Critical Futures

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An interview-based podcast by the IHJE.

It's... Critical Futures Critical Futures

It’s critical because the time is now to conjure the world and communities we want to live and thrive in.
But it’s also futurity: or the intentional imagining and materializing of liberated futures where freedom from oppression, trauma, violence and discrimination are realized.

Ranging from the future of graduate education to the relationship between funding organizations and community partners, this podcast covers a lot ground. But no matter the topic, we always press our audience to question: “What world do we want to live? What world are we fighting to build? And how will we build it in just ways?”

Series 3: Racial Community Healing

In this new series, Racial Community Healing, we explore how the St. Louis region and other cities have developed community-driven solutions to racial injustices. Many of these injustices have been punctuated by the death of community members as a result of police violence. In St. Louis, the death of Michael Brown Jr. 10 years ago has accelerated sweeping changes in how communities here are leading social and economic change with frameworks that promote healing, racial justice, anti-racism and equity.

S3E1: “Healing the Core”

We talk to Ashley Winters and Darian Wigfall about their work on the Racial Healing + Justice Fund’s Community Governance Board (an initiative of Forward Through Ferguson). We discuss their efforts to “heal the core” – that is, to create space for communities to express narratives of oppression and grief; to create spaces for community members to find sources of support to build networks of resilience; and to find and exercise their individual and/or collective power.

Series 2: THE FUTURE OF...

Critical Futures continues its commitment to the intentional imagining of liberated futures through the new series: THE FUTURE OF… In this series, we chat with experts in various sectors to learn about what they are doing to shift the critical now for a radical new future. Across these episodes, you’ll hear how these experts envision, for example, the future of therapy; the future of trans organizing; and the future of graduate education. No matter the specific topic, all of our guests will prompt you to reflect: what world do we want to live in? What world are we fighting to build? And how will we build it in just ways?

... Masculinity Queering + Transing the World Trans Organizing Graduate Education Abolition the Present Healing & Therapy

S2E8: “The Future of the Un-Museum”

In this episode of the Critical Futures podcast, we are joined by the Executive Director of the DiasporaDNA Story Center, Monica O. Montgomery, to talk about “The Future of the Un-Museum,” or what it means to rethink and reshape museums to be spaces where visitors actively participate in the creation of our art, our stories, and our histories.

S2E7: “The Future of Masculinity”

We talk to scholar, community organizer, and activist Scott Emerson about the Future of Masculinity. Alongside a discussion of Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturist classic Parable of the Sower (1993), Emerson discusses his theory of revolutionary masculinity -- a theory which lays the groundwork for moving beyond critiques of toxic masculinity and begins to imagine the possibilities for masculinities that revolve around flexibility, adaptability, and around using privilege to fight for radical change.

S2E6: “The Future of Queering and Transing the World”

We talk to poet and researcher Thokozani Mbwana about the Future of Queering and Transing the World. We discuss the importance of gender interrogation within queer and trans spaces, but also how crucial it is to carry that work beyond those spaces.

Series 1: Anti-Racism Consortium

Throughout 2023-2024, Critical Futures released episodes once a month in partnership with the Anti-Racism Consortium: a panel consisting of content experts, community advocates, and organizations that each have a history of working to develop and advocate for anti-racist health policy. These episodes feature conversations between organizations and their community partners that highlight how to deeply work with community — exploring ways to share power and ways to move us all towards liberation. Support for the Consortium received from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

S1E12: “Open Hand, Open Heart, Open Ears”

We talk to R. Keli’i Abordo, Kekoaopololū Kealoha, Nikos Leverenz, & Maddalynn Sesepsara about their work with Hawai’i Health & Harm Reduction Center (HHHRC) to address social determinants of health and enact systemic change. Specifically, they discuss their efforts to reduce harm and stigma surrounding a number of health issues in Hawai’i communities, including HIV, hepatitis, homelessness, substance use, mental illness, and poverty – focusing on marginalized LGBT and Native Hawaiian communities, amongst others.

S1E11: “You Can’t Microwave Partnerships with Community”

We talk to Amani Allen, Wilhelmenia Wilson, and Suzette Chaumette about their work with organizations such as Healthy Black Families to address social determinants of health through anti-racist health policy. Moreover, we discuss their efforts to build partnerships with community meaningfully and ethically – avoiding interactions with community that are rushed and transactional.

S1E10: “Longterm Community Collaborations and Systemic Solutions”

We talk to Stephanie Baker, Lizzie Biddle, and Crystal Dixon from the Greensboro Health Disparities Collective (GHDC) about reaching systemic solutions to inequities in the healthcare system – and following the leadership of community partners to devise and implement those solutions.