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Everyday Orientalism Podcast

Girish Daswani 4 Episodes Jun 8, 2026

The Everyday Orientalism Podcast explores how Orientalism continues to have deep ramifications in our everyday lives, for how we think about settler-colonialism, liberation, and how empire and capitalism continue to exploit and dehumanize the majority of us. Defined by Palestinian American literary scholar Edward Said, Orientalism is “a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient.” The podcast is hosted by anthropologist Dr. Girish Daswani and features a stellar line-up of academics and thinkers from across the globe. It celebrates the 10th anniversary of Everyday Orientalism, a public platform through which students, academics, and citizens reflect on how history and power shape the ways in which human societies define themselves.

Episodes

Orientalism and the Media Jun 8, 2026 4592 In this episode we are joined by Samira Mohyeddin to discuss the many ways in which contemporary news outlets are complicit in the orientalizing of Palestine and Iran. She shares with us the harms of legacy media, the power of informed, ethical journalism, and some of the work she’s done as the founder of On the Line Media.Samira Mohyeddin is an award winning journalist and documentary filmmaker.

Migration as Anchorage: A Palestinian Family in London Jun 22, 2026 3927 In this episode we are joined by Michelle Obeid to discuss her book, Migration as Anchorage: Ethnography of a Palestinian Family in London, and what it was like to write about a Palestinian family seeking anchorage while abroad in London—both before and after the escalation of the Palestinian genocide in October of 2023. She shares with us more about the Gazzawi family, the role of food in cultura

The Corporate University Jul 7, 2026 3963 In this episode we are joined by Muhannad Ayyash, Heidi Matthews, and Nathan Kalman-Lamb to discuss the corporatization of North American universities and their crisis of legitimacy in the wake of the pro-Palestinian encampments that protested the ongoing genocide of October 7th, 2023. Warning us against false hope, they share with us the challenges and potentialities for academics working from wi

Archaeology, Apartheid, and War Jul 21, 2026 4229 This week we are joined by Nelly Abboud and a member of the collective Archaeologists Against Apartheid, to discuss the ongoing destruction of cultural heritage in Lebanon and Palestine by Israeli forces. We dive into the colonialist and imperialist roots of archaeology as a discipline, the ways in which Zionists have mobilized archaeology to legitimize settler-colonialist agendas, the effectivene

Capitalism, Fascism, and the University Aug 4, 2026 4227 This week we are joined by Beverly Bain, Rinadlo Walcott, and Uahikea Maile who talk with us about the university as a key pillar of capitalism and the state. We discuss the lip service paid to decolonization efforts, the ways in which Black and indigenous scholars are co-opted and captured by university institutions, and what possibilities exist for envisioning knowledge sharing beyond the framew

Water and Oil: On Environmental Orientalisms Aug 18, 2026 3274 This week we welcome Joanne Leow and Yasmine Hafez to discuss the ways in which water in Egypt and oil in Singapore function as expressions of extractive capitalism. We talk about what hides between the fictive narratives of Singapore’s gardens, the ways in which ecocide and environmental destruction elsewhere enable tourism and growth at home, and how state battles over the control of the Nile ne

The Whiteness of Academia Sep 1, 2026 4037 This week we are joined by Juliana Bastos Marques, Kobby Graham, and Hanan Sabea to talk about academic hegemony and the prevailing whiteness of academia. We talk about language, accent, and the dominating influence of English, subverting notions of cores and peripheries by centering the periphery, and how we might break free of the whiteness of the university by destabilizing Western institutions

"F*ck AI": On Digital Orientalisms Sep 15, 2026 3676 Sarah Fathallah and Christine Johnston join us this week to dig into the orientalist roots of corporate AI empires. We talk about the ways in which AI corporations ground their goals in frameworks of white supremacy and western imperialist values, how universities are throwing themselves on the AI bandwagon, and how the AI systems that have wormed their way into our everyday lives are built on the

Truth-telling in a Time of Genocide Sep 29, 2026 3203 This week we are joined by Kavita Algu and Momodou Taal to talk about the urgent need for truth-tellers in a world filled with hypocrisy and hollow commitments. Both Kavita and Momodou have experienced discipling and persecution for speaking out against a genocide, and they share their experiences, discuss the neoliberal performance of “decolonization” in universities and health care systems, and

Academic Freedom and the Palestine Exception Oct 13, 2026 3885 Maura Finkelstein joins us this week to discuss the role of the intellectual in a time of genocide. Should we forsake historical facts and engage in political dishonesty for careerist ambition, or should we critically and empathetically respond to oppression and speak truth to power? We speak about Maura’s firing from her college, the failures and potentials of the discipline of anthropology in sp

Everyday Orientalism Podcast

Episodes

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