In this episode, Awa is in conversation with Fuad Busoir about love – what it means, how it is recognised, and whether it’s something felt or practised. Moving between romantic relationships, friendship and family, they reflect on the ways love shapes how people relate to one another, to space, and to themselves. Along the way, they sit with questions of accountability, intention, and whether love can ever be separate from politics – or if it is always quietly structuring the worlds being built.

REFERENCES

Davies Jr., Akinola, dir. My Father’s Shadow. 2025. Drama film.

Hooks, Bell. All About Love: new visions: Bell Hooks. William Morrow, 2000.

Jenkins, Barry, dir. If Beale Street Could Talk. 2018. Film.

Nash, Jennifer C. "Practicing Love: Black Feminism, Love-Politics, and Post-Intersectionality."Meridians 19, no. S1 (2020): 439-462.

Prince-Bythewood, Gina, dir. Love & Basketball. 2000. Film.

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

CONTRIBUTORS
Host: Awa Sow
Guest: Fuad Busoir
Edited by: Awa Sow

In this episode, Awa sits down with scholar Luke de Noronha to question what borders really do in our everyday lives. From citizenship and belonging to the politics behind “migration crises,” they explore how borders shape who belongs, who is welcomed, and who is framed as a threat.

JINGLE

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

REFERENCES

Bradley, Gracie Mae, and Luke De Noronha. Against borders: The case for abolition. Verso Books, 2022.

Robinson, Cedric J. Forgeries of memory and meaning: Blacks and the regimes of race in American theater and film before World War II. UNC Press Books, 2012.

CONTRIBUTORS

Host: Awa Sow

Guest: Luke de Noronha
Edited by: Awa Sow

In this episode, Awa speaks with spoken word artist Tariq Brown about using poetry to make power visible. They explore how he transforms complex, often academic ideas – from capitalism to systemic oppression – into poetic, thought-provoking verse. It’s a conversation about heritage, awareness, and the poet’s role in illuminating systems of oppression.

JINGLE

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

REFERENCES

el-Kurd, Mohammed. 2025. Spoken remarks at the Closing Plenary of 25 Years of Human Rights at LSE Conference: Subverting Human Rights: Left, Right, and Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, May 16, 2025.

Poetic Unity. https://www.poeticunity.org.uk/

CONTRIBUTORS

Host: Awa Sow

Guest: Tariq Brown

Editor: Awa Sow