People and Dancefloors Sambiki Saru

In our 10th episode, we welcome back one of our first ever guests: Lisa Williams! Lisa is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester, who researches patterns of recreational drug use over people’s life courses. We chat with Lisa about the relationship between raving and ageing, and she shares insights from her various research projects over the years, including from one of our favourite named academic articles ‘One Foot in the Rave’, which looks at ageing ravers’ transitions to adulthood. We also discuss the implications of ‘life course’ vs ‘life cycle’ as a means to think productively about each of our journeys through space/time.

In this episode, we discuss one of the most controversial topics when it comes to humans’ relationships with drugs: addiction. Join us as we chat with Fay Dennis, a Research Fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London. In the interview, Fay shares her thoughts on addiction from the perspective of someone who has worked and researched in the substance use field for fifteen years. She discusses the limitations of ‘addiction’ in conveying the nuances of people’s drug using experiences, and puts forward the notion of ‘habit’ as having greater productive potential.

In this episode, we are finally talking about masculinity! This one has been a long time coming. Join Giulia and Alex (@yourfaavepal) as we chat with our colleagues and friends Kristian Møller (@kristianmj) and Jamie Hakim (@hak_jam). Jamie is a Lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries at Kings College London. His research focuses on intimacies in physical and particularly digital spaces, care and embodiment, and queer masculinities. He also explored chemsex in his work. Kristian is Associate Professor in Media and Cultural Studies, with his work focusing on digital, chemical and queer intimacies, particularly but not limited to drugs and chemsex. 

In the interview, we talk about encountering masculinity in nightlife, queer / cis masculinities and the politics of space, sexualities and intimacies.

In our 7th episode, we have two extra special guests! Listen to Casil McAuthur  (@casil_the_goat_lord), model and general icon, interview the equally iconic Amara Gisele Jones Velasquez (@amara.xtravaganza) about transness and nightlife in London and New York. Casil and Amara discuss trans family, safety, and what it means to be a ‘doll’.

Join Alex in conversation with extra special guest Knives (@ghost.them), a London-based freelancer doing a mix of set design, modelling, and working in nightlife.In nightlife contexts, Knives works as a welfare officer for various club nights, including queer, kink, and private parties. Alex and Knives both work as welfare officers at Riposte, a queer techno night in London. Alex asks Knives about their journey into welfare work, about the functions of welfare officers in nightclubs, and the challenges that can arise when attempting to keep clubbers safe from sex/drug-related harms. Alex and Knives also reflect on the toll welfare work can take on the individuals who do it.

In our fifth podcast, Giulia and Alex interview Rosalind Stone (@rosalindst0ne), who is co-organiser of The Semantrix Sessions (@semantrix_sessions) - a series of sessions that explore the relationship between language and perception through discussion and exploration of psychedelic drugs. Rosalind’s academic background is in literature, and we loved hearing her reflect on the tensions that emerge when considering the meaning of psychedelic experiences under capitalism. We also asked Rosalind about the medicalisation of psychedelics and their potential therapeutic value.