Spoken word poetry is a powerful tool for storytelling, activism and self-expression. Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to two award-winning poets who use the craft to amplify issues they care about.Sofie Frost is a Norwegian actor, slam poet and spoken word artist. She won the Norwegian Poetry Slam Championship in 2017 and was a finalist for Norway's Got Talent the following year. Sofie's poems have repeatedly gone viral, amassing millions of views online.Wana Udobang from Nigeria is a writer, poet and performer. She has released three spoken word albums that explore the themes of familial relationships, womanhood, joy and the body. Wana's work has been commissioned by organisations including the Edinburgh International Festival, Deutsches Museum and the Gates Foundation.Produced by Emily Naylor(Image: (L) Sofie Frost credit Astrid Sand Samnøy. (R) Wana Udobang credit Boye Oyewusi.)
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Slavery, reconciliation and me
How does it feel to meet someone who connects you to a darker chapter of your family history? Datshiane Navanayagam is joined by two women whose experience of this has led them to delve deeper into their own family’s ties to both slavery and enslavement.Diana McCaulay is a Jamaican novelist. She discovered that she’s related to both enslaved people and enslavers when an ancestry-tracking TV programme contacted her out of the blue. Diana's latest book, A House for Miss Pauline takes inspiration from what she discovered and the questions that are left unanswered.In 2007 Betty Kilby Baldwin was contacted by a white woman in Virginia who suspected that she’s the descendant of the family once enslaved Betty’s. After meeting in person, the two women began a shared process of truth and reconciliation; co-writing a memoir and working with organisation called Coming to the Table which brings together people wanting to learn the history of their connection to slavery and its legacies.Produced by Hannah Dean and Jane Thurlow(Image: (L) Diana McCaulay credit Jeremy Francis. (R) Betty Kilby Baldwin courtesy Betty Kilby Baldwin.)
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Faith and tackling climate change
A Muslim woman from South Africa and Christian from Kenya talk to Ella Al-Shamahi about how their faith influences their thoughts on addressing climate change, inequality and restoring nature.Dr Najma Mohamed grew up in South Africa and made a link between her faith and nature early in life. She writes often about the ecological message of Islam, supporting faith-based climate and environment action. Najma is a trustee of the Islamic environmental charity IFEES (Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science) and head of Nature-Based Solutions at the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre at Cambridge in the UK.Meryne Warah is the global director of Organizing at GreenFaith, a multi-faith climate and environmental movement. She also serves as the GreenFaith Africa director, working with faith and spiritual communities across nine countries to seek justice for those affected by oil and gas extraction and conflict. Based in Kenya, Meryne is a Seventh Day Adventist Christian and a passionate advocate for faith-driven environmental action. GreenFaith, founded in 1992 in the USA, is a multi-faith grassroots organization dedicated to a sacred duty of protecting the planet. It has staff across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America.Produced by Jane Thurlow(Image: (L) Meryne Warah courtesy Meryne Warah. (R) Dr Najma Mohamed courtesy Dr Najma Mohamed.)
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Digging up dinosaurs
A Mongolian and a South African palaeontologist speak to Ella Al-Shamahi about dinosaurs and education, as well as the fight to preserve their prehistoric legacy and stop illegal fossil trade.Dr Bolortsetseg Minjin from Mongolia is the director of the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs. She is renowned for her discovery of 67 dinosaur fossils in the Gobi Desert within just one week. Bolorsetseg founded Mongolia’s first moveable dinosaur museum, bringing fossils and hands-on education to remote communities. She is a leading advocate against the illegal fossil trade and has played a key role in repatriating around 70 stolen Mongolian dinosaur fossils.Dr Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan is a South African vertebrate palaeontologist best known for her pioneering work in the study of fossil bone and tooth microstructure. Despite the challenges of pursuing higher education as an Indian South African during apartheid, Anusuya became a leading figure in her field and a role model for women in science.Produced by Emily Naylor(Image: (L) Bolortsetseg Minjin courtesy Bolortsetseg Minjin. (R) Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan courtesy Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan.)
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Challenging mainstream economics
An academic from India and writer from Denmark talk to Ella Al-Shamahi about how the way economies are measured influences policy and undervalues both unpaid and paid care work, and affects the lives of women on every level. Emma Holten is a Danish feminist commentator whose book, Deficit: how feminist economics can change our world, became a best seller in her home country. It highlights how economics have shaped a world in which there is no value attached to care, happiness or quality of living. Emma says that by including only things that can be measured economics ignores many of the most important things in life.Jayati Ghosh is professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in the US. In 2021 the United Nations named her to be on the High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs. She presented a series of lectures on feminist economics for the International Association of Feminist Economics. She's written many books with a focus on informal workers in the Global South and has advised governments in India and other countries.Produced by Jane Thurlow(Image: (L) Emma Holten credit Claudia Vega. (R) Jayati Ghosh courtesy Jayati Ghosh/Aleph Book Company.)
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