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.
CHUCK COLLINS on Wealth Hoarding and Capitalist Capture /340
DIANA FRIEDRICH on The Beauty and Promise of Rewilding/ 339
DR. BÁYÒ AKÓMOLÁFÉ on Ontological Mutiny /338
ABENA OFFEH-GYIMAH on Sacred Seed and Soil /337
The Edges in the Middle, IV: Báyò Akómoláfé and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
SAMANTHA ZIPPORAH on The Womb Continuum /336
ISMAIL LOURIDO ALI on Building Informed Drug Culture /335
The Edges in the Middle, III: Báyò Akómoláfé and Indy Johar
AMY WESTERVELT on Uncovering Extraction /334
ANN ARMBRECHT on Sacredness in Supply Chains /333
RACHEL CARGLE on a Renaissance of Our Own /332
KIMBERLY ANN JOHNSON on Pleasure as Pathway /331
The Edges in the Middle, II: Báyò Akómoláfé and V
JENNY ODELL on the Attention Economy [ENCORE] /330
john a. powell on Institutions of Othering and Radical Belonging [ENCORE] /329
The Edges in the Middle, I: Báyò Akómoláfé and john a. powell
TYSON YUNKAPORTA on Unbranding Our Mind [ENCORE] /328
MORGAN CURTIS on Transmuting Ancestries of Exploitation /327
GABES TORRES on Journeying Together /326
ROSEMARY GLADSTAR on Thriving Where Planted /325
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