Below the Radar
295 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsAmplifying ideas that fly below the radar. We talk environmental and social justice, arts, culture, community-building and urban issues with featured guests.
This podcast is produced by SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement as a part of our Knowledge Democracy Project @ 312 Main — encouraging the meaningful exchange of ideas and information across communities.
Hosted and currently produced by:
Am Johal
Joey Malbon
Julia Aoki
Kathy Feng
Samantha Walters
Visit our website for archived audio and video recordings of our public events: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/library.html
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Communicating Scientific Uncertainty About COVID-19 — with Alice Fleerackers
March 16, 2021 18:08 - 29 minutes - 27.3 MBWith the onset of the pandemic came a pressing need to bring health science information to the public, and fast. SFU researcher Alice Fleerackers joins Below the Radar to discuss the uptake of pre-print, or un-peer reviewed research by news media in the age of COVID-19. She speaks to host Melissa Roach about a recent study she has co-authored that analyzes how media communicate uncertainty in COVID-19 research. Alice is a freelance writer and researcher specializing in online science communi...
Gas Imaginary Conversations No. 1 — with Denise Ferreira da Silva
March 12, 2021 23:52 - 46 minutes - 42.5 MBBelow the Radar has partnered with the Or Galley to bring you recordings of the Gas Imaginary Conversations series. In this first of two talks, Rachel O’Reilly is in conversation with Denise Ferreira da Silva. This event was presented by the Or Gallery and recorded virtually on Nov. 26, 2020. Rachel O’Reilly and Denise Ferreira da Silva have had long-standing exchanges on the many concepts and references that run through the Gas Imaginary project. In this conversation, they address the devel...
Gas Imaginary Conversations — Rachel O'Reilly in Conversation with Denise Ferreira da Silva
March 12, 2021 23:52 - 46 minutes - 42.5 MBBelow the Radar has partnered with the Or Galley to bring you recordings of the Gas Imaginary Conversations series. In this first of two talks, Rachel O’Reilly is in conversation with Denise Ferreira da Silva. This event was presented by the Or Gallery and recorded virtually on Nov. 26, 2020. Rachel O’Reilly and Denise Ferreira da Silva have had long-standing exchanges on the many concepts and references that run through the Gas Imaginary project. In this conversation, they address the devel...
Access to Knowledge for Community Scholars — with Heather De Forest
March 09, 2021 08:00 - 19 minutes - 18.2 MBSFU librarian Heather De Forest joins our host Am Johal to discuss the Community Scholars Program, a project that provides staff of charitable and non-profit organizations in BC with access to academic research and knowledge. They discuss Heather’s work with the Community Scholars Program and go in-depth about the collective power of academic libraries within the open access movement. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episo...
Ethical Living in the Anthropocene — with David Chang
March 02, 2021 08:01 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBAuthor and educator David Chang of SFU’s Faculty of Education joins Am Johal for a conversation about what it means to live an ethical life during the Anthropocene — an epoch marked by the monumental environmental impact of human activity. David is co-editor of a recently published collection of scholarly and creative essays, A Book of Ecological Virtues: Living Well in the Anthropocene. He and Am discuss themes in Ecological Virtues, including Aristotle’s notions of virtue ethics, and the g...
Keeping Culture Alive Through Song — with Russell Wallace
February 23, 2021 07:45 - 27 minutes - 24.7 MBRussell Wallace is a traditional Líl'wat singer, composer, and producer from Mount Currie. He has been singing and making music his whole life. He talks with host Am Johal about his musical roots — singing traditional songs for his community and beyond, alongside his mother and siblings, as the performance group Tzo’Kam. They discuss Tzo’Kam’s longstanding collaborative relationship with the Japanese drumming group, Sawagi Taiko, as well as Russell’s own endeavours as a composer and producer...
Rechanneling Desires for Indigeneity — with New Red Order
February 16, 2021 08:10 - 33 minutes - 30.8 MBBelow the Radar speaks to some of the artists behind New Red Order, a public secret society that invites people to transform their complicity in Indigenous appropriation and performing Indigeneity into support for Indigenous futures and land sovereignty. Am Johal is in conversation with Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, and Jackson Polys about the formation of, and impetus behind, New Red Order — and how they use humour, recruitment and interrogation to call out and call in. They also speak to their...
Redistributing Power in Universities — with Charmaine Lyn
February 09, 2021 08:01 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MBCharmaine Lyn joins Below the Radar to share learnings from her career in making social change from within post-secondary institutions. Charmaine is the Director of Changemaker Education for Ashoka Canada and works with different changemaker campuses across the country to advance changemaking for social justice in our institutions and communities through community engagement and reciprocal partnership. Host Am Johal speaks with Charmaine about the journey that brought her to this work and he...
Urban Mobility and Transportation Policy — with Anthony Perl
February 04, 2021 17:44 - 42 minutes - 39.4 MBSFU Urban Studies professor Anthony Perl joins host Am Johal in conversation about urban mobility and the policy challenges and opportunities that shape the way people move through Canada’s largest urban centres: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. They discuss findings from Anthony’s new book, Big Moves: Global Agendas, Local Aspirations, and Urban Mobility in Canada, co-authored with Matt Hern and Jeffrey R. Kenworthy. Anthony traces the history of transportation infrastructure development t...
Laughing in Pandemic Times — with Charles Demers
February 02, 2021 08:10 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBHost Am Johal catches up with author, activist, voice actor and Juno-nominated comedian Charlie Demers about his pandemic year, and how he reads this turbulent moment in politics. They talk about everything from the life of civil rights figure Jack O’Dell, to a strange year for stand-up comedy, to Charlie’s studies in theology. In the episode, Charlie and Am think through some of the mechanisms of Trumpism — looking to Rob Ford as a prefiguration to Trump, and unpacking the political stratag...
Housing Affordability in BC — with David Eby
January 29, 2021 20:53 - 32 minutes - 29.5 MBBC’s Attorney General and Minister of Housing David Eby joins Am Johal for this episode of Below the Radar, discussing policy solutions to BC’s housing crisis — from protecting tenants’ rights and serving those who are under-housed to curbing speculation and quashing renovictions, to addressing issues of supply and an aging rental stock. David also looks back on getting his start as a lawyer and housing advocate in Vancouver’s urban core decades ago. He provides insights into his time in off...
Community Ethics in HIV Research — with Angela Kaida
January 26, 2021 08:10 - 22 minutes - 21 MBGlobal health epidemiologist Angela Kaida joins Below the Radar to share her passion for research to support the sexual and reproductive health of women and nonbinary people. An associate professor in SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences and a recent researcher-in-residence with SFU’s Community-Engaged Research Initiative, Angela adopts an interdisciplinary, community-driven, ethics-based approach to researching the health of people living with HIV. In this episode, Angela is in conversation wit...
Joy Johnson: SFU’s New Prez
January 19, 2021 08:14 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBBelow the Radar checks in with Simon Fraser University’s recently installed president and vice-chancellor, Joy Johnson. Stepping into her new role in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Joy speaks to how SFU is working to meet the current challenges it is facing, from adapting to online learning and an added strain on mental health, to addressing systemic racism and inequality within the university and beyond. In this episode, Joy shares her vision for a more equitable, inclusive, and connec...
Marcuse and the Rise of the New Left — with Andrew Feenberg
January 12, 2021 08:01 - 39 minutes - 36.3 MBBelow the Radar explores critical theory, anti-authoritarianism, the philosophy of technology, and the storied academic career of SFU School of Communication professor Andrew Feenberg, who studied under influential theorists, including renowned German-American philosopher Herbert Marcuse of the Frankfurt School. Am Johal and Andrew Feenberg discuss Andrew’s intellectual journey with critical theory, the rise of social democratic student movements in the United States in the context of the ci...
Art, Migration, and Connection — with Adriana Contreras
December 22, 2020 09:00 - 30 minutes - 28.3 MBBelow the Radar explores immigration and connecting to community and social justice movements through art with Adriana Contreras, a visual artist and storyteller who captures dialogues as they unfold as a graphic recorder. Adriana is in conversation with co-hosts Fiorella Pinillos and Melissa Roach about her journey with visual arts and dance as a first generation immigrant from Colombia. Adriana tells us how her love for the arts has shaped her career, sharing her experiences of working as ...
Post-Disaster Urbanism — with Mary Rowe
December 15, 2020 20:51 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MB“Cities are fundamentally about people.” Mary Rowe joins Below the Radar to discuss the pandemic moment as an opportunity to reimagine how we live together in an urban environment. She and Am Johal are in conversation about the urgent need to build social solidarity around collective disaster, honing in on how people are in relationship with their community at the hyperlocal level. As the president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute, Mary’s recent work is concentrated on urban planning ...
Celebrating Queer Joy — with Brandon Yan
December 14, 2020 18:38 - 59 minutes - 54.7 MBIn this episode of Below the Radar, Brandon Yan, the executive director of Out on Screen, joins producers Fiorella Pinillos and Paige Smith to discuss his work in film education dialogue and fostering inclusive spaces for youth. Brandon speaks to supporting queer and trans youth in schools by bringing queer joy into classrooms, working collaboratively to push forward policy change, and reimagining the future of the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. Brandon also shares his path of embracing his i...
Urban Subjects — with Sabine Bitter, Jeff Derksen and Helmut Weber
December 07, 2020 20:13 - 36 minutes - 33.2 MBBelow the Radar’s Am Johal talks issues in urbanism and art as a research method with Sabine Bitter, Jeff Derksen, and Helmut Weber of the cultural research collective, Urban Subjects, based in Vancouver and Vienna. In this episode, they reflect on past arts exhibitions and programs they’ve facilitated on the urban experience, image politics, and visual representations of urbanism. Their work makes space for critical conversations about dispossession of land, the idea of a commons, the ‘rig...
Critical Librarianship — with Baharak Yousefi
December 03, 2020 22:37 - 24 minutes - 22.8 MBSFU librarian Baharak Yousefi joins Am Johal on Below the Radar to discuss critical librarianship, interrogating the entrenched systems and structures of libraries. She speaks to issues around the way librarians are schooled, the commodification of knowledge, and the need to make libraries welcoming spaces to all. Baharak also shares her love of books and culture that brought her to librarianship and talks about the popular One Book One SFU events she planned and hosted through the SFU Libra...
Community Engagement in Higher Education — with Barbara Holland
November 26, 2020 18:15 - 30 minutes - 27.5 MBBarbara Holland is a leading community engagement scholar who has done extensive research in the areas of organizational change in higher education, service learning, and community-university partnerships. In this episode, she is in conversation with host Am Johal about the shifting landscape of community engagement and embedding engagement in the culture of the urban university as a method of scholarship, teaching, and learning. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-commun...
On Arrival and Belonging — with Sobhana Jaya-Madhavan
November 24, 2020 18:29 - 28 minutes - 26.2 MBWhen Sobhana Jaya-Madhavan landed in Vancouver 25 years ago from Malaysia, she was told her foreign credentials would make it hard to find employment as a social worker and was encouraged to apply for minimum wage jobs. In this episode, Sobhana is in conversation with Am Johal about the joy of finding community in a new place — and the barriers to employment she experienced as a newcomer to Canada. Sobhana tells stories from her journey as a social worker and public servant, sharing how her ...
The Digital Unconscious and Decolonizing Lacan — with Clint Burnham
November 23, 2020 22:14 - 42 minutes - 38.6 MBBelow the Radar explores Lacanian theory with Lacan Salon President and SFU English Professor Clint Burnham. Clint speaks to how Lacan’s ideas are taken up in the digital age. Clint takes up Lacanian theories of the ‘unconscious,’ ‘extimacy,’ or ‘the split subject,’ as well as Žižek’s works, to unpack racism and microaggressions; intimacy and digital devices; and virtual interactions and teaching in pandemic-times. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/...
Art and Politics — with Dalannah Gail Bowen
November 19, 2020 16:59 - 29 minutes - 26.9 MBDalannah Gail Bowen reflects on a lifetime of making music and convening community in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. A passionate singer, community arts administrator, and activist, Dalannah shares her philosophy of walking compassionately through the world and how she aims to make space for — and remove barriers to — finding connection through art making. She and Am Johal discuss her work in community arts, her career as a musician, and how she interprets our political moment during th...
Ethics in Community-University Partnerships — with Kari Grain
November 17, 2020 21:05 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBBelow the Radar unpacks ethics in community-engaged research and experiential learning with Kari Grain, who has been working with host Am Johal at SFU’s Community-Engaged Research Initiative. Kari speaks to her dissertation on the impacts of international service learning on local community partners. Centering ethical relationships and the unlearning of harmful biases about expertise and knowledge, Kari talks about teaching courses at UBC on community-based participatory research. She and Am ...
Decolonial Planning and Community Health - with Lyana Patrick
November 10, 2020 17:21 - 53 minutes - 49.2 MBCommunity-engaged scholar and filmmaker Lyana Patrick joins Am Johal to discuss how an Indigenous approach to community-building can positively impact the health and wellness of communities. Combining a diverse interdisciplinary background with her own lived experience, Lyana’s work addresses the ongoing colonial impacts of governance and urban planning on Indigenous community health. In this episode, Lyana also speaks to the importance of relationships and reciprocity in filmmaking and tel...
Decolonial Planning and Community Health — with Lyana Patrick
November 10, 2020 17:21 - 53 minutes - 49.2 MBCommunity-engaged scholar and filmmaker Lyana Patrick joins Am Johal to discuss how an Indigenous approach to community-building can positively impact the health and wellness of communities. Combining a diverse interdisciplinary background with her own lived experience, Lyana’s work addresses the ongoing colonial impacts of governance and urban planning on Indigenous community health. In this episode, Lyana also speaks to the importance of relationships and reciprocity in filmmaking and tel...
Supporting Harm Reduction through Covid-19 — with Mebrat Beyene
November 09, 2020 19:28 - 21 minutes - 19.8 MBSince the onset of the COVID-19, WISH Drop-In Centre Society has rapidly expanded its efforts to support street-based sex workers. Am Johal is joined by executive director, Mebrat Beyene, to discuss how WISH and other Downtown Eastside service providers are collectively responding to the pandemic, which has restricted services and exacerbated many pre-existing crises facing the community. Mebrat speaks to new WISH initiatives, such as opening a new 24/7 shelter for sex workers, increasing a...
Ecosystems and the Cultural Imaginary — with Derek Woods
November 04, 2020 20:01 - 26 minutes - 24.2 MBAm Johal is joined by Derek Woods, an assistant professor of Media Studies at the University of British Columbia. They discuss Derek’s intersecting expertise in media studies and ecotechnology, examining what he deems the three defining characteristics of ecotechnology: artificial ecosystems, media archaeology, and the cultural imaginary through science fiction. They also problematize the term ‘Anthropocene,’ which proposes a new geological epoch marked by the significant impact humans have h...
Remembering Chinatown — with Gwen Boyle
November 02, 2020 17:55 - 20 minutes - 18.7 MBA visual artist who grew up in Vancouver’s Chinatown, Gwen Boyle’s work explores movement, history, and place. The granddaughter of a Pender Street jeweller, Gwen draws inspiration from the sights and sounds of her childhood — the clinking of beads on an abacus, the hammering of jade, the melting of gold. Gwen is in conversation with host Am Johal about experiences from her Chinatown upbringing. She shares what led her to pursue a lifelong career in art, and her fascination with the Arctic....
Queering Diasporic Narratives — with Jen Sungshine
October 27, 2020 08:00 - 21 minutes - 19.7 MBWorking at the intersection of race, class, gender, sexuality, Jen Sungshine collaborates with fellow Love Intersections artists to celebrate diasporic narratives of queer identities. Jen joins host Am Johal to discuss art making and storytelling as a tool to address systemic racism and build understanding in conversations about gender and sexuality. She shares some recent Love Intersections projects, including Yellow Peril: Queer Destiny, a short documentary following Vancouver drag artist M...
Youth Voices of East Vancouver — with Jessica Savoy and Edgard Villanueva-Cruz
October 22, 2020 08:30 - 18 minutes - 16.9 MBUrban Indigenous youth are taking the lead, advocating for policies that uphold the rights of Indigenous peoples on and off-reserve. Host Am Johal is joined by Jessica Savoy and Edgard Villanueva-Cruz from Aboriginal Life in Vancouver Enhancement Society (ALIVE). They discuss their recent report, Our Place, Our Home, Our Vision: Youth Voices of East Vancouver. The report contains Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth-generated recommendations for bringing urban Indigenous voices to the table, a...
Unfolding Artistic Practices — with Laura Marks
October 20, 2020 17:06 - 30 minutes - 28 MBBelow the Radar explores unfolding the enfolded with Laura U. Marks, an SFU professor, and scholar who works on media art and philosophy with an intercultural focus. She is in conversation with co-hosts Am Johal and Paige Smith about her research into experimentalism and aesthetics in Arab cinema and the connections between Islamic art and philosophy and new media art. Laura talks about co-founding the Substantial Motion Research Network, tracing cultural and artistic genealogies, and de-west...
Decolonizing Practices — with Ta7talíya Nahanee
October 13, 2020 22:26 - 18 minutes - 17.1 MBTa7talíya Nahanee joins Am Johal to discuss her work in creating social change through decolonial facilitation, rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing and chenchenstway, the law of lifting each other up. Ta7talíya shares her journey of founding Decolonizing Practices, developing Sínulhkay and Ladders, and how she engages people in conversations about redress, land equity, privilege, and resisting the comfort of complacency in neocolonial systems. She also speaks to Indigenous language resurgenc...
End the Drug War — with Eris Nyx
October 08, 2020 07:30 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MBAm Johal is joined by Eris Nyx, an artist and community organizer in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside who advocates for tenants' rights and an end to the war on drugs. She and Am discuss the impact of COVID-19 on drug users and residents of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels, and how restricting visitors in SROs and reducing access to services during the pandemic has heightened safety concerns around a volatile supply of drugs. Eris shares how the Downtown Eastside community has been organizing ...
Cooperative Economics — with Elvy Del Bianco
October 06, 2020 07:35 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MBElvy Del Bianco of Vancity Credit Union speaks to the power of cooperatives to help communities meet their own needs. He is in conversation with host Am Johal about the role coops can play in the production of social goods, and how they can support communities of entrepreneurs, small businesses, non-profits, and workers through solidarity and infrastructure. They also discuss the Vancity Emilia-Romagna Co-operative Study Tour and how this particular area of northern Italy has what Elvy calls,...
One Hundred More — with Justine A. Chambers and Laurie Young
October 01, 2020 18:51 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBJustine A. Chambers and Laurie Young see choreography in everything. Both are deeply interested in the daily movements that make up the choreographies of our lives, and in capacity to use dance as a political tool. As two dance artists, mothers, and women of colour, the two came together across continents to co-create “One hundred more,” a dance performance portraying the gestures of resistance. Through structured improvisation and moving together, the piece explores the politics of movement ...
Intergenerational Storytelling with Chinatown Seniors — with Rachel Lau and Yulanda Lui
September 29, 2020 17:51 - 26 minutes - 24.1 MBYulanda Lui and Rachel Lau share experiences from the making of the radio documentary series “Speak My Language,” which highlights the stories of Chinese-Canadian seniors facing barriers in accessing the BC healthcare system. A project of Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice, the radio pieces were created in collaboration with youth and seniors under the mentorship of project coordinator and lead artist Rachel Lau with the support of Yarrow co-founder Yulanda Lui. This episode is host...
Neuroengineering and Brain Plasticity — with Faranak Farzan
September 24, 2020 16:44 - 40 minutes - 37.3 MBFaranak Farzan works at a fascinating intersection of engineering and neuroscience — innovating technological solutions to mental health issues like depression and addiction. Using the concept of brain plasticity, Faranak speaks to host Am Johal about how technological interventions can help the brain to rewire itself. She delves into the exciting opportunities neuroengineering presents for streamlining diagnosis and treatment, reducing the burden on patients who often go through years of tri...
This Atom Bomb in Me — with Lindsey Freeman
September 22, 2020 14:11 - 18 minutes - 16.6 MBFrom Mister Rogers to radioactive frogs, Below the Radar dives into the nuclear imaginary with SFU Associate Professor of Sociology Lindsey Freeman as she recounts the atomic culture she was brought up in. In this episode, Lindsey is in conversation with Am Johal about her new book, “This Atom Bomb in Me,” a reckoning with our nuclear past that resonates with the present moment. Through Lindsey’s experiences of growing up in the Manhattan Project secret city, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the book tr...
The Human Right to Housing — with Leilani Farha
September 17, 2020 20:05 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBLeilani Farha has a long history of advocacy around poverty and housing, in Canada and beyond. She is in conversation with Am Johal following her tenure as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, a post that saw her travelling the world to connect with people who were struggling with inadequate and precarious housing or homelessness, and to work with governments to uphold housing as a human right. In this interview, Leilani speaks to concerning patterns in housing glob...
Training and Jamming with New(to)Town Collective — with June Fukumura and Anjela Magpantay
September 15, 2020 08:00 - 20 minutes - 18.5 MBFinding a lack of space for experimentation and play in Vancouver’s theatre scene, New(to)Town Collective formed to provide accessible, low-barrier physical theatre training to the community. Our host, Am Johal speaks to two of the collective’s founding artists and alumni of SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, June Fukumura and Anjela Magpantay. They discuss barriers facing emerging artists in the city, as well as how they embrace messiness and opportunities for interdisciplinary collabor...
Podcasting as Scholarship — with Hannah McGregor
September 08, 2020 15:59 - 27 minutes - 25 MBWith the rise of podcasting as a forum for academic conversations and as a teaching tool, Hannah McGregor of SFU’s Publishing department set out to investigate — and enact — podcasting as a form of scholarly communication, knowledge mobilization, and open pedagogy. Hannah is in conversation with host Am Johal about her research into the exciting potentials of scholarly podcasting, and the power of the podcast as a grassroots, decentralized medium. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/van...
Paying the Land — with Joe Sacco
August 27, 2020 16:10 - 25 minutes - 23 MBAm Johal is joined by Maltese-American cartoonist Joe Sacco, renowned for his long-form graphic journalism and field work in conflict zones and places where people are facing displacement and dispossession. They discuss his new book, “Paying the Land,” dealing with the painful history of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and resource extraction in northern Canada, as well as overarching themes of dispossession, the violence of settler-colonialism, and the bonds between people and la...
Youth in Policymaking — with Aida Mwanzia
August 20, 2020 16:00 - 28 minutes - 26.4 MBJackie Obungah is in conversation with Aida Mwanzia about the importance of centering Black youth and community perspectives in policymaking. Aida speaks about a policy brief she wrote advocating for a cap on international student tuition, as well as her experience working with Ethọ́s Lab to create accessible and inclusive tech spaces. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/70-aida-mwanzia.html Read the transcript: https...
Singing Through the Dark: And Other Pandemic Pleasures — with Vanessa Richards
August 18, 2020 16:00 - 41 minutes - 38.3 MBHow do we come together to make and enjoy art in a time of physical distancing? Interdisciplinary artist and community organizer Vanessa Richards joins host Am Johal in his backyard for a physically distanced conversation about convening community through music during the pandemic. They discuss the challenges and opportunities of practising community-engaged arts over these past months; Vanessa’s experiences of virtually leading Van Van Song Society and Dancing in the Dark; and how Vancouver ...
Black Youth in Community Organizing — with Ayaan Ismaciil and Natasha Mhuriro
August 11, 2020 16:00 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBOn this episode of Below the Radar, our guest host, Jackie Obungah, is joined by Ayaan Ismaciil and Natasha Mhuriro. They discuss the importance of starting a Black in BC Mutual Aid fund during the pandemic as a means of community support and sustenance. Ayaan and Natasha also talk about finding a balance between student life and community organizing. Both Ayaan and Natasha are members of the African Students Association at SFU and have been part of several student organizing initiatives on c...
Ending Fentanyl Contamination Deaths — with Ann Livingston
August 07, 2020 18:09 - 40 minutes - 37.3 MBOn this episode of our Below the Radar Conversations Series, our host Am Johal is joined by Ann Livingston, community organizer and drug user activist. Ann is the co-founder of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, and is currently the Executive Project Coordinator of the BC-Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors. Am and Ann discuss the two current public health emergencies: the COVID-19 pandemic and the fentanyl contamination deaths in BC. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vanci...
Community Engagement in Muslim Communities — with Amal Ghazal
August 05, 2020 19:08 - 20 minutes - 18.5 MBOn this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Amal Ghazal, Director of the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies, and Associate Professor in the Department of History at SFU with a focus on the modern history of the Middle East and Africa. Born in Lebanon, she has studied at the American University of Beirut and moved to Canada in 1996 to complete her MA and PhD at the University of Alberta. Prior to joining SFU, she was a faculty member at Dalhousie University in Nova Sc...
Designing for Social Intervention — with Kenneth Bailey
July 30, 2020 19:10 - 21 minutes - 19.4 MBOn this episode of Below the Radar, we speak with Kenneth Bailey, the co-founder of the Design Studio for Social Intervention. With our host Am Johal, he discusses how social justice issues have been exacerbated during the pandemic and protests in support of racial justice and defunding the police. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/pandemic-conversations/65-kenneth-bailey.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/v...
Social Media and Revolution — with Adel Iskandar
July 28, 2020 16:01 - 55 minutes - 50.7 MBOn this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Adel Iskandar, Middle East media scholar and Assistant Professor of Global Communication at Simon Fraser University’s School of Communication. He is the author and co-author of several works, including “Egypt In Flux: Essays on an Unfinished Revolution” (2013, AUCP/OUP), “Edward Said: A Legacy of Emancipation and Representation”, (2010, University of California Press) and “Al-Jazeera: The Story of the Network that is Rattling ...