Season 5
Episode 58: TRANS/FORM: Trans-knowledge, embodied pedagogy, and building a platform with care
In this episode, Dr Annapurna Menon interviews Jo, Mrinalini, and Sam from TRANS/FORM: a platform dedicated to deepening understandings of trans politics and the intersecting forms of violence affecting the community. They discuss how TRANS/FORM grew organically, its ethos, and the significance of building a space that centres trans knowledge. They also reflect on the challenges of researching violence while experiencing it, the need for spaces of care in activist and scholarly work, and their hopes for how the platform can be integrated into classrooms as a vital educational resource.
Listen to this episode — Transcript [PDF] — TRANS/FORM website
Episode 59: Pushing back, building forward: Student-staff resistance with Real Paradigms
In this episode, our hosts are Dr Ahmed Memon, Dr Luisa Calvete, and two students: Juno Conway (they/them) and Lama Zaim (she/her) from the Real Paradigms group at the University of Cardiff. They share how the group came together and what it means to create spaces for critical and political dialogue within institutions that often resist this work. Their conversation highlights the power of student-staff partnerships, navigating institutional pushback, and using creative practices as tools for resistance and healing.
Listen to this episode — Transcript [PDF] — Real Paradigms website
Episode 60: Holding the tensions: Teaching justice in unjust times (Western Sydney University) – Part 1
In this episode, staff and students from Western Sydney University take over as hosts. They’re in conversation with academics from the university’s Critical Pedagogies Research Group to reflect on how their backgrounds and identities shape the way they teach and engage with social justice. They discuss the challenges of managing different perspectives in the classroom, navigating conflict as educators, and exploring queerness and decolonisation within the WSU context.
Featuring: Jana Beleska (she/her), Jackson Edwards, Dr Ashlee Gore, Samia Michail, Dr Roar (Aurora) Murphy (they/them), and Dr Erika K. Smith (they/her).
Listen to this episode — Transcript [PDF]
Episode 61: Context is everything: Navigating positionality, pedagogy and partnership at Western Sydney University – Part 2
In another conversation with staff and student partners from Western Sydney University and academics from the university’s Critical Pedagogies Research Group, this group reflects on how local and global contexts shape their experiences of learning and teaching. They speak about building socially-just classrooms, the significance of positionality, and the tensions that arise in socially engaged education.
Featuring: Dr Peta Hinton (she/her), Dr Anna Leditschke (she/her), Chris Long (he/him), Dr Tai Peseta (she/her), Tamima Rahman, and Dr Ana Rodas (she/her).
Listen to this episode — Transcript [PDF]
Episode 62: From the ground up: Building schools, community organising, and Indigenous pedagogies in Bengal
In this episode, Dr Ipshita Basu from the University of Westminster is joined by Arunopol Seal and Ankita Sanyal, who are working at the forefront of community-building and education in Bengal. Their discussion explores the intricacies of grassroot organising, the challenges of negotiating positionalities and privileges, and how accountability and responsibility are understood differently by institutions versus Indigenous communities.
Listen to this episode — Transcript [PDF]