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Fists raised in solidarity for George Floyd in Charlotte, N.C. (Unsplash/Clay Banks)

Listen to ‘Don’t Call Me Resilient’: Our podcast about race

Today, we are launching Don’t Call Me Resilient, a new podcast about race and racism.

If you’ve struggled with how to understand what is going on around you when it comes to race and racism and how and why it matters, our new podcast, Don’t Call Me Resilient, can help with that.

Resilient is a beautiful word and yet, as our podcast title says, don’t call me that. Why?

I’ve read and heard many hopeful stories over the past year about people being resilient in the face of adversity. With millions of tragic deaths due to COVID-19 worldwide, as well as job losses, illness and the psychological impact of a racial reckoning, many people are dealing with trauma in resilient ways.

We should always celebrate resilience: the human ability to recover or adjust to difficult conditions. But for many marginalized people, including Black, Indigenous and racialized people, being labelled resilient — especially by policy-makers — has other implications. The focus on resilience and applauding people for being resilient makes it too easy for policy-makers to avoid looking for real solutions.

Our society is marked by deep systemic divides and many are recognizing this fact in new ways. People of colour have to deal with racism every day — be it microaggressions at work or the larger impacts of systemic racism that can create life and death situations. These issues are constant. And the only way to survive is to be resilient.

In response to President Barack Obama’s call to be resilient after the devastating impact of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, activist and lawyer Tracie Washington told Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines: “Stop calling me resilient…. Because every time you say, ‘Oh, they’re resilient,’ that means you can do something else to me. I am not resilient.”

Maria Kaika at the University of Manchester picked up on that discussion:

“If we took Tracie Washington’s objection seriously, we would stop focusing on how to make citizens more resilient ‘no matter what stresses they encounter,’ as this would only mean that they can take more suffering, deprivation or environmental degradation in the future … focus instead on [trying] to change these factors.…”

Today, we are launching Don’t Call Me Resilient, a new podcast about race and racism in which we discuss solutions in the way Washington and Kaika are suggesting. We take listeners deep into conversations with scholars and activists who view the world through an anti-racist lens.

We explore these critical issues — from dealing with the pain of racism, to inequity in our schools, to Indigenous land rights — in a way that is intimate, authentic and at times, uncomfortable. Instead of calling those who’ve survived the pain of systemic racism “resilient,” this podcast goes in search of solutions for those things no one should have to be resilient for.

A woman stands at a police barrier on the street. Two white police offers in the background.
Vinita Srivastava, host of ‘Don’t Call Me Resilient’ has been a journalist for over 20 years: here she is reporting from New York City, in the mid-‘90s. Author provided

In our trailer, I refer to myself as Sister Killjoy: I first read this term in Ama Ata Aidoo’s novel, Our Sister Killjoy.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts

The first episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient went live on Feb. 3, 2021. You can listen to all of the episodes or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. We’d love to hear from you, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #DontCallMeResilient.

Season 1: Race 101

Season 1 Trailer: Don’t Call Me Resilient Don’t Call Me Resilient is a provocative new podcast about race from The Conversation. Host Vinita Srivastava takes you deep into conversations with scholars and activists who view the world, its problems, and the way forward through an anti-racist lens. Instead of calling those who have survived the pain of systemic racism “resilient,” this podcast goes in search of solutions for the things no one should have to be resilient for.

EP 1: What’s in a word? How to confront 150 years of racial stereotypes We keep hearing stories about white and non-Black people – including academics – somehow thinking it’s ok to use the n-word. Ryerson University Professor Cheryl Thompson, author of ‘Uncle: Race, Nostalgia and the Politics of Loyalty,’ joins us to discuss how North American society spent the last 150 years creating racist stereotypes and language, how they continue to persist today – and what we might do to help stop it.

EP 2: How to deal with the pain of racism – and become a better advocate A global protest movement calling for an end to racism and police brutality sparked new conversations about race. But it also surfaced a lot of pain for those who deal daily with racism. Where do we go from here? The writer, activist and Zen priest Reverend angel Kyodo williams speaks about the pain of racism, and how she uses meditation to combat it – and become a stronger anti-racist activist in America today.

EP 3: How to spark change within our unequal education system Even before COVID-19, education experts were sounding the alarm about the future of racialized children in our schools. And the COVID-19 pandemic has only underscored – even deepened – the divide. Carl James, professor of education at York University and Kulsoom Anwer, a high school teacher who works out of one of Toronto’s most marginalized neighborhoods, Jane and Finch, join us to discuss the injustices and inequalities in the education system – and the way forward.

EP 4: How we treat migrant workers who put food on our tables Documentary filmmaker and OCAD University associate professor Min Sook Lee has been documenting the voices of migrant farm workers in Canada for two decades. What she has to say about how these workers have been treated during COVID-19 shatters any remaining myths about “Canada the Good.” How do we treat the workers that put food on our tables?

EP 5: Black health matters When COVID-19 first appeared, some said it was the great equalizer. But the facts quickly revealed a grim reality: COVID-19 disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, poor and racialized communities. Roberta K. Timothy, assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, joins us to talk about her global research project, Black Health Matters, and why racial justice is a public health matter.

EP 6: Indigenous land defenders Two Indigenous land defenders join us to explain why they work to protect land against invasive development and why their work is necessary for everyone’s survival. Ellen Gabriel, a human rights activist and artist well known for her role as a spokesperson during the 1990 Oka crisis, and Anne Spice, a professor at Ryerson University, discuss the importance and urgency of defending land.

Season 2

EP 7: How stories about alternate worlds can help us imagine a better future: Don’t Call Me Resilient Stories are a powerful tool to resist oppressive situations. They give writers from marginalized communities a way to imagine alternate realities, and to critique the one we live in. In this episode, Vinita speaks to two storytellers who offer up wonderous “otherworlds” for Indigenous and Black people. Selwyn Seyfu Hinds is an L.A-based screenwriter who wrote for Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone and is currently writing the screenplay for Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black. Daniel Heath Justice is professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous literature and expressive culture at the University of British Columbia.

EP 8: Stolen identities: What does it mean to be Indigenous? Over the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of high-profile figures accused of falsely claiming Indigenous identity, of being “Pretendians.” These cases have become big news stories, but they have big real-life consequences, too. Misidentifying as Indigenous can have financial and social consequences, with the misdirection of funds, jobs or grants meant for Indigenous peoples. Vinita delves into it all with two researchers who look at identity and belonging in Indigenous communities: Veldon Coburn from the University of Ottawa and Celeste Pedri-Spade from Queen’s University.

EP 9: Model minority blues: The mental health consequences of being a model citizen The pandemic has taken a toll on our collective mental health. But according to a recent Statistics Canada report, South Asians reported a steeper decline than any other diaspora in Canada. Why? The idea of being a model minority — of having to live up to exacting high standards — is a big part of it. Two long-time researchers and activists join Vinita for an intimate conversation about that and other reasons why South Asians are struggling so badly, and what can be done about it. Maneet Chahal is co-founder of SOCH, one of the few mental health organizations specifically for South Asians. Satwinder Bains is the director of the South Asian Studies Institute and professor of social cultural media studies at the University of the Fraser Valley.

EP 10: Being Watched: How surveillance amplifies racist policing and threatens the right to protest Many of us know our personal data is being collected online and used against us – to get us to buy certain things or vote a certain way. But for marginalized communities, the collection of data and photos has much bigger implications. Vinita is joined by two researchers who are calling for new protections for the most vulnerable populations. Yuan Stevens is the Policy Lead in the Technology, Cybersecurity and Democracy Programme at the Ryerson Leadership Lab and Wendy Hui Kyong Chun is professor and Canada 150 Research Chair in new media at Simon Fraser University.

EP 11: Why pollution is as much about colonialism as chemicals. The state of our environment just keeps getting scarier and scarier, yet it feels like we have yet to find a way forward. Two Indigenous scholars who run labs to address the climate crisis say bringing an Indigenous understanding to environmental justice could help us get unstuck. A big part of that is seeing pollution through a new lens – one that acknowledges it is as much about racism and colonialism as it is toxic chemicals. Vinita talks to Michelle Murphy, Professor and Canada Research Chair in science and technology studies and leader at the University of Toronto’s Environmental Data Justice Lab. Also joining is Max Liboiron, author of Pollution is Colonialism, and associate professor in geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

EP 12: Making our food fairer One out of every eight households in Canada is food insecure. For racialized Canadians, that number is higher – two to three times the national average. In this episode, Vinita asks what is happening with our food systems, and what we can do to make them fairer with two women who have been tackling this issue for years. Melana Roberts is Chair of Food Secure Canada and one of the leaders behind Canada’s first Black food sovereignty plan. Also joining the conversation is Tabitha Robin Martens, assistant professor at UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems. Martens researches Indigenous food sovereignty and works with Cree communities to bolster traditional land uses.

Bonus EP 13 Will Smith’s Oscar slap reveals fault lines as he defends Jada Pinkett against Chris Rock In this special edition, we chat with Cheryl Thompson, professor of performance about how “the slap heard around the world” is part of a layered story of racism, sexism, power and performance.

Season 3: Refusal and resistance

EP 14: Unmarked graves of 215 Indigenous children were found in Kamloops a year ago: What’s happened since? It’s been a year since the unmarked graves of 215 Indigenous children— some of them as young as three years old—were found on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. In this episode, Vinita speaks to Veldon Coburn, assistant professor at the Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies at the University of Ottawa about what happened, the widespread grief and outcry and the immediate political response, but also, how none of that lasted despite communities continuing to find bodies. Joining Vinita on the episode is Haley Lewis, Don’t Call Me Resilient producer and culture and society editor at The Conversation Canada. Lewis is mixed Kanyen'keha:ká from Tyendinaga and led our coverage of the findings last year.

EP 15 Niqab bans boost hate crimes against Muslims and legalize Islamophobia Last year, as a Muslim Canadian family took their evening stroll during the lockdown in London, Ont., a white man rammed his pickup truck into them. Four of the five family members were killed. The incident sparked horror and outrage. But the truth is, anti-Muslim sentiment has been on the steady rise in the 20 years since 9/11. According to a report from July 2021 by the National Council of Canadian Muslims, more Muslims have been killed in Canada in targeted attacks and hate crimes than in any other G7 country. Our guest today says that instead of deterring anti-Muslim hate, Canadian laws are actually making it worse - in essence, legalizing Islamophobia. Natasha Bakht is an award-winning legal scholar who has spent the past five years researching the rise in anti-Muslim attitudes in North America. She is a professor in the faculty of law at the University of Ottawa and the author of In Your Face: Law, Justice, and Niqab Wearing Women in Canada.

EP 16 TikTok is more than just a frivolous app for lip-synching and dancing
TikTok started off as a platform to create musical, lip-syncing and dance videos. And right now, it’s not just popular, it’s the most downloaded app in the world. It’s not just fun and games though: TikTok has also become a platform to learn and expose yourself to new ideas. As TikTok is helping its users build strong communities, it’s also important to explore how the app’s algorithm is treating marginalized folks and their stories.

EP 17: Diamond mines are not a girl’s best friend When you think diamonds, you probably think of romance, weddings and Valentine’s Day. And it’s no accident we think this way: A century of marketing has convinced us that diamonds symbolize love. In Canada, glossy magazine ads celebrate the “purity” of Northern Canadian diamonds as an ethical alternative to conflict diamonds. And Canada has become the third-largest diamond producer in the world. But this marketing strategy hides enormous social problems that people living near the mines say they’ve experienced. This includes some of Canada’s highest rates of violence against women. The story our guests tell today is not one of numbers. Instead, they’re sharing narratives gathered and collected through interviews and sharing circles about how lives have changed after the mines opened. Our guests today are: Rebecca Hall, assistant professor of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University and the author of Refracted Economies: Diamond Mining and Social Reproduction in the North and Della Green, former Victim Services Coordinator, at The Native Women’s Association of the Northwest Territories

EP 18 Why you shouldn’t be afraid of Critical Race Theory Today we explore how applying critical race theory in classrooms across Canada helps both students and teachers. Teresa Fowler, assistant professor of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton joins us. So does Dwayne Brown, a PhD student in Education at York University, and a grade seven teacher with the Toronto District School Board. Both Brown and Fowler use critical race theory in their classrooms every day, and say that it helps them to see and evaluate their own biases—while also making students feel truly included in their own education.

EP 19 The powerful sounds of protest amplify voices of resistance How can a convo about marginalized voices and soundscapes of resistance amplify voices of resistance? How do sonic media practitioners use the practice of field recording as a form of protest and resistance.

EP 20 Has the meaning behind the Canadian flag changed? As we approach Canada Day — and the prospect of the return of “freedom” protests in Ottawa — let’s consider the meaning and symbolism of the Canadian flag. After weeks of the so-called freedom convoy last winter, many of us took a hard look at the symbolism of the Canadian flag and its recent association with white supremacy. Some felt a new fear or anger at what they feel the flag represents. But other communities have always felt this way about the Canadian flag. Other movements like Resistance150, Idle No More, Pride and Black Lives Matter have also raised awareness about challenges to Canadian nationalism and belonging. Both of our guests have studied multiculturalism, citizenship and belonging. Daniel McNeil looks at history and culture and the complexities of global Black communities. He is a professor and Queen’s National Scholar Chair in Black Studies at Queen’s University. Lucy El-Sherif is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto in ethnic and pluralism studies.

Bonus EP 21: About the Queen, the Crown’s crimes and how to talk about the unmourned In the middle of the tremendous outpouring of love and grief for the Queen and the monarchy she represented, not everyone wants to take a moment of silence. And there are a lot of reasons why.

Season 4: Challenges and hope

EP 22 The unfairness of the climate crisis Western industries and governments have refused to accept responsibility for climate change despite being the main drivers of it. Meanwhile, the Global South and Black and Indigenous communities globally have continued to bear the brunt of its impact. As world leaders gather in Egypt for COP27 — the United Nations Climate Change Conference — will this inequity finally be addressed? Join Vinita and Yvonne Su, Assistant Professor in the Department of Equity Studies at York University, to discuss our responsibilities towards those worst affected by climate change.

EP 23 Why isn’t anyone talking about who gets long COVID? Long COVID has been called a mass-disabling event. It hits one in every five people, and hits Black and Latinx women especially hard. Vinita dives into why that is - and why we’re not talking about it - with Margot Gage Witvliet, who has insights into long COVID both as a Black woman who has been suffering the effects of it, and as a social epidemiologist who studies it. Margot is an assistant professor at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. She has presented her long COVID findings to the United States Task Force on equity and COVID and runs an online support and advocacy group for BIPOC women living with long COVID.

EP 24 How to decolonize journalism For decades, Canadian media have covered Indigenous communities with a heavy reliance on stereotypes - casting Indigenous peoples as victims or warriors. This deep-seated bias in the news can have unsettling consequences for both how a community perceives itself as well as how others perceive them. Award-winning Anishinaabe journalist and longtime CBC reporter Duncan McCue is trying to change that both in the classroom and in the newsroom. He joins Vinita to talk about what Canadian media could be doing better.

EP 25: Why corporate diversity statements are backfiring Companies have amped up their rhetoric about equity and inclusion, many churning out diversity statements. But Vinita’s guest today says their promises to promote anti-racist cultures without action plans can lead to greater blocks to success for racialized employees. Sonia Kang is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Management at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management - and one of Canada’s leading experts on identity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

EP 26 How can we slow down youth gun violence? In 2007, 15-year-old Jordan Manners became the first student to be shot and killed inside a Toronto school. Since then, youth violence hasn’t let up in Canada’s largest city. In fact, it’s getting worse. Devon Jones and Ardavan Eizadirad say it’s a major problem that needs a more holistic approach. Ardavan is an assistant professor in the Department of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University who studies the root causes of gun violence. He and Devon run Y.A.A.C.E. –a community organization started by Devon that tackles the root causes of youth gun violence in Toronto. They join Vinita to talk about what has been going wrong and how to get it right.

EP 27 What’s so funny about race? A lot of comedians we know and love put race, ethnicity and cultural stereotypes at the centre of their comedy. This gives us - the audience - reason to laugh…and a way to release some of the tensions around race. Where is the line between a lighthearted joke and deep-rooted racism? And how far is too far? Vinita gets into it with Faiza Hirji, Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Media Arts at McMaster University and stand-up comedian Andrea Jin. They look at how comedy can be an easier way to talk about difficult issues,, and at how we can find a way to laugh with each other, rather than at each other.

Season 5

EP 28 Roxham Road: Asylum seekers won’t just get turned back, they’ll get forced underground Before the Safe Third Country Agreement, which was signed in 2002, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., both countries could reject asylum seekers at official border crossings. But there was a small loophole that provided a slim window for people desperately looking for a way into Canada. People who crossed at unofficial border crossings could still claim asylum. In this episode, migration expert Christina Clark-Kazak explains the devastating consequences of last week’s meeting between United States President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The meeting resulted in significant changes to a cross-border agreement and has already impacted the lives of thousands of asylum seekers attempting to make a life in Canada.

EP 29 The Vatican just renounced a 500-year-old doctrine that justified colonial land theft … Now what? The Vatican finally distanced itself from the Doctrine of Discovery — a hundreds of years old decree that justified land theft and enslavement of people who were not Christian. In this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, political and Indigenous studies scholar Veldon Coburn explains why the Vatican’s repudiation of the Doctrine is a huge symbolic victory. We also examine what this repudiation may mean for members of Indigenous Nations, what prompted this renouncement, and what still needs to happen.

EP 30 Fast Fashion: Why garment workers’ lives are still in danger 10 years after Rana Plaza Ten years ago this month, much attention turned to the global garment industry when a group of garment factories collapsed at Rana Plaza near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The accident, called a “mass industrial homicide” by unions in Bangladesh, killed 1,124 people and injured at least 2,500 more. Most of the people who went to work that day were young women, almost all were supporting families with their wages and all were at the bottom of the global production chain. This week on Don’t Call Me Resilient, we look back at the Rana Plaza disaster to explore how much — or how little — has changed for garment worker conditions since.

EP 31 Will the brilliance of Netflix’s ‘Beef’ be lost in the shadow of a sexual assault controversy? Beef is a dark comedy series created by Lee Sung Jin. It follows two L.A. strangers, courageously played by Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who get into a road rage incident — and end up in an escalating feud. But over the weekend, a Twitter storm erupted after a podcast episode featuring supporting actor David Choe resurfaced. In the 2014 podcast, Choe vividly relays a sexual assault story where he is the perpetrator. Choe has apologized since and has also said the story was made up. This week on Don’t Call Me Resilient, Michelle Cho, an assistant professor of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto and Bianca Mabute-Louie, a PhD student in Sociology at Rice University; join Vinita to explore the advances Beef has made in television, the limits of those advancements and ask whether the brilliance of Beef will be overshadowed by Choe’s controversial history.

EP 32 What the Crown Jewels tell us about exploitation and the quest for reparations Much of what was called the British Empire was built from stolen riches — globally — and much of that was from India. In fact, India was such an abundant contributor to the Crown that at the time of its occupation of South Asia, Britain called India the Jewel in its Crown. India was called this because of its location — easy access to the silk route, but mostly because of its vast human and natural resources: things like cotton, and tea and of course its abundance of jewels. Joining Vinita to explore the history and meaning behind these jewels is Annie St. John-Stark, assistant professor of British history at Thompson Rivers University and Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra, instructor of history at both the University of the Fraser Valley and the University of British Columbia.

EP 33 Will a UN resolution to commemorate the expulsion of Palestinians from their lands change the narrative? Seventy-six years ago, starting on May 15, Palestinians were driven off their land. This event is what Palestinians have come to refer to as the Nakba. In Arabic, Nakba means catastrophe. The UN’s recent resolution to recognize Nakba Day on May 15, to mark the anniversary of the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in 1948, helps to acknowledge past traumas but does the resolution have other implications? On this week’s episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, we meet up with M. Muhannad Ayyash, professor of sociology at Mount Royal University in Calgary to help unpack some of the meanings behind this resolution.

EP 34 More than 60 per cent of incarcerated women are mothers Mother’s Day is just a few days away. It can be a complicated day. For some, it could mean a bouquet of flowers or a breakfast in bed. For others, it can mean mourning the loss of a loved one or dealing with a haunted past. And still — for others — like the 66 per cent of incarcerated women in prison who are mothers, it can mean something else entirely. On this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, we are joined by Rai Reece, professor at Toronto Metropolitan University who researches prisons and feminist criminology. Lorraine Pinnock also joins us. She is the Ontario Coordinator for the Walls to Bridges program which helps women with education when transitioning out of the system.

EP 35 Decolonize your garden: This long weekend, dig into the complicated roots of gardening The May long weekend is the unofficial start of summer. And for those of you with home gardens or access to community space, this is the weekend to dust off your gardening tools and visit the garden centre for the growing season ahead. As we approach the start of gardening season, it’s good time to ask some questions about its origins. In this episode we explore the complicated roots of the garden, including who gets to garden. We also discuss practical tips about what to plant with an eye to Indigenous knowledge. We speak with researcher Jacqueline L. Scott and also chat with community activist, Carolynne Crawley, who leads workshops that integrate Indigenous teachings into practice.

EP 36 A 5th generation New Yorker traces her family history and finds the roots of anti-Asian violence – and Asian resistance Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming artfully explores themes of exclusion as it relates to all Chinese Americans. These themes resonate personally for the author Ava Chin, with her father a “crown prince” of Chinatown that she didn’t meet until adulthood. Chin reveals personal family stories against the backdrop of the U.S. eugenics movement and draws a connecting line between the current rise in violence against Asians in North America and anti-immigration laws more than 100 years old. In this episode, author and CUNY professor Ava Chin, a 5th generation Chinese New Yorker, discusses her new book.

EP 37 Trans scholar and activist explains why trans rights are under attack Lately we’ve seen an aggressive push to implement anti-trans legislation across the United States. What do things look like in Canada? Are we a safe haven or are we following some of the same trends? Recently, a petition signed by over 160,000 people asked the Canadian government to extend asylum to trans and gender non-conforming people from nations in the West, previously considered safe. To get a better understanding of trans histories in Canada, we are joined by Syrus Marcus Ware, an artist, activist and assistant professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University. He is a co-curator of Blockorama/Blackness Yes! and a co-editor of Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada.

EP 38 Indian PM Modi is expected to get a rockstar welcome in the U.S. How much is the diaspora fuelling him? On June 22, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first official state visit to the United States. And if his visits to Australia last month, to Canada in 2015 and to Texas in 2019 were any indication, he was given a rockstar welcome. U.S. President Joe Biden had already joked that he wanted Modi’s autograph because so many people want to see the Indian PM while he’s in the United States. In this episode, Anjali Arondekar, professor of feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz joins the podcast to answer important questions about Modi’s support. We are asking how important is that diaspora? With India having one of the highest remittance rates in the world, how much does overseas support contribute to Modi’s popularity and success? And what kind of an impact could a progressive element of that diaspora have on Indian politics?

EP 39 Why preserving Indigenous languages is so critical to culture Language is much more than a way to communicate with words. This is especially true if you have had your language forcibly removed from you, like the thousands of Indigenous children who survived Canada’s colonial assimilation project. Languages hold within them philosophies, worldviews, culture and identity. As we look ahead to National Indigenous Peoples Day, guest host Prof. Veldon Coburn speaks with Prof. Frank Deer, Canada Research Chair and associate dean of Indigenous Education at the University of Manitoba to tackle the issue of disappearing Indigenous languages and delve into how much more needs to be done to revitalize them and why doing so is critical.

EP 40 Widespread use of Ozempic for weight loss could change how we view fatness It seems like everywhere you look these days, on TikTok, on the sides of buses, in news headlines, you see Ozempic, the drug originally created as a diabetes treatment, but now being used as a weight-loss method. While Ozempic may just be the next in a long line of get-thin-quick fads, it’s already causing a lot of issues, many of which are especially felt by racialized communities. As the use of Ozempic, a drug for diabetes, slams into the mainstream as a weight-loss method, Fat and disability studies professor Fady Shanouda, who examines anti-fat bias in medicine looks into the drug’s use impact our concept of fatness, how fatness intersects with race and class and how the craze for Ozempic deepen racial and class disparities?

EP 41 Indiana Jones’s last ride: A legacy to celebrate or bury? As the Indiana Jones series comes to an end, we explore Indy’s complicated legacy — and his famous line: “it belongs in a museum.” Will Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny reflect the changes in anthropology departments and the growing movements from Indigenous and Global South communities to return stolen objects and ancestors from western museums? Will it consider that Eurocentric notions of what holds heritage has finally expanded beyond the artifact? Historian Christopher Heaney professor of Latin American History at Penn State University joins Vinita to unpack everything Indiana Jones.

Season 6

EP 42 Inside the search for the unmarked graves of children lost to Indian Residential Schools More than 150,000 Indigenous children from across Canada were forced to attend Indian Residential Schools. And as we know, many never made it home.Now, there are ongoing efforts to find the final resting places of those missing children.As we approach the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we take you inside the ongoing quest to document the children who died in Canada’s Indian Residential Schools system. On this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, we speak to Terri Cardinal, director of Indigenous initiatives at MacEwan University, about the work she did to uncover the unmarked graves of those who died at the Blue Quills Residential School in Alberta.

EP 43 Why are brown and Black people supporting the far right? But at last week’s GOP primary presidential debates, three of the seven people on stage were candidates of colour. Racialized citizens also have been drawn to far-right politics, including key players in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol and recent racist attacks. Which begs the question: Why are racialized people upholding white supremacist ideologies that work against them? Daniel Martinez HoSang, a professor of Ethnicity, Race and Migration and American Studies at Yale University, has been exploring this question for a long time. He is the author with Joseph Lowndes of Producers, Parasites, Patriots, Race, and the New Right Wing Politics of Precarity. HoSang sat down with us to discuss what they call the politics of multicultural white supremacy.

EP 44 Detangling the roots and health risks of hair relaxers For decades, Black women have been using hair relaxers to help them “fit into” global mainstream workplaces and the European standards of beauty that continue to dominate them. More recently, research has linked these relaxers to cancer and reproductive health issues — and a spate of lawsuits across the United States, and at least one in Canada, have been brought by Black women against the makers of these relaxants. In this reflective and personal episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, Prof. Cheryl Thompson of Toronto Metropolitan University and author of Beauty in a Box untangles the wending history of hair relaxers for Black women — and the health risks now linked to them.

EP 45 How corporate landlords are eroding affordable housing — and prioritizing profits over human rights One factor driving the housing crisis across the country is a shift away from publicly built housing toward large corporate-owned buildings where, as today’s guest Prof. Nemoy Lewis puts it, “housing is treated as a commodity, not a human right.” For many people living in Canada, housing has emerged as one of the most challenging issues. This is especially true in our largest cities, where financial stress plagues many households. Today’s guest, Prof. Nemoy Lewis from the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University, discusses the disproportionate impacts these corporate landlords are having on Black and low-income communities — in income-polarized cities that are increasingly accessible to only a small group of wealthy people.

EP 46 Why the Israel-Gaza conflict is so hard to talk about It’s hard to escape the horrific images coming out of the Middle East. And it’s excruciating to take it all in. Many of us have been left with a feeling of helplessness as we watch in horror. For others, this witnessing has brought personal anguish, especially for those with ties to the region. On Don’t Call Me Resilient, our two guests today - Natalie Rothman, a professor of historical and cultural studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough who grew up in Israel and Norma Rantisi, professor of geography and urban planning at Concordia University who has done work in the region and has family in the West Bank - both say our institutions need to make room for a true dialogue. One where decolonization is not a bad word. They say a contextual, historical analysis is crucial to moving forward — both at home and abroad.

EP 47 How journalists tell Buffy Sainte-Marie’s story matters — explained by a ’60s Scoop survivor Last week, a CBC investigation accused Buffy Sainte-Marie, the legendary singer-songwriter, of lying about her Indigenous roots. Sainte-Marie had already come out on social media ahead of the story and explained she had been claimed by the Piapot Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan. And from earlier conversations on the Don’t Call Me Resilient podcast as well as articles written by expert scholars about so-called “pretendians” — those faking an Indigenous identity — I knew kinship ties were maybe even more important than genealogy tests when it comes to establishing Indigeneity. Lori Campbell, a ’60s Scoop survivor and a VP at the University of Regina, challenges the CBC’s motives in their exposé on the questionable Indigenous roots of Buffy Sainte-Marie, legendary singer-songwriter.

EP 48 State of Georgia using extreme legal measures to quell ‘Cop City’ dissenters Earlier this week, nearly five dozen people appeared in a courtroom near Atlanta to answer criminal racketeering and domestic terrorism charges brought against them by the state. The charges are related to what’s commonly known as “Cop City,” a $90-million paramilitary police and firefighter training facility planned for 85 acres of forest near Atlanta. Georgia prosecutors are calling the demonstrators “militant anarchists.” But many of those charged say they were simply attending a rally or a concert in support of the Stop Cop City movement. In this episode, we speak with Kamau Franklin, a long-time community organizer and the founder of Community Movement Builders. Also joining us is Zohra Ahmed, assistant professor of law at the University of Georgia. A former public defender in New York, she, too, has been watching this case closely.

EP 49 Palestine was never a ‘land without a people’ 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. 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. 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. Our guests on this episode have been working on a film about the importance of preserving Palestinian agriculture and food in exile. Elizabeth Vibert, a professor of colonial history at University of Victoria and Salam Guenette is the consulting producer and cultural and language translator for their documentary project.

EP 50 The potential of psychedelics to heal our racial traumas 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 Transplant, a Syrian Canadian doctor experiencing trauma is treated by his psychiatrist with psilocybin therapy. On a more official front, the Canadian Senate recommended the federal government fast-track a research program into how psychedelics can help veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD covers a range of issues, including racial trauma, which is the conversation Vinita has with Clinical psychologist and professor Monnica Williams.

EP 51 Why are school-aged boys so attracted to hateful ideologies? Anecdotally, and in polls conducted by Angus Reid and the Girl Guides of Canada, 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 the rise in far-right ideologies globally has impacted school-age students.Teresa Fowler of Concordia University of Edmonton and Lance McCready of University of Toronto look at the current rise of white supremacy and how that rise has filtered down into the attitudes of school-aged boys.

EP 52 Dear politicians: To solve our food bank crisis, curb corporate greed and implement a basic income 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. According to the stats, the number of people using food banks has doubled since last year and one in 10 people now rely on food banks in Toronto. Our guest on this episode is Elaine Power, professor of health studies at Queen’s University and co-author of The Case for Basic Income: Freedom, Security, Justice. 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.

EP 53 ‘American Fiction’ is a scathing satire that challenges pop-culture stereotypes of Blackness The lead character of the new movie American Fiction 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. 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.

Season 6 credits: Vinita Srivastava is the host and executive producer. Our associate producer and audience development consultant is Ateqah Khaki. Our associate producer is Danielle Piper. Our assistant producer is Kikachi Memeh. Rehmatullah Sheikh is our sound editor. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Theme music: Zaki Ibrahim, Something in the Water.

Season 5 credits: Vinita Srivastava is the host and executive producer. Our Associate Porducer and audience development consultant is Ateqah Khaki. Our assistant producer is Kikachi Memeh. Rehmatullah Sheikh is our sound editor. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Theme music: Zaki Ibrahim, Something in the Water.

Season 4 credits: Vinita Srivastava is the host and executive producer. Our associate producer is Dannielle Piper. Our assistant producer is Rithika Shenoy. Rehmatullah Sheikh is our sound editor. Our audience development consultant is Ateqah Khaki. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Theme music: Zaki Ibrahim, Something in the Water.

Season 3 credits: Vinita Srivastava is the host and producer. Our coproducer and audio editor is Lygia Navarro. Reza Daya is our sound designer. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Vaishanavi Dandekar is an assistant proudcer. Lisa Varano is our audience development editor and Scott White is the CEO of The Conversation Canada. Theme music: Zaki Ibrahim, Something in the Water.

Season 2 credits: Vinita Srivastava is the host and producer. Our coproducer is Susana Ferreira. Our associate producer is Ibrahim Daair. Reza Dahya is our sound producer. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Lisa Varano is our audience development editor and Scott White is the CEO of The Conversation Canada. Theme music: Zaki Ibrahim, Something in the Water.

Season 1 credits: Our coproducer is Nahid Buie. Assistant producers are: Ibrahim Daair, Anowa Quarcoo, Latifa Abdin. Sound engineer: Reza Dahya. Audience development: Lisa Varano. Theme music by Zaki Ibrahim. Logo by Zoe Jazz. Our CEO is Scott White. Jennifer Moroz is our consulting producer. Launch team: Imriel Morgan/Content is Queen.

Don’t Call Me Resilient is a production of The Conversation Canada. This podcast was produced with a grant for Journalism Innovation from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

This is a corrected version of story originally published on Jan. 27. 2021. The earlier story said Tracie Washington’s words came in response to a post-Katrina environment strategy for the city of New Orleans. Instead, they were said in response to President Obama’s call for resilience after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

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