We need to talk about whiteness podcast

ep 44: Whiteness is a dangerous idea - Robert P. Baird is a freelance writer and editor, who has held editorial positions at The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Esquire, and Harper’s Magazine, and has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. His recent Guardian Long Read titled: “The invention of whiteness: the long history of a dangerous idea” delves into the history and more recent understandings of whiteness and how the term's growing usage hasn't always yielded the results many white liberals had hoped. He joins me to talk whiteness as religion, how whiteness has evolved, and whether there is such a thing as 'detoxified' white identity.

*TRIGGER WARNING: Some of the language in this episode may be upsetting to some listeners.

Ep 43: Whiteness and the police – Paul Wilson was one of the UK’s longest serving and most senior black police officers. From helping establish the Black Police Association, heavily influencing the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, discussing critical issues with a Home Secretary, a Prime Minister, and an American President, Paul has been at the heart of British policing at a time of intense scrutiny over its commitment to racial equality. Now retired, Paul’s memoir “Rocking the Boat: A Superintendent's 30 Year Career Fighting institutional racism” has been described as “a challenging read” by Trevor Hall CBE, the retired Race Equality Advisor to the Home Office, and “an important wake-up call in the Black Lives Matter era” by Lord Brian Paddick, the former Deputy Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police. He joins me to discuss his experiences within the MET, his efforts at challenging racism and how much has changed since he first joined.

Ep 42: Whiteness and schools - Do our schools teach whiteness? What exactly should be taught in "Black History Month"? And does our educational system have a white supremacy problem...? To discuss this and more is a man who bridges the academic and activist world. Dr Ornette D. Clennon is a Professor at the Federal University of Amazon (UFAM) whose research focuses on themes of decolonial community and liberation psychology. His most recent book explores the 'invisible' impact whiteness has on the lived 'black' experience in the UK. He joins me to unpack how whiteness is being taught to our kids.

Ep 41: Whiteness and fashion - What's the relationship between fast fashion and colonialism? What happens to my old clothes? And who is really paying the price for my fashion fix? Aja Barber is an American writer, personal stylist and style consultant whose recently published first book “Consumed: colonialism, climate change and consumerism” is an expose of the industry she was long a part of, and a rallying call to us all to change the ways in which we consume.

ep40: Whiteness and belonging - Born in Nairobi, raised in London and Norway, writer and presenter Nazneen Khan joins me to explore identity, belonging and why she decided to tell a new, different version of the history of London - the subject of her recent book - to pay homage to the many who despite making up the capital's life and soul, are so often erased from its story.

Ep 39: Whiteness and healthcare – What is the colonial legacy in healthcare? How does modern medicine replicate historically forged patterns of domination? And why are we all so “inflamed”?

Rupa Marya is an Associate Professor of Medicine at UCSF and faculty director of the Do No Harm Coalition, an organization of over 450 health workers committed to structural change to address health problems. Welcome Dr Marya!

And Raj Patel is a New York Times bestselling author, film-maker and academic. He is a Research Professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin.

Together, one a doctor, the other an economist, they explore the link between health and structural inequality. And crucially, what we can all do about it.

Ep 38: Whiteness and mental health - Guilaine Kinouani is a French critical psychologist, feminist, therapist, equality consultant and award-nominated writer of the blog, RaceReflections.co.uk

Her recent book “Living while black – The essential guide to overcoming racial trauma” draws on her over 15y of experience in psychotherapy and as an anti-racist educator in laying out therapeutic advice on how to understand and counter anti-black racism. It's been described as a "powerful wake up call" (Patrick Vernon). She joins me to talk racism as a public health concern, intergenerational trauma and how medicalised terminology can mask the harm of whiteness in the mental health sphere.

Ep 37: A terrible secret - Alison Croggon is an award-winning novelist, poet, theatre writer, critic and editor living in Melbourne, Australia. Her latest book "Monsters" is a memoir exploring the impact of whiteness within a family when the uncovering of a colonialist heritage evokes anger and denial within an already fraught relationship. It's been described by the Guardian as "an unsparing cultural and self-reckoning". She joins me to talk white guilt, the legacy of empire and confronting one's colonialist past.

Ep 36: Whiteness and psychiatry - Dr. Aruna Khilanani is a forensic psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, whose speech at Yale university, "The Psychopathic Problem of the White Mind", gained global attention after this quote was made public and sensationalised: "I had fantasies of unloading a revolver into the head of any white person that got in my way, burying their body and wiping my bloody hands as I walked away, relatively guiltless with a bounce in my step". She joins me to discuss the fallout, violence in the unconscious mind, and how the media turns victims of racism into aggressors to hide from the reality of whiteness.

Ep 35: Whiteness and sport - Prof Ben Carrington is widely regarded as one the world’s leading scholars on the sociology of race and culture, with a focus on popular culture and sport. He joins me to discuss reactions to England's Euro final defeat, sports as a space to re-imagine identity, and who sets the standard for womanhood when it comes to elite athletes?