Food is often an overlooked topic by many historians; indeed, for something that we can’t live without, many people take it for granted. Have you ever wondered how your favourite dishes came into being? Or how certain foods and ingredients have moved around the world? This podcast will discuss the history of the South African dish Bunny Chow, and in turn examine the larger picture of food mobility. Bunny Chow, a dish with local form of curry inside carved loaf of bread, is a reflection of transcultural fusion that occurs when a diasporic community meets the host community and its peoples. It is a reflection of necessary measures taken to get around the issues posed during the Apartheid,and also the symbol of solidarity among labourers of Indian and African backgrounds.

This episode contextualizes the work of Canadian artist Tau Lewis.

This podcast uses the BBC show Love Thy Neighbour to comment on the politicization of race in television. It will examine how the black diaspora in Britain after the end of WW2 and the arrival of the Windrush generation triggered a shift in British television towards racial diversity in sitcoms. Wewill comment on the effects these shows had on the black population and compare them to the popularity of prominent racially diverse shows that air today, such as Blackish and Dear White People. The central question we tackle is if these shows that comment on race are inherently political, and what pressures they face from their audiences. Love Thy Neighbour’s racist rhetoric exemplifies the claim of many showrunners of the 1960s and 70s, that they were using comedy to expose racist rhetoric, but instead ended up appealing to the racism present in society. *Warning this podcast will contain examples of derogatory and racist language*

This podcast mobilizes Warsan Shire’s book of poems titled “Teaching my Mother How to Give Birth” to explore how diasporic belonging intersects with her experiences of  gender, race, and sexuality as a first-generation immigrant from Somalia. We begin with  an overview of Shire’s personal background with migration and delve into how these  experiences of becoming a diasporic subject influence her writing. From there, we  discuss the meaning of diaspora and how we are able to use this understanding as an  analytical tool for reading Shire’s work and uncovering her diasporic subjectivity. We  use this foundation to inform our individual analysis of her poems “Fire,” “Birds,” and  “Conversations About Home,” and invite listeners to explore our own personal reactions to these works. In sum, this podcast explores the gendered nature of diaspora and exposes how Warsan Shire’struth about the nature of violence in war and her struggles with assimilation represent a particular articulation of diasporic experience.