About Aniefiok Ekpoudom:

Aniefiok ‘Neef’ Ekpoudom is a writer and storyteller from South London whose work documents community and culture in contemporary Britain. His debut book Where We Come From: Rap Home and Hope in Modern Britain is a social history of British Rap. It was released via Faber & Faber in January 2024. As a journalist, he writes long-form essays and profiles for The Guardian, GQ and more. From charting a history of Black Football culture in South London to mapping the forces of migration and music that formed J Hus, his writing weaves social, cultural and narrative history to explore the current, lived realities of peoples across the UK.

Summary:

In this episode, we discuss the social history of Britain through the lens of British rap with a focus on South London, Wales and the West Midlands; migration, music and belonging through the lens of the Windrush generation; resilience, adversity and hope in the UK rap scene; community through pirate radio; how British rap reshapes and remakes a sense of home and belonging for Black British communities back then and today; vulnerability through music and mental health; the importance of diverse social archives; the importance of creativity in crafting a deeper sense of belonging; and how the music gives us hope.

References:

Where We Come From: Rap, Home and Hope in Modern Britain by Aniefiok Ekpoudom

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Follow Aniefiok:

Website: https://aniefiokekpoudom.com/

IG: @Aniefiokekp

X: @AniefiokEkp

Credits

Photo of Aniefiok by Blaow

Our theme music is by Alix Julian Edwards

Our branding is by Somewhere Off Grid

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About Stephanie Sy-Quia

Stephanie Sy-Quia is a writer, teacher, and printmaker. She was born in 1995 in California and currently lives in London. Her debut, Amnion, was published by Granta Poetry in 2021. Her writing has appeared in the FT Weekend, the TLS, the Economist, the Guardian, and TANK. She is a Ledbury Poetry Critic. In 2023, she guest curated Ledbury Poetry Festival.

Summary

In this episode, we delve into Stephanie's debut book Amnion, mixed identities, embodied writing, family histories, ambient language, the power of language and resistance against translation, gender, classism and racism, education and privilege, girlhood in boarding school, liberation through writing and relationships as a mixed person, self-exoticisation and fetishization, Philippine history, and the amniotic borders and boundaries we must all cross toward self-empowerment, wisdom and liberation, among other topics.

References

Amnion by Stephanie Sy-Quia (Granta Poetry)

Ambient Language by Stephanie Sy-Quia

Follow Stephanie:

IG: @c_est_qui77

X: @snsyquia

Credits

PC: Image by Alex Sy-Quia

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About Sam Johnson-Schlee:

Sam Johnson-Schlee is an academic and writer living by the sea in North Essex. Sam is the author of Living Rooms, published by Peninsula Press. He writes non-fiction and memoir about the politics and culture of everyday life. He is interested in how paying attention to familiar objects and practices can open up new perspectives on the world we live in, and also writes a newsletter on Substack called Sifting and Sorting: a series about digitising his late father’s collection of over two thousand CDs and an occasional series of personal essays about the music.

Summary:

In this episode, we discuss the politics of the home and the interior, what it would mean to ‘abolish the family’, the privatisation and atomisation of domestic life, rentier capitalism, nature connection and domestic spaces, radical connection and collective living, the value of public space, how the interior influences public life, what it would mean to re-imagine our domestic lives and more topics.

References:

Living Rooms by Sam Johnson-Schlee

Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation by Sophie Lewis

They Call It Love: The Politics of Emotional Life by Alva Gotby

Strayed Homes: Cultural Histories of the Domestic in Public by Edwina Attlee

Follow Sam:

IG: @snfschlee

X: @SNFSchlee

Substack: @siftingandsorting

Credits:

Image of Sam by Kenza Barton-Schlee

Our theme music is by Alix Julian Edwards

Our design is by Somewhere Off Grid

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.