Diaspora Diaries

Diaspora Diaries
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Diaspora Diaries is about personhood and identity, about education and career, about friendship and intimacy. Basically it’s just about people within the diaspora, trying to negotiate with this world. We’ll be drawing on politics, literature, history, pop culture, and thinkers like Audre Lorde, Mame-Fatou Niang and even a touch of Paul Gilroy to help us explore how our past shapes our present. As this podcast progresses you’ll hear from scholars, students, poets and other voices. So sit back, grab a drink (or two), and maybe a journal. This is Diaspora Diaries.

  1. Inherited Boxes: How We Learned to Divide

    Jun 26

    Inherited Boxes: How We Learned to Divide

    In this episode, Awa Sow sits down with poet and community organiser Binta Yade to unpack the boxes we inherit: gender, sexuality, ethnicity, identity, and the binaries that shape how we understand ourselves and one another. Together, they explore the colonial roots of many of these categories, from the imposition of Western ideas in Sub-Saharan Africa to the ways identity is navigated across the diaspora. Through personal reflections and wider conversations around belonging, they ask what happens when we stop seeing identity as fixed and begin questioning the lines we’ve learned to live within. REFERENCESOyewumi, O., 1997. The Invention of Women: Making An African Sense Of Western Gender Discourses. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Mamdani, Mahmood. "What is a tribe." Lond. Rev. Books 34 (2012): 20-22.Yade, Binta. Homophobia in Sub-Saharan Africa: The B*stard Child of the West. Edited by Kia Kiasuka-Kiakanda. Google Doc. Accessed June 25, 2026. Google Doc JINGLE“Niamey Nights”, Bamako Bae, Shutterstock, ⁠⁠https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-1221135-niamey-nights⁠ CONTRIBUTORSHost: Awa SowGuest: Binta YadeEdited by: Awa Sow

    40 min

  2. Jun 3

    Where Love Lives (Live at Three Sixty Festival)

    Recorded live at Three-Sixty Festival, this special episode brings together spoken word and conversation with Ay Hearts and MyselfBlaize, whose work sit at the intersection of poetry and community practice. Moving between performance and discussion, we explore care as something shaped in real time – as we make space for ourselves, navigate our realities, and shape the environments and practices we need. REFERENCESHouse of Vox (@houseofvox). Instagram profile. Accessed May 27, 2026. https://www.instagram.com/houseofvox/.Nuclear Fusion App (@nuclearfusionapp). “Everyone Wants a Village.” Instagram post. Published April 2, 2026. https://www.instagram.com/p/DWnO-5bFFPt/ JINGLE“Niamey Nights”, Bamako Bae, Shutterstock, ⁠⁠https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-1221135-niamey-nights⁠ CONTRIBUTORSHost: Awa SowGuest: Blaize Alexis-Anglin (MyselfBlaize), Ayanna Stevens (Ay Hearts)Edited by: Awa Sow

    33 min

  3. Apr 24

    The Complexities of “Statelessness”

    In this episode, Awa sits down with Lavin Ousi, a returning guest from Season 1,  to explore what it means to navigate Kurdish identity without a state formally recognised under international law, and how culture, language, and community hold that identity together beyond borders. The episode reflects on the complexities of “statelessness,” and the ways Kurdish identities are continuously shaped through everyday acts of self-determination, self-validation, and self-legitimisation. JINGLE“Niamey Nights”, Bamako Bae, Shutterstock, ⁠⁠https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-1221135-niamey-nights⁠ CONTRIBUTORSHost: Awa SowGuest: Lavin OusiEditor: Awa Sow

    27 min

  4. Mar 27

    The Things That Drive Us

    In this episode, Awa returns to conversations with guests from the first three episodes of season 2, weaving together their reflections to explore what drives us in life, and how that can take different forms across our work, our lives, and the ways we make sense of the world. JINGLE“Niamey Nights”, Bamako Bae, Shutterstock, ⁠⁠https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-1221135-niamey-nights⁠ CONTRIBUTORSHost: Awa SowGuest: Luke de Noronha, Tariq Brown, Fuad BusoirEditor: Awa Sow

    23 min

  5. Feb 27

    All About Love

    In this episode, Awa is in conversation with Fuad Busoir about love – what it means, how it is recognised, and whether it’s something felt or practised. Moving between romantic relationships, friendship and family, they reflect on the ways love shapes how people relate to one another, to space, and to themselves. Along the way, they sit with questions of accountability, intention, and whether love can ever be separate from politics – or if it is always quietly structuring the worlds being built. REFERENCES Davies Jr., Akinola, dir. My Father’s Shadow. 2025. Drama film. Hooks, Bell. All About Love: new visions: Bell Hooks. William Morrow, 2000. Jenkins, Barry, dir. If Beale Street Could Talk. 2018. Film. Nash, Jennifer C. "Practicing Love: Black Feminism, Love-Politics, and Post-Intersectionality."Meridians 19, no. S1 (2020): 439-462. Prince-Bythewood, Gina, dir. Love & Basketball. 2000. Film. JINGLE“Niamey Nights”, Bamako Bae, Shutterstock, ⁠⁠https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-1221135-niamey-nights⁠ CONTRIBUTORSHost: Awa SowGuest: Fuad BusoirEdited by: Awa Sow

    37 min
  6. Rethinking Borders: Race and the Politics of Belonging

    Jan 30

    Rethinking Borders: Race and the Politics of Belonging

    In this episode, Awa sits down with scholar Luke de Noronha to question what borders really do in our everyday lives. From citizenship and belonging to the politics behind “migration crises,” they explore how borders shape who belongs, who is welcomed, and who is framed as a threat.  JINGLE “Niamey Nights”, Bamako Bae, Shutterstock, ⁠⁠https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-1221135-niamey-nights⁠ REFERENCES Bradley, Gracie Mae, and Luke De Noronha. Against borders: The case for abolition. Verso Books, 2022. Robinson, Cedric J. Forgeries of memory and meaning: Blacks and the regimes of race in American theater and film before World War II. UNC Press Books, 2012. CONTRIBUTORS Host: Awa Sow Guest: Luke de NoronhaEdited by: Awa Sow

    45 min
  7. Spoken Word and the Politics of Awareness

    12/26/2025

    Spoken Word and the Politics of Awareness

    In this episode, Awa speaks with spoken word artist Tariq Brown about using poetry to make power visible. They explore how he transforms complex, often academic ideas – from capitalism to systemic oppression – into poetic, thought-provoking verse. It’s a conversation about heritage, awareness, and the poet’s role in illuminating systems of oppression. JINGLE “Niamey Nights”, Bamako Bae, Shutterstock, ⁠⁠https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-1221135-niamey-nights⁠ REFERENCES el-Kurd, Mohammed. 2025. Spoken remarks at the Closing Plenary of 25 Years of Human Rights at LSE Conference: Subverting Human Rights: Left, Right, and Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, May 16, 2025.  Poetic Unity. https://www.poeticunity.org.uk/  CONTRIBUTORS Host: Awa Sow Guest: Tariq Brown Editor: Awa Sow

    32 min
  8. S2: Season 2 Trailer

    Season 2 Trailer

    S2: Season 2 Trailer

    Diaspora Diaries is back for Season 2 👀Here's a moment to revisit what this space is about — and an invitation to step in. Now powered by Transmission Roundhouse.

    1 min
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Trailer

About

Diaspora Diaries is about personhood and identity, about education and career, about friendship and intimacy. Basically it’s just about people within the diaspora, trying to negotiate with this world. We’ll be drawing on politics, literature, history, pop culture, and thinkers like Audre Lorde, Mame-Fatou Niang and even a touch of Paul Gilroy to help us explore how our past shapes our present. As this podcast progresses you’ll hear from scholars, students, poets and other voices. So sit back, grab a drink (or two), and maybe a journal. This is Diaspora Diaries.

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  • Creator
    Diaspora Diaries
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Awa Sow
  • Show Website
    Diaspora Diaries