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Unruly Subjects is a weekly show about politics and culture hosted by Chenjerai Kumanyika, media professor and Peabody Award-winning audio journalist. Each week, Chenjerai makes sense of the week’s struggles with some of his favorite people - thinkers, journalists, friends, and folks who can help us laugh through the pain.
The show is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Support Unruly Subjects at Patreon.com/UnrulySubjects
14 Episodes
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This week, we have an episode all about the Trump administration's attack on federal workers and how people are mobilizing to fight back. We feature an interview with two prominent organizers with the Federal Unionist Network: Paul Osadebe and Chris Dols. Paul Osadebe is a former Civil Rights attorney from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He’s a union steward with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and an organizer with the Federal Unionist Network. C...
This week, we have an episode all about what’s happening right now in Brazil - and how we got here. We feature an interview with Gilberto Porcidonio, a journalist, screenwriter, and writer from Brazil. He is a reporter and fact-checker for Piauí magazine and narrator of Chumbo & Soul, an Audible podcast series produced by Rádio Novelo about the Brazilian dictatorship from the perspective of the Black population. Chenjerai and Gilberto have a wide-ranging discussion about what’s hap...
This week, we feature an interview with journalist Gillian Brockell who recently wrote a story published in Mother Jones that breaks down what’s happening onboard ICE deportation flights, the private-equity airline that’s profiting off the cruelty, and more. Also, Chenjerai has an update on labor struggles happening across the country and across sectors including the health care workers in NYC, the public school teachers on strike in San Francisco, and we share an excerpt of Chenj...
This week, Chenjerai is back on one of his favorite beats: policing in America 👮 He has a long conversation with Mac Muir, the author of Cop Cop: Breaking the Fixed System of American Policing. Muir recently served as the Executive Director of Oakland, California’s Community Police Review Agency and before then was a Supervising Investigator at NYC’s CCRB. He shares stories from inside his work as a police investigator and discusses the changes needed to hold bad cops accountable. We al...
This week, we feature a conversation with veteran labor organizer and strategist Bill Fletcher Jr. all about general strikes. What do people mean when they say general strike? What makes strike power different from other kinds of protest power? And what kind of conditions actually have to exist for this kind of action to succeed, especially in a moment when the repression is this real? In this episode, we also hear from two workers on the ground in Minneapolis: Dr. Robert Mills III is a...
This week, we feature an interview with Mother Jones reporter Abby Vesoulis, who recently co-authored with Ari Berman the report “Your Private Data Is Building Trump’s Voter Purge Machine”. Vesoulis breaks down the Trump administration’s plans for election interference via voter suppression, the Department of Justice’s role in purging voters, and how we can try to fight back ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Also, Chenjerai previews a longer interview with veteran labor organizer...
This week, we feature an interview with George “Conscious” Lee. He’s an orator, educator, and social media influencer who uses his platform to break news and promote dynamic understandings of justice. He’s built a massive, engaged audience on Instagram and TikTok by highlighting social and political issues that demand widespread awareness. In his interview with Chenjerai, Conscious talks about why analyzing power is the center of his work, how joining his college debate team gave him le...
While we're cooking up our next full episodes of Unruly Subjects, we wanted to re-share our first UNRULY HOTLINE segment that we originally published in Episode 2. In this segment, Chenjerai listens and reacts to callers that responded to the question: "How do you balance your love life with the struggle?” If you have any questions, comments or thoughts to share with Unruly Subjects you can always leave us a message here: 215-436-9212 Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowho...
As the assault on Gaza continues and the crisis deepens, our individual freedom to critique Israel’s actions has become more and more fraught. We have a deep commitment to anti-racism in all its forms on Unruly Subjects, including antisemitism. But we find ourselves in a place where condemning the actions of a country is falsely - and often frighteningly - equated with being anti-semitic. Darryl Li is an anthropologist and lawyer teaching at the University of Chicago. He's the co-author of a ...
NEWS FIEND is a weekly segment where Chenjerai offers his commentary and reflections on some of the week's headlines. This is a feature that is offered for all Patreon members of Unruly Subjects, but we wanted to give our listener's here a taste of the UNRULY SUPPORTER perks. We're a completely independent show! Each new supporter helps us make this project possible. Become a Patreon supporter here: http://patreon.com/unrulysubjects Included below are links to some additiona...
This week - on the heels of Zohran Mamdani’s historic victory in NYC’s mayoral election - we’re featuring an interview with Maya Meredith, a Brooklyn-based leader in the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America’s Afrosocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus. Maya lets us know about some of DSA’s upcoming campaigns, talks about canvassing and organizing Black voters, and discusses fighting to create a more multiracial coalition within DSA. Also in this episode: Chen...
This week, we’re featuring an interview with the writer & culture critic Lovia Gyarkye, an editor at Hammer & Hope, a magazine of Black politics and culture. Lovia discusses her approach to cultural critique, looks back at a 2017 piece she wrote about Trevor Noah, makes a case for why everyone should become familiar with the Jamaican-born cultural theorist Stuart Hall. Also in this episode: An excerpt of a conversation with Conscious Lee about processing the news as an influence...
This is the very first episode of Unruly Subjects! And we’re featuring an interview with Roy Wood Jr. Roy is a stand-up comedian and Emmy-nominated writer with a new book out - a memoir entitled The Man of Many Fathers. We talk about fatherhood, dive deep into a segment he did on the Daily Show about Cop City, and the role of comedy in times of political turmoil. Also, Chenjerai reflects on a few news headlines, takes a phone call, & more. The Man of Many Fathers – Roy W...
Unruly Subjects is a new podcast from Chenjerai Kumanyika and Rowhome Productions about the world as we’re living it, right now. Each week, we’ll check in about what’s happening in the news, and bring on some of the most brilliant, funny, and inspiring people to help us make sense of it all. We’re even opening up the lines so you can be part of the conversation. Leave Chenjerai a message at (215) 436-9212. We’ll also be finding ways to connect with you and deepen the conversation on Pat...
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