Article, Arts & Culture, Social Justice
A Scholarly Podcasting Teach-in!
Can podcasting act as a new kind of scholarly form? What are the characteristics that make a podcast scholarly, and what is the potential of scholarly podcasting beyond knowledge mobilization and public scholarship?
These are the questions that the Below the Radar Academic Advisory Board approached at the scholarly podcasting teach-in this past October—the first public convention of the advisory board since their inception.
While there is nothing radical about the medium, what are various forms this mode of scholarship can take? What are the barriers to its use and how can it be deployed for greater impact?
The Academic Advisory Board consists of faculty members from across the SFU community with an interest in podcasting as a medium. They serve to provide strategic academic advice to the Below the Radar team on scholarly podcasting and linking our work to the teaching, learning, research and engagement mission of Simon Fraser University.
Am Johal
Am Johal, the Director of SFU’s Vancity Office of Engagement, started the departments Below the Radar podcast in 2018.
The podcast features conversations with “trailblazing activists, artists, writers and academics about new projects and ideas at the intersection of politics, art and social change” and has hosted a wide range of guests including, Leanne Simpson, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Alberto Toscano and John Vaillant. Here he discusses its beginnings.
“We started off doing a podcast just off the side of our desk as another way to do programming, as something to experiment and try out. We didn't really know what we were doing at the beginning, as we were 10 or 15, 20, episodes in, people were expecting us to have transcripts and all sorts of other aspects. And so, realizing the amount of work that happens in trying to put something together; to interview guests and then to function within a university context, we wanted to liven this conversation a little bit. […] We’re 250 episodes in, but I think some of the questions about how to embed and think through these questions inside the university context is really important.”
Hannah McGregor
Hannah McGregor is a researcher and podcaster whose work focuses on the links between publishing and social change, from the role podcasts might play in expanding public engagement with research, to systemic barriers to access in the Canadian publishing industry.
They are the co-director of the Amplify Podcast Network and the host and co-host of multiple podcasts including Secret Feminist Agenda, Material Girls and Witch Please. Hannah describes their first foray into podcasting.
“I started podcasting in 2015. I was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta at the time, and a very dear friend of mine, Marcelle Kosman, and I decided that we wanted to reread the Harry Potter books together. And we thought, “You know, what is more fun than doing something privately? Doing it publicly.” So, we decided that as we reread these books together and chatted about them, we would also record our conversations. And much more quickly than we anticipated, we built not only a listenership, but a listenership that very specifically identified themselves to us as people who were eager for the opportunity to participate in scholarly conversations about books that they loved.
And this was a real radicalizing moment for me, because, as a person with a background in English literature, I had been led to understand that nobody cared about my research—that in fact, people would be bored or alienated by my research. And yet, in the format of this medium, in the form of a conversation I had with a friend—what I found was that people were very excited for the opportunity to participate in an ongoing conversation that brought scholarly tools to bear on something that they felt invested in.”
Roxanne Panchasi
Roxanne Panchasi is an associate professor in SFU’s History department whose work focuses on a wide range of cultural objects and moments from the French past.
She’s also the former host of the New Books in French Studies podcast, a part of the New Books network. Here she discusses challenging assumptions on the scholarly merits of podcasting.
“In terms of [scholarly] recognition, I'd say we've come a bit of the way. I've definitely had people over the years say things like, "but you're not really doing critique, it's just conversation.” I think that's kind of an interesting point, and it kind of speaks to what Hannah was saying. It's like, what does it mean to be scholarly, and what do we expect from each other? So a book review that largely summarizes a text and then asks a few usually safe questions—depending on where you're at in your career—or sometimes mean questions if you feel good about that. That that's critique, that's scholarly work. But that having an actual conversation with someone, asking about them, about their project, where it comes from, and kind of eliciting, you know, the real stuff of how people put projects together and how they make those choices—that that's somehow not a scholarly conversation, or not one that counts in the same ways as critique or arguing with somebody, as one person put it.”
Lupin Battersby
Lupin Battersby is a PhD and Director of Knowledge Mobilization at SFU, providing training and expert consultations to SFU researchers and its involvement in efforts to better recognize KM work.
Here she discusses the broader research possibilities of podcasting.
“Yeah, so I do support, encourage, celebrate knowledge mobilization. In my role at SFU, I got here by way of community-engaged research, working in mental health, working in housing related research, working in aging related research. But most importantly, working community. And the whole entire time wondering what the hell we were doing all this research for if nobody was using it. […] But yeah, so what I do is try to encourage researchers to think about different ways that they can share their work that isn't traditional. So do all these kinds of groovy things, but maybe not quite so groovy—because, you know, if you're doing that groovy of stuff, you're probably not coming to talk to me—but I do a lot of training. I also do a lot of work around disrupting how we recognize the work of community-engaged scholarship and knowledge mobilization."
Nadia Shihab
Nadia Shihab is an assistant film professor at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, as well as a filmmaker and artist working in the realm of experimental documentary.
Nadia notes the power and potential of sound for scholarly pursuits.
“My position in this conversation is through being a filmmaker, largely working with images. Although, I would say over the last five to six to seven years, I've increasingly begun foregrounding sound and centering sound in my practice. So I've been thinking a lot about sound, the potential of sound both to disrupt but also to make things possible that might not otherwise be possible. And not sound generally, but more the act of listening. And I think what is really interesting to me about podcasts is the way that they seem to have—and I can't speak obviously, for all podcasts—but the podcasts that I seek out seem to really have this spirit of curiosity, of questioning, of generosity."
Joseph Clark
Joseph Clark is a lecturer in film studies at Simon Fraser University.
His research and teaching interests focus on archival and non-theatrical media, including newsreels, home movies, and sponsored film. Joseph is also part of the organizing committee for the Vancouver Podcast Festival. Joseph shares experience in bringing podcasting into the realm of documentary within the DOXA film festival.
“Yeah, so I do support, encourage, celebrate knowledge mobilization. In my role at SFU, I got here by way of community-engaged research, working in mental health, working in housing related research, working in aging related research. But most importantly, working community. And the whole entire time wondering what the hell we were doing all this research for if nobody was using it. […] But yeah, so what I do is try to encourage researchers to think about different ways that they can share their work that isn't traditional. So do all these kinds of groovy things, but maybe not quite so groovy—because, you know, if you're doing that groovy of stuff, you're probably not coming to talk to me—but I do a lot of training. I also do a lot of work around disrupting how we recognize the work of community-engaged scholarship and knowledge mobilization."
Adel Iskandar
Adel Iskandar is an Associate Professor of Global Communication at SFU.
Iskandar's work deals with media, identity and politics; and he has lectured extensively on these topics at universities worldwide. Iskandar's engaged participatory research includes supporting knowledge production through scholarly digital publishing such as "Jadaliyya" and academic podcasting with Status Podcasting Magazine. Adel observes how podcasting opens up new avenues for discourse.
“I would say that the compelling things about this experience has been that podcasting has provided many of us an opportunity to perhaps create a parallel space, a locale where what is unacceptable and what is perhaps forsaken in the mainstream media, can actually live and flourish […] I wouldn't limit it in that respect, but a lot of it is made to be accessible with the intent of problematizing and contextualizing, so that… You know, in some instances, it feels like podcasting is a very self-serving kind of endeavor, because it's yourself, a mic, and another individual. It feels dialogic and deliberative, but in the grand scheme of things, you're the person in the limelight. But when there's a kind of a larger mission, cause, objective, especially in the time of, let's say, genocide or conflicts that continue unabated, it becomes a responsibility.”
This teach-in is the first gathering of many for the Academic Advisory Board.
If you are interested in hearing about future events relating to scholarly podcasting, follow our social media @sfu_voce or subscribe to our newsletter below.
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