Article, Arts & Culture, Social Justice
Previewing the Upcoming Below the Radar Fall Season
Hello listeners,
In Fall 2018, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement (VOCE) released our first episode of the Below the Radar podcast. With a small team, and with little expertise in the medium of podcasting, Below the Radar began as a side project that soon grew into a vehicle for accessible knowledge mobilization beyond the SFU community.
Now, 216 episodes later, with over 110,000 listens,we are excited to announce the release of the 2023 fall season beginning on September 5, and the approaching 5-year podcast anniversary in November.
With details of our anniversary celebration event to come, let’s take a sneak peek of the upcoming season, featuring a range of guests from award-winning Canadian non-fiction writer Charlotte Gill and social documentary filmmaker Ali Kazimi, to historian of facism and propaganda, Ruth Ben-Ghiat.
Late-Fascism — with Alberto Toscano
Our season kicks off on September 5, with a new release every Tuesday—starting with critical theorist Alberto Toscano. Alberto traces the emergence of critical theory, explores manifestations of racial fascism, and discusses imagined white annihilation and victimization as a predicator for far-right movements in the US. He also speaks about his book coming up this fall, Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis.
Fascist Strongmen — with Ruth Ben-Ghiat
On September 12, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University, continues the topic of facism. Ruth discusses her latest book, Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present, which explores how political figures use and promote the image of “strongmen'' in their pursuit of power. Ruth also explores the historical linkages between fascists of the past, like Mussolini, to strongmen of the present, like Berlusconi, Orban, and Trump.
Almost Brown — with Charlotte Gill
On the 18th we’ll be hearing from Charlotte Gill, author of the books Ladykiller and Eating Dirt, as she speaks to her latest book, Almost Brown—sharing her experience of growing up as a mixed-race child in a multi-cultural/religious household. Charlotte shares her personal experience with estrangement within her family, and considers how the language around mixed identities has evolved.
Nasty Performances — with Ryan Tacata
On September 26, we’ll then hear from Assistant Professor of Performance at the School for the Contemporary Arts, Ryan Tacata. Ryan discusses his performance residency at the Libby Leshgold Gallery, and designing pedagogy for contemporary performance education. He also shares how he began his journey in live performance, and discusses some of the inspirational artists who continue to influence his performance-making.
Making Legible These Lives – Angela Aujla
Marking our entrance into October, South Asian Canadian visual artist Angela Aujla shares her career transition into the visual arts, while continuing to draw upon her background in Sociology and Anthropology to influence her mixed-media works. She also discusses the influences and inspiration of her recent art exhibition My Grandmother’s Dress, and explores the complexities of diaspora identities.
In the rest of the season…
We’ll also hear from Utrecht Professor in Media and Culture Studies and recent CERi Researcher-in-Residence, Bruce Mutsvairo; Director and Professor from the Institute for the Humanities, Samir Gandesha; and Public Finance Policy Analyst with the BC-CCPA, Alex Hemingway.
We’ll cap off the season with five episodes interspersedly hosted by SFU VOCE staff Kathy Feng, Samantha Walters, and Julia Aoki, exploring artist run-spaces in the city
Tune in on September 5 to hear the first episode with Alberto Toscano, and keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming 5-year celebration of Below the Radar on November 17th– more details to come!
Stay up to date with our newsletter, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram page to not miss an episode from the upcoming season.
Latest/Related Updates
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January 10, 2024
January 10, 2024
Our Below the Radar podcast mini-series See How We Run! looked at local arts collectives and organizations, highlighting conversations about creation, spacemaking, accessibility, and self-determination within the framework of Vancouver’s cityscape.
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August 15, 2023
August 15, 2023
With details of our 5-year anniversary celebration event to come, let’s take a sneak peek of the upcoming season.
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July 26, 2023
July 26, 2023
Since September 2022, we’ve held 42 events and workshops, released 33 episodes, and engaged more than 25,000 podcast listeners. During that time, working diligently behind the scenes—editing podcast audio, and supporting communications and events programming—was our interim Programs Assistant Samantha Walters, who we are pleased to announce has now moved into a continuing role in the office.
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July 20, 2023
July 20, 2023
On June 29, 2023, 200 people turned out for the world premiere screening of Smokey Devil: Underworld Street Reporter, a feature length documentary by Nathaniel Canuel, co-hosted by SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement.
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June 29, 2023
June 29, 2023
On our latest spring season of the podcast, we had the chance to sit down with five SCA artist-scholars for some exciting discussions on their artistic practices and latest research. Whether you're looking to hear more about arts education and the local arts ecology, or just seeking some artistic inspiration, we hope you join us in diving back into these episodes.