The Conversation

By BBC World ServiceSociety & Culture

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The Conversation episodes

March 01, 2021 Women digging for answers from the ancient past
Can our modern-day gender biases influence our understanding of the past? Kim Chakanetsa meets two archaeologists to talk about the risks of projecting our own assumptions onto the ancient world.
Dr Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson is a senior researcher in the department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Uppsala University in Sweden. She’s also one of the lead investigators on the Viking Phenomenon research project and she’s been studying a grave found in Sweden in the 19th century, which contained the remains of a high-ranking Viking warrior. For more than 100 years this person was assumed to be male. But when Charlotte and her team carried out a DNA test on the bones, they found out they belong to an individual who was biologically female. Her discovery shook the academic world.
Dr Sarah Murray is assistant professor at the University of Toronto and she specializes in the material culture and institutions of early Greece. She thinks we should re-consider the way we look at women’s participation in the social and economic structure of Ancient Greece. She recently published a paper dispelling the myth of the so-called Dipylon Master, a pottery artist who has been credited with creating very distinct funerary vases between 760 and 735 BC. Based on her studies, Sarah believes it’s more likely that a group of women were behind these artefacts.
Produced by Alice Gioia.
IMAGE DETAILS
Left: Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson (credit Linda Koffman)
Right: Sarah Murray (credit Kat Alexakis)
28 min
February 22, 2021 The women who protect nature
Kim Chakanetsa meets two environmental champions fighting to save South America's most precious ecosystems.
Kris Tompkins is the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation. Kris and her late husband, Doug Tompkins, have been instrumental in the creation of 13 national parks in Chile and Argentina, conserving over 14 million acres of land.
Dr Dolors Armenteras is one of the world’s leading scientists on forest fires. Originally from Spain, she now works with the National University of Colombia. She spent the last 20 years fighting to save the country’s Amazon forest, and against misogyny in science.
Produced by Alice Gioia.
IMAGE DETAILS
Left: Dolors Armenteras (credit Tania M. Gonzalez)
Right: Kris Tompkins (credit James Q. Martin)
28 min
February 15, 2021 Women writing true crime
Women are big fans of true crime stories… from books, to films, podcasts and TV programmes. Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women who've made their name reporting on true crime.
Connie Walker is a Canadian journalist whose award-winning true crime podcast series, Missing and Murdered, examines violence and discrimination against women and girls from Indigenous communities. She is Cree and uses the mystery, and twists and turns of true crime to help educate people about Indigenous history.
While Tanya Farber was covering the trial of a man who murdered his family she realised that this kind of crime got a lot of attention, as did trials involving women killers. She wrote Blood on Her Hands: South Africa’s Most Notorious Female Killers.
They talk about what sparks this fascination when by far the majority of victims and perpetrators of crime are men.
Produced by Jane Thurlow
IMAGE DETAILS
Left: Tanya Farber (courtesy Tanya Farber)
Right: Connie Walker (courtesy Connie Walker)
28 min
February 08, 2021 Intimacy on screen
Whether it’s a stroke of a cheek or a sex scene, filming intimate content for movies and TV is a delicate business. When badly handled, it can even cause the actors harm. Kim Chakanetsa talks to an Indian movie director and to a pioneering intimacy coordinator about ensuring actors feel safe on set while filming simulated sex scenes. Also: has the #MeToo movement fuelled a demand for better boundaries, and how is the industry responding?
Ita O'Brien is a British movement director and intimacy coordinator for film, TV and theatre. She worked on the set of I May Destroy You, Normal People, Gentleman Jack and Sex Education. She has developed the 'Intimacy on Set' guidelines for those working with intimacy, scenes with sexual content and nudity.
Alankrita Shrivastava is an Indian screenwriter and director. Her 2017 movie, Lipstick Under My Burkha, was initially banned in India for containing 'contagious sexual scenes'. She explains the challenges of shooting sex scenes in Bollywood, where nudity isn't allowed, and how to put women's desire at the centre of the narrative.
Produced by Sarah Kendal and Alice Gioia for the BBC World Service.
IMAGE DETAILS
Left: Alankrita Shrivastava (credit Komal Gandhi)
Right: Ita O'Brien (credit Nic Dawkes)
28 min
February 01, 2021 Selling Sunset: How I find homes for the rich and famous
The business of selling multi-million dollar homes: Kim Chakanetsa speaks to two women working in Dubai and LA's competitive real estate markets about what it takes to make it.
Amanza Smith is a real estate agent and interior designer. She's part of the team featured in the reality TV show Selling Sunset - a real estate agency for eye-popping high-end residential properties in Los Angeles. She says that while growing up poor 'sucks at the time', it's helped make her determined not to fail and has given her an ability to work really hard at everything she does.
Lebanese born Zeina Khoury lives in Dubai and is the CEO of High Mark Real Estate Brokers, a specialist luxury property sales and management company in the United Arab Emirates. The agency buys and sells exclusive properties, including opulent apartments in the Versace Palazzo Dubai, for clients based around the world.
Producer: Jane Thurlow
(Photo: (L) Zeina Khoury (courtesy Zeina Khoury. (R): Amanza Smith. Credit Michael Bezjian/Getty Images)
27 min
January 25, 2021 Choosing to be childfree
When a woman chooses not to have children, why is it still seen as a radical decision? Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women about their stories and the stigma associated with their choice to be childfree.
Doreen Akiyo Yomoah is a writer and blogs at Childfree African. Born in Accra, Ghana, she has lived in the US, Japan and Senegal and she is currently based in Geneva, Switzerland. She chose not to have kids in her early 20s and she thinks being childfree is part of a wider discussion about reproductive rights and feminism.
Nina Steele is the founder and editor of Nonparents.com. She is originally from the Ivory Coast and she is now based in the UK. When she discovered she couldn't have children, she decided to stay childfree. She says her website has become a resource for African childless and childfree women and men alike.
Produced by Alice Gioia.
IMAGE
L: Doreen Akiyo Yomoah (Credit: Lamine Bouan)
R: Nina Steele (Courtesy of Nina Steele)
28 min
January 18, 2021 Record-breaking runners
Two of the most decorated female sprinters on the planet, from the US and Jamaica, talk to Kim Chakanetsa about smashing records, the impact of pregnancy, and calling out sex discrimination in their sport.
Allyson Felix is an American sprinter who one year after giving birth to a premature baby, beat Usain Bolt’s record for winning the most world championship gold medals. After Allyson exposed her sponsor Nike for asking her to take a 70% pay cut on a new deal post-pregnancy, the brand changed its policy on pregnant athletes.
Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has won more 100m world titles than any other athlete in history, male or female. After taking a break from athletics to have a child, she became the world's fastest woman for the fourth time in 2019, bagging two gold medals at Doha.
Both athletes are aiming to add to their medal tally at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Produced by Jane Thurlow
IMAGE DETAILS
Left: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (credit Will Twort)
Right: Allyson Felix (credit Wes Felix)
27 min
January 11, 2021 The secrets of sewers
Flushing the toilet: an act that most of us carelessly perform several times a day, but that for 4.2 billion people in the world is still a luxury. Kim Chakanetsa talks to two pioneering engineers about the crucial role wastewater management plays in society, including how sewers can help in the fight against Covid-19.
Dina Gillespie is an area operations manager with Thames Water, the UK’s largest water and wastewater company. She is passionate about turning sludge into energy and about the history of London’s impressive sewerage system, which was built in the 19th century to cope with cholera outbreaks. She also discusses the risks fatbergs pose to our lives, and why we should all be more careful about what we flush down the toilet.
Birguy Lamizana-Diallo is the UN Environment Programme Officer in charge of wastewater management in West Africa. She studied the impact septic tanks and open-air latrines have on the environment and on the life of the community in her home country, Burkina Faso. After more than 20 years working in the private and public sector, she now coordinates training programmes to raise awareness of the environmental costs and the health and safety aspect of managing wastewater.
Produced by Alice Gioia
IMAGE
L: Birguy Lamizana-Diallo
R: Dina Gillespie
28 min
January 04, 2021 How to be happy
With so much happening that’s out of our control, what can we do to be happier, calmer and more content? Kim Chakanetsa gets tips and advice from South Korea and Denmark.
In her book The Power of Nunchi, Euny Hong writes about what she calls a South Korean ‘super power’. She says we could all live happier lives by developing this knowledge of how to 'read' a room or someone else's feelings and that we'd all get along better if we learned to listen more.
Denmark is considered to be one of the happiest countries in the world. The author of Happy as a Dane, Malene Rydahl believes there are aspects of their culture that we can all use to improve our chances of happiness. She has advice and tips on how we can all learn to be a little more Danish in our outlook and be happier as a result.
Produced by Jane Thurlow
IMAGE
L: Euny Hong (courtesy Euny Hong)
R: Malene Rydahl (credit malenerydahl.com)
28 min
December 28, 2020 Cheerleading: So much more than shaking pompoms
Pom Poms, short skirts, and chanting: this is what we think is cheerleading. Despite the physical demands of competitive cheerleading it isn’t officially recognised by some sports bodies. Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women who are challenging perceptions.
Gabi Butler is an American cheerleader who was the star of the Netflix documentary series, Cheer. Her athleticism, flexibility and considerable social media presence has made her a 'cheerlebrity'. Yet posting online since she was a teen has meant being a target for inappropriate comments. She has won the cheerleading world championships twice and says "if someone says, 'Winning isn't everything' they're lying."
Lilian Obieze is the founder of Lagos Nigeria Cheer and is on a mission to popularise cheerleading all over the African continent. In Nigeria she has had to change perceptions that cheerleading "is just about twerking." She started cheerleading programmes in schools 10 years ago, and since then has grown the programme from an entertainment sport to a competitive one. Her dream is for her athletes to compete internationally.
Produced by Jane Thurlow and Sarah Kendall
IMAGE DETAILS
Left: Lilian Obieze (credit Mtphotoz)
Right: Gabi Butler (courtesy Gabi Butler)
28 min