Standpoints

Today, we are presenting a special standalone episode recorded live during a panel discussion hosted by Andrea Baldwin, titled “The Time Is Always Right to Do What Is Right.” The panel was presented in collaboration with the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah during events commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This live audience conversation was recorded on January 20 2026. ...

In this final episode of the five part series on justice, Dr. Andrea Baldwin is joined by  Nana Brantuo, a friend of the show, and a dedicated researcher, policy analyst, and advocate with over a decade of experience, advancing equity focus initiatives. Also joining is Crystal Rudds, an Assistant Professor of African American literature and culture at the University of Utah. Crystal's research int...

In this fourth episode of a five part series on justice, Dr. Andrea Baldwin is joined by Rae Duckworth , the operating chairperson for Black Lives Matter Utah Chapter to talk about racial justice. Rae has been at the forefront of activism in Salt Lake City since August, 2021, and her journey has been deeply personal. As a black queer woman and the cousin of Bobby Ray Duckworth, who tragically lost...

In this third episode of a five part series on justice, Dr. Andrea Baldwin is joined by Tyneshia Griffin, an environmental policy analyst at New Virginia Majority, whose whose work centers on environmental justice, energy affordability, and public health advocacy. As well as La' Portia Perkins, a scientist, artist, and project manager for the Wind Wildlife research program at the Renewable Energy...

In this second episode of a five part series on justice, Dr. Andrea Baldwin dives deep into the urgent and essential work of reproductive justice. Joined by Cándida Duran Taveras, an award-winning filmmaker, documenting the sacredness of reproductive experiences, and Ashley Finley, a poet, Medicine maker, and birth keeper, committed to the liberation of all oppressed people. The three explore the...

In this first episode of a five part series on justice, Dr. Andrea Baldwin discusses black feminisms and black liberation with two powerhouse voices in the field of food justice, Chantel Kemp, a dedicated food justice advocate, and Justice Madden, a storyteller, researcher, and seed keeper. Together, the three explore how food justice connects to black feminist thought, challenges and triumphs of...

In this episode, Dr. Andrea Baldwin joins in conversation with leaders from the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE) former Chair Lysanne Charles and Executive Director Kenita Placide to discuss their work in advocating for LGBTQ rights in the Eastern Caribbean. This interview covers the organization's origins, mission, and challenges, as well as the current state of q...

In this episode, Dr. Andrea Baldwin and Jenaya Amore sit down with a prominent academic, community advocate, and activist Dr. Brandy Faulkner. Known affectionately as the 'People's President' at Virginia Tech, Dr. Faulkner discusses their journey in balancing work within academia and the Black community, exploring the concept of 'Black aliveness' and its significance. They shar...

In this episode, Dr. Andrea Baldwin and Jenaya Amore, chat with our guest Alyssha Dairsow, co-founder and executive director of CurlyMe! Ms, Dairsow has engaged with the Utah community since she moved there over 10 years ago. She focuses on young Black girls ages five to 14, at Curly Me! and provides mentoring and hosts events that help children of color embrace their best selves. From book clubs...

Community building serves as a bridge to the collectivity of all Black womxn in and outside of the academy. In our final episode of the season, co-hosts Jenaya Amore and Dr. Andrea Baldwin engage in conversation with Producing Collaborator Shalonda Ingram about the importance of relationality between individuals and organizations which informs how mentoring is (re)defined and practiced. Shalonda I...

"Womanist is to feminist, as purple is to lavender." Following Alice Walker's sentiment, this episode explores and delves into the intricacies of religion and spirituality for Black women during the 18th century. Co-hosts of Standpoints Jenaya Amore and Dr. Andrea Baldwin join in conversation with Dr. Jaimie Crumley to discuss her research and the mentoring impacts of her personal an...

In an effort to resist multiple oppressions across various spaces, Black women academics and graduate student often create alternative spaces to center themselves within the academy. In this episode co-hosts Dr. Andrea Baldwin and Jenaya Amore speak with co founders of the North Star Collective, Dr. Tatiana Cruz and Dr. Kamille Gentles-Peart. Dr. Cruz is an Assistant Professor and Interdisciplinar...

Guess who's in the hot seat? This episode highlights the long-standing co-mentoring relationship between co-host Dr. Andrea Baldwin and friend of the show, Dr. Nana Brantuo. Jenaya Amore, co-host of Standpoints, interviews both phenomenal scholars on their perspectives of community care and praxis within their pedagogy. Dr. Andrea N. Baldwin is an associate professor of gender and ethnic studi...

Within the African diaspora, dance continues to serve as a medium for cultural and self expression amongst BIPOC communities. Today's guest uses dance as a pedagogical tool to combine the performing arts and education to reconnect the (dis)embodied experience of being in the academic space. Co-host Jenaya Amore speaks with Shani Collins and Truth Hunter, about Black feminisms and how this theo...

In this episode, co-hosts Jenaya Amore and Andrea Baldwin engages in a conversation with Kimberly Clark surrounding her leadership within a director role at Virginia Tech. From this dialogue, we learn how mentoring includes not only serving as a buffer, but intentionally centering and caring for students' holistic selves against racial oppression at predominantly white institutions. Kimberly C...

Mentorship has provided Black women the agency to define their own success while supported by those who have undergone this arduous journey. Particularly, within PWIs, co-mentorship and community have served as a homeplace and solace for Black women while navigating such spaces. Co-hosts Dr. Andrea Baldwin and Jenaya Amore discuss the impact of mentoring on their academic trajectory and personal l...

In this episode, we discuss “Affrilachia '', a term coined by Kentucky poet Frank X. Walker who highlights the cultural contributions of African Americans within the Appalachian region. Joining host Andrea Baldwin and 'Making All Black Lives Matter' course co-facilitator, Dr. Shannon Bell, are guests Earl White and Adrienne Davis to talk about old-time music and fiddling. Watch Earl White Stringba...

In this episode, we explore the intersections of race and gender within sports. The aftermath of Brittany Griner’s detainment in Russia allude to pivotal issues of systemic racial injustice that continues to impact the lives of Black athletes. The performance of Black athletes are recognized but the industry ignores their lived experiences that intersect with mistreatment, discrimination and oppre...

In this episode, we examine the ways in which Black women graduates have navigated predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Black feminists for decades have written about this issue and how they are simultaneously invisible yet hypervisible in spaces that are often discriminatory. Host Andrea Baldwin engages in a dialogue with two doctoral candidates Dr. Leslie Roberston Foncette and Dr. Jariah St...

The Broke/Rich Paradigm is the perception that as educated Black women with relatively good jobs, that is “the ones who have made it,” we should be doing better; we should be able to afford a lifestyle equivalent to the cultural expectation surrounding a certain level of education or professional attainment.  But the reality is often that not only have Black women faced greater obstacles in t...

In this episode, we discuss the migration of Caribbean women, and consider the impact of movement upon the individual, the diaspora, and upon the culture of both home and destination countries. Hosts Andrea Baldwin and Trichia Cadette are in conversation with Sandra Griffith and Dr. Natasha Kay Mortley. Sandra is a seasonal migrant who has traveled to the U.S. and Canada, and she is Andrea's mothe...

In this episode, we explore intimacy, sexual agency, and sexual positivity for Black women in western societies. Because of its private and personal nature, and also due to its complex entanglement with morality, biology, and the unique historical arc of dark-skinned peoples in the Americas, Black sexuality can be fraught and difficult to navigate, and often distinctly so for women of color. ...

Love can be romantic, platonic, familial, even collegial. It is often unconditional, but where Black love resides it is always political. In this episode, we discuss the spectrum of love's manifestation across Black relationships. Loving oneself or others while Black is an act of rebellion for those whose bodies are racially marked and held outside of society, and at times deemed unloveable. ...

In this episode we address the topic of Black women’s birth equity, birth justice and maternal health.  This topic is extremely timely with the recently leaked 1st draft of the Supreme court’s ruling which purports to overturn the 40 plus year precedent in Roe Vs. Wade which makes abortion in the US legal.  Even with Roe still law of the land Black women are more likely than women of all...

A big part of loving our blackness is our attention to healing not only for ourselves but for our communities.  As Black people we recognize how living in an anti-black world we consistently experience trauma and loss.  Any yet because we are consistently attending to the immediacy of our physical and financial needs and the needs of others we struggle to identify and address the traumas...