Imagine Otherwise by Ideas on Fire

How are performance artists in the Burmese diaspora resisting notions of indebtedness and redefining narratives of political oppression and liberation? How can performance art and organic networking interrupt the academic-industrial complex? In episode 37 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach and guest Emily Hue discuss how artists in the Burmese diaspora navigate the intersecting...

What is metafiction, and how can it serve as a tool for confronting power dynamics? Can incorporating unconventional genres in curriculum teach students critical thinking skills? In episode 36 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach and guest Leah Milne discuss how metafictional narratives by authors of color can provide a pedagogy of discomfort, how comics and graphic novels can sp...

What do game studies, literary studies, and Asian American studies have in common? How can immersive role play games help us better understand racial formation and resistance? In episode 35 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach and guest Tara Fickle talk about why games and literature are such fruitful sites for understanding racial formation; what it was like for Tara to design a...

How can poetry translate or disrupt political dialogue? In what way is classroom teaching a performance? In episode 34 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach and guest Karen Jaime discuss the history of queer and trans* Puerto Rican poets in New York City, how professors can use the classroom as both an artistic and activist space, how poets paradoxically use language to bust throu...

To what extent should we embrace our personal connections to our work? How much should we let our audience influence our work? What are the best ways to collaborate in academia and performance? In episode 33 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, Cathy Hannabach interviews E. Patrick Johnson about his creative process, how he translates scholarly ideas into artistic work and vice versa, how Black gay m...

How can cultural texts help us make sense of race and (trans)gender together? What role does fashion play in culture, resistance, and academia? How can we build our classrooms into places where we collectively imagine otherwise? In episode 32 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach chats with guest Francisco Galarte about the racialized politics of style for Chicanx queer and transg...

What does truly diverse media representation look like, and how can transmedia help folks contribute? How can scholars, artists, and academics use this political moment to foster dialogue? How does travel and transnationalism expand our artistic vision? In episode 31 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach chats with guest Felami Burgess about queer of color media representation, Fe...

How have US imperialism and nationalism informed perceptions of racial identity? What can we gain from strengthening the relationship between scholarship and public engagement? How can we let our political and ethical commitments guide our professional endeavors? In episode 30 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach talks with guest Vince Schleitwiler about liberatory coalitions bet...

How have colonialism and empire contributed to modern-day science and medicine? How can work from women of color feminisms and healing justice movements inform how we practice wellness in our daily lives? Is there room for a holistic approach to productivity within academia? In episode 29 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach talks with guest Tala Khanmalek about how academics can...

How is the digital landscape changing, and what does this mean for academia? How can digital technologies transform how we teach and how we think about sharing the information we produce? In episode 28 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach talks with guest Zach McDowell about the relationship between the open access movement and other social justice movements, how decreasing the "...

How are digital technologies, including open access publishing, transforming higher education? In episode 27 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach chats with guests Jessie Daniels and Polly Thistlethwaite, founders of JustPublics@365 project about the impact of digital technologies in higher education, why so many scholars who are interested in open access publishing are also soci...

What does wellness and unwellness look like in the context of Asian America? In the context of academia? How can we transform our spaces to allow for more interpretations of healing practices? What role can students play in reforming how we discuss mental health in the academy? In episode 26 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach chats with guests Mimi Khúc and Lawrence-Minh Bùi Da...

What strings are attached to the "gift of freedom" that the United States grants refugees? How can zines, punk, and tarot serve as methods and mediums for social justice work? And what do movie stars and Buddhist nuns have in common? In episode 25 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach chats with Mimi Nguyen about the imperialist US discourse of debt and freedom repeatedly attached...

How can digital media transform the way we organize, teach, and relate to our bodies and the world? In episode 24 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach chats with guest Amanda Phillips about the politics of video game realism in an era of increasingly visible police violence, why so many marginalized communities have turned to digital media for organizing, how hashtag syllabi have...

How can trans people of color own their own stories? What's the right balance between depicting the systemic violence a community faces and representing the joy, pleasure, hope, and love that community produces? In episode 23 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach chats with guest André Pérez about his approach to multimedia projects, why he focuses on work that empowers marginaliz...

How can we tell a story that is ours but also belongs to millions of others? How can documentary film and engaged scholarship portray the realities of war? In episode 22 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews filmmaker Wazhmah Osman about the politics of memoir, what the trauma of war does to archival research, and Wazhmah's critically acclaimed documentary film, Postcar...

How is war felt through the body? Why are so many long-time antiwar and anticolonial activists turning to healing and body-based practices like acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, and somatics? And how can academics integrate decolonial feminist healing justice lessons into our classrooms and work spaces? In episode 21 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach talks with guest...

April Lynn James addresses how storytelling can help trauma survivors heal, the role of poetry in racial justice struggles, crafting an altac career that fits your unique skills and desires, and the political and personal importance of whimsy and laughter. Transcript and show notes:  https://ideasonfire.net/20-april-lynn-james

How are gender and sexuality implicated in the immigration process? Are there concrete steps that academics can take to engage with the broader community? What are the benefits of sound-based media (like this podcast)? In episode 19 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews guest Karma Chávez about the intersectional politics of migration, how grassroots activism is essenti...

How can publishers promote voices from the margins, and how can writers do their part in insisting that their voices are heard? For authors who write in multiple genres, what's the best way to choose the style that best matches your content? In episode 18 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews poet, publisher, and writing coach Minal Hajratwala about her genre-bending wr...

Elizabeth Walker and Maria Novotny discuss popular representations of infertility, the common misogynist refrain that tells women they need to "fix" infertility by becoming mothers, the childfree movement, and merging oral history and art with academic scholarship. Show notes:  https://ideasonfire.net/17-elizabeth-walker-and-maria-novotny

Katie Manthey talks about feminist fat fashion blogging, running a website about body positivity, and the racially gendered politics of what counts as "professional dress" in the academy. Show notes:  https://ideasonfire.net/16-katie-manthey

Vicko Alvarez chats about using comics in the K-12 classroom and how she drew on her life to create her two comic series—ScholaR Comics and CholActivist—which use lighthearted, sometimes humorous events to tell otherwise tough stories of growing up Latina in a low-income neighborhood. Show notes:  https://ideasonfire.net/15-vicko-alvarez

How can artists engage with the academy to share cultural work and activism? How is education a form of activism? In episode 14 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach interviews filmmaker and cultural producer Aishah Shahidah Simmons about her award-winning film NO!: The Rape Documentary , collaboration as key to feminist work, and how every one of us can play a part in ending viol...

What role do art museums and exhibition institutions play in creating political dialogue? How is highlighting work by and about marginalized populations a form of social justice activism? On episode 13 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, Cathy Hannabach chats with curator and director of the Philadelphia Institute of Contemporary Art Amy Sadao about the role of art in social change, how ethnic studi...