DECODING RACE, AI, ALGORITHMS & AUTOMATION

The  tech we use  impacts  our  lives. They aren’t neutral objects but can have particular worldviews baked-in to the very operation of them. It can be overwhelming to begin to challenge those cultural biases when a lot of mainstream conversation on technology is wrapped up in speculation and paranoia. How do we make sense of all this? On today’s show we begin to decode some of this with guest producer Dr Sarita Herse in conversation with feminist technoscience Dr Thao Phan. Together they chat through race, AI and algorithms helping us see through the veil of opaque and insidious tech; and ways to co-opt these forms to find meaningful resistance. 

** updated link ** To learn more about the “Study In” that Thao mentioned at the end of their conversation, follow us on socials or submit your expression of interest via the Art+Australia website. 

Learn more about Dr Thao Phan’s work

• 5 Questions on Liminal 

• Listening to Misrecognition - her amazing performance lecture on machine listening and racialised English 

• Read some of her academic work here

  This piece was produced by Sarita Herse, and was co-hosted by Sarita Herse & Shareeka Helaluddin.

 

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On Race Matters we head to Damascus, Syria as we are joined by researcher and creative Mia Shouha, co-founder and director of Souq. In an intimate chat, she shares how artists create in a complex, post-war context and craft through autonomy and imperialism resistance to find magic and connection. Alongside her collaborator Romy Cole-Groth they’ve begun working on a project that elevates the value and dignity of Syrian craft, collecting beauty in a time of crisis. 

To learn more about Souq and how you can support the launch of their first collection Yasmin, head to their socials @souqq__

This piece was produced and edited by Shareeka Helaluddin. Image courtesy of Souq. 

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Content note: this talk will mention Black deaths in custody, policy brutality, grief and mention of torture. These are told from the lived experience of our guest and how this shapes their response to the conversation. In some instances this is described in detail to shed truth, so we ask that you go gently and decide when the time is right for you to listen in.

On today’s show we’re asking: What if our institutions were life-affirming, instead of death-making? This is the question at the heart of abolition, a political tradition that demands the end of prisons, as well as the end of the kind of world that could ever even have something as violent as a prison. Our guest for this week is Latoya Aroha Rule - activist and writer working to ban the use of spithoods in this country who's work explores all this and more. Their journey towards this has been deeply rooted in grief and love as well as the power of creative protests. 

This piece was produced by Sam Haran and hosted by Shareeka Helaluddin. Featuring music by Mo'Ju - Bran Nue Wurld. 

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RADIO SKID ROW X RACE MATTERS SOLIDARITY SYNDICATE

This week we dedicate our airwaves to the trailblazing, radical output of Radio Skid Row 88.9FM. An honor to be joined by Aaliyah-Jade Bradbury - she’s host of Skid Row’s Blak Friday / Koori Connection, and comes from a lineage of radio makers and storytellers at Skid Row and beyond. She’ll be joining us to talk through the power of community radio and how we can continue to support the work that they do. Plus, some tracks curated by Aaliyah! 

SUPPORT RADIO SKID'S ROW 40TH BIRTHDAY 

If you have the means, donate here and continue to signal boost the campaign via social media so they can expand their reach beyond the inner west into digital radio! 

Music: Awa Mbaye - Black Girl Magic 

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Our friends Marina & Xuan at Amplify Bookstore are back for another anti-racist Book Club takeover!

The episode spans works around invisible labour and recovering knowledge systems. In the first half we hear them delve deep into a contemporary fiction by Balli Kaur Jaswal. Mystery meets sharp social commentary with Now You See Us shedding light on the lives of 3 domestic workers in Singapore. The plot thickens as one of their friends gets accused of murder and the rest of them try to figure out if she really did it or not. 

We then hear Xuan and Marina in conversation with Adnyamathanha regenerative farmer, cultural educator and author Damien Coulthard. Hear him chat through what it is to decolonise through food, and the ways in which he cultivates relationships and practices that are preserving knowledge systems and natural resources. 

To find out more about the book and Damien’s work at Warndu, you can catch him in conversation at the Sydney Writers Festival on May 27 as part of two events. “Future Food’ and “The Dinner that Changed My Life’ MORE DETAILS HERE. 

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Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay storyteller from NSW’s North West freshwater plains. Her work has long been dedicated to breathing life into objects and story of the past through song, language revival and she continues to be heavily involved in the teaching and sharing of culture in both her Sydney and Yuwaalaraay communities. Her work spans music, composing, music direction and her debut novel titled Song of the Crocodile was winner of the 2017 Black&Write! Fellowship. She joined us to chat through the expansiveness of her practice and what it is to form connections that collapse the boundaries of colonial time through song, memory and listenting. 

Nardi Simpson will appear at two events at the Sydney Writers Festival including Storytelling Gala: Letters to the Future on May 25 and Women of Another Australia on May 26. More details here. 

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Everyday is a good day to support and buy from Black artists. 

Formerly known as Black Bandcamp - Black Artist Database has a simple premise: to get more Black people paid for their music. It’s a crowdfunded resource of artists, aimed at bringing cultural and material support to the Black community. Alongside artists and DJs; they throw events, skills-building workshops and now have a podcast. It's also a project that seeks to call out the effects of white supremacy on creative access and daily lives; whilst providing an antidote rooted in the vulnerability and expressions of black creativity. 

Hear from Tanya Akinola aka T-N. She's a naarm-based DJ, writer and label manager who has been working alongside B.A.D. She joined us to chat through how she got involved with B.A.D, creating your own systems of creativity, and what it is to act in meaningful solidarity with Black artists. 

This week's show featured tracks by Black and First Nations artists selected by Tanya Akinola including Tygapaw, Dameeela, KMRU, plus unreleased tracks by Claddy World and Niks. To hear the full broadcast head to fbiradio.com/racematters

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What is the balance of curation and community-consultation especially when cultural identities are so fraught and disparate? How can a community-rooted event still serve as an invitation for learning and connection across differences?

These are some of the themes that we explore with our guest this week, Hajer Al-Awsi. Alongside her new role festival director of the inaugural SWANA Film Festival, writer, arts worker and founder of Iraqi Diaspora Creatives Network. She joined Race Matters to chat through the new festival and thoughts behind the curation, as well as delving into the joys and challenges of presenting art of a complex and rich region. 

Catch SWANA Film Fest from April 28- 30, showcasing over 20 films spanning across Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Armenia, and Syria!

SWANA Film Festival is a project of Arts and Cultural Exchange Parramatta and is supported by Screen NSW, City of Parramatta and Arab Theatre Studio.

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On today’s show we’re exploring what it is to continue to tell stories across evolving digital landscapes and the need to teach younger generations to care for, learn and grow alongside Country. That’s done in creative ways with the multimedia, First Nations theatre production Saltbush. It’s a production that follows two friends, discovering and growing an understanding of the land; and how that challenges and provokes their personal journeys - doing this by using painting, dance, sensory cameras and interactive storytelling story-telling. 

Guest host for Race Matters Maleeka Gazula chatted to one of the show’s performers, Luke Currie-Richardson about all of this, as well as what it's been like to be an interdisciplinary storyteller in a show that’s been on stage for over a decade.

Saltbush is on now until April 17 at the Sydney Opera House - get your tickets here. 

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Race Matters were joined by Catherine Madviza, project lead of Codebreakers - an innovative output working alongside young people in Western Sydney to critically engage with social media, carving space to explore their identities, and advocate for social change in creative ways. Alongside its social platforms, Codebreakers in unique in that it has multiple ways of engaging with community and bridging that often-abstract bridge between community and policy-makers. Hear from Catherine on how they create an adaptive online space, and bring value to the creative ouput of young people alongside the challenges they face in making this possible. Plus, tracks selected by the codebreakers crew with some of their favourite Western Sydney artists.  

Submit to their online gallery and be paid for your work! Learn more here. 

Image: Queen of Hearts by Steph Martei part of Season 2 of the Codebreakers online gallery. 

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