Where Do I Start?: Recent Episodes
Vardhan nahar
Things went horribly wrong for Mountain Dew back in 2012 when they ran an online survey to name their latest drink. The merry pranksters of the interwebs collaborated ‘for the lulz’ and rigged the poles to some disastrous ends. Taylor Swift’s encounter with the same bunch some years later led to equally dastardly (and hilarious) consequences. This so-called ‘meme magic’ cast its spell in the most grand way imaginable in 2017 - making a living meme the President of the United States. What’s meme magic? What’s a meme? What does it meme? Where does the word come from and where do memes go to die? Do memes like art cycle between irony and sincerity?
Cheggout the 2nd episode of the ‘Where Do I Start?’ podcast, where I interview the ‘Chief agitator in seizing the memes of production’ - Anunaya Rajhans.
While being the quintessential memelord, Anunaya’s also the supervisor for a project called "Media Action Against Rape" (MAAR) for UNESCO and Bournemouth University, which is an ongoing two year long study of how rape is reported in Indian news media and how to make it better.
We discuss his word with MAAR towards the end, which is worthy of another episode by itself. Meanwhile, you can read more about it here: https://medium.com/maarnewstracker
What is the ‘Q’ in LGBTQ? What is ‘Heteronormativity’? Does gender exist in binaries? Can feminists from different ‘intersectionalities’ find solidarity? What is ‘intersectionality’?
The ‘Where Do I Start?’ podcast promises to teach you something about everything and everything about something. To kick things off, I spoke to one of my favorite people in the world - Rahul Sen. Rahul is a queer academic who is interested in dissecting desire. He has a B.A., an M.A. and an M.Phil in English, and is all poised to pursue his PhD in Boston later in the year. He speaks with nebulous clarity, which is perhaps a befitting way to speak about his areas of expertise. In today’s episode, we speak about academia, Plato, the Enlightenment, the ‘Q’ in LGBTQ (and why its capitalized), gender binaries, and the feminist movement among other things. He really drops a few precious nuggets towards the end, so hang on!
P.S. - I know there’s probably a lot I can improve on, I just don’t know what. Would be extremely grateful for any feedback regarding anything. I claim to be no professional, but your feedback would perhaps one day make me one.
P.P.S - Stay at home. Pay the help. Write letters.