#48: The Unliving: Spycops

#51: The Politics of Hunger

The 1981 hunger strikes in Northern Ireland were more than a political protest. They were lived, contested, and remembered in deeply personal ways. The hunger strikes reshaped politics, identity, and memory in Northern Ireland and beyond. With Professors Niall O Dochartaigh and Marie Breen-Smyth, the podcast revisits the events, exploring escalation, symbolism, public reaction, and the lasting impact on society.

#50: Scenes of Disappearance

The podcast explores the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico, and the Ayotzinapa Protests which have unfolded over the last decade.

#49: Racialised Traffic Stops and the Killing of Philando Castile

#49: Racialised Traffic Stops and the Killing of Philando Castile by General

#48: The Unliving: Spycops

Produced by Ollie Sanderson-Nichols: Following the incendiary revelations in 2011 that members of the Metropolitan Police Service, posing as activists, had been tasked with implanting themselves within protest groups and social movements between the years of 1968 and 2010, producer Ollie Sanderson-Nichols explores the history and technique of police infiltration in the UK, and its impacts on the people and communities subject to it. Approaching police infiltration as a technology of power involved in the production and maintenance of sovereign order, this podcasts examines infiltration at the level of life and death: From the disruption to the lives of the activists who were deceived into forming (often intimate) relationships with these officers; to the forms of collective life against which the state pitted itself in developing its infiltration strategies; the peculiar necromantic rituals invoked in the formation of the undercover officers’ false personas; and the necrotic effects of infiltration upon the social and affective life of movements themselves. Featuring comments from Professor Michael Loadenthal, and engaging also with the work of Professors Ben Anderson and Michel Foucault, this is the story of the ‘unliving’. Special thanks to Professor Michael Loadenthal (University of Cincinnati, Ohio), who kindly agreed to be interviewed for this piece of work, and whose insights, both in his published research and during our discussion, proved most valuable and thought-provoking. Many thanks also to Professor Illan rua Wall (University of Warwick Law School) for his support, feedback and guidance throughout the project, without whom this podcast would not have been possible. • BBC Sound Effect. “Cell Doors - Period cell doors. Cell door closed with keys, bolts, etc.” Available from: https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07011124 • BBC Sound Effects. “Animals - Horse whinnying.” Available from: https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07037453 • BBC Sound Effects. “Battle Crowd - Battle Ccrowd, with men shouting. (No gunfire.)” Available from: https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07019149 • BBC Sound Effects. “Cine Projector - 16mm RCA cine projector. Threading film and short test run.” Available from: https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07004203 • BBC Sound Effects. “Crowd Of 6000 At Protest Meeting - Chatter at close of protest meeting. (6000 people, recorded outdoors in England.)” Available from: https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07017038 • BBC Sound Effects. “Deciduous Woodland - Summer: Early Evening - With blowflies and distant song thrush.” Available from: https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=NHU05061094 • BBC Sound Effects. “Weather: Eerie Wind - Weather: Eerie wind.” Available from: https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07027033 • BBS Sound Effects. “Scratches: Records - Stylus jerked off vinyl record, record scratch” Available from: https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07058170 Music used (all last accessed 22nd April 2022): • Aaron Ximm (2012) Spring Rain. Available from: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Aaron_Ximm/Handpans_and_the_Hang/Aaron_Ximm_-_07_-_Spring_Rain/ • Diablo (2010) “Hollow Body.” Available from: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Diablo/Hollow_Body_Live_on_WFMUs_My_Castle_of_Quiet_4142010/Diablo_01_Hollow_Body/ • Filmy Ghost (Sábila Orbe) (2018) “Himuro Mansion.” Available from: https://freemusicarchive.org/search/?quicksearch=Himuro+Mansion+ • Kasey, C @ White Bat Audio ‘Escape from LV426’ https://youtu.be/2-wKcIkElIc • Kosta T. (2016) Red in Black. Available from : https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kosta_T/Soul_Sand/Kosta_T_-_Soul_Sand_-_14_Red_in_Black/

#47: Vigilantism, Villainy and the Dark Knight

Producer Precious Odunaiya explains that in popular culture, vigilantes are imagined as heroes who fight for a form of justice that the legal system fails to achieve. Drawing on Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, this podcast investigates the thin line between vigilantism and villainy, as a way to grasp the contemporary state of exception. Thanks to Dr Erica McCrystal, Montclair State University/Berkeley College; Dr Thomas Giddens, University of Dundee and Dr Timothy Peters, University of the Sunshine Coast BBC Sounds, Heavy explosion-expl_07037322. [Sound Effects] United Kingdom: BBC. Available at: < https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/> [Accessed 1 April 2022]. BBC Sounds, Police—ca_07058147. [Sound Effects] United Kingdom: BBC. Available at: < https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/> [Accessed 1 April 2022]. BBC Sounds, Thunder---_07005233. [Sound Effects] United Kingdom: BBC. Available at: < https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/> [Accessed 1 April 2022]. BBC Sounds, Weather---_07038339. [Sound Effects] United Kingdom: BBC. Available at: < https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/> [Accessed 1 April 2022]. Holmes, S., Against All Odds. [Music] Scotland: Free Music Archive. Available at: [Accessed 12 April 2022]. Holmes, S., Ascending Light. [Music] Scotland: Free Music Archive. Available at: [Accessed 12 April 2022]. U1902177 Holmes, S., Entering the Tower. [Music] Scotland: Free Music Archive. Available at: [Accessed 19 April 2022]. Holmes, S., Rescued. [Music] Scotland: Free Music Archive. Available at: [Accessed 19 April 2022]. Holmes, S., Search for Them. [Music] Scotland: Free Music Archive. Available at: [Accessed 19 April 2022].Scott Holmes – Search for Them Holmes, S., Summer. [Music] Scotland: Free Music Archive. Available at: [Accessed 19 April 2022]. Holmes, S., The Boy is Missing. [Music] Scotland: Free Music Archive. Available at: [Accessed 19 April 2022]. Quadrado, S., Arabic Sadness. [Music] Russia: Free Music Archive. Available at: < https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge- quadrado/https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Holmes> [Accessed 11 April 2022]. Quadrado, S., Eastern Morning. [Music] Russia: Free Music Archive. Available at: < https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/> [Accessed 11 April 2022]. Quadraso, S., Suspense Piano. [Music] Russia: Free Music Archive. Available at: < https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/> [Accessed 11 April 2022].