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Why we must unite working class communities across racial divides
42:21|In the summer of 2024, riots tore through British towns, and since then old questions have continued to resurface about who belongs in the country. Taj Ali has spent years digging into a history that’s rarely told in full: the long tradition of South Asian political activism in Britain. His debut book, Come What May, We’re Here to Stay, traces that tradition and asks what it means for Britain now. Taj Ali joins Tanjil Rashid.
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Britain is losing its libraries and its cultural memory
35:45|Every year, more libraries across Britain close their doors. As councils have their funding slashed, these are often the first spaces to go. What do we lose when we stop reading and collecting? What is a library to a community, beyond its books? Tanjil Rashid is joined by the University of Oxford's Bodley's Librarian, Richard Ovenden.
Why is sex political?
54:56|To hear more conversations like this search "The Exchange" wherever you get your podcasts.When Amia Srinivasan published The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century in 2021, it sparked widespread debate about the politics of desire, consent, and sexual justice.In this episode of The Exchange, the Oxford academic joins Tanjil Rashid to discuss how philosophy can illuminate some of the most contentious questions in contemporary culture: from incels and pornography to whether our desires are shaped by society.Find more from Amia Srinivasan here
Can we separate great art from bad artists?
32:20|Throughout history, art, and artists, have caused moral outrage.For a long time we had the liberal notion that we could separate great art from bad artists, but we do seem to live in a time of heightened moralisation around works of art and their creators. Why is that?Tanjil Rashid is joined by Daisy Dixon, who has written the book Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art.
Odyssey mania is upon us
01:05:25|Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of Homer’s epic poem is one of the most anticipated films in recent cinema history.But what is it about this story, first told maybe 3000 years ago, that so fascinates us?Who really wrote it and why does it represent, with Homer’s other great work The Iliad, the foundation of western literature?Tanjil Rashid is joined by The Odyssey’s latest translator, classical scholar and literary critic Daniel Mendelsohn
Was the American revolution really American?
35:57|Hot dogs, fireworks, old glory, it’s the 4th July. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the USA’s Declaration of Independence. What led up to these crucial events in 1776? Was the revolution truly American? And what does this anniversary represent today? Tanjil Rashid is joined by Sarah Pearsall, historian and author of Freedom Round the Globe: How the World Made the American Revolution.
"I thought Jimmy Carter was black" | Tayari Jones interview
32:01|Tayari Jones is one of America's most celebrated novelists, twice chosen by Oprah, shortlisted for prizes on both sides of the Atlantic, and read by presidents.Her newest book was meant to be a tale of gentrification in the American South, she found herself an entirely different story. Kin follows two motherless girls coming of age in 1950s Louisiana, the Jim Crow South.It's a novel about female friendship, class, race, and motherhood.Jones discusses her latest book, about growing up "bourgeois and segregated" in Atlanta as the daughter of civil rights activists, and what it's like to watch America try to turn the clock back on progress as it approaches its 250th birthday.