We need to talk about whiteness podcast

Ep 24: Whiteness and anti-Asian hate - Christine Liwag Dixon is a Filipino American writer and musician, and the Content Director of Samahan, an online multimedia platform dedicated to connecting Filipinos across the globe. She’s a columnist at the Filipino Star News and the author of a poetry collection, titled “From These Islands I Rise.” She joins me to discuss rising anti-Asian racism, the hyper-sexualisation of East and South-East Asian women and whiteness in the family.

Ep 23: Whiteness and how to talk about it - Eugene Ellis is the founder and director of the Black, African and Asian Therapy Network, the UK's largest independent organisation working therapeutically with Black, Africa, Caribbean and South Asian people. In this episode, we discuss his new book “The race conversation: an essential guide to creating life changing dialogue”, the challenges in talking about race and how to find your voice.

Episode 22: Whiteness and motherhood - Prof Elizabeth McRae is an American historian and the author of award winning book “Mothers of Massive Resistance: White Women and the Politics of White Supremacy” which explores - among other things – how motherhood has been wielded in the service of white supremacy. In this episode, we examine gender and racism - what role have women played in upholding racial segregation in America, are white liberals 'exempt' from racism, and can motherly care act as a cover for enforcing racial boundaries?

Ep 21: Whiteness and culture wars – Prof Barnor Hesse is Associate Professor of African American Studies, Political Science, and Sociology at Northwestern University (USA) and a man who has found himself at the centre of the “culture wars” after a list of 8 white identities he’d devised became headline news, leading to a campaign of intimidation and hate, which has included threats against his life. So what are the 'culture wars' really about, why are they so virulent, and what can we learn from his list of white identities?

Ep 20: Whiteness and denial - Dr Gauthier Marchais is a French Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, at the University of Sussex, where he works on social transformation in contexts of violent conflict. He is the author of ‘Le Deni Blanc: Penser autrement la question raciale’ aka White Denial: How to think differently about the question of race, published in January 2021 in French and soon to be published in English under the title “Leaving the White House”.

Ep 19: Whiteness and UK BLM - Dr Adam Elliott-Cooper is an organiser with UK BLM and a researcher in Applied Sociology at the University of Greenwich, whose research focuses on policing and anti-racism. In this episode, we explore the relationship between Britishness and whiteness, UK BLM and the campaign to defund the police.

Episode 18: Whiteness and publishing – Sudanese-Australian writer and award-winning social advocate, Yassmin Abdel-Magied is the author of 3 books, including her latest "Listen Layla" (2021). She was one of the 2020 LinkedIn Changemakers, and is a globally sought-after advisor on issues of social justice, focused on the intersections of race, gender and faith. In this episode, we unpick the whiteness Yassmin has encountered in the world of publishing, whether fiction authors should write from the perspective of someone with a completely different life experience, and the importance of hearing your own stories.

Episode 17: Whiteness and feminism – Ruby Hamad’s first book tackles the power of white tears – how have white women wielded their innocence against women of colour and how has that ‘innocence’ been used to buttress white supremacy? The Washington Post described it as “a stunning and thorough look at White womanhood that should be required reading for anyone.” WHITE TEARS/BROWN SCARS traces the role that White Womanhood and feminism have played in the development of Western power structures and was inspired by her 2018 Guardian article ‘How White Women Use Strategic Tears to Silence Women of Colour’ which became a global flashpoint for discussions of race and gender. In this episode, we explore white feminism, the limits of feminist solidarity and the weaponisation of tears.

ep16: Whiteness and the Decolonise Britain movement - Dr Foluke Ifejola Adebisi is a Senior Lecturer at the Law School, University of Bristol where her scholarship focuses on decolonial thought in legal education. In recognition of her work, in October 2018, Foluke was included in the Bristol BAME Powerlist 2018 - A list of Bristol's 100 most inspiring people from BAME backgrounds. She is also the founder of Forever Africa Conference and Events (FACE), a Pan-African interdisciplinary conference hosted in Bristol. In this episode, she joins Dr Myriam Francois to explain the relationship between whiteness and decoloniality - is decolonising Britain part of challenging whiteness? And if so, what does that actually mean?

ep15: Whiteness and France - Internationally acclaimed French journalist, writer, and award-winning filmmaker Rokhaya Diallo is a pioneer in French media. The author of multiple books including "Racism : a guide" (2011), À Nous la France (France is ours/2012), and How to Speak to Kids About Laïcité, her most recent books "France: Either You Love it or You Shut it" is a response to her experiences in the media over her career. In this episode, she joins Dr Myriam Francois to unpick the relationship between France and whiteness - is there another way to think about frenchness?