p>
<p>But Call Her Daddy speaks to the diversity of both feminism and podcasting, while engaging with celebrity and contemporary culture.</p>
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<p>Another method of pushing back against the voices of young women in particular is seen in the direct policing of women’s voices and <a href="https://theconversation.com/keep-an-eye-on-vocal-fry-its-all-about-power-status-and-gender-45883">vocal fry</a>, which is a style of speech associated with Valley Girls and the overuse of the word “like”, with the voice pitched in a way that can sound inauthentic and creaky.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thisamericanlife.org/545/if-you-dont-have-anything-nice-to-say-say-it-in-all-caps/act-two-0/">Listeners</a> and critics feel free to complain about women’s voices, though men get a pass for the same qualities. Despite these familiar double standards, women continue to blossom as producers, hosts and consumers of podcasts. </p>
<p>In putting their voices to the world with humour and verve, women are putting the lie to such ideas as “<a href="https://time.com/4268325/history-calling-women-shrill/">women’s voices are shrill</a>” and “women aren’t funny”.</p>
<p>It is no small thing – and a decidedly feminist one – that podcasters such as the fabulous Deborah Frances-White have taken the means of production into their own hands. May they continue to podcast the joy, variety and challenges of women’s lives, well lived.</p>
<h2>12 feminist podcasts</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://guiltyfeminist.com/">The Guilty Feminist</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3Q4YOPsPPSPdtehixbEe82">Australian Abortion Stories</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.chat10looks3.com/">Chat 10 Looks 3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.feministbookclub.com/blog/">Feminist Book Club</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.audible.com.au/pd/First-Eat-with-Nakkiah-Lui-Audiobook/B0C5XL6LZP">First Eat</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/ladies-we-need-to-talk">Ladies, We Need to Talk</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.mamamia.com.au/podcasts/mamamia-out-loud/">Mamamia Out Loud</a></li>
<li><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/everything-is-fine/id1491377174/">Everything is Fine</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.theheartradio.org/">The Heart</a></li>
<li><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-retrievals/id1691599042">The Retrievals</a></li>
<li><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wiser-than-me-with-julia-louis-dreyfus/id1678559416">Wiser than Me</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/7bnjJ7Va1nM07Um4Od55dW">Call Her Daddy</a></li>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lea Redfern does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Feminist podcasts are having a moment. An expert reflects on 12 of them, from The Guilty Feminist and Feminist Book Club to podcasts that explore women’s lives and stories.Lea Redfern, Lecturer, Discipline of Media and Communications, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2251952024-03-07T10:27:30Z2024-03-07T10:27:30ZNorth Korean women are now the breadwinners – and shifting this deeply patriarchal society towards a matriarchy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580112/original/file-20240306-25-ophz0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C33%2C1998%2C1330&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Small shops, many run by women, are a common sight in North Korea. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/foliopix/21846701589/in/album-72177720301574198/">Lesley Parker</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>High heels, lace and handbags. In recent decades, there’s been a huge shift in the role of North Korean women and the choices they’re able to make – including what they wear. </p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly podcast</a>, we hear about new research on how North Korean women are driving a new form of grassroots capitalism, and changing the country in the process. </p>
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<p>“It’s a salutary lesson to all patriarchies. You shouldn’t take your eye off the women,” says Bronwen Dalton. She’s head of the department of management at the University of Technology Sydney Business School in Australia and a co-author, with her colleague Kyungja Jung, of <a href="https://www.routledge.com/North-Koreas-Women-led-Grassroots-Capitalism/Dalton-Jung/p/book/9780367536961">a new book on the role of women in North Korea</a>.</p>
<p>Their research was based on conversations with 52 North Korean defectors living in South Korea and China, as well as insights from three trips Dalton took to North Korea. </p>
<p>North Korea is a deeply patriarchal society, and women have traditionally been defined by two words: mother and wife. But when famine hit the country in the 1990s and the public food distribution system disintegrated, it was left to women to try to earn money to feed their families. And the state, obsessed with controlling the lives of men, mainly ignored what women were doing. </p>
<p>Many began working in markets, some of which were legal, some illegal, selling what they could to supplement the meagre wages of their husbands’ factory jobs. </p>
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<p>With this shift, it became a whole new lexicon that was derogatory around men, because the economic power had shifted. Women are the breadwinners in a very tight economic times, and men were another mouth to feed.</p>
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<p>Jung was fascinated when North Korean defectors she interviewed used the word matriarchy. She related one conversation with a woman in her 50s. </p>
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<p>She stated that women often say the patriarchy has fallen in favour of the matriarchy … And if women were once under their husband’s thumbs, men are now afraid they will be kicked out of their homes by their wives.</p>
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<p>At the same time, women’s fashion choices have shifted to become more hyper-feminine. Dalton says that North Korean women will do “anything to obtain a pair of high heels”, and they wear a lot of bling, lace and embroidered parasols. </p>
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<img alt="Two women one with a Chanel-style brooch and another with a North Korean label pin." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580095/original/file-20240306-23-1kyepn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C9%2C1956%2C892&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580095/original/file-20240306-23-1kyepn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580095/original/file-20240306-23-1kyepn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580095/original/file-20240306-23-1kyepn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580095/original/file-20240306-23-1kyepn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580095/original/file-20240306-23-1kyepn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580095/original/file-20240306-23-1kyepn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two sides of North Korea: fashion and loyalty to the state.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/foliopix/23778076170/in/album-72177720301574198/">Lesley Parker</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Listen to <a href="https://pod.link/1550643487">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast to hear Bronwen Dalton and Kyungja Jung talk about their research on North Korea, plus an introduction from Justin Bergman, international affairs editor at The Conversation in Australia. </p>
<p><em>A transcript of this episode will be available shortly.</em></p>
<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Mend Mariwany, with assistance from Katie Flood. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Stephen Khan is our global executive editor, Alice Mason runs our social media and Soraya Nandy does our transcripts.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225195/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwen Dalton receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Kyungja Jung receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Academy of Korean Studies. </span></em></p>Bronwen Dalton and Kyungja Jung explain how North Korean women are driving a new form of grassroots capitalism. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245902024-02-29T11:23:50Z2024-02-29T11:23:50ZA personal tale of intellectual humility – and the rewards of being open-minded<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578586/original/file-20240228-26-70gajp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=113%2C142%2C4531%2C2945&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Intellectual humility is about being open to changing your mind. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/signpost-countryside-landscape-image-retro-filtered-249397120">tomertu/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With unlimited information at our fingertips and dozens of platforms on which to share our opinions, it can sometimes feel like we’re supposed to be experts in everything. It can be exhausting. </p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we talk to a psychologist whose research and experiences of intellectual humility have taught him that acknowledging what we don’t know is as important as asserting what we do know. </p>
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<p>To Daryl Van Tongeren, the pressure to be right all the time is an “unassailably tall order”. He believes that we’re living in a moment where even when people make mistakes, apologize and say they’ve changed their minds, it isn’t good enough. </p>
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<p>We demand perfection. Not only perfection now but also perfection in one’s past and perfection in one’s future.</p>
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<p>Van Tongeren is a psychology researcher at Hope College in Michigan in the U.S. who conducts research into the concept of intellectual humility. He explains it as something that happens both within us – “our ability to admit and own our cognitive limitations” – and in our relationships with others. “It means being able to present my ideas or interact with someone in a way that’s nondefensive,” he says.</p>
<p>Overall, if somebody is intellectually humble, they are willing to be open-minded enough to revise their beliefs if presented with sufficiently strong evidence. </p>
<p>Van Tongeren’s own experience of family tragedy meant that he had to address these questions head-on in his late 20s. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>All of a sudden I found myself having to try to make sense of what seemed like this senseless suffering. And so it really plunged me into this period of questioning everything, questioning some of the deep beliefs that I’d held and been taught since I was very, very young.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Listen to <a href="https://pod.link/1550643487">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast to hear Daryl Van Tongeren talking about his personal journey of intellectual humility, as well as explain the latest research on how to nurture it. The episode also includes an interview with Maggie Villiger, senior science and technology editor at The Conversation in the U.S.</p>
<p>Read more articles from <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/intellectual-humility-125132">our series on intellectual humility</a>. </p>
<p><em>A transcript of this <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3169/Intellectual_Humility_Transcript.docx.pdf?1710952487">episode is now available</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Katie Flood, with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Gemma Ware is the executive producer. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Stephen Khan is our global executive editor, Alice Mason runs our social media and Soraya Nandy does our transcripts.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224590/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Some of the work described in this podcast was supported by grants from The John Templeton Foundation to Daryl Van Tongeren and his colleagues. The Converation's series on intellectual humility was produced with support from UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center and the John Templeton Foundation as part of the GGSC's initiative on Expanding Awareness of the Science of Intellectual Humility.</span></em></p>Daryl Van Tongeren explains what it means to be intellectually humble, and why it’s so important right now on The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2240852024-02-22T11:10:59Z2024-02-22T11:10:59ZIsrael-Gaza: how opinion polls used in Northern Ireland could pave a way to peace<p>Amid the death and suffering unleashed by Israel’s war on Gaza and the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, prospects for lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians appear ever more elusive. But when the war eventually ends, pressure will mount for negotiations to begin for a deal. When that day comes, how can opposing sides in such an intractable conflict find enough common ground to reach an agreement?</p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we hear about a method called peace polling, tried out successfully in Northern Ireland, that could offer a blueprint for how to reach a settlement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.</p>
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<p>After living through decades of violence, in May 1998 the people of Northern Ireland were asked to vote in a referendum on a peace deal, known as the Good Friday Agreement. The referendum passed with a 71% majority. </p>
<p>Colin Irwin was not surprised. He’d been part of a team working for months alongside the formal negotiations on a series of public opinion polls in Northern Ireland. The questions were agreed with all the political parties involved in the negotiations, including some of those linked to the worst of the violence during Northern Ireland’s Troubles. Irwin says the most important poll he did was the one just before a deal was reached. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We had a precis of the agreement and we asked people if they would accept it. Within one percentage point, we were accurate to what the final referendum was, by which time the parties knew that our polls were very accurate … They then knew that they wouldn’t be committing political suicide by signing up to the deal.</p>
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<p>Today, Irwin is a research fellow at the University of Liverpool in the UK. He’s worked to bring the method of peace polling developed in Northern Ireland to inform peace negotiations in a variety of conflicts around the world, from Syria to the Balkans and Sri Lanka. </p>
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<p>Peace polling can work in any context and we can always find out what people can accept. My personal view is that it always should be done in every conflict all the time so the world should know what the deal is and what can be accepted.</p>
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<p>In early 2009, Irwin conducted a peace poll in Israel and Palestine, meeting with political parties from all sides in the conflict, including Hamas. The only person who wouldn’t meet him, he says, was Benjamin Netanyahu. And he argues that since then, Israel <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-israel-failed-to-learn-from-the-northern-ireland-peace-process-220170">has failed to learn the lessons</a> from the Northern Ireland peace process. </p>
<p>Listen to <a href="https://pod.link/1550643487">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast to hear Colin Irwin explain about how the Inuit helped inform the design of peace polling, and more about his work in Northern Ireland and Israel-Palestine. The episode also includes an interview with Jonathan Este, senior international editor at The Conversation in the UK. </p>
<p>A transcript of this <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3170/Peace_Polls_Transcript.docx.pdf?1710953332">episode is now available</a>. </p>
<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Mend Mariwany, with assistance from Katie Flood. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Stephen Khan is our global executive editor, Alice Mason runs our social media and Soraya Nandy does our transcripts.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224085/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin John Irwin receives funding from: Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in South East Europe, Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, OneVoice, Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (now FCDO), Economic and Social Research Council (UK ESRC), United Nations, InterPeace, Health and Welfare Canada, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), British Academy, Norwegian Peoples Aid, The Day After, No Peace Without Justice, US Department of State, Local Administrations Council Unit (Syria), Asia Foundation, Department for International Development (UK DFID), OpenAI, Atlantic Philanthropies, Universities: Dalhousie, Manitoba, Syracuse, Pennsylvania, Queens Belfast, Liverpool. Also member of the World Association of Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) which promotes freedom to publish public opinion polls and sets international professional standards.</span></em></p>In The Conversation Weekly podcast, researcher Colin Irwin explains how peace polls can help build consensus in conflict negotiations – but only if all parties are at the table.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2235182024-02-15T12:14:29Z2024-02-15T12:14:29ZAs we dream, we can listen in on the waking world – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575451/original/file-20240213-16-qozdpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=178%2C41%2C6811%2C3950&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New research has opened windows of connections between the waking world and dreamers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/imagination-surreal-art-man-cloud-head-1774713266">Jorm Sangsorn via Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans spend about one third of our lives asleep and while most of us dream regularly, some people remember their dreams more than others. But scientists still know surprisingly little about why or how we experience dreams. </p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we find out about new research from a sleep lab in France that has unlocked a way to find out more by communicating with people as they dream. </p>
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<p>It’s hard to study people when they’re dreaming. While researchers can tell quite accurately when somebody is asleep using electrodes to sense their brain activity, there are no neural markers for dreams. That means you just have to ask someone about their dreams when they wake up. It’s impossible to know when they actually had the dream, or really what was going on, as they may have forgotten the details. </p>
<p>Dream researchers realised back in the 1980s that one special group of people could help open a window into the dream world: lucid dreamers. These people have the ability to realise that they’re dreaming and still remain asleep, and they can sometimes control what happens in their dreams. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.1981.52.3.727">Experiments with lucid dreamers showed that</a>, during REM sleep, they could move their eyes from side to side to indicate to researchers that they were having a dream. </p>
<p>Researcher Başak Türker and her colleagues at the Paris Brain Institute wanted to see if lucid dreamers could go one step further: to receive information and respond to it while they were dreaming. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We thought maybe they would be also conscious of the environment in which they’re sleeping and maybe they would be able to receive information at the same time. </p>
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<p>They recruited a lucid dreamer from the institute’s sleep lab to do some experiments, and <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdfExtended/S0960-9822(21)00059-2">their theory worked</a>. He was able to communicate with them: he smiled when they asked if he liked chocolate, and frowned when they asked if he liked football. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-study-of-dreams-scientists-uncover-new-communication-channels-with-dreamers-220492">The study of dreams: Scientists uncover new communication channels with dreamers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Then they went on to do further experiments with non-lucid dreamers to see if anybody can communicate with the waking world while they’re dreaming. And it turns out <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01449-7">that they can</a>. </p>
<p>To find out more about dream communication listen to an interview with Başak Türker, and Lionel Cavicchioli, health and medicine editor at The Conversation in France, on <a href="https://pod.link/1550643487">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3073/Dream_Communication_Transcript.docx.pdf?1709027765">transcript of this episode</a> is now available.</p>
<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Katie Flood, with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Gemma Ware is the show’s executive producer. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Stephen Khan is our global executive editor, Alice Mason runs our social media and Soraya Nandy does our transcripts.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223518/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Başak Türker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Dream researcher Başak Türker explains how she was able to communicate with people while they were dreaming. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2228162024-02-08T11:07:06Z2024-02-08T11:07:06ZHow a place’s ecology can shape the culture of the people who live there – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574085/original/file-20240207-29-al0cxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=94%2C344%2C5492%2C3397&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/farmers-planting-rice-paddy-field-on-148533944">Chatrawee Wiratgasem via Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In some cultures, people are frugal while in others they tend to be generous. Some cultures favour meticulous planning while others favour living in the moment. Theories abound about how and why differences like these between cultures emerge and, increasingly, researchers are looking to the environments people live in for answers. </p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we explore what role ecological factors, including the climate, play in shaping cultural norms and behaviour. </p>
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<p>Scientists have long speculated about where cultural differences come from. Some have highlighted the role of institutions such as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau5141">Catholic Church</a>. Others have pointed to the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1246850">kind of crops traditionally grown in different regions</a>, such as rice in the south of China and wheat in the north. </p>
<p>But a growing body of evidence suggests that human culture can be shaped by key features of the environment. Michael Varnum, an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University in the US, wanted to track how much of an impact it made. </p>
<p>Using data from over 200 countries, Varnum and his team <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-022-01738-z">studied the connections</a> between nine ecological variables – including rainfall and temperature, but also inequality, population density and disease threat – and 66 cultural variables including personality traits, social values and motivation.</p>
<p>The results indicate that a combination of long-term, sustained ecological conditions can explain nearly 20% of the differences between cultures.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In some communities in Iran, where it’s very dry and people have managed to live there in large numbers for a long time, the idea is that, for the group to be successful in those conditions, people had to get pretty good at thinking about the future and planning for it. So the amount of available water is really driving long-term thinking.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The level of variability in ecological factors can also play a part, for example in what’s called cultural tightness and looseness. Tighter cultures are those with strict rules and punishments for deviance, while loose cultures are those with weaker rules and are more permissive. </p>
<p>Varnum’s analysis suggests that cultures that experience a lot of variability in their ecology are likely to have tighter social norms than those that experience more consistent ecological patterns.</p>
<p>To find out more about his research, and how ecological factors may also influence the behaviour of other animals, listen to the full episode of <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast. </p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3072/Ecology_and_Culture_Transcript.docx.pdf?1709027528">A transcript of this episode</a> is now available. </p>
<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written by Mend Mariwany, and produced by Mend Mariwany and Meher Batia. Gemma Ware is the show’s executive producer. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Stephen Khan is our global executive editor, Alice Mason runs our social media and Soraya Nandy does our transcripts.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222816/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Varnum has previously received funding from the National Science Foundation, the US Fulbright Program, and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Michael Varnum explains new research on the role ecological factors play in the differences between cultures. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Mend Mariwany, Producer, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2218652024-01-30T19:08:54Z2024-01-30T19:08:54Z‘Toxic positivity’ is out: welcome to the new world of indulgent pettiness<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572035/original/file-20240129-15-54umja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3794%2C1991&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/angry-annoyed-people-set-discontent-displeased-2174526595">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Call them pet peeves, call them petty grievances, one thing is certain – complaining about everyday irritations feels cathartic. It’s also the premise of American comedy podcast <a href="https://ivehaditpodcast.com/">I’ve Had It</a>.</p>
<p>Hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan state, tongue in cheek, that their goal is to compartmentalise complaining and be nicer in their day-to-day life. Their complaints range from pedestrian (cordless vacuums, people who clap when a plane lands, long Instagram captions) to political (the state of the education system). Eyebrow-raising complaints include, simply, “pregnant people”.</p>
<p>Since launching in late 2022, I’ve Had It has topped Apple’s podcast charts, become viral on both TikTok and X several times, and has led the hosts to guest-star on programs such as The Today Show. This podcast’s popularity across platforms signals a cultural shift from “<a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-positivity-why-it-is-important-to-live-with-negative-emotions-166008">toxic positivity</a>” to indulgent pettiness – but a shift away from positivity into fully embracing complaints is not without risk.</p>
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<h2>Toxic positivity and emotional influencers</h2>
<p>As community-minded creatures who want deeply to belong we <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230">often mirror others</a>, including on social media, where we adopt phrasing, tone and expressions of emotion.</p>
<p>In the past few years, social media has had a focus on hyper-positivity (think cheery emojis and motivational quotes plastered over sunsets). Some put this “<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/toxic-social-media-account-signs_l_62c71ef5e4b02e0ac9118c35">good vibes only</a>” trend down <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/53737/1/how-toxic-positivity-took-over-the-internet">to the pandemic</a> and a desire to avoid painful feelings when ruminating on difficult realities.</p>
<p>However, attempting to convey constant happiness is not only difficult but impossible. Research suggests prescriptive positivity can make us react poorly to unfavourable emotions and is a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-avoid-toxic-positivity-and-take-the-less-direct-route-to-happiness-170260">goal that backfires</a>” when people view themselves as a failure for feeling unhappy, struggle to handle their feelings, or actively avoid processing them.</p>
<p>But now toxic positivity has been named and shamed, people are <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/toxic-positivity-on-social-media-and-how-to-avoid-it/12432790">searching for more emotionally nuanced media</a>.</p>
<p>The I’ve Had It hosts are in a new wave of content creators we can consider “emotional influencers”, in this case contributing to a new media landscape where complaining is not only embraced but encouraged.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-positivity-why-it-is-important-to-live-with-negative-emotions-166008">'Toxic positivity': Why it is important to live with negative emotions</a>
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<h2>Curated closeness</h2>
<p>By putting our “retaliation” against negative experiences into words, we experience <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4927037/">pleasurable emotions</a>. Complaining can feel cathartic, reduce stress, and (<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/have-you-heard-gossip-is-actually-good-and-useful/382430/">like gossiping</a>) help us <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/smarter-living/how-to-complain-.html">feel closer to others</a>. </p>
<p>This community aspect of complaining suits podcasting, which fosters intimacy through sharing deeply personal stories “<a href="https://theconversation.com/video-didnt-kill-the-radio-star-shes-hosting-a-podcast-59987">directly into our ear</a>” and “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15405702.2019.1667997">chosen just for you</a>”.</p>
<p>Listening to hosts who feel like our friends, who are friends themselves, having a chat and sharing laughter can make us feel <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/can-listening-to-podcasts-provide-social-fulfillment_uk_6527c203e4b0102e6964c547">socially fulfilled</a> in a similar way to a video chat or virtual message with a real-life friend.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-tops-the-world-for-podcast-listening-why-do-we-love-them-so-much-208937">Australia tops the world for podcast listening. Why do we love them so much?</a>
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<p>In I’ve Had It, the hosts and their guests share personal complaints and unfiltered stories in a curated approach for bond-forming. We know, for example, that Jennifer’s husband Josh (a regular guest) has struggled with addiction and that Jennifer has “had it” with family week at his rehab centre. We also know Pumps once tried to relieve constipation with a teaspoon.</p>
<p>Executive producer Kiley has become a regular feature, laughing at the hosts’ antics and acting as an <a href="https://raindance.org/what-is-an-audience-surrogate/">audience surrogate</a>. Fans are involved in the show via voice messages, reviews and as guests themselves.</p>
<p>These elements combine to provide a sense there is potential to become “real life” friends with Jennifer and Pumps: the promotional tagline for their live shows is “make your <a href="https://www.findapsychologist.org/parasocial-relationships-the-nature-of-celebrity-fascinations">parasocial friendship</a> real”.</p>
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<p>While complaining brings people together, it can also push us apart <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jclp.10095">through ostracisation or rejection</a>. Although the goal of I’ve Had It is to compartmentalise pettiness, this may be easier for the hosts than the listeners.</p>
<p>Jennifer and Pumps are two undeniably affluent, well-connected women who have leveraged their privilege to build a platform about complaining. They also amp-up their on-air personas, with Jennifer admitting, “I’m not as cold-hearted as I play on the podcast”.</p>
<p>Just like prescriptive positivity can become “toxic” when it comes at the expense of other emotions, an overemphasis on grievances can breed negativity, or lead to <a href="https://www.mic.com/life/why-being-petty-feels-so-good-30588796">passsive-aggressive and indirect communication styles</a>.</p>
<p>Indulging in excessive pettiness can also <a href="https://time.com/5356586/petty-study-pettiness/">make us less likeable</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224545.2014.906380?scroll=top&needAccess=true">alienate our loved ones</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5791981/">worsen our mental health</a>.</p>
<h2>Embracing “idiocy”</h2>
<p>Some commenters are critical of Jennifer and Pumps’ promotion of negativity. The hosts see this as fodder. They read critical reviews, double-down on complaints and laugh together, cleverly disarming the criticism.</p>
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<p>Jennifer and Pumps are even more eager to mock those who take issue with their political views. In response to a reviewer accusation that they’re “both a couple of leftist idiots” the pair laugh. Jennifer states, “I could not agree more […] I say thank you, we <em>are</em> leftist, we <em>are</em> idiots”.</p>
<p>Ultimately, I’ve Had It concedes there is a kind of “idiocy” to pettiness, but there is joy and charm too. </p>
<p>Research suggests happy people can be complainers, as long as they have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224545.2014.906380?scroll=top&needAccess=true">a good grasp of mindfulness</a> and know when to stop.</p>
<p>If you, admittedly like me, enjoy a good bout of complaining now and again, but want to keep your emotions balanced and your relationships intact, there are a few things the experts recommend. It is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/smarter-living/how-to-complain-.html">important to differentiate</a> when you need to enact “expressive complaining” to blow off steam or when you should complain “instrumentally” with a goal in mind. Talk about how something <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/better/relationships/art-complaining-constructively-n764096">makes you feel</a>, so others can empathise with you. And <a href="https://www.self.com/story/healthy-venting-friendship-tips">ask your loved ones’ permission</a> to complain before revving up a rant.</p>
<p>What about those who aren’t keen on complaining at all? Well, as far as the hosts and fans of I’ve Had It are concerned, you need not tune in. And, if you do decide to leave a comment decrying their pettiness, be warned it will make for some great content in the next episode.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/michelle-obama-podcast-host-how-podcasting-became-a-multi-billion-dollar-industry-142920">Michelle Obama, podcast host: how podcasting became a multi-billion dollar industry</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marina Deller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Call them pet peeves, call them petty grievances, one thing is certain – complaining about everyday irritations feels cathartic. It’s also the premise of American comedy podcast I’ve Had It.Marina Deller, Casual Academic, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217782024-01-25T11:08:13Z2024-01-25T11:08:13ZWhy some descendants of Holocaust survivors choose to replicate a loved one’s Auschwitz tattoo – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571154/original/file-20240124-27-ecnsmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Orly Weintraub Gilad bears her grandfather's Auschwitz number on her right arm.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Jeffay for The Conversation UK</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly eight decades on from the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27 1945, the number of concentration camp prisoners forcibly tattooed, remains, for many, the symbol of the Holocaust. The Nazis murdered six million Jews, one million of whom died at Auschwitz. </p>
<p>Today, there are ever fewer survivors still alive to bear witness to this genocide. Now, some descendants of Holocaust survivors are replicating the Auschwitz tattoo of their parent or grandparent on their own bodies. </p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we find out what motivates them to replicate their relative’s Auschwitz number and hear about the reactions they’ve had. </p>
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<p>Alice Bloch is a sociologist at the University of Manchester. Her research into forced migration and how intergenerational trauma shapes families led her watch the 2012 documentary, Numbered, in which Auschwitz survivors spoke about living with this tattoo. Among them were some descendants of survivors who had chosen to replicate their parent or grandparent’s number on their own bodies. Bloch was intrigued by this potent gesture.</p>
<p>In an ongoing research project, Bloch has been seeking out people who have chosen to have a family member’s Auschwitz number tattooed on themselves. </p>
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<p>As a sociologist I was really interested in the sort of intersections between the body and memory and how that bore out. How do you memorialise through the body, specifically, what you might term a sort of traumatic tattoo, something that was imposed and forced on an ancestor? </p>
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<p>The people she has interviewed have gone about copying the tattooed number in vastly different ways and for different reasons. But, as two of her interviewees, David Rubin and Orly Weintraub Gilad, tell The Conversation Weekly, all find meanings in this act that are as personal as they are universal – and urgent. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/descendants-of-holocaust-survivors-explain-why-they-are-replicating-auschwitz-tattoos-on-their-own-bodies-206821">Descendants of Holocaust survivors explain why they are replicating Auschwitz tattoos on their own bodies</a>
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<p>These numbers, as Bloch puts it, are a way of communicating family stories and expressing love “when it was impossible to do that through words”. They also speak to the imperative to find new ways to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive as it passes out of living memory.</p>
<p>To find out more about Bloch’s research and hear Rubin and Weintraub Gilad’s stories, listen to the full episode of <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast. You can also read a <a href="https://theconversation.com/descendants-of-holocaust-survivors-explain-why-they-are-replicating-auschwitz-tattoos-on-their-own-bodies-206821">long read story from The Conversation’s Insights series</a> by Bloch about her research. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3024/Holocaust_Tattoos_Transcript.docx.pdf?1706802812">transcript of this episode</a> is now available. </p>
<p><em>Disclosure: Alice Bloch has received funding from British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research grant in partnership with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to support this research.</em></p>
<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written by Dale Berning Sawa and produced by Mend Mariwany, with assistance from Gemma Ware and Katie Flood. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221778/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Alice Bloch talks about her research with the descendants of Holocaust survivors who have replicated the Auschwitz tattoo. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Head of AudioDale Berning Sawa, Commissioning Editor, Societies, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2208632024-01-11T11:26:16Z2024-01-11T11:26:16ZInteroception: the sixth sense we use to read hidden signals from our body – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568597/original/file-20240110-23-egsw09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C4935%2C2862&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How good are you at listening to the signals of your own body?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hospital-monitor-healthcare-showing-electrocardiogram-anesthesiology-2274000833">Your Hand Please via Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At every moment, your body’s internal organs are sending signals to your brain. You’ll be mostly unaware of them, but sometimes they cut through: for example when you’re hungry, or when you need to go to the bathroom. Our ability to tap into these hidden signals is called interoception – sometimes known as a sixth sense. </p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a>, we speak to a cognitive neuroscientist and expert on interoception about how new research on this connection between our minds and bodies could lead to breakthroughs in mental and physical healthcare. </p>
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<p>Interoception is defined as the unconscious or conscious sensing of internal bodily sensations. The concept was first proposed in the early 20th century by a British neuroscientist called <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4876111/">Charles Sherrington</a>, but it was largely ignored by researchers until around ten years ago. One of those leading the charge is Sarah Garfinkel, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London in the UK. </p>
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<p>When I first started, I would Google it and there’d be no hits, or very few. No one was talking about it. It’s amazing to me to see how much has changed in those ten years, and I’m excited to see that we’re entering into an age of neuroscience where we’re looking at an integrated system bringing in the body and the brain.</p>
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<p>Most people probably aren’t even aware of interoception until they have a problem with it. Garfinkel joked that it wouldn’t be very efficient if we were constantly distracted by our beating heart, or if we had conscious insight into the functioning of our kidneys all the time. “Our brains have developed a bias to be perceiving and aware of the external world,” she explains, which is why our exteroceptive senses such as sight, hearing and touch dominate. </p>
<p>Garfinkel says interoception is important to accurately understand what’s going on in your body – particularly for people with conditions such as autism, who often have difficulty knowing when to eat. But she believes our ability to read signals from our organs can also shape our emotional experience.</p>
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<p>I think of feelings as changes in bodily states and our perceptions of them. So (I’m) trying to understand how different clinical conditions may have differences either in the bodily signals themselves or the sensing of these changes and how that might map onto different emotion profiles. </p>
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<p>She gives the example of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suggesting it could be that increased bodily activity, such as an elevated heart rate, interacts with the brain to increase fear in people with PTSD. </p>
<p>To find out more about Garfinkel’s research and how she’s developing ways to train people’s interoception to help them deal with anxiety, listen to the full episode of <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3055/Interoception_Transcript.pdf?1707766833">transcript of this episode</a> is now available. </p>
<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Katie Flood, with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220863/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Garfinkel has received research funding from the Medical Research Council, Wellcome and the MQ Mental Health Research Charity. She holds an unpaid position on the scientific advisory committee for Flo, a woman's health app.</span></em></p>Neuroscientist Sarah Garfinkel on why interoception can help explain the intergration between the body and the brain – and our emotions. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2187922024-01-03T20:27:17Z2024-01-03T20:27:17Z15 literary podcasts to make you laugh, learn and join conversations about books<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563571/original/file-20231205-29-cmuvtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C0%2C6679%2C4466&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karolina Grabowska/Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In his “memoir of the craft”, <a href="https://stephenking.com/works/nonfiction/on-writing-a-memoir-of-the-craft.html">On Writing</a>, Stephen King lauds books as “a uniquely portable magic”. Among the world’s estimated <a href="https://www.demandsage.com/podcast-statistics/#:%7E:text=There%20are%20464.7%20million%20podcast,70%20million%20episodes%20between%20them.">5 million podcasts</a>, those devoted to books and reading are so plentiful that I’m tempted to call them the next best thing.</p>
<p>Literary podcasts offer comfort and convenience. Most are free. They’re available across multiple platforms. And while you could curl up in bed and simply listen (as I often do), they’re designed to be experienced while you’re doing something else – whether that’s enduring a long commute, sweating it out at the gym or tidying the house.</p>
<p>But the soaring popularity of podcasts like <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-penguin-podcast/id89411073?mt=2">The Penguin Podcast</a> and <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-penguin-podcast/id89411073?mt=2">NPR’s Book of the Day</a> reveals something more.</p>
<p>As writer <a href="https://themillions.com/2017/01/an-elaborate-extension-of-social-media-the-changing-role-of-podcasts-in-book-criticism.html">Tom McCallister</a> points out, while traditional reviews may be in decline, literary podcasts are not just “filling the void”. They’re “fracturing and reshaping” the “world of book discussion”.</p>
<p>Like community reviews and the more recent surge of #BookTok and #Bookstagram content on social media, literary podcasts feed the rich social networks that form around books. They transform what’s often a solitary activity – reading – into a widely (but intimately) shared experience.</p>
<p>Author interviews and various forms of criticism (from comprehensive reviews to casual banter) are mainstays of the format. But literary podcasts invite audiences to engage with books and writing in all kinds of ways.</p>
<p>Some are topical or focus on particular genres, as varied as <a href="https://evergreenpodcasts.com/novel-conversations">literary classics</a> and <a href="https://www.celebritymemoirbookclub.biz/">celebrity memoirs</a>. Others are avenues for authors to read work aloud, or for industry professionals, like editors and agents, to share insider knowledge.</p>
<p>They connect readers to media outlets and literary journals. They help us discover new titles and authors in a saturated publishing market. And they can be a valuable platform for emerging authors, providing exposure and amplifying diverse voices.</p>
<p>Here’s a taste of what’s out there – including my favourites.</p>
<h2>1. The Garret</h2>
<p>If books are divisive, literary podcasts are too. What’s enjoyable for one listener might not work for another.</p>
<p>My own listening habits are driven largely by curiosity rather than loyalty: I listen to episodes haphazardly, when a particular guest, topic or title tempts me, dropping down the rabbit hole of whichever book I happen to be reading.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563578/original/file-20231205-27-u6mqdp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563578/original/file-20231205-27-u6mqdp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563578/original/file-20231205-27-u6mqdp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563578/original/file-20231205-27-u6mqdp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563578/original/file-20231205-27-u6mqdp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563578/original/file-20231205-27-u6mqdp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563578/original/file-20231205-27-u6mqdp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563578/original/file-20231205-27-u6mqdp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>That said, I return most often to <a href="https://thegarretpodcast.com/">The Garret</a>, an Australian podcast for “lovers of books and storytelling”. The Garret’s host – self-confessed bibliophile <a href="https://astridedwards.com/">Astrid Edwards</a>, who was among the judges of this year’s Stella Prize – releases new episodes almost every week. She interviews authors about craft, criticism and some of the stories behind the stories that have found their way to publication. </p>
<p>For something a little different, <a href="https://thegarretpodcast.com/melanie-ostell-what-it-takes-literary-agent/">Melanie Ostell’s episode</a> about what it takes to be a literary agent is one of my favourites.</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Secrets from the Green Room</h2>
<p>Australians are <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-tops-the-world-for-podcast-listening-why-do-we-love-them-so-much-208937">some of the world’s most enthusiastic podcast listeners</a>, so it’s little surprise we produce some of the best bookish podcasts around. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563572/original/file-20231205-19-tu1uxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563572/original/file-20231205-19-tu1uxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563572/original/file-20231205-19-tu1uxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563572/original/file-20231205-19-tu1uxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563572/original/file-20231205-19-tu1uxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563572/original/file-20231205-19-tu1uxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563572/original/file-20231205-19-tu1uxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563572/original/file-20231205-19-tu1uxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/secrets-from-the-green-room/id1540540062">Secrets from the Green Room</a> is dedicated to author stories you “won’t hear anywhere else”.</p>
<p>Irma Gold and Karen Viggers publish new episodes every few weeks. They invite guests to candidly share their own experiences navigating the world of publication, landing on topics as varied as <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/season-3-episode-33-aaron-faaoso-and-michelle-scott-tucker/id1540540062?i=1000620837968">ghostwriting</a>, the “creep” of <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/season-1-episode-11-nikki-gemmell/id1540540062?i=1000530249152">imposter syndrome</a>, and the challenges of <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/season-2-episode-20-tony-birch/id1540540062?i=1000559531261">teaching writing at university</a>.</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Read This</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563573/original/file-20231205-15-lth4ne.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563573/original/file-20231205-15-lth4ne.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563573/original/file-20231205-15-lth4ne.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563573/original/file-20231205-15-lth4ne.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563573/original/file-20231205-15-lth4ne.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563573/original/file-20231205-15-lth4ne.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563573/original/file-20231205-15-lth4ne.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563573/original/file-20231205-15-lth4ne.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p><a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/">The Monthly</a>’s weekly offering, <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/readthis">Read This</a>, features interviews with prominent writers from Australia and around the world. </p>
<p>Its first episode took host Michael Williams (editor of The Monthly) to <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/we-went-to-helen-garners-house/id1691035626?i=1000619338709">Helen Garner’s house</a> for “conversation and cake”. Later guests have included <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/rebecca-makkai-is-on-the-case/id1691035626?i=1000634146214">Rebecca Makkai</a> and <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-three-words-that-made-george-saunders-a-writer/id1691035626?i=1000629407186">George Saunders</a>.</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Beyond the Zero</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563574/original/file-20231205-15-bjthp5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563574/original/file-20231205-15-bjthp5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563574/original/file-20231205-15-bjthp5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563574/original/file-20231205-15-bjthp5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563574/original/file-20231205-15-bjthp5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563574/original/file-20231205-15-bjthp5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563574/original/file-20231205-15-bjthp5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563574/original/file-20231205-15-bjthp5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/beyond-the-zero/id1578980767">Beyond the Zero</a> also spotlights new titles through extended conversations with both local and international authors. Each episode is a deep dive into the books and writers that have influenced the guest, so far ranging from <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/paul-lynch-prophet-song/id1578980767?i=1000629306788">Booker winner Paul Lynch</a> to Australian literary authors like <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/emmett-stinson-murnane/id1578980767?i=1000630670189">Emmett Stinson on Gerald Murnane</a>. </p>
<hr>
<h2>5. The First Time</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563579/original/file-20231205-29-3zb8uc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563579/original/file-20231205-29-3zb8uc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563579/original/file-20231205-29-3zb8uc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563579/original/file-20231205-29-3zb8uc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563579/original/file-20231205-29-3zb8uc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563579/original/file-20231205-29-3zb8uc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563579/original/file-20231205-29-3zb8uc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563579/original/file-20231205-29-3zb8uc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>On <a href="https://thefirsttimepodcast.com/">The First Time</a> podcast, novelists Katherine Colette and Kate Mildenhall take readers behind the scenes, into the “logistics and feels of writing and publishing a book”. </p>
<p>They regularly feature debut authors, as part of their (paid) Featured Book series. There’s also a Masters series, with veteran writers like Richard Flanagan, and episodes that deal with “awkward” conversations, including <a href="https://thefirsttimepodcast.com/2023/06/05/awkward-convo-endorsements-plus-featured-book-search-history-by-amy-taylor/">how book endorsements work</a>.</p>
<hr>
<h2>6 & 7. ABC RN: The Bookshelf and The Book Show</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563581/original/file-20231205-23-82bjts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563581/original/file-20231205-23-82bjts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563581/original/file-20231205-23-82bjts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563581/original/file-20231205-23-82bjts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563581/original/file-20231205-23-82bjts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563581/original/file-20231205-23-82bjts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563581/original/file-20231205-23-82bjts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563581/original/file-20231205-23-82bjts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>ABC Radio National has two main literary podcasts. On <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-bookshelf">The Bookshelf</a>, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh review newly published fiction, alongside guest reviewers, in hour-long episodes broadcast every Friday. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-book-show">The Book Show</a>, hosted by Claire Nichols, also curates new fiction. Each episode brings together two or more guests whose work shares compelling themes or intersects in otherwise surprising ways. </p>
<p>This year, The Book Show also ran a fascinating four-part series on literary fakes and frauds, starting with <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-book-show/alexis-wright-the-dogs-john-hughes-fakes-and-frauds/102184350">the John Hughes scandal</a>.</p>
<hr>
<h2>8 & 9. The New Yorker: Fiction and Poetry podcasts</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563582/original/file-20231205-25-w59ui7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563582/original/file-20231205-25-w59ui7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563582/original/file-20231205-25-w59ui7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563582/original/file-20231205-25-w59ui7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563582/original/file-20231205-25-w59ui7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563582/original/file-20231205-25-w59ui7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563582/original/file-20231205-25-w59ui7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563582/original/file-20231205-25-w59ui7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>The New Yorker’s <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-new-yorker-fiction/id256945396">Fiction</a> podcast has stood the test of time. Each month, the magazine’s fiction editor, Deborah Treisman, invites some of the world’s most celebrated authors to read aloud from another author’s work. </p>
<p>In November, for example, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/margaret-atwood-reads-mavis-gallant-live/id256945396?i=1000633337503">Margaret Atwood</a> read and discussed Mavis Gallant’s story Varieties of Exile, live at Toronto’s Hot Docs podcast festival. (In 2019, Atwood chose <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/margaret-atwood-reads-alice-munro/id256945396?i=1000445909088">Alice Munro</a>.) </p>
<p>The archives go all the way back to 2007. (And if you’re a fan of the read-aloud format, you might also enjoy The New Yorker’s <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/poetry">Poetry</a> podcast.)</p>
<hr>
<h2>10. Backlisted</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563583/original/file-20231205-19-ylbgpf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563583/original/file-20231205-19-ylbgpf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563583/original/file-20231205-19-ylbgpf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563583/original/file-20231205-19-ylbgpf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563583/original/file-20231205-19-ylbgpf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563583/original/file-20231205-19-ylbgpf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563583/original/file-20231205-19-ylbgpf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563583/original/file-20231205-19-ylbgpf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Presented by John Mitchinson and Andy Miller, <a href="https://www.backlisted.fm/">Backlisted</a> solicits a writerly guest to choose a book they love and wax lyrical about why it deserves a wider audience (like <a href="https://www.backlisted.fm/episodes/170-elizabeth-gaskell-north-and-south">Jennifer Egan and Nell Stevens</a> on Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South). </p>
<p>Recently celebrating its 200th episode, Backlisted prides itself on “giving new life to old books” – a refreshing alternative to literary podcasts that focus almost exclusively on recent releases.</p>
<hr>
<h2>11. Overdue</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563588/original/file-20231205-29-wz2wmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563588/original/file-20231205-29-wz2wmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563588/original/file-20231205-29-wz2wmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563588/original/file-20231205-29-wz2wmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563588/original/file-20231205-29-wz2wmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563588/original/file-20231205-29-wz2wmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563588/original/file-20231205-29-wz2wmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563588/original/file-20231205-29-wz2wmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p><a href="https://overduepodcast.com/">Overdue</a>, a podcast “about the books you’ve been meaning to read”, is also sure to add some dog-eared classics to your to-be-read pile. It’s not all classics, though – the hosts’ “overdue” reading list includes Jenny Offill’s 2014 novel, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-603-dept-of-speculation-by-jenny-offill/id602003021?i=1000623665450">The Department of Speculation</a>, and Gabrielle Zevin’s 2022 gaming novel, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-622-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-by/id602003021?i=1000637415752">Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow</a>, as well as stone-cold classics like <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-605-madame-bovary-by-gustave-flaubert/id602003021?i=1000625117362">Madame Bovary</a>.</p>
<p>Try the episode about <a href="https://overduepodcast.com/episodes/2023/11/13/ep-619-the-stranger-by-albert-camus">Camus’s The Stranger</a> if – like me – you only pretended to read it in high school.</p>
<hr>
<h2>12. Book Riot</h2>
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<p>For listeners interested in industry trends, the <a href="https://bookriot.com/listen/shows/thepodcast/">Book Riot</a> podcast publishes weekly episodes that revolve loosely around “what’s new, cool, and worth talking about in the world of books and reading”. </p>
<p>Jeff and Rebecca, who also edit <a href="https://bookriot.com/">the Book Riot website</a>, serve up a gratifying mix of book-related commentary and news, including reading recommendations, awards chatter and emerging or evolving issues (think <a href="https://bookriot.com/listen/a-new-thing-under-the-sun/">book bans</a> and <a href="https://bookriot.com/listen/the-internets-disappointed-mom/">generative AI</a>).</p>
<hr>
<h2>13. If Books Could Kill</h2>
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<p><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/if-books-could-kill/id1651876897">If Books Could Kill</a> offers a diverting but incisive take on “the airport bestsellers that captured our hearts and ruined our minds”. As a scholar of <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-self-help-books-help-with-depression-i-spoke-to-readers-to-find-out-211043">self-help books</a>, I was primed to regard this podcast with deep suspicion, but the episodes are well researched and thoroughly entertaining. </p>
<p>Start with <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rules/id1651876897?i=1000618727942">The Rules</a> and <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-5-love-languages/id1651876897?i=1000609782068">The 5 Love Languages</a> to laugh out loud as you learn about some of the most pervasive but questionable relationship advice to surface in the 20th century.</p>
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<h2>14. & 15. Reading Glasses and Marlon and Jake Read Dead People</h2>
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<p>Finally, I’d like to mention two new-to-me podcasts. <a href="https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/reading-glasses/">Reading Glasses</a> is a podcast about “reading better” that includes an episode on <a href="https://maximumfun.org/episodes/reading-glasses/ep-332-become-liam-neeson-getting-borrowed-books-back/">how to get borrowed books back</a>. And in <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/marlon-and-jake-read-dead-people/id1492163935">Marlon and Jake Read Dead People</a>, Man Booker Prize winning author Marlon James and his editor, Jake Morrissey, share big opinions on all things books, authors and writing – like our evergreen quandaries around reading <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/good-books-by-terrible-people/id1492163935?i=1000528124750">good books by terrible people</a> or <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/judging-a-book/id1492163935?i=1000605171360">judging a book by its cover</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218792/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amber Gwynne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Literary podcasts offer comfort, convenience and the ultimate distraction. Here’s a taste – including author interviews, deep dives into classic novels and critiques of self-help blockbusters.Amber Gwynne, Sessional Lecturer in Writing, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2203172023-12-22T18:38:28Z2023-12-22T18:38:28ZLift your spirits with our musical playlist: Don’t Call Me Resilient’s year in review<p>It’s been quite a year. The last few months especially have been particularly heavy for just about everyone. Amid the intensity of it all, my team and I on the <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> podcast produced another two seasons — in our new, newsier format. </p>
<p>Individually, each episode stands as an intimate exploration of some of the most pressing issues of our time. Collectively, our <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/">back catalogue</a> serves as a library of critical conversations around systemic racism that can be revisited as similar issues continue to unfold in the world.</p>
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<p>Each week, we also worked towards creating a new type of newsroom culture — one that centres the need for compassion internally, but also one that asks both journalist and listener: what can we do to help make change? </p>
<p>This season has been our most successful yet. With the number of downloads we now get, <a href="https://www.thepodcasthost.com/planning/whats-a-good-number-of-downloads-for-a-podcast/">we are among the world’s top five per cent of podcasts</a> and we even made it to <a href="https://chartable.com/charts/itunes/ca-news-commentary-podcasts">Apple Podcasts’ chart for top News Commentary in Canada</a>.</p>
<p>And we covered a wide range of topics. We looked at how <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-brown-and-black-people-supporting-the-far-right-214800">right-wing nationalist values are growing among Black and brown candidates in the Republican party</a> as well as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-school-aged-boys-so-attracted-to-hateful-ideologies-218700">school-aged boys in Canada</a>. We also tackled pressing socio-economic issues, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-corporate-landlords-are-eroding-affordable-housing-and-prioritizing-profits-over-human-rights-215582">the erosion of affordable housing</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-politicians-to-solve-our-food-bank-crisis-curb-corporate-greed-and-implement-a-basic-income-219086">our crisis of food insecurity</a>. We spoke to Indigenous scholars about <a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-the-search-for-the-unmarked-graves-of-children-lost-to-indian-residential-schools-214437">the ongoing search for the unmarked graves of children lost to Indian Residential Schools</a>, as well as the headline-making <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-journalists-tell-buffy-sainte-maries-story-matters-explained-by-a-60s-scoop-survivor-216805">exposé questioning the Indigenous roots of music legend Buffy Sainte-Marie</a>. </p>
<p>Our most listened-to episodes, those replayed and used to help communities delve into challenging conversations, were those in which we attempted to add meaningful perspectives to the ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel. We spoke to two scholars with both expertise and personal ties to the region <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/why-the-israel-gaza-conflict-is-so-hard-to-talk-about">to understand why the conflict is so hard to talk about</a>. We also sought to understand <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/palestine-was-never-a-land-without-people">the long history of Palestinian ties to the land.</a></p>
<p>Our efforts, of course, would have been impossible without the brilliant scholars and guests who joined us each week — not to mention our listeners, who have now been with us through more than 50 episodes!</p>
<p>As we head into the New Year, we are sharing our <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6tzGPnRhkAFXeccciOFJdf?si=d20060c289664c63"><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> playlist</a>. It’s a collection of songs on the theme of resilience, reflection and revolution, inspired by the topics we cover and co-created by our production team and podcast guests from this season and beyond.</p>
<p>Collectively, these are songs that help get us through tough moments, and light us up when we’re depleted. We hope you’ll enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed putting it together; and we hope it might bring you some strength and solidarity, or maybe even a little joy as we head into 2024. </p>
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Our playlist is a collection of songs on the theme of resilience, reflection and revolution, inspired by the topics we cover on our Don’t Call Me Resilient podcast.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2117262023-12-21T10:27:16Z2023-12-21T10:27:16ZSocial media drains our brains and impacts our decision making – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543273/original/file-20230817-40322-o38kim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=798%2C167%2C7788%2C5214&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Social media can make us buy products we don't want, new research shows. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-asian-business-woman-connecting-to-social-royalty-free-image/1470073460?phrase=social+media&adppopup=true">Oscar Wong/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever found yourself scrolling through social media late at night and accidentally buying something you regretted? In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we talk to an advertising expert about recent research into how social media <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15252019.2022.2144780">can overload our brains</a> and make us buy products we don’t need or want.</p>
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<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cXqXHpsAAAAJ&hl=en">Matthew Pittman</a> is a professor of advertising at the University of Tennessee in the US. In 2022, Pittman and his colleague <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GqkucpQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Eric Haley</a>, conducted three online studies on Americans aged 18-65 to examine how people under various mental loads respond to advertisements differently.</p>
<p>“Our brain has limited resources and it can also be taxed if we try to do too many things at once and once those resources are depleted, there are usually negative consequences,” says Pittman. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you’re on the fence about a purchase and you’re under cognitive load and you see a lot of likes or a lot of comments, or maybe it’s very attractive people in the ad that look happy … click, I’m gonna purchase it.</p>
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<p>Pittman found that those who weren’t under <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-009-9110-0">cognitive load</a> made more balanced purchasing decisions. But the group that they told to scroll through their Instagram feed for 30 seconds and then look at an advert was more susceptible to cues such as the comments and likes associated with it. </p>
<p>When asked to describe their rationale for buying a product, Pittman was surprised that those under a high mental load had diminished sentence and language capabilities. He found that Instagram put subjects in a mentally exhausted state because they were consuming different types of text, photos and posts.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>People that were not under cognitive load gave grammatically normal sentences that flowed logically, such as this ice cream looked tasty, or I liked the colors, but when people were under cognitive load, even their sentences were more fractured. Which explains why I can’t explain to my wife why I consistently make stupid purchases.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Listen to the full episode of <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a> to hear the different ways social media impacts our processing abilities and decision-making. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3015/Social_Media_and_Cognitive_Load_Transcript.docx.pdf?1706201893">transcript of this episode</a> is now available.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Matthew Pittman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</em></p>
<p><em>This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany with production assistance from Katie Flood and our intern Jusneel Mahal. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. The executive producer is Gemma Ware.</em> </p>
<p><em>You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also sign up to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em> </p>
<p><em>Listen to “The Conversation Weekly” via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211726/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Pittman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research shows that scrolling through Instagram can effect our processing and language capabilities. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Mend Mariwany, Producer, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2199262023-12-18T14:17:03Z2023-12-18T14:17:03ZIsrael-Gaza war is having a chilling effect on academic freedom – podcast<p>Across parts of academia, concerns are mounting that the Israel-Gaza war is having a chilling effect on academic freedom. In the second of two episodes of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> exploring how the war is affecting life at universities, we speak to an Israeli legal scholar, now based in the UK, about the pressures that academics and students are facing to rein in their views about the war. </p>
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<p>In the two months since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israeli war on Gaza, Neve Gordon is worried that there’s been a major clampdown on academic freedom in the US, Europe and Israel. </p>
<p>After teaching for 17 years in southern Israel, Gordon moved to the UK in 2016 and he’s now a professor of human rights and humanitarian law at Queen Mary University of London. His research looks at the laws of war with a special focus on Israel-Palestine, and on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13642987.2023.2281436">definitions of antisemitism</a>. </p>
<p>He’s also the vice-president at the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies and chair of its committee on academic freedom. In this role, he’s been following the impact of the conflict on free speech at universities, and recently <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYebFePm9sU">hosted an international webinar on the issue</a>. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the UK we’ve seen suspension of students and staff from their universities. We’ve seen cancelling of events … of student activities like protests and sit-ins. We’ve seen a few cases of students that were arrested. We’ve seen students whose visas are threatened to be revoked. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Israel, Gordon told us he was aware of 113 cases in Israel of students and staff who have been suspended or dismissed, and at least ten students who have been arrested for their criticism of Israel’s attack on Gaza. “We have several students sitting behind bars for Facebook or tweets that basically express empathy for the suffering of the Palestinians,” he says. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/american-universities-in-the-spotlight-over-reaction-to-israel-gaza-war-podcast-219769">American universities in the spotlight over reaction to Israel-Gaza war – podcast</a>
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<p>Meanwhile, in Germany, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/world/europe/germany-pro-palestinian-protests.html">many protests supporting Palestinian rights</a> have been banned and Gordon says colleagues in Germany have told him that “the situation is untenable”. </p>
<p>All this, Gordon says, is having a chilling effect across academia. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m getting phone calls from friends in different universities in different countries saying that they want to cancel their Israel-Palestine course for next semester because they’re afraid that things that they will say in class can be interpreted by students as antisemitic. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Listen to the full interview with Neve Gordon on <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, where you can also listen to the first of our two episodes on the way the Israel-Gaza war is affecting life at universities, focusing on what’s been happening at one <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-universities-in-the-spotlight-over-reaction-to-israel-gaza-war-podcast-219769">American public university</a>. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3002/The_Conversation_Weekly_Israel-Gaza_war_on_campus_part_2_transcript.pdf?1704802585">transcript of this episode</a> is now available. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Mend Mariwany, with assistance from Katie Flood. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neve Gordon is vice president of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies and the chair of its Committee on Academic Freedom. The Conversation UK receives support from UKRI. </span></em></p>The second of two episodes of The Conversation Weekly podcast exploring how the Israel-Gaza conflict is affecting life at universities.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2188262023-12-17T19:17:07Z2023-12-17T19:17:07ZGhosts, grit and genius: the most gripping podcasts of 2023<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565059/original/file-20231212-21-kwukxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C26%2C6000%2C4535&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.slq.qld.gov.au/viewer/IE1596465">State Library of Queensland</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite <a href="https://slate.com/business/2023/12/podcasts-layoffs-spotify-heavyweight-stolen-amazon.html">downturns</a> at the corporate end of town, podcasts again this year proved to be a powerful medium for new voices and previously overlooked stories.</p>
<p>As a judge of the Walkleys and New York Festivals, I listened to a lot of content. I was struck by how open this medium is still to newcomers, and how a passion project can outgun the big names (some of whom were <a href="https://freelancecafe.substack.com/p/why-i-left">victims this year of their own hubris</a>). </p>
<p>Lovers of imaginative audio will be disappointed by the recent cancellation of the “documentary adventures” show <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000176d">Lights Out</a>, produced by small but stellar UK company <a href="http://www.fallingtree.co.uk/about/">Falling Tree</a>. Falling Tree has been an exceptional mentor of new talent such as this <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rgzz">luminous reflection</a> on family and loss by Talia Augustidis. Happily, nascent outlets such as <a href="https://www.audioflux.org/">Audio Flux</a> and <a href="https://www.soundfields.org/about">Sound Fields</a> promise fresh artistic delights. </p>
<p>Here, then, are my podcast picks of 2023 for your summer listening pleasure.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/michelle-obama-podcast-host-how-podcasting-became-a-multi-billion-dollar-industry-142920">Michelle Obama, podcast host: how podcasting became a multi-billion dollar industry</a>
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<h2>1. First Eat with Nakkiah Lui</h2>
<p>Even for a versatile playwright/actor/director such as Nakkiah Lui, this podcast has a challenging remit: to investigate how Lui’s food habits and body image as an Indigenous Australian might link to identity and impacts of colonialism. </p>
<p>She and producer Nicola Harvey stitch together a sprawling narrative that digs into Lui’s family history and draws on global academic research to traverse Australia, creating vivid aural landscapes. </p>
<p>The podcast’s excavation of exploitation and cultural erasure evokes shades of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ remarkable opus, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/projects/reparations/">The Case for Reparations</a>. </p>
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<h2>2. Dying Rose</h2>
<p>Dying Rose investigates in forensic detail how poorly the justice system treated the deaths of six young First Nations women. Host Douglas Smith from the Adelaide Advertiser puts his Indigeneity explicitly in the frame, telling listeners: </p>
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<p>our normals are not the same […] I’ve been to more funerals of relatives than I can count. Sometimes it feels like these deaths in our community get written off.</p>
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<p>Smith gains deep and empathetic access to the bereaved families. Being an Indigenous journalist starkly informs his frustrated interactions with police.</p>
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<h2>3. Nobody Dies Here</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ohmydogpodcast.com/nobodydiesherepod">Nobody Dies Here</a> takes us inside Melbourne’s medically supervised injecting room, perhaps not the most appealing premise. </p>
<p>What makes this podcast so good is its total absence of judgment or earnestness. The genuine curiosity and empathy of host/producer Michelle Ransom-Hughes humanises both addicts and healthcare workers, making us lean into their stories, rendered even more engaging by assured production. </p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/3vgS2jnyCyY1enq3pC9CWD?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<h2>4. The Lawyer, the Sniper and the NSW Police</h2>
<p>Authenticity is a buzzword in podcasting and <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-lawyer-the-sniper-and-the-nsw-police/id1652022946">this indie offering</a> has it in spades. </p>
<p>The hosts are real people, not media professionals, telling gripping stories of the injustice they suffered as police workers: former police lawyer Lina Nguyen was raped by a cop she trusted; Mark Davidson was a sniper at the Sydney Lindt Cafe siege in 2014. </p>
<p>Their powerful testimony is beautifully shaped and sound designed by former ABC operatives Gretchen Miller and Judy Rapley.</p>
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<h2>5. Rupert, The Last Mogul</h2>
<p>Our very own podcast version of Succession, <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/contributor/rupert-the-last-mogul">Rupert, The Last Mogul</a>, may not have the snarling Brian Cox and his codependent kids, but host Paddy Manning of Schwartz Media convincingly traces the evolution of Rupert Murdoch from rebel to ruthless autocrat via insightful interviews and chilling archival evidence of his geopolitical manoeuvrings. </p>
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<h2>6. The Kids of Rutherford County</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/podcasts/serial-kids-rutherford-county.html">The Kids of Rutherford County</a> by Serial Productions and the New York Times investigates the shocking incarceration of mostly black children in Tennessee, some kept in solitary confinement for trivial misdemeanours due to the crusading arrogance of a white judge. </p>
<p>The judge is taken on by a likeable, shambolic lawyer, Wes, in a classic underdog battle narrated by Meribah Knight of Nashville Public Radio in what has become Serial Productions’ trademark host-heavy style. </p>
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<h2>7. The Retrievals</h2>
<p>That style is also evident in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/podcasts/serial-the-retrievals-yale-fertility-clinic.html">The Retrievals</a>, a jarring exploration of malpractice at a fertility clinic at Yale, linked to opiate addiction. Host Susan Burton eschews the chatty trope established by Sarah Koenig in the original Serial, opting for a more <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2023/08/retrievals-serial-podcast-nyt-review.html">clinically detached tone</a> that foregrounds patients. </p>
<p>The exposition can be dense, such as an 18-minute monologue in episode four when Burton recounts observations by staffers and others who won’t go on tape. Despite such obstacles, the series builds a shattering picture of how women’s suffering is downplayed, even by educated, privileged women such as those undergoing egg retrievals at this elite institution.</p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/5eeRTW5Mxsi104smDTO9qw?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<h2>8. The Girlfriends</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-girlfriends-118226591/">The Girlfriends</a> begins frivolously with a bunch of women reminiscing about their ill-fated romance with the same rich, charming and seemingly eligible bachelor, Bob. </p>
<p>It shifts gears to unpack a psychopath and his coercive control of first his wife and, after her suspicious death, these women: the eponymous girlfriends. One of them, a psychologist called Carole, narrates with real heft. </p>
<p>The storytelling is elevated by well-crafted production by UK network Novel, which includes a moving choral tribute to victims of domestic violence. </p>
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<h2>9. You Didn’t See Nothin</h2>
<p>From the opening 20 seconds, where we hear Obama embracing victory in 2008 while host Yohance Lacour listens from jail, <a href="https://invisible.institute/ydsnpodcast">You Didn’t See Nothin</a> is special. A Chicago playwright who did ten years for selling weed, Lacour revisits the bashing of a black boy in the city’s South Side in 1997 and interrogates racism, power and his own life story with a particular poetry and presence. </p>
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<h2>10. The best quick listens</h2>
<p>For seasonal fun, <a href="https://wondery.com/shows/ghost-story/">Ghost Story</a> is narrated with panache by British journalist Tristan Redman, whose wife’s great-grandmother may have been murdered in the house next door to where he grew up. </p>
<p>For an unsettling twist, try <a href="https://www.thisamericanlife.org/793/the-problem-with-ghosts/act-one-9">Ghost Industrial Complex</a>, a mini-episode of This American Life by Chenjerai Kumanyika, hip-hop artist, academic and host of award-winning podcast Uncivil, a Black rewriting of the US civil war. It sees Georgia ghosts through historically questioning eyes. </p>
<p>Staying with departed souls, in a year where we have lost, far too soon, two sublime poet-musicians, Shane MacGowan and Sinéad O’Connor, marvel at one who is left. <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/mccartney-a-life-in-lyrics">McCartney: a Life in Lyrics</a> is an <a href="https://bingeworthy.substack.com/p/one-celebrity-podcast-too-many-how?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share">accidental podcast</a> made by the Beatle with Irish poet Paul Muldoon that captures the sheer wonder that still drives this musical genius, now into his 80s. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-the-pogues-shane-macgowan-perhaps-proved-himself-the-most-important-irish-writer-since-james-joyce-218038">With The Pogues, Shane MacGowan perhaps proved himself the most important Irish writer since James Joyce</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siobhan McHugh was a judge with the Walkley Foundation, which awarded the Walkley award for Audio Long Form Journalism to Dying Rose in 2023. She has had academic exchanges with podcast host Chenjerai Kumanyika and worked at the ABC with sound engineer Judy Rapley.</span></em></p>Podcasts again this year proved to be a powerful medium for new voices and previously overlooked stories.Siobhan McHugh, Honorary Associate Professor, Journalism, Consulting Producer, The Greatest Menace, Walkley-winning podcast, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2179882023-12-14T15:54:09Z2023-12-14T15:54:09Z‘American Fiction’ is a scathing satire that challenges pop-culture stereotypes of Blackness<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563028/original/file-20231201-27-tecr8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=134%2C0%2C4250%2C2910&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Erika Alexander is Coraline and Jeffrey Wright is Monk in 'American Fiction.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Claire Folger/Orion)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In this episode, Vinita sits down with two experts to break down the many layers — and Black stereotypes — in the much anticipated new film, American Fiction.</em></p>
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<p>The lead character of the new movie <em>American Fiction</em> is Monk. He’s a Black man but never feels ‘Black’ enough: he graduated from Harvard, his siblings are doctors, he doesn’t play basketball and he writes literary novels. </p>
<p>Directed and written by former journalist Cord Jefferson, <em>American Fiction</em> won this year’s People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and it has its much anticipated North American release in theatres this month. It’s been called an “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/10/american-fiction-review-cord-jefferson-jeffrey-wright">incisive literary satire</a>” by the <em>Guardian</em>. </p>
<p>The film, starring Jeffrey Wright, is an adaption of the 2001 novel <em>Erasure</em> by Percival Everett. The book and the film are centred on Monk, a novelist who’s fed up with a white-led publishing industry that profits from Black entertainment and tired tropes. As a Black man who thinks about race but also rages against having to talk about it, Monk gets so frustrated that he decides to poke fun of those who uncritically consume what they are sold as “Black culture.”</p>
<p>He uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own. It’s about “thug life” and is called “My Pafology.” But plot twist: his attempt at satire is lost on his audience and the book ends up becoming wildly successful. Suddenly, Monk is among those profiting off the stereotypes he so despises. The rest of the story explores “<a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/american-fiction-review-jeffrey-wright-1235718392/">the unfairness of asking individual artists to represent the entire Black experience</a>.”</p>
<p>In this episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>, Prof. Vershawn Ashanti Young of University of Waterloo and Prof. Anthony Stewart of Bucknell University join forces to break down the many layers of Monk’s story and why Black stereotypes remain so persistent in pop culture.</p>
<h2>Read more in The Conversation</h2>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-stories-about-alternate-worlds-can-help-us-imagine-a-better-future-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-7-165933">How stories about alternate worlds can help us imagine a better future: Don't Call Me Resilient EP 7</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cultural-appropriation-and-the-whiteness-of-book-publishing-79095">Cultural appropriation and the whiteness of book publishing</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/blackkklansman-a-deadly-serious-comedy-101432">'BlacKkKlansman' -- a deadly serious comedy</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/harriet-tubman-film-does-not-deserve-the-twitter-hate-127493">Harriet Tubman film does not deserve the Twitter hate</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/american-fiction-asks-who-gets-to-decide-blackness-219704">'American Fiction' asks who gets to decide Blackness</a>
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<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://lsupress.org/9780807172643/"><em>Approximate Gestures: Infinite Spaces in the Fiction of Percival Everett</em></a> by Anthony Stewart</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/08/awards-insider-first-look-american-fiction">First Look: American Fiction Challenges Hollywood’s “Poverty of Imagination” About Black People </a> (<em>Vanity Fair</em>)</p>
<p>“<a href="https://slate.com/culture/2016/09/how-amos-n-andy-paved-the-way-for-black-stars-on-tv.html">How Amos ’n’ Andy paved the way for Black Stars on TV</a>” (<em>Slate</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/native-son-richard-wright?variant=41224345419810"><em>Native Son</em></a> by Richard Wright</p>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_mJBLBznANz6ID9rBCUk7gv_ZRC4Og9-">YouTube</a> or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for ‘American Fiction’ (Orion)</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217988/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In this episode, Vinita sits down with two experts to break down the many layers — and Black stereotypes — in the much anticipated new film, ‘American Fiction.’Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientDannielle Piper, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2197692023-12-14T10:44:07Z2023-12-14T10:44:07ZAmerican universities in the spotlight over reaction to Israel-Gaza war – podcast<p>Tensions have been running high at many universities around the world since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza. In the US, protests and solidarity events have been met with varied responses from university administrations. Some institutions are now <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/nyregion/universities-antisemitic-anti-muslim-investigation.html">facing federal investigation</a> over incidents of alleged antisemitism and Islamophobia. </p>
<p>There’s been political fallout too: in early December, the president of the University of Pennsylvania <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/09/us/university-of-pennsylvania-president-resigns.html">stood down</a> after coming under pressure following her answers to a hearing in Congress about antisemitism on campus. </p>
<p>In the first of two episodes exploring how the war is affecting life at universities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast hears about what’s been happening at one American public college campus. </p>
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<p>David Mednicoff says his department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, tends to have the students who are “the most directly involved in issues around the Middle East, from different perspectives.” Mednicoff is chair of the university’s Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies and an associate professor of Middle Eastern studies and public policy.</p>
<p>Speaking to <em>The Conversation Weekly</em> podcast about the reaction on campus to the Israel-Gaza war, he said he’s been working to find ways of bridging divides, including putting on events designed to provide background to the conflict. Mednicoff believes that students should be able to listen to perspectives that can challenge them, “sometimes even to the core of their identity”. </p>
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<p>It is reasonable for a Palestinian Arab to hear an Israeli-Jewish student share their sadness and fear in light of the October 7 massacres. It is reasonable for a pro-Israeli activist to appreciate that there’s a long history and even more important recent history of demeaning of Palestinian rights, particularly in the occupied territories.</p>
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<p>Mednicoff says the campus branch of Students for Justice for Palestine has been “louder than pro-Israel folks in terms of campus political discourse”. Pro-Palestinian protests, including a sit-in at a university administrative building <a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/10/27/umass-amherst-protests-arrests">where 57 people were arrested</a>, have called for a ceasefire in Gaza. In a separate incident, a student was <a href="https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/11/05/umass-amherst-student-arrested-after-allegedly-punching-jewish-student-spitting-on-israeli-flag-the-disturbing-reality-for-jewish-students-on-campus/">arrested and charged</a> after allegedly attacking a Jewish student on campus. </p>
<h2>Role of a university</h2>
<p>Universities have come under fire from those – both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian – who think their leadership should take a stronger stance during the Israel-Gaza conflict. But Mednicoff thinks it isn’t the role of a university to do that. “In general, I think that it is ill advised for universities to take political positions on global issues,” he said. And because of the current climate for higher education, particularly in the US, he thinks it’s also a political choice for universities to try and foster well-informed, open debate.</p>
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<p>Universities, I think all over the world, but certainly in the United States are themselves under a good bit of attack, by outside groups who think that universities either should push a particular perspective or they shouldn’t be places where broad free speech is allowed if it goes against what they would conceive as particular guardrails.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You can listen to the full interview with David Mednicoff on <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a>, plus an interview with Naomi Schalit, senior editor for politics and democracy at The Conversation in the US. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3001/The_Conversation_Weekly_Israel-Gaza_war_on_campus_part_1_transcript.pdf?1704802484">transcript of this episode</a> is now available. </p>
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<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware, and Mend Mariwany, with assistance from Katie Flood. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.</em></p>
<p><em>Newsclips in this episode from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1QQ0_Zzvs&ab_channel=NBCNews">N</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EXgqQkLiDg&ab_channel=NBCNews">B</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1QQ0_Zzvs">C</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiLJPkHFkYI">News</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upWD8RX6LPk&t=27s&ab_channel=CBSEveningNews">CBS News</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Mednicoff does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The first of two episodes of The Conversation Weekly podcast exploring how the Israel-Gaza war is affecting life at universities.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2195842023-12-11T12:34:28Z2023-12-11T12:34:28ZKenya at 60: the patriotic choral music used to present one version of history – podcast<p>Kenya is marking 60 years since its independence from British colonial rule on December 12, 1963. Each year, the country celebrates the occasion with a national holiday, Jamhuri Day. And for much of the past 60 years, patriotic choral music has been a regular feature of those celebrations. </p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we explore how much one song can tell you about the politics of a new nation – and who controls what gets remembered and what gets forgotten. </p>
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<p>Doseline Kiguru grew up hearing the song <em>Wimbo wa Historia</em> on Kenyan national radio in the 1980s and 1990s. Kiguru says the piece of choral music, which means “song of history” in Kiswahili, was often played on national holidays. </p>
<p>Today, Kiguru is a research associate in cultural and literary production in Africa at the University of Bristol in the UK. She has published research with her colleague Ernest Patrick Monte on the <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/epdf/10.10520/EJC-f184b6256">history of patriotic choral music</a> and the role it plays in Kenyan political culture. </p>
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<p><em>Wimbo wa Historia</em> was written in the 1960s by the composer Enock Ondego. “It’s trying to write history through music,” explains Kiguru. The song focuses on Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. According to Ondego’s autobiography, it was first performed by schoolchildren in front of Kenyatta himself.</p>
<p>The lyrics recount a part of Kenya’s violent history in the lead up to independence, including Kenyatta’s imprisonment, release and visit to London for negotiations on the country’s new constitution. </p>
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<p>We argue that presenting the first president as somebody that suffered not only emotionally, but physically in so many different ways, it means that when he becomes president … you’re supposed to revere him, he’s the person who sacrificed the most. So that means his position as a leader of government, his position as president should not be questioned. It means that we are foregrounding specific individuals, and this later became known as a cult of personalities in Kenya. </p>
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<p>The music became a stalwart at national holiday celebrations in the late 20th century. It fell out of favour in the early 2000s, but then had a comeback after 2013 when Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Jomo Kenyatta, became president. </p>
<p>When Uhuru Kenyatta’s term ended in 2022, he was replaced by the current president, William Ruto. Kiguru says the song hasn’t been played at national holiday celebrations since Ruto’s election, but she speculates that it could still reappear because of the way it frames Kenya’s leaders in a cult of personality. </p>
<p>Listen to the full interview with Doseline Kiguru on the <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a>, and read an article she wrote about her <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenyas-patriotic-choral-music-has-been-used-to-embed-a-skewed-version-of-history-183850">research into Kenyan choral music here too</a>. </p>
<p>A transcript of this episode <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2998/Kenyan_Music_Transcript.pdf?1704360471">is now available.</a></p>
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<p><em>This episode was produced by Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. It was written by Gemma Ware, who is the executive producer of the show. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.</em></p>
<p><em>Newsclips in this episode from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZR099-5USo">British Pathé</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVLIzq_qhWg">DW News</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju1hugt0v4s">Al Jazeera English</a>. Wimbo wa Historia original version from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixZ2Mg-fEb4">ArapKaruiTV</a> and Leyla’s 2018 version from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPm5y2FLN6E">DJ Survival Kenya</a>. Additional music from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjG9zCCJTAo">Heko Jamhuri by Muungano National Choir</a> from Tamasha Records.</em> </p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219584/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Doseline Kiguru does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As Kenya marks 60 years of independence, we explore how much one song can tell you about the politics of a new nation. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2190862023-12-07T16:52:53Z2023-12-07T16:52:53ZDear politicians: To solve our food bank crisis, curb corporate greed and implement a basic income<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/1df3b504-4e58-4b06-9db1-8fb2b4e73432?dark=true"></iframe>
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<p>Have you noticed the line ups for the food banks in your city? (Or have you had to join one?) They are getting longer in a way we’ve never seen before. </p>
<p>According to the stats, the number of people using food banks has doubled since last year and <a href="https://northyorkharvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/FINAL-WEB-REPORT-SPREADS-DB_3714-18_WhosHungry_Report_E-Clean_NYH.pdf">one in 10 people now rely on food banks in Toronto</a>. Nationwide, the numbers using food banks have <a href="https://fbcblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wordpress/2023/10/hungercount23-en.pdf">jumped by 32 percent from last year and 78 per cent since 2019</a>. And there is no one type of person who relies on food banks: for example, many in line have full-time jobs.</p>
<p>In other words, we are in the middle of a major food insecurity crisis. </p>
<p>And as we head into this holiday season, traditionally a time for giving and sharing and gathering around food, many of us are asking what we as individuals can do to help.</p>
<p>According to the latest Statistics Canada data, <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/231114/dq231114a-eng.htm">almost one in five households experiences food insecurity</a>. Single-mother households are especially affected, as are some racialized homes. Black and Indigenous people face the highest rates of food insecurity, with <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/who-are-most-at-risk-of-household-food-insecurity/">over 46 per cent of Black children and 40 per cent of Indigenous children</a> living in households that don’t have a reliable source of food. </p>
<p>For years, advocates have been saying that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/its-time-to-close-canadas-food-banks/article587889/">more food banks is not the answer</a>. So what is?</p>
<p>Our guest on this episode of <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/to-solve-our-food-bank-crisis-curb-corporate-greed-and-implement-guaranteed-basic-income"><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a> podcast is Elaine Power, professor of health studies at Queen’s University and co-author of <a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/the-case-for-basic-income"><em>The Case for Basic Income: Freedom, Security, Justice</em></a>. She has spent years working on this issue and says reducing food insecurity requires our political and business leaders to address the root causes — including the ability of household incomes to meet basic needs. She gets into what is needed, long-term, to solve this major societal problem — but also shares tips for individuals who want to make a difference in the meantime.</p>
<h2>Read more in The Conversation</h2>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/food-insecurity-in-canada-is-the-worst-its-ever-been-heres-how-we-can-solve-it-216399">Food insecurity in Canada is the worst it's ever been — here's how we can solve it</a>
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Read more:
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-babies-going-hungry-in-a-food-rich-nation-like-canada-165789">Why are babies going hungry in a food-rich nation like Canada?</a>
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<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/article/what-is-food-insecurity/">“What is Food Insecurity? FoodShare’s Paul Taylor Explains (Plus What Canadians Can Do About It)”</a> (The Food Network) </p>
<p><a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/2021/anti-black-racism/">“When it comes to tackling food insecurity, tackling anti-Black racism is an important part of the puzzle”</a> (by Tim Li)</p>
<p><a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/the-case-for-basic-income"><em>The Case for Basic Income: Freedom, Security, Justice</em></a> by Jamie Swift and Elaine Power</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v10i1.567">“Dismantling the structures and sites that create unequal access to food”</a> (Paul Taylor and Elaine Power in <em>Canadian Food Studies</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://houseofanansi.com/products/the-age-of-insecurity"><em>The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart</em></a> (Astra Taylor)</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A summary of a PROOF report on household food insecurity.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_mJBLBznANz6ID9rBCUk7gv_ZRC4Og9-">YouTube</a> or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. Full but unedited transcripts are available within seven days of publication. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. </p>
<p><strong>Please fill out our <a href="https://www.dontcallmeresilient.com">listener survey</a>.</strong></p>
<p>Join the Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219086/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
With food insecurity at an all-time high and food banks buckling under high demand as we head into this holiday season, experts say we need to focus on long-term solutions to tackle the issue at its root.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientAteqah Khaki, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientJennifer Moroz, Consulting Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2192502023-12-07T12:05:41Z2023-12-07T12:05:41ZUnprecedented drought in the Amazon threatens to release huge stores of carbon – podcast<p>As world leaders and their climate negotiators gathered at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in early December, on the other side of the world, Brazil was experiencing an unprecedented drought in the Amazon. Scientists fear it could release of billions of additional tons of carbon into the atmosphere. </p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we speak to an ecologist who has spent 45 years living in and studying the Amazon for causes of drought, why it’s so dangerous for the planet, and what can be done to protect the rainforest.</p>
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<p>Philip Fearnside lives in Manaus, a city of around 2 million people in Brazil’s Amazonas state. A professor at the country’s National Institute of Amazonian Research, he explains that right now, the region is suffering from a severe and unprecedented drought:</p>
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<p>It’s the lowest water levels at Manaus since data started being recorded in 1902, so 121 years. The trees are dying. There’s a big cannelier tree in my front yard that just died from one day to the next. </p>
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<p>The drought also leads to fires, with smoke causing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/29/mass-death-of-amazonian-dolphins-prompts-fears-for-vulnerable-species">pollution levels in Manaus to soar</a>. Elsewhere, the Amazon river bed is being exposed, making life difficult for people who live and work near the river. Animals are also suffering: in September, <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?9899466/Around-10-of-the-river-dolphin-population-of-Lake-Tefe-died-in-one-week">150 river dolphins</a> were found dead in Lake Tefé, where water temperatures had reached 39°C. </p>
<p>Fearnside explains that the drought is caused by three interlocking factors. Two are El Niño climate patterns caused by warm water in both the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. The third is what’s called an Atlantic dipole: a patch of warm water in the north Atlantic Ocean which, combined with colder water in the south Atlantic, affects rainfall patterns in the Amazon: </p>
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<p>It won’t be until May or June that the probability of having normal water temperature in the centre of the Pacific Ocean at least passes 50% … so we’ve got a long time with droughts ahead of us.</p>
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<p>While it’s difficult to pinpoint the cause of this particular drought as climate change, Fearnside says the frequency of El Niños and Atlantic dipoles “is much much greater because of climate change”. </p>
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Leia mais:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-region-hit-by-trio-of-droughts-in-grim-snapshot-of-the-century-to-come-217652">Amazon region hit by trio of droughts in grim snapshot of the century to come</a>
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<h2>Climate tipping point</h2>
<p>The Amazon holds enormous stores of carbon. Its trees alone store around <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12798">80 billion tonnes of carbon</a>, with another 90 billion in the first metre of soil. Fearnside likens this to a latent bomb that could explode unintentionally, because the droughts and the forest fires could destroy those carbon stores and release more CO₂ into the atmosphere: </p>
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<p>Everyone hears about how much deforestation there is every year, and how much greenhouse gases are emitted, but this big store of carbon that isn’t being emitted isn’t talked about so much. And that could really be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in terms of global climate. Just a fraction of that going into the atmosphere in the space of a few years could push the climate over this tipping point. So it’s essential not to let that happen.</p>
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<p>Fearnside has a message for climate negotiators at the COP28 climate summit: that it’s obvious the use of fossil fuels must be reduced immediately and “eventually eliminated”. </p>
<p>For Brazil, he says the government should not be expanding new gas and oil fields in the mouth of the Amazon river, and has to work in a joined up way to eliminate all deforestation in the Amazon by its stated target of 2030. </p>
<p>Listen to the full interview with Philip Fearnside to find out what else needs to be done to protect the Amazon on the <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a>, and read an article he <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-region-hit-by-trio-of-droughts-in-grim-snapshot-of-the-century-to-come-217652">wrote here too</a>. A transcript of this episode is <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2992/Amazon_Drought_Transcript.docx.pdf?1703068671">now available.</a> </p>
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<p><em>This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Gemma Ware is the executive producer of the show. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.</em></p>
<p><em>Newsclips in this episode from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3L_ZgUIRXo&ab_channel=WION">WION</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn5KV1_bJ04">UOL</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCHPY2CZlEE">Reuters</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to <em>The Conversation Weekly</em> via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219250/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Fearnside does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Brazil’s rainforest is a massive carbon store, so its severe drought could be a tipping point for the global climate. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2187002023-11-30T17:21:21Z2023-11-30T17:21:21ZWhy are school-aged boys so attracted to hateful ideologies?<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/a0e5db7e-fb55-4a8a-880e-00f8d5a0f2dc?dark=true"></iframe>
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<p><em>In this episode of<a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/why-are-school-aged-boys-so-attracted-to-hateful-ideologies"> Don’t Call Me Resilient</a>, we look at the current rise of white supremacy and how that rise has filtered down into the attitudes of school-aged boys.</em> </p>
<p>Anecdotally, and in polls conducted by <a href="https://angusreid.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021.10.19_canada_school_kids_racism_diversity-1.pdf">Angus Reid</a> and the <a href="https://www.girlguides.ca/WEB/Documents/GGC/media/media-releases/Gender_Equality_Press_Release_Oct_2018.pdf">Girl Guides of Canada,</a> school-aged children are expressing concern about the sexist, homophobic and racist attitudes they are experiencing in their classrooms. And the research supports them: experts say <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-misogyny-influencers-cater-to-young-mens-anxieties-201498">the rise in far-right ideologies globally has impacted school-age students</a>. </p>
<p>Many experts point to Andrew Tate, the far-right social media influencer as one of the culprits. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/online-misogyny-harrasment-school-children-b2314451.html">Teachers say he has a big presence in the classroom</a>. </p>
<p>On top of that, there’s been an exponential rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in Canada that have also impacted the classroom.</p>
<p>Why are boys especially attracted to these hateful ideologies? As we near <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-continuum-of-unabated-violence-remembering-the-massacre-at-ecole-polytechnique-88572"> the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on Dec. 6,</a> we spoke with to two experts who have been thinking a lot about this question.</p>
<p>Teresa Fowler is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton whose research focuses on critical white masculinities. </p>
<p>Lance McCready is an associate professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. His research explores education, health and the well-being of Black men, boys and queer youth, especially in urban communities and schools. </p>
<h2>Read more in The Conversation</h2>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-misogyny-influencers-cater-to-young-mens-anxieties-201498">How 'misogyny influencers' cater to young men's anxieties</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/act-tough-and-hide-weakness-research-reveals-pressure-young-men-are-under-74898">Act tough and hide weakness: research reveals pressure young men are under</a>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-schools-can-foster-civic-discussion-in-an-age-of-incivility-106136">How schools can foster civic discussion in an age of incivility</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/less-talk-more-action-national-day-of-remembrance-on-violence-against-women-108139">Less talk, more action: National Day of Remembrance on Violence Against Women</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/too-busy-for-the-pta-but-working-class-parents-care-104386">Too busy for the PTA, but working-class parents care</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-critical-race-theory-should-inform-schools-185169">Why critical race theory should inform schools</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/06/andrew-tate-violent-misogynistic-world-of-tiktok-new-star">Inside the violent, misogynistic world of TikTok’s new star, Andrew Tate</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.boyhoodinitiative.org">The Boyhood Initiative</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gegi.ca">How to Advocate at School for Yourself or Someone You Love</a>, the first bilingual self-advocacy resource for K-12 students experiencing gender identity discrimination at school.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/667368/rebels-with-a-cause-by-niobe-way/"><em>Rebels with a Cause: Reimagining Boys, Ourselves and Our Culture</em></a> by Niobe Way</p>
<p><a href="https://therepproject.org/films/the-mask-you-live-in/">The Mask You Live In</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/pedagogy-of-the-oppressed/"><em>Pedagogy of the Oppressed</em></a> by Paulo Freire</p>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_mJBLBznANz6ID9rBCUk7gv_ZRC4Og9-">YouTube</a> or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. </p>
<p><strong>Please fill out our <a href="https://dontcallmeresilient.com">listener survey</a>.</strong></p>
<p>Join the Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Host Vinita Srivastava explores why racist, homophobic and sexist attitudes are increasingly showing up in school-age boys – and what we can do about it.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientAteqah Khaki, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientJennifer Moroz, Consulting Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientKikachi Memeh, Assistant Producer/Student Journalist, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2182332023-11-23T16:32:58Z2023-11-23T16:32:58ZThe potential of psychedelics to heal our racial traumas<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/f2e5423c-d81f-41aa-a3c8-e7a6bb396a7b?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><em>Clinical psychologist and professor Monnica Williams is on a mission to bring psychedelics to therapists’ offices to help people heal from their racial traumas. To do this, she’s jumping over some big hurdles.</em></p>
<p>Judging from the colourful signs advertising mushrooms that we are seeing on our streets and the presence of psychedelics in pop culture, we are in the middle of a psychedelic renaissance. For example, in the TV program <em>Transplant</em>, a Syrian Canadian doctor experiencing trauma is treated by his psychiatrist with psilocybin therapy. </p>
<p>On a more official front, this month, the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10079020/psychedelics-veteran-ptsd/">Canadian Senate recommended the federal government fast-track a research program</a> into how psychedelics can help veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD covers a range of issues, including racial trauma. </p>
<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/the-potential-of-psychedelics-to-heal-our-racial-traumas">On this week’s episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a>, we explore how psychedelics — including psilocybin (“magic mushrooms”) and MDMA — can help heal racial trauma. Racial trauma, Williams explains, is not necessarily something that happens through one event. It’s usually ongoing experiences of stress, including “daily insults to your person.” </p>
<p>With racial trauma, therapists are also looking at events beyond an individual’s lifetime. “We’re looking at historical trauma, that may have happened decades or even centuries ago, that is still associated with the person’s cultural group. These could be catastrophes that happened to a whole group of people, like ethnic cleansing or genocide, the Holocaust, or it could be a natural disaster.”</p>
<p>Intergenerational trauma is something Williams has experienced personally. Her parents grew up in the Deep South in the United States during the Jim Crow era. As African Americans, they were subject to segregation and extreme oppression. She says that affected the whole African American community.</p>
<p>People with racial trauma can have symptoms like depression or anxiety or may be despondent or angry. </p>
<h2>Research studies show results for psychedelics</h2>
<p>Once Williams saw the research studies coming out of <a href="https://maps.org/about-maps/">MAPS, a multidisciplinary association for psychedelic studies</a>, she was convinced that psychedelics can work: “The medicine does its thing and the brain starts to heal itself.”</p>
<p>But there are some big hurdles before we get there, including the fact that many mental health professionals don’t have any “training or knowledge in working with people across race, ethnicity and culture,” according to Williams. </p>
<p>And we don’t exactly have a great track record when it comes to communities of colour and drugs. There is a long and ugly history of institutions using Black, Indigenous and racialized bodies without consent for medical experimentation, including drug testing. We also can’t forget the racial roots of the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/war-on-drugs-75e61c224de3a394235df80de7d70b70">war on drugs</a> and the devastating impact it had — and continues to have — on Black and other racialized communities. </p>
<p>All this begs the question: As psychedelics appear to be entering the mainstream, how can we open up their healing properties to people in need in an inclusive way? </p>
<p>To find out more, listen to this week’s podcast with Monnica Williams, clinical psychologist and professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, where she is the Canada Research Chair in Mental Health Disparities. She is also the Clinical Director of the Behavioral Wellness Clinic in Connecticut.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>People heal through connecting with other people. That’s how we get through traumas. Our society suffers from a mental illness called racism, and we as a society need to heal from this disease where you have one part of the body attacking another part of the body. It’s like an autoimmune disorder, right? Doesn’t make any sense: makes the whole body sick. And we’re on a planet that we all share and we’re all human beings, we’re all connected, even in ways we don’t realize or understand. We could think of it as a single organism and we all need to heal so that we can all function in a way that’s in the best interest of the whole entity.
- Monnica T. Williams</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Read more in The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-real-promise-of-lsd-mdma-and-mushrooms-for-medical-science-100579">The real promise of LSD, MDMA and mushrooms for medical science</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/albertas-new-policy-on-psychedelic-drug-treatment-for-mental-illness-will-canada-lead-the-psychedelic-renaissance-195061">Alberta’s new policy on psychedelic drug treatment for mental illness: Will Canada lead the psychedelic renaissance?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mdma-assisted-couples-therapy-how-a-psychedelic-is-enhancing-intimacy-and-healing-ptsd-127609">MDMA-assisted couples therapy: How a psychedelic is enhancing intimacy and healing PTSD</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/psychedelic-medicine-is-on-its-way-but-its-not-doing-shrooms-with-your-shrink-heres-what-you-need-to-know-208568">Psychedelic medicine is on its way. But it's not 'doing shrooms with your shrink'. Here's what you need to know</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11469-023-01160-5?sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=922583&awc=26429_1700596296_e8eeb80cdaec76f40d0015d156200eef&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=awin&utm_campaign=CONR_BOOKS_ECOM_DE_PHSS_ALWYS_DEEPLINK&utm_content=textlink&utm_term=922583">“Psychedelics and Racial Justice”</a> by Monnica T. Williams</p>
<p><em><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/truth-be-told/id1462216572">Truth be Told</a></em> Season 5 (American Public Media/Tonya Mosley)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/us/oregon-psychedelic-mushrooms.html">“A New Era of Psychedelics in Oregon”</a> by Mike Baker</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8811257/">“The Need for Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in the Black Community and the Burdens of Its Provision”</a> by Darron T. Smith, Sonya C. Faber, NiCole T. Buchanan, Dale Foster and Lilith Green</p>
<p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/529343/how-to-change-your-mind-by-michael-pollan/9780735224155"><em>How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics</em> by Michael Pollan
</a></p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.76.2.208">“Anger and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder symptoms in Crime Victims: A Longitudinal Analysis”</a>. <em>Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology</em>. by Orth, U., Cahill, S.P., Foa, E.B., & Maercker, A.</p>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_mJBLBznANz6ID9rBCUk7gv_ZRC4Og9-">YouTube</a> or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Clinical psychologist and professor Monnica Williams is on a mission to bring psychedelics to therapists’ offices to help people heal from their racial traumas. To do this, she’s jumping over some big hurdles.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2183652023-11-23T12:22:50Z2023-11-23T12:22:50ZBrandalism: the environmental activists using spoof adverts to critique rampant consumerism – podcast<p>Amid the flurry of billboards promoting cut price deals in the run up to Black Friday, some activists have slipped in the odd spoof advert. By subverting public advertising space, they’re risking legal action to try and make serious points about the excesses of consumer culture and the perilous state of the environment. </p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we find out about the subvertising movement and its links to a wider conversation about mass consumerism and the environment.</p>
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<p></p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-561" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/561/4fbbd099d631750693d02bac632430b71b37cd5f/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>One parody poster in the British city of Birmingham reads: “Don’t buy stuff. Enjoy your friends.” Another, in Reading, says: “Didn’t read the warnings? No vision, no future. Should have gone to Specsavers.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1726888503097561248"}"></div></p>
<p>These actions are all submissions for the <a href="https://subvertisers-international.net/zap-games/">ZAP Games</a> – an invitation for people to take action against outdoor advertising infrastructure in the two weeks leading up to Black Friday. </p>
<p>Categories in the games, which began in Belgium in 2021, include most family friendly intervention and most beautiful or artistic intervention. Run by a group called Subvertisers International, it’s the latest in an ongoing series of anti-advertising actions, often rooted in concerns about the environment. </p>
<p>Subvertising, in which activists subvert advertising often using the language and style of the brand itself, is also known as culture jamming, or brandalism – a mashup of brand and vandalism.</p>
<p>Eleftheria Lekakis, a senior lecturer in media and communication at the University of Sussex in the UK, has been <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14742837.2020.1837102">studying the movement</a> since it caught her attention in 2015 at the COP21 climate talks in Paris. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The point of advertising is to sell. The point of subvertising is to open up that message and … attach a whole range of meanings to it, meanings that are more akin to social and environmental justice. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She began <a href="https://sussex.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Culture_jamming_and_brandalism_for_the_environment_the_logic_of_appropriation/23442089">analysing a number of the subverts</a> that emerged during the COP21 talks to understand the points the brandalists were trying to make. She found attacks on corporate greed and on the inadequacy of politicians to challenge the status quo, but also environmental narratives about grief and the Earth in mourning. </p>
<p>Lekakis believes that subverts grab viewers’ attention because they start a conversation. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sometimes it can feed into a larger conversation which exists around the role of advertising in society today and the limits that we should think about collectively, when it comes to advertising. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Find out more about subvertising and brandalism by listening to the full episode of <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a> and read an article by <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-friday-parody-adverts-target-unbridled-consumerism-with-an-environmental-message-218489">Eleftheria Lekakis here too</a>. A transcript is <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2993/Brandalism_TC_Weekly_transcript.pdf?1703072434">now available</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This episode was written, produced and sound designed by Eloise Stevens, with production assistance from Mend Mariwany and Katie Flood. Gemma Ware is the executive producer of the show. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to <em>The Conversation Weekly</em> via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218365/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleftheria Lekakis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Subvertising campaigns are often funny, but they also aim to make a wider point about the unsustainable excesses of consumerism. Listen to The Conversation Weekly.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2177652023-11-16T15:00:56Z2023-11-16T15:00:56ZPalestine was never a ‘land without a people’<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/0ba10cf2-be56-4b6e-8598-96c6fb5197b7?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><em>Modern settlers to Palestine viewed the desert as something they needed to “make bloom.” But it already was, thanks to the long history of Palestinian agricultural systems.</em></p>
<p>As violence continues to erupt in Gaza, and more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 remain missing, many of us are seeking to better understand the context of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/topics/israeli-palestinian-conflict-140823">Israeli-Palestinian conflict</a> that has been raging for decades. </p>
<p>Some of us assume that the violence between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians — a majority of whom are Muslim — is a religious conflict, but a closer look at the history of the last century reveals that the root of the tension between the two communities is more complicated than that.</p>
<p>At its root, it’s a conflict between two communities that claim the right to the same land. For millions of Palestinians, it’s about displacement from that land. </p>
<p>Land has so much meaning. It’s more than territory; it represents home, your ancestral connection and culture — but also the means to feed yourself and your country. </p>
<p>One of the things that colonizers are famous for is the idea of <em>terra nullius</em> – that the land is empty of people before they come to occupy it. </p>
<p>In the case of Palestine, the Jewish settlers in 1948, and the British before that, viewed the desert as empty — something they needed to <a href="https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/38553">“make bloom.”</a> </p>
<p>But the land was already blooming. There is a long history of Palestinian connection to the land, including through agricultural systems and a rich food culture that is often overlooked by colonial powers.</p>
<p>Our guests on <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/palestine-was-never-a-land-without-people">this week’s episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a> have been working on a film about the importance of preserving Palestinian agriculture and food in exile.</p>
<p>Elizabeth Vibert is a professor of colonial history at University of Victoria. She has been doing oral history research to examine historical and contemporary causes of food crises in various settings, including Palestinian refugees in Jordan.</p>
<p>Salam Guenette is the consulting producer and cultural and language translator for their documentary project. She holds a master’s degree in history.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The relationship with agriculture and the land is the original colonizing relationship. The colonizers came in, viewed Indigenous peoples worldwide as not moving and living appropriately and productively enough on the land.
- Elizabeth Vibert, professor of colonial history</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Read more in The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-colonialist-depictions-of-palestinians-feed-western-ideas-of-eastern-barbarism-217513">How colonialist depictions of Palestinians feed western ideas of eastern 'barbarism'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-women-in-israel-and-palestine-are-pushing-for-peace-together-215783">How women in Israel and Palestine are pushing for peace — together</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/israel-palestine-conflict-how-sharing-the-waters-of-the-jordan-river-could-be-a-pathway-to-peace-216044">Israel-Palestine conflict: How sharing the waters of the Jordan River could be a pathway to peace</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/recognition-versus-reality-lessons-from-30-years-of-talking-about-a-palestinian-state-212648">Recognition versus reality: Lessons from 30 years of talking about a Palestinian state</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=29038"><em>Dear Palestine</em> by Shay Hazkani</a></p>
<p><a href="https://handmadepalestine.com/en-ca/blogs/free-educational-resources/palestinian-wild-food-plants"><em>A Guide to Palestinian Wild Food Plants</em></a>
by Omar Tesdell (and collective) </p>
<p><em><a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250291530/adayinthelifeofabedsalama">A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy</a></em> by Nathan Thrall </p>
<p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/159783/orientalism-by-edward-w-said/9780394740676"><em>Orientalism</em> by Edward Said</a></p>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_mJBLBznANz6ID9rBCUk7gv_ZRC4Og9-">YouTube</a> or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217765/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Modern settlers to Palestine viewed the desert as something they needed to “make bloom.” But it already was, thanks to the long history of Palestinian agricultural systems.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientAteqah Khaki, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2176152023-11-16T11:46:35Z2023-11-16T11:46:35ZAntibiotic resistance: microbiologists turn to new technologies in the hunt for solutions – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559597/original/file-20231115-23-wi1i4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C78%2C4001%2C2506&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Testing for antimicrobial resistance in the lab.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-media-plate-on-hand-medical-507859600">AnaLysiSStudiO via Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The rise of drug-resistant infections is one of the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance">biggest global threats</a> to health, food security and development. Antibiotic-resistant superbugs were estimated to kill <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02724-0/fulltext">1.27 million people</a> in 2019, and the UN projects that drug-resistant diseases could <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/29-04-2019-new-report-calls-for-urgent-action-to-avert-antimicrobial-resistance-crisis">cause 10 million deaths a year by 2050</a>. </p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we hear from a microbiologist at a hospital in Nigeria working on the frontlines against antibiotic resistance, and find out about the new scientific techniques, including artificial intelligence (AI), being deployed to find new potential antibiotics.</p>
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<p>Nubwa Medugu began her medical career in 2008 working in a paediatric unit in Kano, northern Nigeria. A lot of the children had typhoid and had taken antibiotics for it, but had come to hospital because the drugs weren’t working. “The fact that a lot of patients have infections that are very difficult to treat, I didn’t know it was just the tip of the iceberg then,” she says. </p>
<p>Today, Medugu is a clinical microbiologist at the National Hospital Abuja in Nigeria’s capital, and also teaches microbiology at Nile University of Nigeria. Her work involves analysing the hospital’s lab results for drug-resistant infections, and “the problem seems to have gotten worse”. She says it’s now “almost impossible” to find infections that are not resistant to at least one antibiotic. </p>
<p>Medugu recently <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-37621-z">published research</a> analysing the level of antibiotic resistance in hospitals in Nigeria, and the types of antibiotics that are proving least effective. What’s most worrying is the number of infections that are resistant even to antibiotics of last resort – those drugs used to treat cases where other antibiotics have failed. “If nothing works, carbapenems usually work, but in this research, resistance to the carbapenems was pretty high … over 60% resistant.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-we-still-have-antibiotics-in-50-years-we-asked-7-global-experts-214950">Will we still have antibiotics in 50 years? We asked 7 global experts</a>
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<h2>The hunt for new antibiotics</h2>
<p>Inequality and poverty are a big part of the problem. If people aren’t able to access vaccinations, diagnostic testing, medical advice and the right drugs if they’re infected, this can exacerbate antibiotic resistance. But even in a world where everybody had access to the healthcare they needed, bacteria would still develop resistance to antibiotics. </p>
<p>And so, as the problem deepens, the hunt continues on for new antibiotics. One of the scientists doing that searching is André Hudson, a professor of biochemistry at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. He uses traditional bio-prospecting techniques to culture potential antibiotics from natural samples such as soil. But Hudson explains that others are now using new techniques to find potential antibiotic compounds. </p>
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<p>With AI, it allows it to go faster. It provides us with things that we cannot even think about, or we don’t even know how to do yet in the lab.</p>
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<p>Another approach is called <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/455481a">metagenomics</a>, which involves sequencing an entire community of bacteria found in an environmental sample, such as soil or even the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-found-more-than-54-000-viruses-in-peoples-poo-and-92-were-previously-unknown-to-science-163258">human gut</a>. “Rather than cherry-picking a particular bacteria, I extract all DNA that is present in the soil and sequence the entire community,” explains Hudson. </p>
<p>In September, a group of scientists in Germany, the Netherlands and the US published a paper announcing they’d discovered a potential antibiotic using this method called <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-new-antibiotic-clovibactin-beat-superbugs-or-will-it-join-the-long-list-of-failed-drugs-212774">clovibactin, isolated from uncultured soil bacteria</a>. </p>
<p>Find out more about the fight against antibiotic resistance, and the solutions on the cards, by listening to the full episode of <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a>. A transcript is <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2972/Antibiotic_Resistance_Transcript.docx.pdf?1701940198">now available</a>. </p>
<p>And read more about this topic in a special series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/the-dangers-of-antibiotic-resistance-146983">The dangers of antibiotic resistance</a>, in which experts explore how we got here and the potential solutions.</p>
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<p><em>This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware with assistance from Katie Flood. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer of the show.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on X, formerly known as Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to <em>The Conversation Weekly</em> via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217615/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>André O. Hudson receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. Nubwa Medugu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From the frontline battle against antibiotic resistance in Nigeria, to the techniques being used to find new antibiotics. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.