Name It!

What's the difference between religion and spirituality? This is the second most frequently asked question I get as a scholar of religion, next to “Oh, so you're a minister?" And to be honest, folks tend to be disappointed by my answer to both. When it comes to the religion versus spirituality question, that is often because my answer focuses less on defining the terms and more on the question its...

Hey Name It! fam, if you’re liking these episodes be sure to follow Grounded over at the main pages to not miss an episode! New ones everyday Monday✨ FOLLOW US HERE! —- I have a very complex, sometimes maybe a little too intense, relationship I have had with time. One that left me extremely skeptical of the saying "we're our ancestors' wildest dreams" when I first heard it. I’m coming to this ref...

Hey Name It! listeners! If you enjoyed the reading, research, and connections we made here, then you'll for sure enjoy this new podcast with Dr. Iman . Follow Grounded for new episodes every Monday! -- Welcome to the Grounded podcast with your host, Dr. Iman. This is a space where the intellectual meets the spiritual. I'm a professor, scholar of religion, and someone trying to find her footing. I...

Hi friends! In this episode, we are talking about genocide. What is genocide? How did the word come about? Why are some genocides recognized and remembered, while others are not? The truth is, we don’t have all the answers—but we can start by turning to the life of Raphael Lemkin. In our case study, we think alongside Lemkin’s global vision, who first defined “genocide” in print in his 1944 book A...

Hey friends! In this episode, we’re talking all about cults. What makes something a cult and something else, well, not a cult? Does the word "cult" even mean anything, or is it just a label to signify, “I don’t agree with these people”? Before diving into the TL;DR of Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics, Subversives, and Journalists, 1955–1993 by Sean McCloud, we rewind to 1959, when Mal...

Hey, friends! In this episode, our big idea is  Black nationalism ! What would life in the U.S. look like today if Black folks, post-emancipation (1865), had received forty acres and a mule—or any form of reparations for that matter? What if they had been granted the opportunity to build a sovereign nation within the territorial United States? What if their efforts to systematically and struc...

Parev fam! Sister Sledge said it best: we are fam-ily! Today, we are meditating on the term “elastic kinship”—literally! Episode 6 offers a guided meditation, a potential outlet for listeners to connect with us, chosen kin, and ancestors during a tear-filled vulnerable hour. How do we choose our family? And what does the history of photography have to do with this complex question? The answer lies...

Hey, friends! In this episode, we’re diving into the world of psychic knowledge. What exactly does “psychic” mean? What makes some knowledge psychic and other knowledge… well, not so psychic? And was anyone else forced to experience Spotify’s “song psychic” feature, in the same way that Apple forced us to download that random U2 album?  Before we give you the tl;dr of Yvonne Chireau’s Black M...

Ah, preservation…what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear this word? Perhaps you thought of paintings like the eminent Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, pristinely preserved since 1503. Perhaps you thought of the ever-growing collection of ancient Indigenous artifacts neatly stored behind glass at your local museum. Or maybe you even remembered the family stories told and the canned...

Hey friends! In this episode, we're diving into intimacy. Is knowing the “type” of person someone is really the same as knowing them? And does adding your Myers-Briggs letters to your dating app profile actually lead to better matches? 🤔 This week, we're on a mission to find a definition of intimacy that's deeper than the usual, and we found one in Jennifer Nash’s Black Feminism Reimagined (2018)...

In episode 2, we deconstruct the notion of expertise once and for all. We know what you’re thinking… since when did you two become experts on expertise?! After all, who gets to be called an expert anyway?  The truth is, we all make history, every single day. We learn this lesson by going back in time, thanks to two Indigenous scholars and experts in their field: the 17th-century Nipmuc schola...

Welcome back for Season 2, friends! In this episode, we’re diving into spirituality. Does the word spirituality refer to just one thing, or does it mean anything at all? And are you among the growing number of people identifying as “spiritual, but not religious”? Before we give you the tl;dr of Jeremy Carrette and Richard King’s Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion, we discuss Big...

Hey y’all! Name It! your encyclo podi a of big ideas is back for season 2 on September 9. We can’t wait to bring you more big ideas and be sure to follow us @nameitpod and check out nameitpod.com for all updates!

Hey, friends! In this episode we're talking about Sara Ahmed's term:  complaint!   An idea that names how we learn about power from those who dare to complain about it. ​Before we give you the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) of Ahmed's  Complaint,  Iman shares her own experience of becoming the problem when she complained about a problem. We discuss the inevitably of encount...

Hey, friends! In this episode we're talking about hair. We draw on Ayana Byrd and Lori Tharp's  Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in Americ a and an interview with Dr. Tanya Mears. ​Before we give you the tl;dr (too long; didn't read),   we phone -a-friend as our case study! We invited our friend Asha to discuss her "hair release ceremony," and Kohar and Iman reflect on&nbsp...

Hey, friends! In this episode we're talking about Patricia Hill Collin's definition of Black Feminist Thought. Before we give you the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) of Collin's  Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment , we discuss the Combahee River Collective's landmark statement published in 1977. The statement coined the terms interlocking oppression...

Hey, friends! In this episode we're talking about Christina Sharpe's term:  the wake.  A multi-meaning metaphor that names how the slave ship structures contemporary society, despite the formal "end" of slavery. Before we give you the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) of Sharpe's  The Wake: On Blackness and Being,  we discuss the "discovery" of the Clotilda in 2019 as our case stud...

Hey, friends! In this episode we're talking about Toni Morrison's term,  safe harbors.  An idea that names the sense of safety fostered through intimate relationships. Who feels like a safe harbor for you? Before we give you the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) of Morrison's  Sula , we invited our million siblings to share what sisterhood means to them. Just kidding, we don't have a mi...

Hey, friends! In this episode we're talking about Simone Browne's term: D ark Matters.  An idea that names blackness as a "key site through which surveillance is practiced, narrated, and enacted," (9). Before we give you the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) of  Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness,  we discuss the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program, known as COINTELPRO....

Hey, friends! In this episode we're talking about Audre Lorde's term:  the erotic.  An idea that names the knowledge, power, and sense of satisfaction encapsulated by the phrase, "this feels right to me." Lorde coins the term to speak back to the European-American male tradition that teaches one to “separate the erotic demand from the most vital areas of our lives other than sex.” W...

Hey, friends! In this episode we're talking about Josh Kun's term:  audiotopia.  An idea that names popular music's ability to create utopias for listeners, speak back to American racial hierarchies, and challenge nationalist narratives. Before we give you the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) of Kun's  Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America,  we explore the boundary-pushing abi...

Hey, friends! In our first episode we're talking about  Name It!  That's right, this is our self-titled episode *insert Bey meme.* As our case study we reflect on how  Name It!  came to be and the political function of naming. We're breaking the fourth-wall and talking about the process of bringing the show into reality (and let us just say it was a process), naming as a surviv...

Iman and Kohar, friends-turned-PhD-students, break down a big idea, changing how they think about the world and talk to each other!   We're two best friends who met at Dartmouth College and have been bonding over our nerdom since. We started  Name It! to share the ideas we've picked up from books, classrooms, sister-friends, and ancestors. Ideas that have helped us name what it mean...