Imagine Otherwise by Ideas on Fire

Host Cathy Hannabach interviews podcaster, travel writer, and journalist Amy Lam about the power of feminist podcasting, how histories of race and colonialism shape the ways different women of color approach leisure travel, how to write travel stories that ditch the cis white guy tropes for more political and accessible forms, and why drawing inspiration from her childhood dreams of a more just future is how Amy imagines otherwise.

Transcript and show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/102-amy-lam

Why are interdisciplinary methodologies so important for telling American Indian histories? How does Indigenous documentary filmmaking and television bring scholarly research to broad and diverse audiences? What might Native foodways teach Native and Non-Native folks about political sovereignty?

In episode 101 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews Lumbee historian and documentary filmmaker Malinda Maynor Lowery about how she weaves together family stories with official documents to tell a new history of the Lumbee Nation, using film documentary to expand definitions of what counts as Southern cuisine, the role of food in Indigenous sovereignty movements, and why valuing a world forever in community is how Malinda imagines otherwise.

TRANSCRIPT AND SHOW NOTES: https://ideasonfire.net/101-malinda-maynor-lowery/

This is the 100th episode of Imagine Otherwise! Host Cathy Hannabach reflects on the past 3 years of interviewing artists, filmmakers, chefs, dancers, authors, poets, teachers, scholars, and movement leaders about how they combine art, activism, and academia to build more just worlds.

The episode highlights some of our fans' most talked about and popular episodes. If you're new to the show and this is your first episode, welcome and this is a good overview to get you started. Whether you've been with us from the beginning, the middle, or just started listening, this episode is for you.

TRANSCRIPT AND SHOW NOTES: https://ideasonfire.net/100-cathy-hannabach

How are both our bodies and our creative work haunted by history's ghosts? How does place and historical geography transform the work we do in the classroom? How might poetry and other public intellectual work transform cultural diplomacy?

In episode 99 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews Pushcart Prize–winning poet Kiki Petrosino about the role of the racialized and gendered body in her newest book Witch Wife, how Kiki teaches her students to wrestle with the histories buried in the land they're on, why culture and art are such powerful ways to do public intellectualism, and how building a world full of conversations is how Kiki imagines otherwise.

TRANSCRIPT AND SOW NOTES: https://ideasonfire.net/99-kiki-petrosino/

How can radical librarianship forge solidarity across the university's faculty, students, librarians, and greater community? How does "vocational awe" forestall important critiques about libraries as institutions? What role do frameworks such as critical race theory play in building radical librarian projects that center marginalized voices?

In episode 98 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews librarian Fobazi Ettarh about what it means to be a radical librarian, how vocational awe limits solidarity options in libraries and academia, how progressive archivists and librarians of color are stitching critical race and feminist theory into the very fabric of knowledge repositories, and why demanding the impossible is a crucial way Fobazi imagines otherwise.

TRANSCRIPT AND SHOW NOTES: https://ideasonfire.net/98-fobazi-ettarh/

How can thinking with the sea shifting the foundations of humanities research? How does the ocean challenge terrestrial bias in standpoint epistemologies? What can we learn from the performative and creative possibilities of ocean-based work?

In episode 97 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews professor and scuba diver Melody Jue about how she uses scuba diving as a humanities research methodology and method of interpretation, how scuba offers a less terrestrially biased model of feminist standpoint epistemology, and why Melody turns to kelp and other seaweeds for radical models of hope and climate justice.

TRANSCRIPT AND SHOW NOTES: https://ideasonfire.net/97-melody-jue/

How are Black women artists harnessing texture, transparency, and bafflement to forge forms of belonging beyond the nation? How might the vulnerability of collaboration provide a model for teaching as well as scholarship? How does the concept of amending allow us to reconfigure citizenship and affiliation?

In episode 96 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach talks with artist and scholar Sarah Stefana Smith about how Sarah uses a poetics and politics of bafflement to trace how Black art takes shape across national borders, the pleasures and challenges of artistic collaborations in both the short and the long term, and why troubling easy assumptions about mending and making amends is how Sarah imagines otherwise.

TRANSCRIPT AND SHOW NOTES:https://ideasonfire.net/96-sarah-stefana-smith/

How can we bring socially engaged art into the classroom without losing its community focus? What are the possibilities and limitations of building art spaces beyond traditional institutions? How do the colonial histories of sonic criminalization shape the neighborhoods and lives of contemporary communities of color?

In episode 95 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews artist, writer, and educator Anthony Romero about bringing socially engaged art into the classroom, the politics of building Latinx artist retreats within and beyond institutions, and why intervening in the sonic color line is a key part of how Anthony imagines otherwise.

TRANSCRIPT AND SHOW NOTES: https://ideasonfire.net/95-anthony-romero/

How can writers better translate their work for varied genres and audiences? How are Black and Brown artists challenging the presumed whiteness of particular cities and spaces? What kind of world would be possible if everyone had the time and resources to pursue creative projects?

In episode 94 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews journalist and educator Emilly Prado about the complicated politics of assimilation, how to shift your voice when writing across genres and formats, the ways Latinx DJs are cultivating new music spaces, and why documenting the vibrant Black and Brown arts and activist scenes in Portland is how Emilly imagines otherwise.

TRANSCRIPT & SHOW NOTES: https://ideasonfire.net/94-emilly-prado/

How might the abstraction of aesthetics help us think through the fleshy materiality of race and gender? How would valuing bodily knowledge transform our political, cultural, and economic institutions? How might co-authoring provide a model for ethics in the world?

In episode 93 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews feminist scholar Amber Jamilla Musser about how abstraction and materiality work together in the context of racialized sexuality; why the art/activism/academia braid for Amber really comes down to the politics of embodiment; how to navigate credit, voice, and schedules when co-authoring with another writer; and why valuing and highlighting embodied knowledge is key to how Amber imagines otherwise.

TRANSCRIPT & SHOW NOTES: https://ideasonfire.net/93-amber-jamilla-musser/