Imagine Otherwise by Ideas on Fire

What can popular music teach us about migration and cultural change? How can pleasure and joy help us redefine what it means to be a "serious" intellectual? What might be stimulating or even transformative about the sprawl of Southern California?

In episode 52 of the Imagine Otherwise Podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews podcaster and professor Karen Tongson about music and its relationship to place, the migratory and melodic flows between Manila and Los Angeles, how the Spice Girls can help us understand Adorno and Horkheimer, and the queer and transnational inspiration that Karen draws from her namesake, Karen Carpenter.

Transcript and show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/52-karen-tongson

What role does food play in building sustainable communities? How might cultural traditions challenge us to think differently about the environment and public health interventions? What roles do food activism and culinary entrepreneurship play in social justice work?

In episode 51 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews chef and eco-educator Aileen Suzara about her journey into professional cooking, the familial stories she has uncovered connecting land to community and memory, the important role of Filipino farmers in the sustainability movement and food activism, and how Filipino cooks and farmers across the diaspora are creating some tasty ways to imagine otherwise.

Transcript and show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/51-aileen-suzara

What happens when we bring traditional Indian musical traditions together with electronic music and Riot Grrrl? How do marginalized communities use spiritual practices like tarot to envision other ways of being? How can we harness our multidisciplinary talents to imagine a more equitable world?

In Episode 50 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews scholar and musician Lakshmi Ramgopal about Lakshmi's musical journey through Indian classical Carnatic music, electronica, and Riot Grrrl; her research on what colonial subjects under the Roman Empire can teach us about contemporary geopolitics; using tarot to destabilize what we think we know about our lives; and how she curates art exhibits to imagine more just worlds.

Transcript and show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/50-lakshmi-ramgopal

How can we think about skincare as a way to care for ourselves rather than fixing imperfections? How can we reimagine beauty routines as community building practices? What does it mean to create a company grounded in intersectional feminist principles?

In episode 49 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews Adeline Koh about her journey from tenured English professor to entrepreneur, how she puts her postcolonial feminist training to work at her company Sabbatical Beauty, and the challenges and surprises of settling into a new life as a business owner.

Transcript and show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/49-adeline-koh

How can poetry connect to and grow with a neighborhood? How can cultural workers blend their academic and creative efforts to better serve both their communities and themselves? How might we build more intergenerational community spaces in the places that we live and work?

In episode 48 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, Cathy Hannabach interviews Philadelphia Poet Laureate Yolanda Wisher about poetry as a community engagement practice; blending academic, artistic, and activist experiences in one's everyday work; and how building a world where everyone is able to find and utilize their gifts is key to her way of imagining otherwise.

Transcript and show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/48-yolanda-wisher

How can we better support the work of queer and trans artists of color? How can self-publishing create cultural conversations by and for marginalized people? How can emerging artists best navigate the tension between wanting to get their work out there while also demanding fair pay for their labor?

In Episode 47 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews Nia King about how she came to host the podcast We Want the Airwaves, the racial politics of the publishing industry, how she has put her ethnic studies training to work beyond the academy, and why getting queer and trans artists of color paid fairly for their work is a key part of how she imagines otherwise.

Transcript and show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/47-nia-king

How can Shambhala Buddhist meditation and other body practices help writers manage stress and express their ideas? How might queer hip hop artists and forms provide models for worldmaking? How can Afro-pessimism and Afro-futurism help us to imagine a more conscious world?

In episode 46 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews Shanté Paradigm Smalls about their journey with Shambhala Buddhist meditation; their research on the collision of race, gender, and sexuality in queer hip hop cultures; building a critical practice around embodiment; and how working towards an enlightened society is critical to how they imagine otherwise.

Transcript and show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/46-shante-paradigm-smalls

How do Black art and creativity help imagine new worlds? How does fashion help us think about the intersection of power and desire? What can we do to make space for public scholarship and community engagement in our work?

In episode 45 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, Cathy Hannabach interviews Tanisha C. Ford about her research on the cultural and political dimensions of Black fashion, the state of contemporary critical fashion studies and its possible futures, how creative practice and academic work can inform one another, and why Black art and creative genius are key to her mode of imagining otherwise.

Transcript and show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/45-tanisha-c-ford

What if we got rid of gender or sex classification in public restrooms, sports, college admissions, and government IDs? How does transgender discrimination affect both trans* and cisgender people? How can gender studies scholars bring their expertise to bear in nonprofits, companies, and community organizations?

In episode 44 the Imagine Otherwise, podcast, host Cathy Hannabach and guest Heath Fogg Davis discuss why almost all sex classification is unnecessary, in everything from bathrooms and IDs to sports and education; how the city of Philadelphia is tackling racism and queer and trans justice, how scholars can put their expertise to use in consulting projects beyond the university, and why large-scale structural change is necessary for imagining and creating more just worlds.

Transcript and show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/44-heath-fogg-davis

How can scholar-artists best balance their scholarly and creative endeavors? Can sound media and podcasting make exclusive spaces more accessible? How do the words we use to describe ourselves affect how we and others perceive our work?

In episode 43 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach talks with video artist Marcella Ernest about why complex subjects require complex film techniques, how scholar-artists can use their academic pursuits as inspiration for their creative endeavors and vice versa, imagining and building a different world requires a new relationship between humans, land, and resources.

Transcript and show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/43-marcella-ernest