We talk to Ashley Winters and Darian Wigfall about their work on the Racial Healing + Justice Fund as members of Forward Through Ferguson's Community Governance Board. We discuss their efforts to “heal the core” – that is, to create space for communities to express narratives of oppression and grief; to create spaces for community members to find sources of support to build networks of resilience; and to find and exercise their individual and/or collective power.

This is the first episode in an ongoing series titled Racial Community Healing, where we explore how the St. Louis region and other cities have developed community-driven solutions to racial injustices.

Links:

• Episode webpage
• Episode transcript
• Racial Healing + Justice Fund webpage

We talk to scholar, community organizer, and activist Scott Emerson about the Future of Masculinity. Alongside a discussion of Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturist classic Parable of the Sower (1993), Emerson discusses his theory of revolutionary masculinity -- a theory which lays the groundwork for moving beyond critiques of toxic masculinity and begins to imagine the possibilities for masculinities that revolve around flexibility, adaptability, and around using privilege to fight for radical change.

This episode is part of an ongoing series titled THE FUTURE OF…, where we chat with experts in various sectors to learn about what they are doing to shift the critical now for a radical new future.

Links:

• Episode Webpage
• The Justice Fleet

We talk to poet and researcher Thokozani Mbwana about the Future of Queering and Transing the World. We discuss the importance of gender interrogation within queer and trans spaces, but also how crucial it is to carry that work beyond those spaces.

This episode is part of an ongoing series titled THE FUTURE OF…, where we chat with experts in various sectors to learn about what they are doing to shift the critical now for a radical new future.

Links:

• Episode Webpage

We talk to artist and activist Wriply M. Bennet from the THORN Self Defense Project about the future of Trans Organizing. We discuss her efforts, in both her art and in her community organizing, to highlight the perseverance, strength, grace, and beauty of trans women and to address the ongoing epidemic of violence against Black trans women.

This episode is part of an ongoing series titled THE FUTURE OF…, where we chat with experts in various sectors to learn about what they are doing to shift the critical now for a radical new future.

Links:

• Episode Webpage
• Episode Transcript
• Art and Short Stories by Wriply Marie Bennet
• Wriply M. Bennet’s website
• Virtual art exhibit: Transfuturism

We talk to Josue David Cisneros, Patrick Earl Hammie, and Jorge Lucero from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign about the future of graduate education. We discuss the problems facing contemporary graduate students and our guests’ efforts to reimagine and recreate graduate school as an inclusive space where students can thrive through the Interseminars Initiative.

This episode is part of an ongoing series titled THE FUTURE OF…, where we chat with experts in various sectors to learn about what they are doing to shift the critical now for a radical new future.

Links:

• Website: Interseminar Event Series

We talk to Jaden Janak (Assistant Professor, St. Olaf College) about the future of abolition. We discuss abolition as the theory and praxis of destabilizing the carceral state to liberate Black, queer, and trans lives – while also cultivating livable lives for all.

This episode is part of an ongoing series titled THE FUTURE OF…, where we chat with experts in various sectors to learn about what they are doing to shift the critical now for a radical new future.

Links:

• Website: jadenjanak.com
• Article: "(Trans)gendering Abolition: Black Trans Geographies, Art, and the Problem of Visibility," (Lesbian and Gay Studies)
• Article: "Cultivating Solidarity from the Inside-Out: Abolitionist Efforts to Trans-gress Prison Walls," (Behemoth)
• Article: "Abolition is Here," (Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies)
• Article:"Finding Pride: Teaching Trans History in Secondary Social Studies," (Social Education)

We talk to Joquina Reed from J Reed Consulting LLC about the future of the present – about what it means to live in this space right now and leverage these moments for alternative futures.

This episode is part of an ongoing series titled THE FUTURE OF…, where we chat with experts in various sectors to learn about what they are doing to shift the critical now for a radical new future.

Links:

• Podcast: Divesting from Whiteness
• Podcast: Please Say Black
• The Anti-Blackness Reader project

We talk to Selome Araya from Root Alchemy Institute about the future of healing and therapy and about how to move towards holistic approaches to health and wellbeing.This episode is part of an ongoing series titled THE FUTURE OF…, where we chat with experts in various sectors to learn about what they are doing to shift the critical now for a radical new future.Links:

• Selome Araya’s website

• Program: Healing at the Root

• Root Alchemy Institute