Tilling The Soil

In this season finale, Erin and Amber reflect on the season and discuss the triumphs and difficulties of producing a podcast. They also give an update on the Wallace grain elevator court case and Erin say her final goodbyes to Tilling the Soil.

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Erin, Noura and Dy’Monn complete their Down by the River tour. They conclude with their reflections on the impact that the broader issues of structural violence and environmental racism has on community members of the River Parishes.

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Erin and fellow Whitney Plantation staffers, Noura and Dy’Monn, leave the office to go on the Louisiana Bucket Brigade’s Down by the River environmental justice tour. Led by Bike Ride Manager, Sheila Tahir, and The Descendants Project co-founder and community representative, Jo Banner, the tour starts in Dimond, LA, and visits several sites that embody the impact of petrochemical plants in the region. 

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Erin and Amber are joined by Dr. Joy Banner who is co-founder of The Descendants Project with her twin sister, Jo Banner. In their conversation, Dr. Banner and Erin talk about The Descendants Project's current initiatives and review their ongoing fight against the construction of a grain elevator in Wallace, LA. Dr. Banner also discusses her childhood memories and familial knowledge that shaped her perception of the environment.

Check out episode 7 of season one to learn more about The Descendants Project.

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Erin and Amber are joined by Joycelyn M. Davis, the Community Engagement Officer for Africatown C.H.E.S.S.. In this interview, Davis discusses the re-discovery and legacy of the Clotilda, the last documented ship known to transport enslaved Africans to the United States. Davis also shares the various initiatives that she and other descendants of the Clotilda are undertaking to preserve the history and fight for environmental justice in Africatown, AL.

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Erin and Amber are joined by New Orleans native and chef, Toya Boudy. In their conversation, Chef Boudy discusses her self-reflexive cookbook, Cooking for the Culture, and how food can be the nexus for healing, healthfulness and identity. Boudy also explores the importance food plays for representation in media.

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Erin and Amber are joined by author of Racial Indigestion and professor of English and Gender and Women’s Studies, Dr. Kyla Wazana Tompkins. In their discussion, they explore the politics of eating, how eating culture has contributed to the construction of race in the United States and the environmental implication of slavery and agribusiness.

Explicit language warning.

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Erin and Amber are joined by Dr. J. Brent Morris to discuss his newest book, Dismal Freedom, and his research on the various maroons communities in North Carolina and Virginia’s Great Dismal Swamps. Dr. Morris also shares the difficulties associated with studying maroons in the United States and illuminates what maroons can tell contemporary people about the definition of freedom.

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Amber Mitchell introduces her new co-host, Erin Hardnett, and they discuss the theme of the upcoming season of Tilling the Soil: the environment and African-descended people. In this introductory conversation, they reflect on the way that the environment acts as a site of memory, joy, and conflict in African American history. They also share moments in their lives that have shaped the way they conceive of race and the environment in the United States.

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In this season wrap-up, Amber and Dr. Joy speak with Whitney Plantation's Director of Research Dr. Ibrahima Seck about the site's connections to West and Central Africa, how the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade is remembered on the continent, his journey as an African historian of slavery, and memorial work that is still needed at Whitney Plantation.

Visit The Louisiana Slavery Database

Purchase Dr. Seck's book on the history of Whitney Plantation, Bouki Fait Gombo.

Purchase Gwendolyn Midlo Hall's book, Africans in Colonial Louisiana.

Check out the work of New Orleans artist B. Mike and Studio Be.

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