Imagine Otherwise
A podcast about bridging art, activism, and academia to build more just futures
Imagine Otherwise is a podcast about bridging art, activism, and academia to build more just futures.
Created and hosted by Cathy Hannabach and produced by Ideas on Fire, Imagine Otherwise features interviews with scholars, cultural producers, dancers, editors, artists, and activists who are building new worlds.
Cathy created the show in 2016 to both demonstrate the vibrant public voice that interdisciplinary scholars can have beyond the academy as well as to inspire new generations of thinkers.
Episodes have been taught in a wide array of university classrooms, been featured in international art exhibits, and taken Cathy to live tapings at venues as diverse as feminist circus art performances, scholarly conferences, and a culture lab on convergence.
The show’s programming partners have included the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, the Cultural Studies Association, the Association for Asian American Studies, and more.
Imagine Otherwise: Catherine Knight Steele on Black Feminist Extensions of Grace
Cathy Hannabach interviews Catherine Knight Steele about Black feminist collaboration in digital studies and scholarly life more broadly.
Imagine Otherwise: Christopher Ali on Building a More Connected World
Cathy Hannabach interviews Christopher Ali about his new book Farm Fresh Broadband and his 3,600-mile rural broadband road trip with his hound dog Tuna.
Imagine Otherwise: Sandra Ristovska on Seeing Human Rights
Cathy Hannabach interviews filmmaker and media studies scholar Sandra Ristovska about the changing relationship between imagery and human rights.
Imagine Otherwise: Jessica Bissett Perea on Indigenous Transformations in Academic Publishing
Cathy Hannabach interviews Dena’ina musician-scholar Jessica Bissett Perea about building a more justice-focused academic publishing pipeline by centering Indigenous worldviews.
Imagine Otherwise: Priya Kandaswamy on Embracing Permanent Change
Cathy Hannabach interviews Priya Kandaswamy embracing permanent change and building more just social bonds in our classrooms, communities, and creative endeavors.
Imagine Otherwise: Mark Villegas on Collaborative Abundance in Hip-Hop Cultures
Cathy Hannabach interviews filmmaker and hip-hop scholar Mark Villegas about applying collective abundance to academia and life.
Imagine Otherwise: Maile Arvin on Kuleana and Indigenous Feminist Community
Cathy Hannabach interviews Kānaka Maoli feminist scholar Maile Arvin about community building and Indigenous feminist pedagogy.
Imagine Otherwise: Christen A. Smith, Dána-Ain Davis, and Sameena Mulla on Cite Black Women
Cathy Hannabach interviews Christen A. Smith, Dána-Ain Davis, and Sameena Mulla about the racially gendered politics of citation.
Imagine Otherwise: Liat Ben-Moshe on Community beyond the Carceral State
Cathy Hannabach interviews Liat Ben-Moshe about disability justice, prison abolition, and building a world beyond cages.
Imagine Otherwise: Mecca Jamilah Sullivan on Cultivating Joy through Queer Black Feminist Art
Cathy Hannabach interviews Mecca Jamilah Sullivan about the role of art, writing, and cultural production in social justice movements.
Imagine Otherwise: J. Faith Almiron on Abolitionist Pedagogy within and beyond Institutions
Host Cathy Hannabach interviews scholar and performance artist J. Faith Almiron about building an abolitionist future in art and education.
Imagine Otherwise: La Marr Bruce on Renewal, Loss, and Black Creativity
Cathy Hannabach interviews La Marr Bruce about his new book How to Go Mad without Losing Your Mind: Madness and Black Radical Creativity.
Imagine Otherwise: Hiʻilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart on Transgenerational Inspiration
Cathy Hannabach interviews Kānaka Maoli food studies scholar Hiʻilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart about transgenerational inspiration.
Imagine Otherwise: Badia Ahad-Legardy on Black Historical Joy and Inspiration
Cathy Hannabach interviews Badia Ahad-Legardy about cultivating daily inspiration, the power of Black historical joy, and interdisciplinary social change.
Imagine Otherwise: Gwen D’Arcangelis on Inspiration for Scholar-Activists
Host Cathy Hannabach interviews scholar-activist Gwen D’Arcangelis about cultivating inspiration for more just worlds.
Imagine Otherwise: Dolores Inés Casillas on Flexible Planning with Bullet Journals
Host Cathy Hannabach interviews Chicanx media studies scholar Dolores Inés Casillas about flexible planning systems for scholars.
Imagine Otherwise: Meredith D. Clark on Adapting Plans to Where You’re At
Cathy Hannabach interviews journalist Meredith D. Clark about new methods, tools, and strategies for planning during the pandemic.
Imagine Otherwise: Chris Barcelos on Beginning from Educated Hope
Cathy Hannabach interviews public health scholar Chris Barcelos about socially engaged research, public health, and educated hope.
Imagine Otherwise: Siobhan Brooks on Reckoning with Violence
Host Cathy Hannabach interviews sociologist Siobhan Brooks about reckoning with violent histories while building more just futures.
Imagine Otherwise: Bakirathi Mani on Curating with Confidence
Host Cathy Hannabach interviews curator and scholar Bakirathi Mani about postcolonial South Asian photography, curation, and confidence.