Where are you really from?

Where are you really from?

By AissataSociety & Culture
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Where are you really from? episodes

  • Rafael is from...
    ... Harlem NY,
    I met Rafael in my living-room, because he was my roommate, lol. Ever since he set a step through the door, he was a part of my life. His obsession with weird movies, his lyric quotes from 90s RNB, and his Marlo Brando style make him a charming and inspiring Charakter.
    We talk about the feeling of being foreign in the county you are from, believe systems and how they shape and change a conversation... and we touch the topic of rice. Rice is good for you! This episode is one for the artsy people. Especially in the second part when Rafa remembers his film university professors and talks about the possibilities that creatives have when they don't belong to the mainstream and instead manage to balance on the rope of the margin.
    (hooks, bell: Feminist Theory. From margin to center. Bosten 1984)
    29 min
  • Blake is from...

    ... paradise

    Blake loves traveling and books. What a nice cliché. Born to talk, he gives us some insight into his idea of home and the twisted privilege that comes with growing up in a paradisiacal Australia. As he is a writer and poet, this episode is a thoughtful one with a lot of lyrical name-dropping or citing (as writers call it). What you will not hear are most of the loaded pauses he takes before expressing his thoughts. That would make the episode too long. Whether he is creating an epic moment with them, or he is struggling to find the right words, we will never know, but anyway it is a nice brain to listen to and a perspective that was missing in this podcast. His perspective as a white cis male person leads him to a different answer to my question than my interviewees before.


    Enjoy and let your ears swim in his deep voice.

    recorded 15.01.2020

    28 min
  • 4.2 Carmen is from ...

    ... at least two places. 

    In the second part of the conversation, Carmen gives some spontations pep talks and i reflect on my reaction to mirco aggressions. The topics are:

    • What we can learn from an intersectional approach.
    • The problem of hidden racism.
    • Instagram and inspiration
    • Changing our opinion because we actually know nothing. :)
    • Home.
      • 34 min
    • 4.1 Carmen is from ...

      ... at least two places. 

      With Carmen, I talked about the randomness of being born in one country and automatically belonging there as well as how we all can choose where we are from. But we didn’t stop there. Carmen, whom I met at the BLM protest in Lisbon, has not only a radical empathetic approach to racist comments, she also advocates against colorism. The whole conversation was longer than two hours and I needed to cut out a lot. But feeling inspired by her words, I can not keep them for me alone. For that reason, there are two parts of this episode for your curios ears to absorb. Hmm, Lekker lekker.

      In this part of the conversation, we are sober. My usual questions are roughly answered but the juicy stuff is said in between.

      • where are you really from
      • being born somewhere and choosing the importance of this fact ourself
      • the unnecessary guilt of choosing one culture over another
      • authenticity and traveling
      • feeling like a bridge and the privileges of being mixed-raced


        • 20 min
      • 3. Juice is from ...
        the Universe. What happens when you put two mixed-raced new age hippies in a forest together? Right they talk about Mozambican taxes and reincarnation. This episode is juicy and I am very glad to have had this talk with such a calm and clear soul. My favorite part starts at minute 16 when Juice talks about Privilege and colorism in from his perspective. Listen, hear the birds and wind (sorry I still don't have a proper mic) in the background and image you are sitting under the trees with us.
        28 min
      • 2. Annette is from...
        her mother.
        Growing up in the USA with a Peruvian mother and a German father she is not only a language but also a people expert. We meet up on the 4th of January 2020 in a cafe in Berlin and I could listen to her wise thoughts on multiculturalism, and switching identities in order to connect deeper with others.
        Have fun relating and realizing and don’t get to caught up with the background noises.
        14 min
      • 1. Joel is from...
        Where are you really from Joel? 
        His birth certificate says Angola but his answer led us elsewhere. We traveled from discrimination in Portugal to the sunshine Sate of Texas and ended up at the feeling of belonging to multiple places. This was recorded on the 3rd of may in Lisbon with Covid19 and my flat mates in the background. Enjoy :)
        17 min

      About Where are you really from?

      From the publisher's feed

      Want to hear people answering an annoying question? Here you go. I interview my friends and people i admire all around the topics race and identity and how/if they both shape us.