The Unother Podcast

Trailer | Introducing The Unother Podcast

Belongg — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 21:35:24 +0530

Belongg is a social innovation platform focused on intersectional inclusion and runs initiatives linked to inclusive research, inclusive mental health, and inclusive literature. On this podcast, you get to experience a wide set of conversations with experts hosted by Belongg.

Inclusive Food Systems Ep 01 | Agro-Economy

Dr Shreya Sinha, Amiya Chaudhuri — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 22:13:59 +0530

In this episode, we explore the role of women in agriculture and agrarian economy with researcher Dr Shreya Sinha. Shreya offers key insights into the difficulties that women face in accessing male-dominated markets, the undermining of their labour as ‘soft labour’ and the caste and gender nexus that further oppresses female farm workers.

About the Guest:

Dr Shreya Sinha is a lecturer in Business and Society at Queen Mary University of London. Her research is focused on the political economy of agrarian change and development, with a regional focus on India. Previously, Shreya was involved with the TIGR2ESS project (Transforming India's Green Revolution by Research and Empowerment for Sustainable food Supplies) at the University of Cambridge.

This podcast series is hosted by Amiya Chaudhuri, Research Associate at Belongg. Amiya is interested in the intersection of food, identity and social justice, and has previously worked with grassroots NGOs and served as an AIF Clinton Fellow.

You can also listen to this podcast and more conversations on intersectional inclusion, by downloading Belongg’s app UnOther, available on the Apple and Google app stores. To connect with intersectional experts for guest lectures or consultations, check out Belongg Circle, a platform that makes it easy for a range of organizations and individuals to integrate intersectionality in their work.

*Please note that at the time of recording this podcast, Dr Sinha was Lecturer at the University of Reading's School of Agriculture, Policy and Development.

Crossroads in Therapy | Rethinking the ‘family’ in family therapy

Reena Nath, Saransh Bisht — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 22:13:43 +0530

In this episode, we talk to Reena Nath, a psychotherapist working in the domain of family therapy about questioning and resisting binary systems in family therapy work.

About the Guest

Reena Nath is a psychotherapist and systemic family therapist in private practice in Delhi. She is an MSc in child development, Delhi University, and an MA in systemic psychotherapy from the Tavistock Clinic, U.K. She set up and was director of Sampark, a walk-in therapy centre at Modi Hospital. She has worked at the Marlborough Family Services centre, the Anna Freud Centre, and the London Marriage Guidance Council, U.K. She has offered group therapy in crisis situations in Punjab, Kashmir and Afghanistan, the latter under the U.N. She has been secretary of the Indian Association of Family Therapy, a board member of the International Family Therapy Association and is currently on the board of the Journal of Family Therapy.

This series is hosted by Saransh Bisht, mental health collective associate at Belongg.

You can also listen to this and more by downloading Belongg’s app UnOther, spelt U_N_O_T_H_E_R which is available on both the Apple and Google app stores. To invite such experts to your organization for guest lectures or expert consultations, please also look at Belongg Circle, a platform that curates intersectional experts and makes it easy for a range of organizations to integrate such thinking in their work.

Gaze of the World and I | Ruth Vanita

Ruth Vanita, Swati — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 22:13:28 +0530

In this episode, we speak to Ruth Vanita, an academic, an activist, and an author who has contributed immensely to literature around gender, sexuality, and culture. We speak to her about her book 'Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans of Bombay Cinema,' and explore her ground-breaking study of courtesan imagery in 235 films, throwing light on the role the courtesan figure played in shaping the modern Indian erotic, political and religious imagination.

About the Guest:
Ruth Vanita co-founded India’s first nationwide feminist magazine called Manushi: A journal about Women and Society, which combined academic research and grassroots activism. An author of several books such as Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India, Memory of Light, Love’s Rite: Same-sex Marriage in India and the West and Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans of Bombay Cinema, she has also translated many works of fiction and poetry from Hindi and Urdu to English.

This series is hosted by Swati. Swati is a Social Design Practitioner, a researcher, and a podcaster. She has been working with the medium of audio for over 5 years, running a community radio station in Ahmedabad, and has experimented with various forms of story-telling through different mediums.

The Inclusive Bookshelf | Urvashi Butalia

Urvashi Butalia, Zinnia Sengupta — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 22:13:16 +0530

In this episode, we speak to Urvashi Butalia, an Indian feminist writer, publisher and activist. Urvashi tells us about her early encounters with inclusive literature, and how her reading journey has evolved with her feminism. She also talks about the importance of reading books that transcend and question boundaries of identity, and how reading is inherently a form of activism.

About the Guest:

Urvashi Butalia is known for her pioneering work in the women's movement of India, as well as for authoring books such as The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India and Speaking Peace: Women's Voices from Kashmir. In 2003, she founded Zubaan Books, a feminist publishing house that is known for its pathbreaking and diverse work.

This series is hosted by Zinnia Sengupta, former literature collective associate at Belongg. Zinnia has always dreamed of making the world a kinder, more inclusive place than the one she was raised in. She has written for Pune Mirror, Verve, and other travel & lifestyle publications, and worked closely with several grassroots-level NGOs.

Books and authors in the episode:

Versions of the Heer-Ranjha saga
Rajinder Singh Bedi
Mahadevi Verma (Poetry, Shrankhala ki Kadiyaan)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Chandamama and Phantom comics
Godaan by Premchand
Nayantara Sehgal
Anita Desai
Kamla Markandaya
Rukogi Nahi Radhika by Usha Priyamwada
Amrita Pritam
Krishna Sobti
Mridula Garg
Chitra Mudgal
Gulshan Nanda
Salma
A Life Less Ordinary: A Memoir by Baby Haldar
Shareer ki Jankari (About the Body) by 75 women from Rajasthan, published by Zubaan
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Birth of the Maitreya by Bani Basu
Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights by Helen Lewis
Queeristan by Parmesh Shahani
Kalpana Swaminathan’s detective fiction
Karuna Ezra Parikh
Peace Has Come by Parismita Singh

Crossroads in Therapy | Locating the site of peace in conflict-affected regions

Ufra Mir, Saransh Bisht — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 22:13:01 +0530

In this episode, we speak with Ufra Mir who has worked with persons from conflict-affected regions to discuss the possibility of situating harmony in a therapeutic setting and viewing therapy as a political space.

About the Guest:

As the first & only practicing peace-psychologist from Kashmir & South-Asia, Ufra Mir works at the intersection of the science of psychology, mental health psychosocial support, education, art and peace-building; where her vision of peace is very much foundational in holistic global wellbeing, mental health psychosocial support, self-transformation, changemaking and inner peace first - for more empowered, more empathetic, more peaceful and more cohesive, just and resilient world. She has additionally been recognized as one of the top 10 Kashmiri women achievers, which includes a recent Lal Ded Khatoon-e-Kashmir award, for her contribution to peace-psychology work, focused on wellbeing, healing and peacebuilding in Kashmir.

This series is hosted by Saransh Bisht, mental health collective associate at Belongg. They are also a mental health practitioner who works extensively with queer persons on various psycho-social themes. In 2019 they co-founded queer listening circle to enable healing spaces among community spaces.

Reimaginings | Reimagining History

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 22:12:50 +0530

Reimagining history: Rejecting a homogeneous past with Prof Manan Ahmed Asif, Prof. Chinnaiah Jangam and Archana Garodia Gupta. In this episode, our guests view history through different lenses and surface common truths as well as rich differences in our past. We will hear our guests exchange reflections about the multiplicity of historical narratives, the need to look to our past and the value of searching beyond mainstream sources.

About the Guests:

Prominent scholar Prof Manan Ahmed Asif has written extensively on South Asian history and currently teaches history at Columbia University. His books include, A Book of Conquest and The Loss of Hindustan: The Invention of India.

Prof. Chinnaiah Jangam's research focuses on the social and intellectual history of Dalits in modern South Asia. He is currently an Associate professor at Carleton University. He is the author of much acclaimed, Dalits and the Making of Modern India.

A leading national quizzer, Archana Garodia Gupta has won the 'Champion of Champions' title from BBC's Mastermind India. She has written the popular historical anthology The Women Who Ruled India: Leaders. Warriors. Icons. and co-wrote The History of India for Children series for Hachette.

This series is hosted by Yoshita Srivastava, literature collective associate at Belongg. She believes inclusive representation is essential for a better future — empathy being key in dismantling prejudice. She is interested in exploring intersections of gender, sexuality, identity and culture studies, and has previously worked at media and social sector organizations.