Borderscapes

We define dreams as sensations or images passing through the mind of a sleeping person. We oppose dreams to waking reality. The border between the two worlds only dissolves when we fall asleep and wake up.

Somehow music recreates the state of liminal dreaming. When we listen to music, we float somewhere between the waking and sleeping worlds.

Do dreams penetrate our waking life more than we think? How much do we daydream?

Some say that music creates an escape from reality. But doesn't listening to music bring you somewhere that feels more real than our waking reality? If boundaries exist between dreams, reality and the waking world, where do they stand?

Join me in exploring the relationship between music and daydreaming with the musician Cosmo Sheldrake. The artist whose talents spread beyond geographical borders and erase imagined ones. We will also dig into philosophical arguments around dreams and reality, with lecturer in philosophy Doctor Anthony Booth.

Additional Credits:

Songs by Cosmo Sheldrake: Pliocene (1:55), Nightingale Wake up Calls (3:00), Fish (5:30) Owl Song (13:20).

Music "Chillout-Lonley (Pad Meditation)" by Karma Ron at 0:15 and 7:00

From FreeSound

CC BY

Bbc.co.uk – copyright BBC Sound Effects

All copyright reserved - 'Into the infinite unknown', part of the series 'Thalassophile'. Image created by the photographer, videographer and artist Lily Zoumpouli. Check out her work at https://lily-z.com and on Instagram @lily_zoumpouli.

Added information:

The research study published by Harvard University is available here.

Here is a list of podcasts exploring the corners of the night, dreams or consciousness: Nocturne Podcast, An [Etymology] of Dreaming, Beyond the Illusion Podcast.

For millions of women across the world, hair is serious business. In many communities hair is considered by many as a definitive statement about who you are, who you think you are, and who you want to be. Coarse hair in its myriad forms, from the natural to twists and locks, has long been and remains a kind of bounced check on the acquisition of benefits of that same enduring cultural mythology. Like everything else about blacknesss—hair is knotted and gnarled by issues of identity and pride. In this episode of Boarderscapes, host Mpinane Senkhane shares her own experience trying to take care of 4c hair in Euro–centric Brighton and speaks to women from different walks of life across the world about their relationship with their hair and the experience of managing it.

This episode is features personal accounts from Laticia Granduer, Pheladi Sethusa and Tiwalola Odukuya.

Produced and created by Mpinane Senkhane

Additional credits:

Sound effects: African drum sound effect - http://www.theallsounds.com/2017/09/african-drums-sound-effect.html

French city sound effect – BBC Sounds

Burning hair – recorded myself

Image credit – Shutterstock

Much of the world has been brought to a complete standstill as the Coronavirus pandemic continues to spread. The deadly respiratory virus has so far infected over three million with numbers growing every day. To slow the spread and flatten the exponential curve, many of us, most of us have been in or are in some sort of lockdown in our respective countries. This has meant shutting out loved ones, friends and the outside world as we self-isolate.

This episode is a personal look into the lives of three women in different parts of the world during this time. We travel from England to South Africa, to Italy and China to hear their stories of life in self-isolation.

This episode was recorded with the help of Silindile Mhlongo and Mary Valencia. Produced and created by Pheladi Sethusa.

Additional credits:

Sound effects: BBC Sound Effscts

Music: "Helping Hands" by Ketsa, from Free Music Archive, CC by NC-ND "Empty Pavements" by Ketsa, from Free Music Archive, CC by NC-ND

Archive: BBC News and Vox News

In recent times, media attention has been focused on the growing number of black majority churches in the UK. While church attendance in monocultural British churches is on the decline, African churches on the other hand are 'booming'—to paraphrase a photo essay published in the UK Guardian of February 2019 titled "African churches boom in London's backstreets".

The episode describes how Black-majority churches, profiting from migration and the vibrancy of African Christianity, emphasize freedom of worship, social integration and the cultural preservation of migrants.

Sharing the experiences of second-generation migrants and members of the clergy, the episode explores the borders between faith and migration. Rev Israel Olofinjana, an expert on reverse mission provided insights into factors influencing the growth of black churches in the UK while Revd Chris McDermott, the lead chaplain at the University of Sussex spoke on the formation of black churches and their influence on orthodox church practices.

Produced and created by Hannah Ajakaiye

Additional credits:

Church Bells: BBC Sounds

Music: Festival of life 2019 praise session, Youtube.

Fleeing your country to escape persecution or war is not much of a choice, it is survival. Instead of being greeted with empathy, refugees are labelled as burdens on society, if they are let in at all. Ironically, the countries that absorb them are often responsible for the chaos created, naturally bringing about intense feelings of resentment. My guests on the pod aim to erase the stigma attached to those forcibly displaced and recount their traumatic experiences.

Special Guests:

Thura Al-Windawi, former refugee and author of “Thura’s Diary: A Young Girl’s Life in War-Torn Baghdad”

Albie Sachs, former South African constitutional judge

Poem:

W. H. Auden: “Refugee Blues”

Produced by Liam D’souza

Coming on May 21, the anthology series, Borderscapes, explores the real and artificial boundaries surrounding our lives. For some, they are thought of as gateways to our conscious, virtual, and existential selves. For others, they appear as a challenging barrier to be overcome. Our producers profile those directly affected to understand the depth of these borders.

A podcast series about BORDERS. Launching in May 2020, the series will contain a range of innovative and creative documentary, investigative and essay episodes about crossing and maintaining borders and boundaries of all kinds. The concept of borders has been a flashpoint in nearly every major field of interest over the past decade. From the nationalist movements and migration crises of geopolitics, to the Hawking-Hartle state (the 'no-boundary proposal') of astrophysics, to the breakdown of social contract theory in economics evident in the climate crisis and the Extinction Rebellion responses to it, to the limits of atomism and ego-centrism exposed by recent developments in philosophy and psychology, borders seem at times both impossible and persistent.