Within Our Gates

Mtume Gant
  • 5.0 (31)
  • ARTS
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

Within Our Gates is a podcast on Cinema and the arts from a Marxist perspective. Hosted by Filmmaker and Professor Mtume Gant, bi-weekly he has guests where they cover cinematic works or scholarship on the arts and always from a perspective focused on revolutionary analysis and dialectical materialist principles.

  1. 2D AGO

    The Aesthetic Character of Blackness w/ Jemma DeCristo

    For this episode I am joined by Jemma DeCristo to discuss her excellent new text The Aesthetic Character of Blackness: Sounds like Us. Its a powerful intervention into conversations around Blackness, Black art, and aesthetics which "critiques the exaltation of black culture and art's saving power by analyzing the violence underneath aesthetic production". Its a truly necessary work and our conversation while rich only scratches the surface of her wonderful text, so I encourage you all to get a copy! There is also a digital copy for folks if they want to check it out, but I highly encourage folks pick up the text Hope you all enjoy! Jemma DeCristo is a writer, scholar…and reluctant artist. She studies how sound, race-gender, and embodiment are realized in and as forms of mediation. Her recently published book now available on Duke University Press, The Aesthetic Character of Blackness, theorizes the means by which black art liberates the free world but does not and cannot liberate black people. She is also working on a co-written second book-length project focused on the language and structures of crisis management that encircle black trans/disabled women and the depths of internalization of those structures perpetuated by the non-profit industrial complex. Jemma is also a practicing filmmaker and artist working in video, sound, text, poetry, image, and movement. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes

    2h 18m

  2. FEB 24

    The Crisis of the Bourgeois Intellectual w/ Sudip Bhattacharya

    Returning to the show we have Sudip Bhattacharya to have an in depth discussion about intellectuals, artists and their role in the current movement. We do a historical analysis, focusing on the work by Marx as well as Amilcar Cabral. We also talk about the bourgeois art cultures relationship to stifling movements and how the left must orient itself in relationship to the forces at hand. Its a fun convo, leave comments! To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes

    2h 19m

  3. FEB 10

    Latin America and The Three Cinema's w/ Alex Aviña

    For this episode I have Alex Aviña joining me. We discuss the convergence of Latin American politics, leftist anti-colonial revolution and cinema. Taking a cue from Third Cinema creators Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, we look at 3 films that represent each of the "Three" different worlds of cinema and use it as a bridge point to connect the actual material history that informed the films creation, but also how these works fed back into the living world. Its really a wide ranging convo, and frankly this caption doesn't do it justice. You will have to listen! Alexander Aviña is a historian and professor—and the son of undocumented migrants from Michoacán, Mexico whose sacrifices and love made these educational achievements possible. He is currently an Associate Professor of History in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at Arizona State University (ASU). He has taught previously at Florida State University and the University of Southern California. He holds a B.A. in History magna cum laude from Saint Mary's College of California and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Southern California. His research focuses on twentieth-century Mexico, with an emphasis on revolutionary movements, the Mexican Left, state violence and terrorism, immigration, and the history of narcotics production and trafficking To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes

    1h 53m

  4. JAN 27

    Camera Palaestina w/ Stephen Sheehi

    Stephen Sheehi joins me to talk about his text Camera Palaestina, a critical exploration of Jerusalemite chronicler Wasif Jawhariyyeh (1904–1972) and his seven photography albums entitled The Illustrated History of Palestine. We have an expansive conversation, talking not only about the collection but the historical context in which they were collected, and how these images and the history around them tell us about Palestine, and the struggle against colonial erasure and genocide. During our conversation we talk about a few images. You can click the link to images below and follow along! Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4 Stephen Sheehi is the Sultan Qaboos Professor of Middle East Studies at William & Mary in Arabic Studies, Asian and Middle East Studies and Asian and Pacific Islander American Studies.  He is also Professor Extraordinarius at the Institute for Social and Health Sciences at the University of South Africa (UNISA). He has written a number of books, articles and book chapters around Arab photography and cultural history, Palestine and Palestinian studies,  psychoanalysis and settler colonialism, race, anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia, and, more recently, gender and sexuality in Southwest Asia and the Global South. Most recently, he is co-author with Lara Sheehi, Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine (Routledge, 2022), which was awarded the 2022 Palestine Book Award.  He is also the author of  Camera Palestina (University of California Press, 2022) with Salim Tamari and Issam Nassar. He current research project is entitled Intimacies of Guerillas: Queer Objects of Palestinian Liberation. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes

    2h 5m

  5. JAN 13

    Towards a Dialectics of Aesthetics w/ Gabriel Rockhill

    For this episode I am joined by Gabriel Rockhill to further my discussions on arts, culture and aesthetics from a dialectical materialist framework. Rockhill is the author of the newly released "Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?" on Monthly Review Press, a text which offers a crash course in the history of imperialist propaganda, as well as in the Marxist method for analyzing culture and ideology. In our discussion we cover many grounds, some related to his new book, but also other areas of scholarly interest concerning analysis of the failures of bourgeois cultural analysis and practice, and questions we must ask ourselves when looking towards developing revolutionary artistic pathways. Dr. Gabriel Rockhill is the Founding Director of the Critical Theory Workshop / Atelier de Théorie Critique, Professor of Philosophy and Global Interdisciplinary Studies at Villanova University, and the author or editor of twelve books, as well as numerous scholarly and general public articles. He is also the Director of Cultural Studies at Villanova University, Research Associate at the Laboratoire d'anthropologie politique – LAP (EHESS, Paris), one of the editors-in-chief of the World Marxist Review, and co-editor of the book series AIM–Anti-Imperialist Marxism. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes

    1h 48m

  6. 12/29/2025

    The Bronx Needs Socialism. Talking w/ Congressional Candidate Andre Easton

    This week I have with me Andre Easton, a Bronx born native running for Congress in New York's District 15 in The Bronx. We dig in on Andre's platform which looks to spark radical reconstruction under a socialist vision. We talk about what this vision mean in terms education, arts and culture and how his campaign in The Bronx reflects the broader the struggle happenining not only here in the heart of global capitalism but the entire world.  To find out more about Andre's campaign and how to be apart click here To donate to Andre's campaign click here To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes

    1h 39m

  7. 12/19/2025

    Beyond Blaxploitation - Discussing the Radical Outlier, Top of the Heap w/ Macedonia

    This episode I have a returning guest Macedonia to discuss one of the most unsung gems of the 1970's; Christopher St. John's Top of the Heap. A radical take down of the pangs of social mobility for the Black individual, Top of the Heap is an entry into Black Cinema that takes a hard look at Black existence in the imperial core through the experience of the Black Police Officer. Macedonia and I dissect this film that both hit us like a ton of bricks upon first viewing and we both believe it holds significant keys to discussions around Blackness within empire. If you want to watch Top of the Heap before the episode drops its free on Tubi To see more of Macedonia is doing you can check his work on these platforms: Radio BSOTS - http://bsots.com/ BSOTS blog - https://radiobsots.blogspot.com/ Mixcloud - https://www.mixcloud.com/macedonia/ Mastodon - https://mastodon.social/@bsots Threads - https://www.threads.com/@bsots IG - https://www.instagram.com/bsots/ To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes

    1h 58m

  8. 11/28/2025

    Socialist Education in the Imperial Core w/ Layan Fuleihan of The Peoples Forum

    Popular educator and organizer Layan Fuleihan joins me to discuss the current battle of ideas here in the Imperial Core of the U.S. and in the long struggle towards dismantling capitalism to build a socialist future what is the educators job and approach? I talk to Layan both philosophically and practically about the work she does at The People Forum in the belly of beast of New York City and the importance of spaces for political education that support active organizing in this current moment. Its a rich convo and the first of many of its type about education I plan to have on Within Our Gates. We also talk about The Peoples Forum current campaign to raise funds for the new space in NYC. For more info about the initiative on how to donate click here Layan Fuleihan is a popular educator, organizer, and lifelong student of historical and contemporary struggles of the oppressed. Layan developed her educational approach while working with youth and families in schools, libraries, and community and feminist organizations. In her role at The Peoples Forum, she is committed to developing political education programming and resources to support the building of working class, internationalist movements. Layan approaches her work with optimism and the conviction that a world free from the control of imperialism and capitalism is possible. When not studying or organizing, Layan cooks for friends, enjoys poetry, and dreams of returning to a liberated Palestine. Contact Layan at layan.f@peoplesforum.org To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes

    1h 18m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
31 Ratings

About

Within Our Gates is a podcast on Cinema and the arts from a Marxist perspective. Hosted by Filmmaker and Professor Mtume Gant, bi-weekly he has guests where they cover cinematic works or scholarship on the arts and always from a perspective focused on revolutionary analysis and dialectical materialist principles.

Information

  • Creator
    Mtume Gant
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Within Our Gates

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