Social Justice Podcasts are Public Humanities

I discovered the podcasts Code Switch and GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp during the solitary pandemic. GirlTrek was introduced to me by a fellow Black Woman as a meditative and community-building exercise for Black HerStory month. The podcast focuses on black leaders, their impact, and their influence as we navigated the tumultuous times of the COVID-19 pandemic and engaged in physical exercise. In the first season, there was a focus on female leaders and empowering black women, my favorite episodes in the initial launch are based on Audre Lorde, Esther Jones, and Angela X. 

Code Switch is an informative podcast started by National Public Radio (NPR). The creators and hosts utilize the popular phrasing to document the ways POCs adapt their modes of speech and ways of being in order to placate the predominant white culture. This podcast serves to correct historical misconceptions by including the voices of the most vulnerable and those least likely to hold power in history-making. Some of my favorite thought-provoking episodes are The Rise of the BBL, which analyzes the fetishization of black bodies, and The Folk Devil Made Me Do It which explores the historical linkages of moral panic to modern-day debates on Critical Race Theory (CRT). 

Though they have very different purposes, both of these podcasts grew in popularity amidst general podcast growth. They prompt us to think differently and tell stories that seek to reinstate power within these communities of color and validate their experiences with a journalistic perspective. There is certainly an issue of maintaining engagement and increased consideration for changes in social situations “post-pandemic;” however, this audio and video-paired podcast method could serve as an informative resource for community activists in the future.