black feminism

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 a necessary step as we face the planetary challenges to come.

In this podcast interdisciplinary writer, artist, editor, curator and plant lover Imani Mason Jordan reflects on the conflicting meanings of community, which they sum up as “ a feeling and a relationship”. Finding guidance in the writings of Audre Lorde (and others)—through collective reading and listening—, Imani makes an urgent call for action, in order to disrupt and overcome the numbing of our emotions. Cadence, resonance, repetition and the bodily urgency of protest speeches operate in their artistic vocabulary as key tools for world-breaking, as well as world-making.

We dig up some unreleased fragments of our conversation with interdisciplinary writer, artist, editor, curator, and plant lover Imani Mason Jordan. We discuss Audre Lorde’s call to action in “Your Silence Will Not Protect You,” exploring Imani’s interpretation of it. Additionally, we talk about tuning in—rather than out—as a strategy to find rest and respite, to nourish ourselves and recharge through simple things. Finally, we delve into Imani’s collaborative practices.

Black feminist writer, organiser, and thinker Lola Olufemi's political and creative work has been shaped by over a decade of feminist activism—both within institutions and far beyond them. In this podcast, she invites us to embrace non-linearity, atemporal connections, and fragmentation—both in our organising and in how we write and research. She reflects on feminist legacies, the need to think beyond binaries of success and failure, and how imagination is not a luxury but a political necessity. We also explore the ethics of solidarity, the material conditions of care, and the radical power of listening—to each other, to the past, and to the unheard.