Episode 1: Dr Zetta Elliott
In our first episode we talk to Dr Zetta Elliot, who is a Black feminist writer of poetry, plays, essays, novels, and stories for children. Born and raised in Canada, but she has lived in the US for over 20 years. She earned her PhD in American Studies from NYU in 2003; and has taught at a number of Universities and Colleges. She is an advocate for greater diversity and equity in publishing, and has self-published numerous illustrated books for younger readers under her own imprint, Rosetta Press.
Episode 2: Dr Martin Glynn
Dr Martin Glynn is a criminologist, dramatist, poet, children’s author, and data storyteller, with over 4 decades experience of working in criminal justice, public health, and educational settings. He has a Cert. Ed, a Master’s degree in criminal justice policy and practice, and gained his PhD at Birmingham City University in Feb 2013, where he is currently a lecturer in criminology. Dr Glynn’s previous books include ‘Black Men, Invisibility, and Desistance from crime: Towards a Critical Race Theory from Crime’, Routledge (2014), and ‘Speaking Data and Telling Stories: Data Verbalization for Researchers, Routledge (2019). Dr Glynn’s new book ‘Breaking Free: Black Art and the Criminological Imagination, will be published in 2021 by Policy Press. Dr Glynn, is currently a visiting research fellow at SALISES, the University of the West Indies, alongside being the current writer in residence at the National Justice Museum in Nottingham.
Episode 3: Professor Mark Anthony Neal
Mark Anthony Neal is the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African and African American Studies at Duke University and serves as Chair of the department. He is the founding director of the Center for Arts, Digital Culture and Entrepreneurship (CADCE) at Duke University where he offers courses on Black Masculinity, Popular Culture, and Digital Humanities, including signature courses on Michael Jackson & the Black Performance Tradition, and The History of Hip-Hop, which he co-teaches with Grammy Award Winning producer 9th Wonder (Patrick Douthit). He also co-directs the Duke Council on Race and Ethnicity (DCORE).
Neal is the author of several books including What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture (1999), Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the Post-Soul Aesthetic (2002) and Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities (2013). The 10th Anniversary edition of Neal’s New Black Man was published in February of 2015 by Routledge. Neal is co-editor of That’s the Joint: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader (Routledge), now in its second edition. Additionally, Neal is host of the video webcast Left of Black, which is produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke. You can follow him on Twitter at @NewBlackMan.
Episode 4: Nels Abbey aka ‘Professor Boulé Whytelaw III’
In this episode we speak to author of ‘Think Like a White Man’ Nels Abbey aka ‘Professor Boulé Whytelaw III’ about his work, using satire as a tool to pass social commentary and observation, his views on race and religion, and his forthcoming book.
Nels Abbey is a British-Nigerian satirist, writer and media executive. He was previously a banker. His debut book – penned under the satirical alter-ego ‘Professor Boulé Whytelaw III’ – is an eviscerating satire of modern racial discourse and politics in the corporate world. By following the White Man Commandments – namely, that winning justifies anything and everything – you too can achieve success beyond your capabilities. With lessons on the value of shock and awe, putting compassion on the back-burner and pretending racism doesn’t exist, Think Like a White Man teaches you how to understand, overcome and overthrow the White Man in the whiter-shade-of-pale world of work.
Episode 5: Dr Patrick Vernon
In this episode we speak to Dr Patrick Vernon OBE. Recognised as one of Vogue’s 20 Remarkable Activists in September 2020, and co-author of Great Black Britons, is a British social commentator and political activist of Jamaican heritage, who works in the voluntary and public sector.
Episode 6: Josh Rivers creator and host of the Busy Being Black Podcast
In our last episode of this series we spoke to Josh Rivers, creator and host of the Busy Being Black podcast, what a great way to conclude a brilliant first series of OffScript!
A big thank you to all our series 1 guests and listeners. We will be back with series 2 in 2021, follow us on twitter @socialperforma2 to stay updated.
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