Night Journey Podcast

Hello friends,We conclude the inaugural season of the Night Journey podcast with a conversation on poetry, politics, and postcolonial memory with writer Michelle Phương Hồ. You can order her debut book of poems, Bone Symphony, here. Thank you all for your generous support over this past spell of thinking aloud. I hope to have more for you soon!best,Isra This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nightjourney.substack.com

Join me this week for a fascinating conversation with the Rev. Dr. Jeania Ree Moore on romance novels, theology, and the religious lives of Black women (available wherever you listen to podcasts). If you enjoy our chat, please leave a review — it helps us reach more listeners. :) Shownotes:Dr. Moore’s dissertation, which you can read here, and her article,"The Religious Work of Beverly Jenkins's Black Historical Romance," published in vol. 14 of the Journal of Popular Romance Studies: https://www.jprstudies.org/2025/02/the-religious-work-of-beverly-jenkinss-black-historical-romance/.Indigo, in the image, is one of the most critical works in Beverly Jenkins’s oeuvre and is uplifted and analyzed in Dr. Moore’s dissertation. However we did not discuss in this episode but stay tuned for a part 2!We mention romance authors including Beverly Jenkins, Nalini Singh, and Tracey Livesay.Two relevant interviews: Beverly Jenkins talking about editorial changes in tropes in an interview on the Black Romance Has a History podcast with Nicole Jackson and Steve Ammidown -- see episode — and Nalini Singh talking about the impact of fan mail in an interview on the Fated Mates podcast with Sarah MacLean and Jen Prokop -- see episode.Sources discussed in the episode: Jayashree Kamble, Making Meaning in Popular Romance Fiction: An Epistemology (2014); Margo Hendricks, Race and Romance: Coloring the Past (2022) (link to the open-access version of the book); Hsu-Ming Teo, Desert Passions: Orientalism and Romance Novels (2012)The book quoted from at the end is Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church by Barbara A. HolmesAnd some other relevant works: ethicist Keri Day and her chapters on hope and on the erotic in her book Religious Resistance to Neoliberalism: Womanist and Black Feminist Perspectives; Catherine Roach -- the idea of romance as eschatology comes from Roach in her book Happily Ever After: The Romance Story in Popular Culture (2016); and Audre Lorde's "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power."Thank you, dear listeners!best,Isra This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nightjourney.substack.com

A fascinating conversation this month with Alia Jeraj about Muharram mourning songs, and the women who sing them. I hope you enjoy!best,Isra This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nightjourney.substack.com

A very special episode this month on the embodied theologies of qawwali music with AR Malik. I hope you enjoy!Some of the delightful musical pieces discussed:Allah hi Jaane Kaun Bashar Hain (Aziz Mian)Man Kunto MaulaA Beautiful Noise (Neil Diamond) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nightjourney.substack.com

A conversation with Safa Ahmed on Indian Muslim diaspora politics through and beyond Hindutva. I hope you enjoy — Eid Mubarak! Links:Abul Kalam Azad’s speech in front of Jama Masjid, 1947An explainer on Hindutva 101, put together by Savera, a coalition of progressive and multifaith civil society organizations (including Hindus, Muslims, Dalits, and SikhsSharjeel Imam on Islamic modernism, democracy, and the systemic exclusion of Muslims in India (letter from prison)India: The Modi Question (the BBC’s documentary on Modi’s rise to power) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nightjourney.substack.com