Media Futures Podcast

On this fourth and final episode we hear from Professor Anamik Saha (Leeds) on the crisis of diversity. Anamik’s talk imagines how media can proactively challenge racism in society, and how a radical reimagining of diversity can contribute to this urgent task. Beyond Media Diversity is a series of four episodes from the Media Futures Hub which takes a critical look at diversity debates in the media, examining how these are limiting (and limited), what decolonial and anti-colonial alternatives could look like, and how we might divest from the diversity paradigm. The series was recorded at the Beyond Media Diversity Symposium at the University of New South Wales in June 2024, hosted by the Media Futures Hub at the School of the Arts and Media. This podcast mini-series is produced by Mitchell Price, Tanja Dreher, and Sukhmani Khorana. Anamik Saha is Professor of Race and Media at the University of Leeds https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/media/staff/4390/professor-anamik-saha A podcast from the Media Futures Hub at www.mediafutureshub.org

On this second episode we hear from Debbie Bargallie (Griffith), Anamik Saha (Leeds), Tito Ambyo (RMIT), and Mohan Dutta (Massey) on the theme of racial literacies. Beyond Media Diversity is a series of four episodes from the Media Futures Hub which takes a critical look at diversity debates in the media, examining how these are limiting (and limited), what decolonial and anti-colonial alternatives could look like, and how we might divest from the diversity paradigm. The series was recorded at the Beyond Media Diversity Symposium at the University of New South Wales in June 2024, hosted by the Media Futures Hub at the School of the Arts and Media. This podcast mini-series is produced by Mitchell Price, Tanja Dreher, and Sukhmani Khorana. Racial Literacies panellists: Associate Professor Debbie Bargallie: https://experts.griffith.edu.au/19242-debbie-bargallie and https://debbiebargallie.au Professor Anamik Saha: https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/media/staff/4390/professor-anamik-saha Tito Ambyo: https://www.rmit.edu.au/profiles/a/arsisto-ambyo and https://bsky.app/profile/arsisto.bsky.social Professor Mohan Dutta: https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/expertise/profile.cfm?stref=285450 A podcast from the Media Futures Hub at www.mediafutureshub.org

In this spotlight episode of the Media Futures Podcast, Maddie Hichens joins Associate Professor Tanja Dreher to discuss her PhD research on social media’s digital anxieties. This episode is part of a six week series of short interviews spotlighting the work of Media Futures Hub researchers. Based at UNSW Sydney on unceded Bedegal Country, the Media Futures Hub works at the intersection of media and cultural studies to shape the theories, methods and practices needed for more just media futures. Visit the Hub at www.mediafutureshub.org or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MediaFuturesHub

In this spotlight episode of the Media Futures Podcast, Kevin Witzenberger joins Associate Professor Michael Richardson to discuss his PhD research on predictive technologies in education. This episode is part of a six week series of short interviews spotlighting the work of Media Futures Hub researchers. Based at UNSW Sydney on unceded Bedegal Country, the Media Futures Hub works at the intersection of media and cultural studies to shape the theories, methods and practices needed for more just media futures. Visit the Hub at www.mediafutureshub.org or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MediaFuturesHub

In this spotlight episode of the Media Futures Podcast, Simon Taylor joins Associate Professor Tanja Dreher to discuss his PhD research on histories of artificial intelligence and much more. This episode is part of a six week series of short interviews spotlighting the work of Media Futures Hub researchers. Based at UNSW Sydney on unceded Bedegal Country, the Media Futures Hub works at the intersection of media and cultural studies to shape the theories, methods and practices needed for more just media futures. Visit the Hub at www.mediafutureshub.org or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MediaFuturesHub

‘Abolition Futures’ is a standalone podcast episode made by Andrew Brooks, Liam Grealy, and Astrid Lorange, co-facilitators of the Infrastructural Inequalities research network. Infrastructural Inequalities examines the unjust distribution of resources, amenities, and opportunities that shape our society and asks how we might intervene in the reproduction of inequality. Together, we produce exhibitions, public programs, workshops, and edit the Infrastructural Inequalities journal. In 2021, the journal published a special issue called ‘Policing, Crisis, Abolition’, which sought to investigate how crisis, policing, and infrastructure are bound to one another: the essays and interviews collectively ask how an abolitionist approach to infrastructure might move us toward a world where the needs of all are met. Following the publication of the special issue, Infrastructural Inequalities presented a live, online public program – Resistant Media and Abolitionist Futures – co-hosted by the Media Futures Hub at UNSW in May 2021. This podcast draws from the program’s discussions, and features Tabitha Lean, Renee “Rocket” Bretherton, Debbie Kilroy, Dr Amanda Porter, and Alison Whittaker. It was edited and mixed by Andrew Brooks. Original music by Motion and Té. Writing and other resources on abolition, including by our guests, are available at Infrastructural Inequalities: https://infrastructuralinequalities.net. A transcript of the podcast can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/yckj8h3v Further Resources: Bird’s Eye View Podcast: https://www.birdseyeviewpodcast.net/about Rocket Bretherton, ‘If I Were You’, Australian Poetry Journal, 9:1: pp. 26–27: https://www.australianpoetry.org/australian-poetry-journal/ Tabitha Lean, ‘Why I Am An Abolitionist’, Overland, June 2021: https://overland.org.au/2021/06/why-i-am-an-abolitionist/ Tabitha Lean, ‘More Black Than Blue: A Confession’, Sydney Review of Books, June 2022: https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/review/gorrie-black-and-blue/ Debbie Kilroy, ‘Imaging Abolition: Thinking outside the prison bars’, Griffith Review 60, April 2018: https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/imagining-abolition-sisters-inside-debbie-kilroy/ Natalie Ironfield, Tabitha Lean, Alison Whittaker, Latoya Aroha Rule, Amanda Porter, ‘Abolition on Indigenous Land’, 2021 John Barry Memorial Lecture, Melbourne University, March 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peA6_WdIbtE&ab_channel=ArtsUnimelb Amanda Porter, ‘Not criminals or passive victims: media need to reframe their representation of Aboriginal deaths in custody’, The Conversation, April 2021: https://theconversation.com/not-criminals-or-passive-victims-media-need-to-reframe-their-representation-of-aboriginal-deaths-in-custody-158561 Paul Gregoire, ‘The Inherent Racism of Australian Police: An Interview With Policing Academic Amanda Porter’, Sydney Criminal Lawyers, June 2020: https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-inherent-racism-of-australian-police-an-interview-with-policing-academic-amanda-porter/ Alison Whittaker, ‘No news is no news: COVID-19 and the opacity of Australian prisons’, Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 33 (2021): pp. 111-119: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10345329.2020.1859964

On this episode, Michael is joined by Caren Kaplan, Professor Emirata of American Studies at UC Davis. She is the author of numerous books, most recently Aerial Aftermath: Wartime from Above. You can follow her at https://twitter.com/cajakap Drone Futures is hosted by Michael Richardson, Senior Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, whose research examines the intersection of war, culture and technology. https://twitter.com/richardson_m_a Media Futures Hub works at the intersection of media and cultural studies to shape the theories, methods and practices needed for more just media futures. https://twitter.com/MediaFuturesHub

On this episode, Michael is joined by Thomas Stubblefield, Associate Professor of Contemporary Art History and Media Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Thomas is the author of the new book Drone Art: The Everywhere War as Medium (2020). More info on the book can be found at https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520339620/drone-art Drone Futures is hosted by Michael Richardson, Senior Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, whose research examines the nexus of war, culture and technology. https://twitter.com/richardson_m_a Media Futures Hub works at the intersection of media and cultural studies to shape the theories, methods and practices needed for more just media futures. https://twitter.com/MediaFuturesHub

On this episode, Michael is joined by Dr J.D. Schnepf, Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the literature and culture of the US security state, surveillance technologies, extractive infrastructures, and the War on Terror. You can follow her at https://twitter.com/jd_schnepf. Drone Futures is hosted by Michael Richardson, Senior Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, whose research examines the intersection of war, culture and technology. https://twitter.com/richardson_m_a Media Futures Hub works at the intersection of media and cultural studies to shape the theories, methods and practices needed for more just media futures. https://twitter.com/MediaFuturesHub

On this episode, Michael Richardson is joined by Dr Katherine Chandler, a media studies scholar and author of Unmanning: How Humans, Machines and Media Perform Drone Warfare. First Michael interviews Kate about her work, then you’ll hear Kate deliver a talk based on her book. This is the third in a six-part series called Drone Futures, based on a virtual public seminar series at the Media Futures Hub. Drone Futures brings together leading artists, humanities and social science scholars whose research intersects with the emerging field of drone studies. From the neo-colonial violence of contemporary wars in the Middle East and Africa to the strange histories of unmanned aerial vehicles to activist uses in struggles for justice, this seminar series looks to the past and present to think into the future. Visit https://www.dronewitnessing.com/drone-futures for more info. Katherine Chandler studies the intersection of technology, media and politics through a range of scales and forms. She is an assistant professor in the Culture and Politics Program in the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Her first monograph, Unmanning: How Humans, Machines and Media Perform Drone Warfare, examines unmanned aircraft from 1936 - 1992. She asks how life and death are adjudicated through conditions organized as if control were ''unmanned'' and outlines how politics is disavowed as a result. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley with a Designated Emphasis in New Media. You can learn more about her work at http://katherinechandler.net/. Michael Richardson is Senior Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, examining the intersection of war, culture and technology. https://twitter.com/richardson_m_a Media Futures Hub works at the intersection of media and cultural studies to shape the theories, methods and practices needed for more just media futures. https://twitter.com/MediaFuturesHub

On this episode, Michael Richardson is joined by Antoine Bousquet and Jairus Grove, two of the most fascinating thinkers in international relations and critical security studies today. First, Michael interviews Antoine and Jairus about their work, then you'll hear our two guests in dialogue on "Martial Autonomies: Rise of the War Machines". This is the second in a six-part series called Drone Futures, based on a virtual public seminar series at the Media Futures Hub. Drone Futures brings together leading artists, humanities and social science scholars whose research intersects with the emerging field of drone studies. From the neo-colonial violence of contemporary wars in the Middle East and Africa to the strange histories of unmanned aerial vehicles to activist uses in struggles for justice, this seminar series looks to the past and present to think into the future. Visit https://www.dronewitnessing.com/drone-futures for more info. Antoine Bousquet is Reader in International Relations at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of The Eye of War: Military Perception from the Telescope to the Drone, which is a deeply researched and carefully argued exploration of what Antoine calls ‘the martial gaze’. https://twitter.com/ajbousquet Jairus Grove is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Hawai‘i Research Center for Future Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. He is the author of Savage Ecology: War and Geopolitics at the End of the World, one of the most startling and unsettling works of political theory of recent times and a book that has helped me think through how to understand where we’re at in geopolitics and the life of war. https://twitter.com/savageecology Michael Richardson is Senior Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, examining the intersection of war, culture and technology. https://twitter.com/richardson_m_a Media Futures Hub works at the intersection of media and cultural studies to shape the theories, methods and practices needed for more just media futures. https://twitter.com/MediaFuturesHub

On this episode, Michael Richardson is joined by Dr Ronak K. Kapadia, a cultural theorist and author of Insurgent Aesthetics: Security and the Queer Life of the Forever War, to talk about art and the human terrain of drone warfare. First Michael interviews Ronak about his work, then you’ll hear Ronak deliver a talk based on his book. This is the first in a six-part series called Drone Futures, based on a virtual public seminar series at the Media Futures Hub. Drone Futures brings together leading artists, humanities and social science scholars whose research intersects with the emerging field of drone studies. From the neo-colonial violence of contemporary wars in the Middle East and Africa to the strange histories of unmanned aerial vehicles to activist uses in struggles for justice, this seminar series looks to the past and present to think into the future. Visit https://www.dronewitnessing.com/drone-futures for more info. Ronak K. Kapadia is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Gender and Women’s Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His first book, Insurgent Aesthetics: Security and the Queer Life of the Forever War (Duke University Press, 2019), theorizes the queer world-making power of contemporary art responses to US militarism in the Greater Middle East. His new project, “Breathing in the Brown Queer Commons,” examines race-radical queer and trans migrant futurisms to develop a critical theory of healing justice and pleasure across transnational sites of security, terror, and war in the wilds of ecological chaos and US imperial decline. https://twitter.com/ProfKapadia Michael Richardson is Senior Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, examining the intersection of war, culture and technology. https://twitter.com/richardson_m_a Media Futures Hub works at the intersection of media and cultural studies to shape the theories, methods and practices needed for more just media futures. https://twitter.com/MediaFuturesHub