Ep 73: What's in a name? Journalist, academic and ex-TV producer Sheela Banerjee's discusses names and what they signify to society - in her new book, she takes us from the fight against racism in Britain, from Jamaica in the 60s to pre-Revolutionary Russia, each time exploring how a name contains centuries of history and acts as a portal to other worlds. So what IS in a name...? and what do we lose when we change them...

Ep72: Whiteness and its making - Dr. Carmen Thompson is a historian and author, and a highly sought out expert on Race and Whiteness in America whose scholarship has been quoted in historic court judgements in the US. She joins me to discuss her new book "The Making of American Whiteness: The Formation of Race in Seventeenth- Century Virginia".

Ep 71: Whiteness and the whitelash - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and author of a new book “American Whitelash”, Wesley Lowery joins Myriam Francois to talk the whitelash, covering racist politics and what the history of white supremacy tells us about our current juncture.

Ep70: Whiteness and culture - author, broadcaster and educator Jeffrey Boakye spent 15y in the education sector. He now provides training for schools, universities and businesses on race, identity, masculinity and education. He joins me to talk about re-telling the story of Britain through musical history, how to talk about race better and the impact of enduring perceptions of black masculinity.

Ep69: Whiteness and art curation - Samenua Sesher is the Founder and Director of the Museum of Colour, the UK’s foremost arts and heritage digital enterprise.The Museum is focused on the creative journeys of British people of colour and has as its mission to present a continually evolving online repository of once-forgotten wisdom. She joins to talk omitted heritages, the 'slave Bible' and why decentering whiteness is so vital for artists. Please note: These Things Matter: Empire, Exploitation and Everyday Racism is currently on show at The Bodleian Libraries until 19/2/23

EP68: Whiteness and 'racial reckoning' - Eve Fairbanks is an award winning writer and the author of a new book “The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa's Racial Reckoning” which explores what happened when a white supremacist state is overturned by the previously dispossessed. She joins me to discuss whiteness in post-apartheid South Africa, naviguating away from the white supremacist order, and racial reckoning. *apologies in advance for some audio issues aka echoing

Ep67: Whiteness and power - Suzanne Alleyne is a self coined 'cultural thinker' and founder of consultancy Alleyne&. Her groundbreaking research project 'Neurology of PowerTM', asks where power resides in the brain and body. She joins me to talk about empathy and privilege, power and the body, and the importance of recognising the physical as well as cultural impact of power on the very structure of our minds.

Ep66: The Stories of Whiteness - A third-generation Japanese-American essayist, poet and fiction writer, David Mura has written intimately about his life and the connections between race, culture and history. In this episode, he joins me to about his latest book, 'The Stories Whiteness tells itself', as we examine the embeddedness of white supremacy within American culture and the stories America tells itself to avoid confronting it.

Ep 65: Whiteness and maculinity - Yomi Sode is an award-winning Nigerian British writer. He was shortlisted for The Brunel International African Poetry Prize 2021 and his acclaimed one-man show COAT, recently toured nationally to sold-out audiences. His latest book "Manorism" explores the lives of Black British men and boys through poetry. He joins me to talk masculinity, pop culture and having your own lexicon...

ep 64: Whiteness and the racial code - Nichola Rollock is Professor of Social Policy and Race at King’s College London, a government adviser and a widely read contributor to publications including Guardian, the FT and Vogue. She is now also the author of a new book “The Racial Code: tales of resistance and survival.” She joins me to educational attainment gaps, race in the workplace and naviguating the rules of whiteness.

Ep 63: Whiteness and white antiracism - In this episode, I'm joined by the authors of a new book which “invites White people to talk about race with one another in ways that are generative, sustaining, and lead to real change.” Starting from the words of James Baldwin and Toni Morrison that ‘racism is a White person problem’ the authors say it’s time for White people to see how it hurts them too—and to start to do something about it. Ali Michael is the co-founder and co-director of the Race Institute for K-12 Educators, and the author of Raising Race Questions: Whiteness, Inquiry and Education (2015), winner of the 2017 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award. and Eleonora Bartoli is a clinical psychologist specializing in trauma, resilience-building, and multicultural/social justice counseling –their book is “Our Problem, Our Path: Collective Antiracism for White People.” We talk the pitfalls of white people leading antiracism initiatives, the psychology of racism and the challenges to change.

Ep 62: Whiteness and the patriarchy - Award-winning columnist, international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues and global feminism based in Cairo and New York - feminist icon Mona Eltahawy joins me for this LIVE recording at the Bradford Literary Festival to talk whiteness and feminist resistance, how racism fuelled the US abortion ban and her commitment to F*** the patriarchy, in all its shades. WARNING: Strong Language throughout

Ep 61: Whiteness and Africa - Astrid and Chinny were sick of reductive depictions of Africa, where they both have roots - so they decided create ‘It’s a Continent’, a podcast, published as a book in July 2022, which takes each African nation and retells a key moment in the country’s history. In this episode, we explore whiteness and the African continent, why so many people refer to Africa as a 'country', how so much African history is also British history and the African heroines missing from our feminist manuels..

Ep 60: Whiteness and words - multiple award winning writer and author of the bestselling book 'Sprache und Sein' ('Speaking and Being' Kübra Gümüşay is founder of several award winning campaigns and organisations - she joins me to talk about how language shapes our world - and its limits, the cages created by words and how to break out of those boxes.

Ep59: Whiteness and terminology - The language we use and the unease many of us feel in finding the right words speaks, at least in part, to the difficulties in using the categories of meaning we intend to subvert for the act of subversion. To discuss this linguistic minefield, I’m joined by two women who’ve been working on the first ever “Blacktionary”. Maggie Semple OBE is a businesswoman and entrepreneur. She was instrumental in creating the Black British Voices survey and is co-author with coach, trainer and mentor Jane Oremosu of “My Little Black Book”, which aims to help people navigate the language of race and find the ‘right’ words. We talk about knowing what to say, who has the authority to decide and the limits of “Diversity and Inclusion”.

Ep58: Whiteness in TV - Zarqa Nawaz is a canadian creator and producer for film and television, published author, public speaker, journalist, and former broadcaster. You might know her from her hit sit com “Little Mosque in the Prairie” which premiered to the highest ratings CBC had in over 20 years, and won multiple awards, or her most recent publication “Jameela Green ruins everything.” She joins me to talk subverting stereotypes on screen, building your own and success on God's time.

Ep 57: Whiteness and the Royals - Prof Trevor Burnard is Wilberforce Professor of Slavery and Emancipation at the University of Hull and Director of the Wilberforce Institute. The author of several books including 'Jamaica in the Age of Revolution' and The Atlantic World, 1492-1830, he recently curated a special forum in the journal, Slavery and Abolition on Black Lives Matter and Slavery, and is a member of the senior management board of the Modern Slavery Policy and Evidence Centre. He joins me to discuss the Royal family's visit to the Caribbean, those historic links to slavery and whether reperations might be on the cards..

Ep 56: The history of white people - New York Times bestselling author of “The history of white people” Prof Nell Irvin Painter is a leading American historian and visual artist. She is the author of several books including 'Sojourner Truth, A Life, A Symbol and American Whiteness Since Trump', 2020. She joins me to talk about 'The history of white people’, the complexities of terminology and what history can teach us about the present. [Recorded in 2021]

Ep 55: Whiteness and identity - British Egyptian writer Sabrina Mahfouz is an author, editor, fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and TV writer (Netflix and Amazon Studios). Her debut non-fiction book, 'These Bodies of Water: Notes on the British Empire, the Middle East and Where We Meet' (May 2022)explores questions of identity and belonging - she joins me to talk about growing up in the 9/11 shadow, her egyptian roots and representation in TV.

Ep54: Whiteness and equality - Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics, and former Director of the Gender Institute, Prof Anne Phillips' latest book, Unconditional Equals, challenges the very philosophical foundations of Western notions of equality - she joins me to talk about how our framework of equality can undermine the quest for it, rethinking the struggle and whether equality is really a universally held ideal...