It’s hard not to categorize our present global moment as a crisis. And just when we think things can't get worse — they do. At a time when critical conversations in higher education are under attack worldwide, can Canadian universities rise to the challenge and be a force for good?

By now… you probably know what an “influencer” is – individuals with large, highly engaged social media followings who have the power to sway beliefs and purchasing decisions. But have you heard of virtual influencers? They’re like human influencers… only they’re not human. They’re characters brought to life by CGI and AI, designed to target demographic groups from a first-person perspective

Food is so much more than what we eat. It is, of course, nourishment — the food we put into our body to fuel ourselves. It can be joyful, like the the smell of pancakes wafting through the house on a Sunday morning, or when loved ones gather around a feast at the dinner table. It can also be deeply personal and defining, connecting us to ancestral history, and cultural and racial identities. And it is also political — especially in the United States — which is the key takeaway in a new book by law scholar Andrea Freeman.

Don't Call Me Resilient is coming back to your podcast feed this month with a whole new series! We’ve been hosting some live events and we’re starting to roll them out as episodes in our feed.

You may have noticed, Don’t Call Me Resilient hasn’t been in your feed lately. That’s because we’ve been busy behind the scenes working on a different format for the podcast.

Even before COVID-19, education experts were sounding the alarm about the future of racialized children in our schools. And the COVID-19 pandemic has only underscored – even deepened – the divide. Carl James, professor of education at York University and Kulsoom Anwer, a high school teacher who works out of one of Toronto's most marginalized neighborhoods, Jane and Finch, join us to discuss the injustices and inequalities in the education system – and the way forward. This episode is part of our Summer Flashback: it originally aired in February 2021. This flashback was recommended by Vinita Srivastava, the Host + Producer and Senior Editor of The Conversation Canada.

In this reflective and personal episode, Professor Cheryl Thompson of Toronto Metropolitan University and author of “Beauty in a Box” untangles the complicated history of hair relaxers for Black women - and the health risks now linked to them. This episode is part of our Summer Flashback: it originally aired in October 2023. It was recommended by DCMR Associate Producer, Dannielle Piper. Listen to the episode to hear why.

Long COVID, which impacts one in every five people who've had the virus, and especially Black and Latinx women, has been called a mass-disabling event. Join us for this episode of Don't Call Me Resilient as we speak with Margot Gage Witvliet who has insights into long COVID both as an epidemiologist and a patient. This episode is part of our Summer Flashback: it originally aired in November 2022. It was recommended by DCMR Consulting Producer, Jennifer Moroz. Listen to the episode to find out why.

Vinita speaks to two famine scholars about the use of starvation as a tool in the colonizer's playbook through two historic examples - the decimation of Indigenous populations in the Plains, North America and the 1943 famine in Bengal, India. This episode is part of our Summer Flashback: it originally aired in March 2024. This flashback was recommended by Vinita Srivastava, the Host + Producer and Senior Editor of The Conversation Canada.

Modern settlers to Palestine viewed the desert as something they needed to “make bloom.” But the land was already blooming, thanks to Palestinian agricultural systems that have long been overlooked by colonial powers. This episode is part of our Summer Flashback: it originally aired in November 2023. It was recommended by DCMR Associate Producer, Ateqah Khaki. Listen to the episode to find out why.

Documentary filmmaker and OCAD University associate professor Min Sook Lee exposes how migrant workers have been treated in Canada, especially during COVID-19. In the conversation, Lee shatters any remaining myths about “Canada the Good.” Just how do Canadians treat the workers who put food on our tables? Lee has been documenting the voices of migrant farm workers in Canada for two decades. This episode originally aired in February 2021 and is part of our Summer Flashback series. This flashback was recommended by Scott White, the CEO and Editor in Chief of The Conversation Canada. Listen to the episode to hear why this episode resonated for him.

Two Indigenous Land defenders from two different nations as well as generations, join us to explain why they work to protect the Land against invasive development and why their work is necessary for everyone’s survival. Ellen Gabriel, a human rights activist and artist well known for her role during the 1990 Oka crisis, and Anne Spice, a professor at TMU, discuss the importance and urgency of defending land. This episode is part of our Summer Flashback: it originally aired in March 2021. This flashback was recommended by Vinita Srivastava, the Host + Producer and Senior Editor of The Conversation Canada.

In this bonus episode, you’ll meet some of the producers who help make this podcast to revisit some of our favourite episodes from past seasons.

Our seventh season is officially over, but we will be back next week for a special bonus episode. You’ll get to meet some of our amazing producers who work hard behind the scenes to produce this podcast.

In Sudan, amid a growing humanitarian crisis caused by a year-long and ongoing war, neighbourhood organizations have stepped in as first responders, and to lead the call for peace.

We’re bringing you an extra episode this week to share a fascinating interview from “The Conversation Weekly.” It’s a podcast hosted by our colleague Gemma Ware, from The Conversation UK. In this episode, psychiatrist Karandeep Sonu Gaind speaks to Gemma Ware on why he's a vocal opponent of Canada's expansion of its medically assisted dying laws to people with solely mental illness.

Political scientist Shikata Banerjee and cinema studies scholar Rakesh Sengupta sit down with Vinita to talk about how Bollywood and popular culture in general are being used by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP to sway voters in the world's largest election.

Student protests on campuses are calling attention to atrocities in Gaza and challenging university administrators to divest. What is the best way forward that avoids unnecessary violence?

In this episode of Don't Call Me Resilient, Vinita explores the complicated, colonial roots of gardening - which affect who gets to garden and what we plant - with researcher Jacqueline L. Scott and community activist Carolynne Crawley.

Is a cell phone ban, along with increased surveillance, the right way to deal with the impact of addictive and harmful technology in classrooms?