There’s never been a greater urgency for thinking broadly and deeply on multiple knowledge systems to address the problems we are facing on a planetary scale. Such “complex thinking” can be overwhelming. But there is an upside too. Many individuals and groups have not only been doing this thinking but translating that thought into action in creative and powerful ways. They have been able to take that complexity, see the potential and path to advocacy and in some cases, produce inspiring art.
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The Subverse, a podcast produced by Vaaka Media for Dark ‘N’ Light magazine, brings some of those thinkers and doers to the recording table to unpack their responses to this sense of crisis. In listening to them talk about their art, activism, research, or writing, one can discern a way through the doom and gloom, and the distinct possibility of coming out on the other side.
A wide range
In Season 1, host Susan Mathews traverses a wide canvas with her guests, moving from conservation of small species (with environmental lawyer/writer Devaki Panini) to the mechanism of protein synthesis (with cell biologist Sudha Neelam) to the wicked problem of clean energy (with writer and analyst Ketan Joshi). Readers may recall the ‘Poromboke’ song written by Nityanand Jayaraman in the aftermath of the 2015 Chennai floods and made popular by musician T.M. Krishna. On the podcast, Jayaraman talks about the concept of the commons and the politics around lands designated as wastelands.
Around the podverse
Kumi Naidoo, South African social justice crusader, opens Season 2 to talk about the broader issues of discrimination and injustice that are often papered over in climate change talks, and how art and activism can work together to get people to think differently. The remaining five episodes in this season focus on water — as resource, as environment, as habitat, and as the stuff of story — with guests including Catarina de Albuquerque (the first UN Special Rapporteur on safe drinking water and sanitation) and writer-artist Sharanya Manivannan.
Host Mathews in her introduction describes the show as moving from ‘the cosmic to the quantum’, dealing with the macro and structural as much as with the micro and contextual — ‘from the colonial histories that haunt us, to reimagining our futures’. The episodes are very much centred on the guest and their expertise or experience, with Mathews staying firmly in the background, thus making these less like conversations than interviews — not necessarily a bad thing, as these are people who have much to say, and they say it well.
The hiatus between seasons has been occupied by another podcast from Dark ‘N’ Light, ARCX, a series of six conversations with sci-fi and speculative fiction writers from the subcontinent, exploring their literary inspirations and writing journeys. The mix includes Samit Basu, Kuzhali Manickavel, and S.B. Divya.
The Hyderabad-based writer and academic, is a neatnik fighting a losing battle with the clutter in her head.
