In this solo episode, Awa revisits conversations from across Diaspora Diaries to unpack the many meanings diaspora can take. Drawing together voices from across the podcast, she reflects on the ways people live with, challenge, and make sense of a concept that rarely settles into one definition.

REFERENCES

Sow, Awa. “Spoken Word and the Politics of Awareness.” Diaspora Diaries. Podcast audio. December 26, 2025. Transmission Roundhouse.https://audioboom.com/posts/8855831-spoken-word-and-the-politics-of-awareness.

Sow, Awa. “Rethinking Borders: Race and the Politics of Belonging.” Diaspora Diaries. Podcast audio. January 30, 2026. Transmission Roundhouse.https://audioboom.com/posts/8855830-rethinking-borders-race-and-the-politics-of-belonging.

Sow, Awa. “All About Love.” Diaspora Diaries. Podcast audio. February 27, 2026. Transmission Roundhouse.https://audioboom.com/posts/8866522-all-about-love.

Sow, Awa. “The Complexities of ‘Statelessness.’” Diaspora Diaries. Podcast audio. April 24, 2026. Transmission Roundhouse.https://audioboom.com/posts/8894967-the-complexities-of-statelessness.

Sow, Awa. “Inherited Boxes: How We Learned to Divide.” Diaspora Diaries. Podcast audio. June 26, 2026. Transmission Roundhouse.https://audioboom.com/posts/8921209-inherited-boxes-how-we-learned-to-divide.

JINGLE
“Niamey Nights”, Bamako Bae, Shutterstock, ⁠⁠https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-1221135-niamey-nights⁠

CONTRIBUTORS
Host: Awa Sow
Guests: Tariq Brown, Fuad Busoir, Luke De Noronha, Lavin Ousi, Binta Yade
Edited by: Awa Sow

In this episode, Awa Sow sits down with poet and community organiser Binta Yade to unpack the boxes we inherit: gender, sexuality, ethnicity, identity, and the binaries that shape how we understand ourselves and one another. Together, they explore the colonial roots of many of these categories, from the imposition of Western ideas in Sub-Saharan Africa to the ways identity is navigated across the diaspora. Through personal reflections and wider conversations around belonging, they ask what happens when we stop seeing identity as fixed and begin questioning the lines we’ve learned to live within.

REFERENCES
Oyewumi, O., 1997. The Invention of Women: Making An African Sense Of Western Gender Discourses. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Mamdani, Mahmood. "What is a tribe." Lond. Rev. Books 34 (2012): 20-22.
Yade, Binta. Homophobia in Sub-Saharan Africa: The B*stard Child of the West. Edited by Kia Kiasuka-Kiakanda. Google Doc. Accessed June 25, 2026. Google Doc

JINGLE
“Niamey Nights”, Bamako Bae, Shutterstock, ⁠⁠https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-1221135-niamey-nights⁠

CONTRIBUTORS
Host: Awa Sow
Guest: Binta Yade
Edited by: Awa Sow

Recorded live at Three-Sixty Festival, this special episode brings together spoken word and conversation with Ay Hearts and MyselfBlaize, whose work sit at the intersection of poetry and community practice. Moving between performance and discussion, we explore care as something shaped in real time – as we make space for ourselves, navigate our realities, and shape the environments and practices we need.

REFERENCES
House of Vox (@houseofvox). Instagram profile. Accessed May 27, 2026. https://www.instagram.com/houseofvox/.
Nuclear Fusion App (@nuclearfusionapp). “Everyone Wants a Village.” Instagram post. Published April 2, 2026. https://www.instagram.com/p/DWnO-5bFFPt/

JINGLE
“Niamey Nights”, Bamako Bae, Shutterstock, ⁠⁠https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-1221135-niamey-nights⁠

CONTRIBUTORS
Host: Awa Sow
Guest: Blaize Alexis-Anglin (MyselfBlaize), Ayanna Stevens (Ay Hearts)
Edited by: Awa Sow