Podcasts
Unblocked: An Indigenous Podcast on Race, Risk, and Resilience
The Unblocked Podcast is produced by Florida International University’s Mellon-funded ‘Commons for Justice’ (CfJ) project. “Unblocked” is a podcast series that explores disaster exposures, vulnerabilities, and resilience in and around South Florida from Indigenous perspectives.
In cities across the United States, neighborhoods and blocks within them have been intentionally designed to discriminate against marginalized communities. For many Indigenous communities in the United States, the concept of neighborhood “blocks” and the partitioning of land in this manner often grinds against established notions of stewardship over ownership. How do Indigenous South Floridians envision a world that is liberated from these constraints and grounded in communal values of caretaking the earth? Each episode highlights an “unblocked” aspect of an Indigenous praxis that brings us closer to imagining a new world that can address race, risk, and resilience in South Florida.
Episodes
- Indigenous Methodologies: Staying Rooted and Resilient to Fight for Climate Justice in Miami
- Preservation: What Conservationists Get Wrong about Protecting the Land
- Healing: Sharing Conversations about Encroachment
- Vibrations: Art and Indigenous Environmental Advocacy in the Everglades
- Translations and Epistemologies: On Learning How to Listen to Indigenous Stories and Knowledge”
- Food Sovereignty: Indigenous Community Gardens for Healing the Risks of Laboring in Rising Heat (Part1)
- Food Sovereignty: Indigenous Community Gardens for Healing the Risks of Laboring in Rising Heat (Part 2)
- Food Sovereignty: Indigenous Community Gardens for Healing the Risks of Laboring in Rising Heat (Part 3)
- Rhythm: Cultivating Cross-Racial Resilience through Aztecan Rhythms in South Florida
- Archives: Unraveling Indigenous Narratives of Place and Movement to Transform South Florida’s Solutions
Credits:
Producer: Dr. Mitzi Uehara Carter
Audio and Post-Production Editing: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez
Associate Producer and Audio Editor: Dr. Diane Benitez
Under the Miami Sun: Stories of Race, Risk, and Resilience
Season 2 of FIU’s Mellon-funded Commons for Justice series, Under the Miami Sun: Stories of Race, Risk, and Resilience, takes listeners on a journey through Miami’s neighborhoods to uncover the untold stories of race, equity, and resilience. Through site visits, intimate interviews, and the voices of residents, activists, and community leaders, Season 2 amplifies the stories of those fighting to preserve their neighborhoods and histories. Each episode connects the past to the present, offering a hopeful vision of justice and resilience in the face of transformation. This season, we explore communities shaped by deep histories, vibrant cultures, and the enduring strength of their people, even as they face mounting challenges from gentrification, climate change, and systemic inequities:
Episodes
- Episode 1: Overtown
- Episode 2: Liberty City
- Episode 3: Homestead
- Episode 4: Allapattah
- Episode 5: Coconut Grove
- Episode 6: Little Haiti
Credits:
Creator, Host, Executive Producer: Genai Witter
Associate Producer: Andrea Fonseca
Directors: Andrea Fonseca, Genai Witter, Sebastian Rocha Alvarez, Victoria Fonseca
Editors: Charlie Villa, Julian Davis, Sebastian Rocha Alvarez, Victoria Fonseca
2024 History Exchange: Overtown
As a component of Florida International University’s Mellon-funded ‘Commons for Justice’ 2024 History Exchange, Overtown Stories: Race, Risk, Resilience features a collection of oral histories about Miami’s Overtown community. Held at the Historic Ward Rooming House, the History Exchange celebrated Overtown’s cultural legacy, fostered intergenerational knowledge sharing, and underscored the importance of preserving community history. Recorded live at the event, these oral histories delve into personal narratives and themes of resilience, cultural preservation, and systemic challenges, offering a thoughtful exploration of this historic neighborhood’s identity. The interviews were conducted by FIU-CfJ Graduate Research Fellow Patraillia Davis Bryant and filmed by Undergraduate Research Fellow Sebastian Rocha Alvarez to preserve Overtown’s enduring stories for future generations.
Episodes
- Overtown Stories: Race, Risk, Resilience – Prologue
- Berdine Smith
- Reginald Munning
- Dr. Valerie Patterson
- Fabian Martinez
Credits:
Interviewer: Patraillia Davis Bryant
Videographer: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez
Editor & Producer: Genai Witter
The ‘Commons for Justice’ Student Podcast
The ‘Commons for Justice’ Podcast, aims to engage the community in complex and sometimes challenging, discussions about the ever-evolving stories of ‘The Past, Present, and Future of ‘Race, Risk, and Resilience’ in coastal communities. Hence, this Podcast sets out to transform academic jargon into an easily digestible form by addressing contemporary topics in a conversational manner by engendering a dynamic, fluid, and stimulating space where diverse, dedicated, and multidisciplinary minds converge to share perspectives on identifying and addressing pre-disaster vulnerabilities and post-disaster resilience in the Greater Miami area.
Episodes
- Welcome to The ‘Commons for Justice’ Podcast
- Rethinking Resilience: Dr. Kevin Grove on Community, Race, and Governance
- Voices of Resilience: Unveiling Indigenous Narratives and Global Perspectives
with Dr. Mitzi Carter - Art & Agency: Dr. Rebecca Friedman on Humanities in Community-Based Resilience
- Echoes of Coconut Grove: Dr. Valerie L. Patterson on Race, Risk, & Resilience
Credits:
Creator, Host, Executive Producer: Genai Witter
Associate Producer: Andrea Fonseca
Editor: Julian Davis
Editor: Victoria Fonseca
2022 History Exchange Podcast
In collaboration with Hope through Art Miami the 2022 ‘History Exchange’ aimed to support the capacity of community elders and FIU students in making positive steps towards closing the gap, transferring, and preserving knowledge regarding pre and post disaster exposures, resilience, and vulnerabilities to aid in negating racial and ethnic inequities in the Coconut Grove/Little Bahamas community. This ‘History Exchange’ occurred during the period of the historical Goombay festival and produced a podcast series of in-depth interviews with Coconut Grove/Little Bahamas elders and FIU students and showcased Jeffrey Poitier’s “Voices”.
Episodes
- “Goombay Festival Roundtable”
- “Clarice Cooper & Reynold Martin”
- “Dr. George A. Simpson & Gregory Simpson”
- “Thelma Gibson & Fredericka Brown”
