A ten-part podcast about space, society, and power inspired by British geographer Doreen Massey. From a London laundromat to a public park in Berlin, from a contested waterfront in Kochi to the Egyptian desert, our show seeks to inspire listeners to think about space and place as full of power, and to imagine political alternatives to the current world order.
Over the course of this series, we’ve talked about the importance of education beyond the university. We've taken you to a public park, a cathedral, an art gallery, a library, a living room, a laundromat and to the streets. But universities do matter, as institutions and as places. In our final episode, we visit two – Goldsmiths, University of London, and Bard College Berlin – and listen to conversations taking place in- and outside their lecture halls.
First, host Agata Lisiak travels to Goldsmith’s Centre for Urban and Community Research to take part in an event with sociologists Emma Jackson, Yasmin Gunaratnam and Suzanne Hall. They discuss how community and care can be practised in academia despite its hostile and discouraging structures.
Then, from Berlin, political scientist Aysuda Kölemen discusses threats to academic freedom posed by authoritarian regimes and neoliberal universities alike. Sociologist Aslı Vatansever tells us more about academic labour activism in Germany, where over 90% of academics work on precarious fixed-term contracts.
Episode CreditsHost: Agata Lisiak
Guests: Yasmin Gunaratnam, Suzanne Hall, Emma Jackson, Aysuda Kölemen, Aslı Vatansever
Writer and Producer: Agata Lisiak
Senior Editor: Susan Stone
Sound Producer: Reece Cox
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.
Episode ResourcesDoreen Massey’s work quoted or mentioned in this episode:
Also mentioned:
More resources available at The Sociological Review
Geografes como Doreen Massey argumentan que el espacio es producido socialmente. En este episodio hablamos de la producción del espacio por cuerpas migrantes y escuchamos del carnaval cómo una perfecta invasión espacial.
Bose Sarmiento, artista feminista, nos transporta a las calles de Berlín durante el 8 de Marzo. El día en que las protestas del día internacional de la mujer toman la ciudad. En el caos de las demostraciones, se deja llevar por la música para encontrar a la Marea Abya Yala. Lo que guía este episodio es la curiosidad acerca de la musicalidad que rodea la protesta latinoamericana. ¿Cómo suena? ¿Cuál es su rol en la protesta? ¿De dónde surge esta “negociación del espacio" cómo la llamaría Massey, y qué espacios produce?
Para adentrarse en ello, Bose habla con la antropóloga y bailarina, Cristina Barría Knopf, una de las líderes de la colectiva Comparsa Carnaval en Berlín. Allí, Cristina nos habla del carnaval, un rito de suma importancia en Abya Yala. Por años, era durante el carnaval, que las raíces originarias lograban permear la cultura de dominación colonial. Hoy en Berlín, durante las protestas del 8M, la Comparsa trae ese rito de resistencia y alienta a mujeres y disidencias a ocupar el espacio público, les alienta a sostener la diferencia.
Episode Credits
Host: Bose Sarmiento
Guest: Ana Cristina Barría Knopf
Writer: Bose Sarmiento
Producer: Agata Lisiak
Sound Producer: Bose Sarmiento
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
Special Thanks: All the Abya Yala collectives making noise at demonstrations
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review
Episode Resources
Doreen Massey’s work quoted or mentioned in this episode:
Recommended resources:
You can find more resources at The Sociological Review
Doreen Massey was a geographer and public scholar concerned with how political action takes place not only on the level of policy, but also on the level of activism and everyday discourse. Host Agata Lisiak speaks about Massey’s political engagement with Jo Littler, Professor of Social Analysis and Cultural Politics at City, University of London. Jo is part of the editorial collective of Soundings, the journal of politics and culture Massey co-founded in 1995.
Jo and Agata meet with James Marriott from Platform, a London-based collective of artists, activists and researchers working on social and environmental justice issues. James tells us about Massey’s involvement with Platform, her “bad behaviour” – her love of challenging the system – and her lasting impact on his thinking and action.
We also discuss Jo’s recent publications: The Care Manifesto, written with the Care Collective, and Left Feminisms, a collection of interviews with feminist activists and theorists politically engaged across a variety of issues and locations.
We’d love to hear from you: what inspires your political engagement? When do you decide to act and what formats, tools, or tactics do you use? What are the joys and challenges of political collaborations that you’ve encountered? Please fill out this form to share your thoughts with us.
Episode CreditsHost: Agata Lisiak
Guests: Jo Littler, James Marriott
Writer and Producer: Agata Lisiak
Senior Editor: Susan Stone
Sound Producer: Reece Cox
Production Assistant: Adèle Martin
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.
Episode ResourcesDoreen Massey’s work quoted or mentioned in this episode:
Also mentioned:
Some of our listeners – especially the lucky ones who got hold of our postcards – have asked us about the beautiful illustration accompanying Spatial Delight. What exactly does the colourful image depict? How does it connect to Doreen Massey’s work? And, last but not least, who made it?
This bonus episode features a conversation between host Adèle Martin and Bose Sarmiento, the artist who designed the illustrations for Spatial Delight. Bose discusses the main themes and symbols in her work, and how they connect to Massey’s work, revealing the process behind her aesthetic choices.
Episode CreditsHost: Adèle Martin
Guest: Bose Sarmiento
Writer: Adèle Martin
Producer: Agata Lisiak
Senior Editor: Susan Stone
Sound Producer: Adèle Martin
Production Assistant: Adèle Martin
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.
Episode ResourcesDoreen Massey’s work quoted or mentioned in this episode:
Further resources:
Host Agata Lisiak meets with artist and academic Heba Y. Amin at the Zilberman Gallery in Berlin. Professor Amin gives us a tour of her exhibition, When I See the Future, I Close My Eyes, and discusses how colonial and imperialist violence continues to shape our present. Her art demonstrates that technologies – even, or perhaps especially, those that appear to be “objective” – are inherently biased in favour of some populations and actually violent against others. Her art practice involves meticulous research and rigorous, subversive engagement with archives. She uses simulation, appropriation, restaging and humour to contest and disrupt dominant geographical imaginations.
We'd love to hear how art inspires you to question geographical imaginations. Is there an art piece that made you reflect on how you imagine the world and your place in it? A performance, photograph or film that has prompted a shift in your perspective? Please take a moment to fill out this form and share your thoughts with us.
Episode Credits
Host: Agata Lisiak
Guest: Heba Y. Amin
Writer and Producer: Agata Lisiak
Senior Editor: Susan Stone
Sound Producer: Reece Cox
Production Assistant: Adèle Martin
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
Special thanks to: Zilberman Gallery
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.
Episode Resources
Doreen Massey’s work quoted or mentioned in this episode:
Heba Y. Amin’s work:
Find more about Heba Y.Amin's work at The Sociological Review
El paisaje físico y político de un país es un reflejo de las relaciones de poder en la sociedad. ¿Es posible hacer que estas relaciones sean más igualitarias? ¿Es posible cambiar significativamente lo que Doreen Massey llamó "geometrías del poder" y crear espacios sociales que representen los intereses de los sectores históricamente excluidos de la sociedad?
Doreen Massey vio en Venezuela un intento prometedor de generar una nueva geometría del poder, más justa y democrática. En este episodio, el escritor venezolano Erick Moreno Superlano evalúa el éxito de esta iniciativa política una década después de la visita de Massey a Caracas. Para hacerlo, conversa sobre los proyectos de autogobierno impulsados por el gobierno de Hugo Chávez con dos expertos, María Eugenia Freitez y Reinaldo Iturriza.
Episode Credits
Host: Erick Moreno Superlano
Guests: María Eugenia Fréitez, Reinaldo Iturriza
Also Featured: Hugo Chávez
Writer: Erick Moreno Superlano
Producer: Agata Lisiak
Sound Producer: Jhiliem Miller
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation & Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.
Episode Resources
Doreen Massey’s work quoted or mentioned in this episode:
Also mentioned:
Though she was a life-long Liverpool FC fan, Doreen Massey felt like a “space invader” whenever she attended matches, as she’d often be one of the few women on football terraces. Inspired by Massey’s usage of the term, sociologist Nirmal Puwar developed it into a sociological concept to understand “what happens when women and racialized minorities take up ‘privileged’ positions which have not been ‘reserved’ for them”. What kind of bodies are the somatic norm? What are the conditions of inclusion?
Spatial Delight host Agata Lisiak speaks with Nirmal Puwar about her book Space Invaders: Race, Gender and Bodies Out of Place (2004), and about the postcolonial acts of space invading that Nirmal and her collaborators staged in Coventry’s iconic cathedral.
We’d love to hear your stories too. Are you a space invader? Please share your experiences with us here
Episode CreditsHost: Agata LisiakGuest: Nirmal Puwar
Also Featured: Doreen Massey
Writer and Producer: Agata Lisiak
Senior Editor: Susan Stone
Sound Producer: Reece Cox
Production Assistant: Adèle Martin
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
Special Thanks to: Nitin Sawhney, Kuldip Powar
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.
Episode Resources
Doreen Massey’s work quoted or mentioned in this episode:
Nirmal Puwar’s selected works:
For Doreen Massey, every place poses a challenge, “the challenge of negotiating a here-and-now” – or what she called throwntogetherness. In this episode, we hear about different struggles to make cities more liveable – and more just – for the many, not the few. We discuss various limitations of the dominant political structures and why it is crucial to put continuous pressure on those who hold power.
Agata Lisiak and her co-host for this episode, Anna Richter, speak to geographer Ash Amin about urban commons and social empowerment. Urban scholar Carmel Christy K J tells us about the intersections of social and environmental justice in the port city of Kochi, and anthropologist Ayşe Çavdar uncovers the politics of mass housing projects in Turkey. Also, Anna and Agata make use of the sunny weather to go to a park and ask Berliners what they think makes a good city.
What do you think makes a good city? Please let us know by filling out this form.
Episode Credits
Host: Agata Lisiak
Co-host: Anna Richter
Guests: Ash Amin, Carmel Christy, Ayşe Çavdar
Also Featured: Doreen Massey
Writer and Producer: Agata Lisiak
Senior Editor: Susan Stone
Sound Producer: Reece Cox
Production Assistant: Adèle Martin
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
Special Thanks: Serpentine Gallery
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.
Episode ResourcesDoreen Massey’s work quoted or mentioned in this episode:
Doreen Massey interviewed at London’s Serpentine Gallery, 2006
Cities for the Many Not the Few, with Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift (Policy Press, 2000)
For Space(Sage, 2003)
On Space and the City. In: City Worlds, edited by John Allen, Doreen Massey and Steve Pile (Routledge, 1999)
Recommended resources:Land of Strangers, Ash Amin (Polity, 2013)
Grammars of the Urban Ground, edited by Ash Amin and Michele Lancione (Duke UP, 2022)
Ekümenopolis, dir. Ucu Olmayan Şehir (2012)
Geniş Zaman – a weekly YouTube program on contemporary political issues hosted by Ayşe Çavdar and Aysuda Kölemen (in Turkish)
The ‘Deutsche Wohnen & Co enteignen’ initiative
Housing Expropriation Referendum in Berlin: How it was won and what comes next?, Urban Political podcast, 2021
Housing Struggles in Berlin: Part I Rent Cap, Urban Political podcast, 2021
Housing struggles in Berlin: Part II Grassroots Expropriation Activism, Urban Political podcast, 2021
Richter, A. and D. Humphry. 2021. Ja! Damit Berlin unser Zuhause bleibt! That Berlin will remain our home! حتى تظل برلين بيتنا Berlin evimiz k
Doreen Massey once wrote that “it is (or ought to be) impossible even to begin thinking about Kilburn High Road without bringing into play half the world and a considerable amount of British imperialist history.” In this episode, urban sociologist Emma Jackson joins us to unpack London’s entanglements with places elsewhere.
London’s imperialist and colonialist legacies are evident not only on the city’s streets, but also reach behind closed doors: into our classrooms, living rooms, offices, shops, and hospital wards. We speak to sociologist Yasmin Gunaratnam to discuss these lasting bonds.
In her book World City, Doreen Massey asks: what does London stand for? We’d love to hear your responses to her question. What does London mean to you? What are your experiences of the city? Please share your thoughts with us via this form.
Episode Credits
Host: Agata Lisiak
Co-host: Emma Jackson
Guest: Yasmin Gunaratnam
Also Featured: Doreen Massey
Writer and Producer: Agata Lisiak
Senior Editor: Susan Stone
Sound Producer: Reece Cox
Production Assistant: Adèle Martin
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
Special Thanks: Serpentine Gallery
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.
Doreen Massey’s work quoted in this episode:
A Global Sense of Place, Marxism Today, 1991
World City (Wiley, 2007)
Doreen Massey interviewed at London’s Serpentine Gallery, 2006
Also mentioned:
Young Homeless People and Urban Space: Fixed in Mobility, Emma Jackson (Routledge, 2015)
Bowling Together – Emma Jackson’s research project exploring leisure practices and urban change through the site of a London bowling alley
Death and the Migrant: Bodies, Borders and Care, Yasmin Gunaratnam (Bloomsbury, 2013)
Go home? The politics of immigration controversies, Yasmin Gunaratnam, Emma Jackson, Gargi Bhattacharyya, William Davies, Sukhwant Dhaliwal, Kirsten Forkert, Hannah Jones and Roiyah Saltus (Manchester University Press, 2017)
A perverse subsidy: African trained nurses and doctors in the NHS, Maureen Mackintosh, Parvati Raghuram and Leroi Henry, Soundings 34 (2006).
The Migrant’s Paradox: Street Livelihoods and Marginal Citizenship in Britain, Suzanne M. Hall(University of Minnesota Press, 2021)
Artistic and Intellectual Hospitality, Yasmin Gunaratnam and Fataneh Farahani, Discover Society, 2020
Much of our world – how we imagine it, how we inhabit it – continues to be shaped by various forms of imperialism and colonialism. In this episode, we discuss how geography can help us understand the many entanglements of the global and the local.
Doreen Massey thought geographically about everything. She rejected the neat, linear ideas of spatial difference that have long shaped western geographical imaginations. Massey challenged western scientists, including herself, to stop pretending their position was in any way universal, and to provincialise their questions and theories instead.
What has shaped your geographical imagination? What – or who – has challenged the way you understand the world? How does geography matter to you? Please use this form to share your thoughts.
Episode CreditsHost: Agata Lisiak
Guests: John Allen, David Featherstone, Tariq Jazeel, Linda McDowell, Tracey Skelton
Also Featured: Doreen Massey
Writer and Producer: Agata Lisiak
Senior Editor: Susan Stone
Sound Producer: Reece Cox
Production Assistant: Adèle Martin
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
Special Thanks: The Open University, Michael Todd
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.
Doreen Massey’s work quoted or mentioned in this episode:
In this first episode, you will learn who Doreen Massey was and get a sneak peek at her politics. We’ll hear from Massey’s former collaborators, friends and colleagues. And from Massey herself.
For nearly three decades, Massey was a professor at The Open University and “loved every minute of it”. The OU’s aim has been to literally open up access to higher education for a wider variety of people. Our approach with this podcast is similar: you don’t need to come prepared – and you certainly don’t need an academic degree to listen to it.
Knowledge and politics can be produced in a wide variety of places. What intellectual spaces have you encountered or actively created beyond the classroom? Please use this form to share your reflections with us.
Episode CreditsHost: Agata Lisiak
Guests: John Allen, Ash Amin, David Featherstone, Yasmin Gunaratnam, Tariq Jazeel, Linda McDowell, Tracey Skelton, Hilary Wainwright
Also Featured: Doreen Massey
Writer and Producer: Agata Lisiak
Senior Editor: Susan Stone
Sound Producer: Reece Cox
Production Assistant: Adèle Martin
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
Special Thanks: The Open University, Michael Chanan
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review. Doreen Massey’s essays and interviews quoted in this episode:
Selected tributes and obituaries:
Spatial Delight is a podcast about the politics of space inspired by the life and work of British geographer Doreen Massey. Over the course of ten episodes (eight in English, two in Spanish), we engage with Massey’s enduring concepts – a global sense of place, geometries of power, space invaders, geographies of responsibility, and more – to challenge the way we think about the world today. As we travel from a London laundromat to a public park in Berlin, and invite listeners to take a closer look at a contested waterfront in Kochi and the Egyptian desert, we learn that “the way we are, and the way places are, is a product of our interrelations with everywhere else,” as Massey put it.
Created by Agata Lisiak, Associate Professor of Migration Studies at Bard College Berlin, Spatial Delight seeks to inspire listeners to think about space and place as full of power, and to imagine political alternatives to the current world order.