The Lost Souls Podcast

EP 03: Lost in Activism - Am I an Activist?


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Moving communities forward, through social justice grounded work, is absolutely necessary to create a more equitable and just world.  Access to information about movement building and social justice work is becoming more readily available and many generations of people are starting to be more open to social justice work.  With the movement of normalizing activism work, there comes the question - am I an activist?


Ntxawm Lauj, one of my best friends, and I talk about how we were lost in activism when we started our journey with social justice work.  We both started 6-7 years ago at our undergraduate school and have seen each other go through moments of feeling lost, depressed, anxious, and happiness because of our involvement with activism.  We are very hesitant to say that we are activist because it means something different to everyone - but we are committed to doing work grounded in social justice.  

We are definitely not professionals but we are also definitely not the same folks we were 6-7 years ago.  We have changed immensely and so has our approaches and views on activism.  Listen as we share our stories and experiences about being lost in activism.  

If you're a lost soul, you're not alone!  Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at @thelostsoulspodcast.  Ask your questions and share your stories at [email protected].  Spill your soul on our website, share your stories, thoughts, or comments and stay anonymous (https://aggisoul.wixsite.com/thelostsoulspodcast/spill-your-soul).  

Don't worry, we are all lost souls, no matter how successful we are in life.

Show Notes:

  • 00:20 - Introduction 
  • 01:36 - Hello Ntxawm Lauj (NL)!
  • 02:36 - What did activism look like to you when you first started?  How did you first start? 
  • 03:40 - NL: Activism in teenage years - inequities in Hmong community 
  • 06:47 - Aggi: Critical Race Theory (CRT) was a catalyst for my activism
  • 07:43 - Access to social just resources has grown immensely 
  • 13:45 - The Monolithic Activist - is there only one way to be an activist? 
  • 17:00 - Confident activist on the outside, but scared as hell on the inside 
  • 22:50 - Elitism & Hierarchy (EH) in Activism 
  • 24:90 - EH: Egos in Activist Realm
  • 28:04 - EH: Losing Friendships
  • 29:26 - Are their people who get to determine if someone is an activist? 
  • 30:34 - Westernized Activism 
  • 34:30 - Newsflash: Activism didn't start here in the USA 
  • 37:20 - Activism knowledge is purposely housed in academia 
  • 39:19 - Push to make knowledge even more accessible 
  • 40:37 - You can't mobilize people without addressing the importance of healing 
  • 42:05 - Activist can make mistakes 
  • 44:00 - Moving forward when lost in activism 
  • 45:43 - The beauty of being lost in activism 
  • 46:13 - Healthy Activism - is it possible? 
  • 48:52 - NL: One word of advice you wish to tell your younger activist self
  • 51:39 - Fire Question Round - Finding Home
  • 54:55 - Closing
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    The Lost Souls PodcastBy Aggi

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