This week, Ayana is joined by Dalit American civil rights activist Thenmozi Soundararajan in a profound conversation detailing the wounds of caste within the United States and across the world. Thenmozhi brings just conviction and soul-filled commitment to the fight to annihilate caste-based supremacy. The very involvement within systems of punishment, carcerality, and discrimination deepens a wound that separates us from each other and from the broad web of life. Speaking to the ways that carrying the trauma of caste manifests within the body, Thenmozhi emphasizes the importance of slowing down to process the grief and pain caused by mindless oppression.
Thenmozhi Soundararajan is a Dalit American Civil rights artist, organizer, and theorist who has worked with organizations around the world to address the urgent issues of racial, caste, and gender equity. Her intersectional, cross-pollinating work helps to create a more generous, global, expansive, and inclusive definition of South Asian identity, along with safe spaces from which to honor the stories of these communities. She was also an inaugural fellow of the Robert Rauschenberg Artist as Activist, Atlantic Foundation for Racial Equity, and is a current fellow at Stanford Center for South Asian Studies. She is also the author of the newly released book The Trauma of Caste by North Atlantic Books.
Music by Justin Crawmer, June West, and Te Martin. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.
BETTY MARTIN on The Language of Consent /358
KURT RUSSO on a Prayer of Mourning /357
ERIN MANNING on the Choreography of Neurodiversity /356
CORRINA GOULD on Settler Responsibility and Reciprocity [ENCORE] /355
FARIHA RÓISÍN on the Courage of Listening to Our Bodies /354
PERDITA FINN on the Long Story of Our Souls /353
JACQUELINE SUSKIN on The Poetry of Seasons /352
OBI KAUFMANN on the Ecotone of Art and Science /351
JASON BALDES on Buffalo and Land Rematriation /350
The Edges in the Middle, VI: Báyò Akómoláfé, Madhulika Banerjee, and Minna Salami
STEPHEN JENKINSON on a Lucid Reckoning /349
ABDOUMALIQ SIMONE on Urban Entanglements /348
ANDREA GIBSON on The Blessings of the Wound /347
KATRINA SPADE on New Life from Death /346
KURT RUSSO on the People Under the Sea [ENCORE] / 345
KEIARA WADE on Generations of Black Cowboys /344
JAMES BRIDLE on Modes of Intelligence /343
TOKO-PA TURNER on Dreams of Belonging /342
AMY GLENN on a Life in Thresholds /341
The Edges in the Middle, V: Báyò Akómoláfé, Naomi Klein, and Yuria Celidwen
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Voices of Misery Podcast
House of Whimsical Terror
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL