Son[i]a #304 Céline Gillain

Professor Oyèrónké Oyèwùmi examines the ways in which universalism in academia distorts our understanding of African cultures, especially in relation to race and gender. In this podcast, Professor Oyèwùmi talks about age, seniority, and respect, about unscrupulousness and academia, dispossession and spirituality. She considers the oxymoron of the notion of “single mother” from the point of view of Yoruba culture, and she also notes how observance of community practices from non-Western cultures may be an unnecessary step as we face the planetary challenges to come.

Artist/scientist David Burraston talks about his rainwire project and how using rain as a creative medium has led him to an ongoing research that could overcome some recognized shortcomings in the field of rainfall measurements. He also talks about complex systems and creative practice in science, with an overview of CA and its applications, including his findings on CA rule space self-organization using modular synthesizers and CA sequencers.

American composer-producer Lyra Pramuk talks about key moments in her childhood and adolescence, which was marked by a rigorous religious and musical education, and about her subsequent journey to deconstruct her assigned identity, taking refuge in her love of science fiction and role-playing games as basic strategies for reinventing herself. We also chat about performativity, resisting the text, non-verbal music, live vs studio work, the recording logic of the music industry, the importance of queer community building, and clubbing in Berlin.