Below the Radar

On this episode, our Program Assistant Paige Smith sits down with Teresa MacInnes, one of the directors behind the documentary Conviction. Conviction is a powerful documentary that gives an inside look into what life is like for women in a provincial and federal prison in Nova Scotia. This film asks the women what they would have needed to prevent them from getting into prison. The result of this collaboration with the women in the prison shows another side of these women: products of a broken system, but with care and compassion, they have a chance at a happier life.

You can learn more about Conviction by visiting their website, https://convictiondocumentary.com. Be sure to also stay tuned for the premiere of Conviction on CBC’s Documentary Channel, beginning December 1, 2019!

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/30-teresa-macinnes.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/30-teresa-macinnes.html

Bio:

Over the last 30 years, Teresa MacInnes’ films have tackled some of the most crucial social justice issues of our time. Her passion and balanced approach to producing and directing have engaged television audiences around the world. She has won numerous awards and her films have screened at top festivals, including Hot Docs, VIFF, IDFA, the New York Film Festival and Thessaloniki. In 2015, her NFB documentary Buying Sex was named one of the top ten feminist films streaming on US Netflix by Ms. magazine. Her credits include Mabel (NFB, 2016, director), Trek of the Titans (CBC, 2014, director), Norm (CBC, 2009, producer, director, editor), Teaching Peace in a Time of War (CTV, 2004, director), Waging Peace: A Year in the Life of Caledonia Junior High (NFB/CTV, 2001 director), Lost (NFB/CBC, 2000, director, editor), The Other Side of the Picture (NFB/CBC, 1998, director) and Under Wraps (NFB, 1998, producer, director).

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Smith, Paige. “Build Communities Not Prisons — with Teresa MacInnes.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, November 12, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/30-teresa-macinnes.html.

In this episode, the founder of the Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week Joleen Mitton sits down with host Am Johal to discuss how and why she started the fashion show. They touch upon Joleen’s experiences as a teenage model and Indigenous youth mentor, along with her previous collaborations with critically acclaimed Indigenous artist Beau Dick.

This year's Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week runs from Nov. 18-21, 2019 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Please visit their website for information and tickets: http://vifw.webflow.io/

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/29-joleen-mitton.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/29-joleen-mitton.html

Bio:

Joleen Mitton, East Vancouver born and bred, is no less proud of her Plains Cree, Blackfoot heritage. She began modeling at age 15 when a Vancouver talent scouts pulled her out of a crowd of people at the PNE. She feels extremely fortunate to have succeeded in her career as a model. She has a large portfolio created while traveling to exotic locations, working in a variety of mediums and meeting incredible people from across the globe. Joleen's passion for sport, art, fashion and design and social justice has lead her to focus on producing Aboriginal Fashion Shows and Basketball Tournaments across the city. Joleen has succeeded in raising awareness for local indigenous fashion and the Native Basketball community by hosting tournaments and producing fashion shows in Vancouver. She recognizes art and sport have a massive power in transforming and connecting people to their communities. She is dedicated to improving the lives of people in her community, working intimately with a number of local non profits, putting her PR, marketing, social media and producing skills to good use. Joleen works with the Aboriginal Urban Butterflies Day Camp, a program for children in foster care, and the Mentor Me program which is for Native girl's aging out of foster care, and manages and plays on All My Relations women's basketball team.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week — with Joleen Mitton.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, November 4, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/29-joleen-mitton.html.

On this episode of Below the Radar, our Communications Coordinator Rachel Wong sits down with Maria Cecilia Saba to talk about Andean horror films. Maria Cecilia currently is the Teen Programs Coordinator at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, but previously she worked as the Interim Program Coordinator for our office. We talk to Maria Cecilia about what got her interested in researching two Peruvian-Andean horror films for her Master’s thesis, what her personal experience with horror films are, and how she came to understand the viewing of horror films as a visceral journey and cathartic experience.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/28-maria-cecilia-saba.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/28-maria-cecilia-saba.html

Bio:

Maria Cecilia Saba is a Peruvian media artist, programmer and researcher who currently lives in the unceded and ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil Waututh First Nations. Before coming to Vancouver, she worked as a documentary film instructor at the University of Lima and earned a diploma in Arts & Cultural Management from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. She completed the MA program in Comparative Media Arts at Simon Fraser University, where she focused her research on Peruvian Andean horror films. In October 2015 she curated and produced the Andean Horror Film Fest in Vancouver. She has worked at the Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth, SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement. She currently works at Emily Carr University and the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival (VLAFF).

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Wong, Rachel. “On Andean Horror: The monster always represents the fear we repress — with Maria Cecilia Saba.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, October 28, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/28-maria-cecilia-saba.html.

Seth Klein, adjunct professor at SFU Urban Studies, and former Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in BC, sits down with Below the Radar to discuss what the Canadian government can do to combat the climate emergency. Seth discusses the proposed environmental policies of the major political parties running in the upcoming federal elections. Additionally, he chats about his forthcoming book which examines political actions the Canadian government undertook in reaction to World War Two, and how we may learn from these actions in regards to addressing climate change.

You can keep up to date with Seth’s writings on his blog here: https://sethklein.ca/blog/

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/27-seth-klein.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/27-seth-klein.html

Bio:

Seth Klein served for 22 years (1996-2018) as the founding British Columbia Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a public policy research institute committed to social, economic and environmental justice. He is now a freelance researcher, writer, consultant and speaker, and an adjunct professor with Simon Fraser University’s Urban Studies program. He is currently writing a book on mobilizing Canadian for the climate emergency. Seth is a founder and served for eight years as co-chair of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, a network of over 50 community organizations in BC campaigning for a comprehensive poverty reduction plan in BC. He is a founder and served for 10 years on the advisory committee of the Metro Vancouver Living Wage for Families campaign (and was co-creator of the methodology for calculating the living family wage, now used in about three dozen Canadian communities). He is an advisory board member for the Columbia Institute’s Centre for Civic Governance and is a founder, advisor and instructor for Next Up, a leadership program for young people committed to social and environmental justice. Seth’s research deals primarily with climate policy and climate justice, fiscal policy, taxation, welfare policy, poverty, inequality, economic security, and job creation. His research reports can be found on the CCPA’s website; and his policy commentary can be found primarily on the CCPA-BC’s blog.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “The Climate Emergency and Political Action — with Seth Klein” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, October 14, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/27-seth-klein.html

What are the similarities and differences between Nationalism and Patriotism? Simon Fraser University professor Jerry Zaslove and graduate student Nermin Gogalic discuss this question through the lens of personal identity and political transformation as seen in the former state of Yugoslavia. This in depth and easygoing conversation between our guests and host Am Johal explores the topic from a number of different academic thinker’s perspectives, digging deep to identify the core components of each ideology.

Jerry and Nermin also had a public conversation at the Vancouver Institute for Social Research in Spring 2019 entitled “Transition and Identity in the Post-Yugoslav Environment”, which you can listen to here:

https://player.fm/series/visr-vancouver-institute-of-social-research/nermin-gogalic-in-conversation-with-jerry-zaslove-transition-and-identity-in-the-post-yugoslav-environment

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/26-jerry-zaslove-nermin-gogalic.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/26-jerry-zaslove-nermin-gogalic.html

Bio:

SFU Professor Emeritus Jerry Zaslove is a teacher and writer who studied Comparative Literature at Western Reserve University and the University of Washington. Since 1965 at Simon Fraser University he has taught Literature and Humanities, influenced but not limited by the traditions of the relationship of social radicalisms and the arts, the worlds of psychoanalysis and aesthetics. He is the Founding Director of the Institute for the Humanities and has published numerous essays and monographs on the subjects he loves and teaches. Currently Simons Fellow in Graduate Liberal Studies. A volume of his collected essays Untimely Passages: Dossiers from the Other Shore, 1965–2015 is in preparation.

Nermin Gogalic is a Vancouver based writer from Rijeka (Croatia) with a special interest in identity politics and the city. He is currently a student in Graduate Liberal Studies at Simon Fraser University.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “On Patriotism and Nationalism — with Jerry Zaslove & Nermin Gogalic” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, September 30, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/26-jerry-zaslove-nermin-gogalic.html

Climate change is a very real issue that we as a society are grappling with. But interestingly enough, climate change denial is particularly strong in the Anglosphere — in English speaking countries. Indian author Amitav Ghosh found the link between movement, the English language, and climate change to be quite interesting, and that is the focus of his book The Great Derangement. This episode features Amitav in conversation with our host Am Johal and special guest host Olive Dempsey from the podcast Big Bright Dark. Amitav Ghosh was in Vancouver for a public talk at SFU as part of their 30th Anniversary of SFU's Vancouver campus, the Indian Summer Festival and SFU Public Square. You can watch an archived version of Amitav's talk on our Knowledge Mobilization A/V Gallery here: https://www.sfu.ca/sfuwoodwards/community-engagement/audio-video-gallery.html

You can learn more about Amitav Ghosh and his book The Great Derangement at his website, https://amitavghosh.com.

You can learn more about the podcast Big Bright Dark by visiting their website at https://bigbrightdark.org/.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/25-amitav-ghosh.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/25-amitav-ghosh-olive-dempsey.html

Bio:

Amitav Ghosh is one of the world’s top South Asian literary stars. He was born in Calcutta and grew up in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He studied in Delhi, Oxford and Alexandria and is the author of The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, In An Antique Land, Dancing in Cambodia, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, and The Ibis Trilogy, consisting of Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and Flood of Fire. His most recent book, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, a work of non-fiction, appeared in 2016. The Great Derangement was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2016 and was given the inaugural Utah Award for the Environmental Humanities in 2018. Ghosh’s most recent novel, Gun Island, is due to be published in 2019., Olive Dempsey co-hosts the podcast Big Bright Dark, which explores the questions we face, the fears that haunt us and the possibilities that rise before us in this time of great human and planetary uncertainty all while exploring how these things might be reasons to create, to be in community, to be honest and vulnerable, to find the bright spots, and become wiser versions of ourselves in the process.

Olive Dempsey co-hosts the podcast Big Bright Dark, which explores the questions we face, the fears that haunt us and the possibilities that rise before us in this time of great human and planetary uncertainty all while exploring how these things might be reasons to create, to be in community, to be honest and vulnerable, to find the bright spots, and become wiser versions of ourselves in the process.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “The Great Derangement — with Amitav Ghosh & Olive Dempsey” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, September 16, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/25-amitav-ghosh.html

There’s no denying that we are currently in a housing crisis. Regardless of whether you are a homeowner or a renter, the housing market is in a constant state of flux, making it difficult for people to find adequate and affordable housing for themselves. In this episode, we talk to Architects for Social Housing about housing and a potential solution: socialist architecture. Architects for Social Housing co-founders Geraldine Dening and Simon Elmer join host Am Johal to discuss the pillars of socialist architecture, housing as human rights, and why this is the way forward out of our housing situation.

Between mid-July and mid-August, Architects for Social Housing hosted four public workshops at Pollyanna Library and drafted a manuscript for a forthcoming publication.

You can learn more about Architects for Social Housing and the work they do at https://architectsforsocialhousing.co.uk/. As well, you can check out the current research they are doing as part of their fellowship with 221A by going to https://221a.ca/fellows.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/24-architects-for-social-housing.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/24-architects-for-social-housing.html

Bio:

Architects for Social Housing (ASH) is a Community Interest Company from London, England, that organizes working collectives for individual projects. Their unifying principle is that refurbishing and increasing the housing capacity on London’s council estates, rather than demolishing and redeveloping them as properties for market sale, is a more sustainable solution to the housing needs of London’s communities. The founding members are Geraldine Dening and Simon Elmer. Between mid-July and mid-August 2019, Architects for Social Housing hosted four public workshops at Pollyanna Library and drafted a manuscript for a forthcoming publication as part of a research fellowship with 221A.

Cite this episode:

Chicago style

Johal, Am. “Building Socialist Architecture — with Architects for Social Housing” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, July 3, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/24-architects-for-social-housing.html

In the current neoliberal world order, is it possible for authoritarianism to return? When we look to the founding of Germany in 1949, a decision was made to follow the logic of ordoliberalism: to firmly regulate the state through the market so as to prevent a return of fascism and authoritarianism. However, according to Samir Gandesha, the opposite effect happened. In this episode, Samir and our host Am Johal discuss the ‘neoliberal identity’, what contributes to it, and how this impacts our current political world order.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/23-samir-gandesha.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/23-samir-gandesha.html

Bio:

Samir Gandesha is the director of the Institute for the Humanities at SFU and an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities. He specializes in modern European thought and culture, with a particular emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Recently, Samir has written about authoritarianism and the neoliberal personality, along with other theoretical work. Samir is the editor of the forthcoming publication, 'Spectres of Fascism' in 2020 with Pluto Press; co-editor with Peyman Vahabzadeh of the publication 'Crossing Borders: Essays in Honour of Ian Angus', forthcoming from Arbeiter Ring Press in 2020; and is also preparing a manuscript on the 'Neoliberal Personality'. You can learn more about Samir and the Institute for the Humanities at https://www.sfu.ca/humanities-institute.html.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “Understanding the neoliberal personality — with Samir Gandesha” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, August 19, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/23-samir-gandesha.html

There has been a lot of talk of how Canada is currently in a ‘climate emergency’. At the same time, the federal government’s purchase of the Trans Mountain Pipeline means that the expansion project will begin very soon. How does the construction of this pipeline impact the current state of our climate emergency, and what does this say about our governments’ priorities? Our host Am Johal talks to Kai Nagata of Dogwood BC about the implications of this expansion and how this shifts Dogwood BC’s efforts in holding our elected officials accountable.

The goal of the Dogwood is to build a grassroots base of engaged citizens ready to take action outside of the existing political party system. You can learn more about Dogwood BC at https://dogwoodbc.ca.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/22-kai-nagata.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/22-kai-nagata.html

Bio:

Kai Nagata is a fourth-generation British Columbian whose roots are in the Shuswap, Gulf Islands, and Lower Mainland. His last name translates roughly to “everlasting rice paddy,” which was probably a lot to hope for in feudal Japan. In his spare time he enjoys archery, camping, fishing and hunting. As a journalist he covered an all-out mafia war, the rise of the Orange Wave, and a blind British lute virtuoso’s quest to set a world record jumping motorcycles. He held positions at CBC and CTV, and his writing appears in the Toronto Star, the Tyee, DeSmog Canada, the Vancouver Sun and elsewhere. He moved into digital content and strategy in 2012 and has advised candidates or elected officials across the political spectrum, as well as clients in advocacy, education, First Nations government and the private sector. Kai is committed to building democracy through nonpartisan citizen engagement. He believes in fact-driven debates and speaking truth to power. He currently is the Communications Director for Dogwood BC.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “Working through a climate emergency — with Kai Nagata” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, August 6, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/22-kai-nagata.html

Democracy is a term that’s been used, misunderstood, and taken for granted by many — so what does democracy really mean? Am Johal sits down with activist and filmmaker Astra Taylor to explore how people interpret ‘democracy’ and how we can better understand it. Astra is the director behind the film What is Democracy?, a documentary that tackles this question, alongside celebrated theorists and a diverse cast of folks from different walks of life. Together, they try to understand who gets to participate in democracy and what that means for our society from a place of curiosity and a search for deeper meaning.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/21-astra-taylor.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/21-astra-taylor.html

Learn more about the film and Astra’s newly-released book, “Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone”: https://www.whatisdemocracy.info/.

Bio:

Astra Taylor is a filmmaker, writer, and political organizer. She is the director of the philosophical documentaries What Is Democracy?, Examined Life (TIFF 2008), and Zizek! (TIFF 2005); the author of the American Book Award winner The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age; and a co-founder of the Debt Collective. She has written for The New York Times, The London Review of Books, The Guardian, The Walrus, The Baffler, n+1, and many other outlets. She is a Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow and a former touring member of the band Neutral Milk Hotel. Her new book, Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone, will be out from Metropolitan Books in early 2019.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “Do we really know what democracy is? — with Astra Taylor” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, July 22, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/21-astra-taylor.html