Sustainability Matters

Who Gets to Be Indigenous?

On this episode of Sustainability Matters, we examine how indigeneity is defined and contested in conversations around identity, science, and sovereignty. Is it something we inherit, or a political construct? How can scientific and Indigenous knowledge systems collaborate without losing their distinct integrity? And what happens when genetic research defines belonging in ways that conflict with cultural and political self-understandings?  All this and more with Dr. Benjamin Gregg, author of “Scientific Integrity and Indigenous Justice in Genetic Research [https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111592077-009/html],” which is Chapter 5 in the book Indigeneity as Social Construct and Political Tool: Critique and Reconstruction of a Contested Identity [https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111592077/html], published by De Gruyter Brill.  Host: Ramzi Nasir [https://x.com/ramzinasir] Guest: Dr. Benjamin Gregg [https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/government/faculty/bggregg]

Play Like a Girl: Girlhood and Identity in Video Games

On this episode of Sustainability Matters, we look at how video games are reshaping the representation of girlhood, identity, and coming-of-age through play. Why have games so often been associated with boyhood? What overlooked histories of girls’ gaming cultures challenge this narrative? And how are contemporary games challenging traditional heroic narratives with more complex stories about growing up, belonging, and self-discovery? All this and more with Dr. Stephanie Harkin, author of Girlhood Games: Gender, Identity and Coming of Age in Video Games [https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111560939/html], which is Volume 20 in the series “Video Games and the Humanities”, [https://www.degruyterbrill.com/serial/vgh-b/html] published by De Gruyter Brill. Host: Ramzi Nasir [https://x.com/RamziNasir] Guest: Dr. Stephanie Harkin [https://www.rmit.edu.au/profiles/h/stephanie-harkin ]

The Power of Unions: Rise, Fall, Return?

On this episode of Sustainability Matters, we ask: why do unions rise, why do they fall, and what does it take for them to rise again? How do leadership, strategy, and internal democracy shape their trajectory? And what can the turbulent history of a major New York transit union teach us about the labour movement today? All this and more with Dr. Marc Kagan, author of Take Back the Power: The Fall and Rise and Fall of NYC’s Transport Workers Union Local 100, 1975–2009 [https://brill.com/display/title/73488?srsltid=AfmBOoriqHIhlV1DkttG-ew6LDEeoha3ur3Ny4O9A0p6Jzn9dPN7QJDQ], which is Volume 7 in the series Studies in Political Economy of Global Labor and Work [https://brill.com/display/serial/PELW], published by De Gruyter Brill. Host: Ramzi Nasir [https://x.com/RamziNasir] Guest: Dr. Marc Kagan [https://marckagan.substack.com/ ]

Religion in a Culture of Digitality: Belief, Power, and Participation

On this episode of Sustainability Matters, we ask: How is digital technology transforming religious belief and practice today? How does digital culture reshape religious authority, education, and governance? And how do emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence complicate questions of belief, legitimacy, and responsibility within religious communities? All this and more with Dr. Thomas Schlag and Katharina Yadav, editors of Religious Communication, Interaction and Transformation in a Culture of Digitality, [https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111721729/html] published by De Gruyter Brill.  Host: Ramzi Nasir [https://x.com/RamziNasir] Guests: Dr. Thomas Schlag [https://www.theologie.uzh.ch/en/faecher/praktisch/team/schlag.html] and Katharina Yadav [https://www.theologie.uzh.ch/de/faecher/praktisch/pt_religionspaedagogik/personen/doktorierende/katharina-yadav.html]

Do Solutions to Current Ecological Challenges Lie in Decolonizing the Environment?

What are the limits of the utilitarian approach to studying the environment? How do we go beyond Western philosophies in our thinking around the environment? Can Western and Non-Western approaches work together? And why is it imperative that we expand our political imagination?  In this episode of Sustainability Matters, Dr. Aleksandra Ross and Dr. Krzysztof Skonieczny talk about the importance of looking at ecological challenges from pluralistic, culturally diverse perspectives and discuss ways in which non-Western styles of thought help us not only understand the problem better, but also find solutions. This episode is based on their book Non-Western Approaches in Environmental Humanities [https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/themen-entdecken/literatur-sprach-und-kulturwissenschaften/interdisziplinaere-geisteswissenschaft/59860/non-western-approaches-in-environmental-humanities], published by De Gruyter Brill, of which they’re co-editors alongside Dr. Gabriela Jarzębowska.  Host: Ramzi Nasir [https://x.com/RamziNasir] Guests: Dr. Aleksandra Ross [https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandra-ross-37b961242/] and Dr. Krzysztof Skonieczny  [https://uw.academia.edu/KrzysztofSkonieczny]