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Below the Radar

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Rating
★★★★★
5
from
3 reviews
Categories
Country
United States
This podcast has
301 episodes
Language
English
Date created
2018/03/14
Latest episode
2026/06/19
Average duration
46 min.
Release period
19 days

Description

Amplifying ideas that fly below the radar. We talk environmental and social justice, arts, culture, community-building and urban issues with featured guests. This podcast is produced by SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement as a part of our Knowledge Democracy Project @ 312 Main — encouraging the meaningful exchange of ideas and information across communities. Hosted and currently produced by: Am Johal Joey Malbon Julia Aoki Kathy Feng Samantha Walters Visit our website for archived audio and video recordings of our public events: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/library.html

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John Price
2026/06/19
In this episode, we are joined by Professor John Price (University of Victoria), who leads the Canada–China Focus project. We discuss how Canada–China relations are debated in ways that can intensify anti-Asian racism and Sinophobia, and how Canada–China Focus works to reframe public conversation. We use Price’s submission to the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference as a stand-alone case to think through how “security” discourse can produce racialized harm, and we close by reflecting on what Prime Minister Mark Carney’s January 2026 visit to Beijing signals for the next phase of Canada–China relations—and what short- and long-term work is needed to sustain anti-racist public awareness alongside serious foreign-policy debate. Resources: John Price: https://www.uvic.ca/research/centres/globalstudies/people/associate-fellows/pricejohn.php Canada-China Focus: https://www.canadachinafocus.ca/ Submission to the Honourable Marie-Josée Hogue, Commissioner of the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.: https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/ccf/wp-content/uploads/sites/6776/2024/08/Hogue-Commission-JP.pdf Bio: John Price is an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Global Studies. He retired in 2018 after teaching history at UVic for twenty-one years. He retains an active research and writing program, however, with special focus on Canada-China relations and Indigenous-settler relations in the Pacific Northwest. With faculty members Nicholas XEMŦOLTW̱ Claxton (HSD) and Christine O’Bonsawin (History), he was recently awarded a SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant to promote Indigenous Ecological Knowledge with the environmental organization, Dogwood. His historical research spans the history of Japan, transpacific migrations, Asian Canadian histories, and Indigenous-Settler relations in the Pacific Northwest. He is the author of Japan Works: Power and Paradox in Postwar Industrial Relations (Cornell, 1997), Orienting Canada: Race, Empire and the Transpacific (2011), and, with Ningping Yu, the biography A Woman in Between: Searching for Dr. Victoria Chung (2019). He is a co-author of the recent Challenging Racist “British Columbia”: 150 Years and Counting (2021) and co-editor of a special volume of BC Studies: Unsettling the Islands: Race, Indigeneity, and the Transpacific (204, Winter 2019/20). He is a founding member of Canada-China Focus and has recently published a series on Canada-China relations and another on Canada-US militarization of the Pacific. When not in the library or writing at home in Vancouver, he is looking after his three grandchildren, or on bike trips with his partner of forty-six years, Margaret McGregor.
Henry Yu
2026/06/19
In this episode, we are joined by Professor Henry Yu from University of British Columbia. We discuss Vancouver’s Chinatown as a living archive of anti-Asian racism, and what it reveals about the persistence of racism after the acute pandemic period. We also use Yu’s essay “The white elephant in the room” to reflect on why naming white supremacy matters, and what coalition-building—including national forums on anti-Asian racism—can and cannot accomplish. Resources: Henry Yu: https://acam.arts.ubc.ca/henry-yu/ The white elephant in the room: anti-Asian racism in Canada: https://beyond.ubc.ca/henry-yu-white-elephant/ Thinking Orientals: Migration, Contact, and Exoticism in Modern America: https://academic.oup.com/book/47996 Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia: http://www.cchsbc.ca/ Chinatown Reimagined: https://www.chinatownreimagined.ca/ Bio: Professor Henry Yu was born in Vancouver, B.C., and grew up in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island. He received his BA in Honours History from UBC and an MA and PhD in History from Princeton University. After teaching at UCLA for a decade, Yu returned to UBC as an Associate Professor of History to help build programs focused on trans-Pacific Canada. Yu himself is both a second and fourth generation Canadian. His parents were first generation immigrants from China, joining a grandfather who had spent almost his entire life in Canada. His great-grandfather was also an early Chinese pioneer in British Columbia, part of a larger networks of migrants who left Zhongshan county in Guangdong province in South China and settled around the Pacific in places such as Australia, New Zealand, Hawai’i, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, the United States, and Canada. Prof. Yu’s book, Thinking Orientals: Migration, Contact, and Exoticism in Modern America (Oxford University Press, 2001) won the Norris and Carol Hundley Prize as the Most Distinguished Book of 2001, and he is currently working on a book entitled How Tiger Woods Lost His Stripes: Finding Ourselves in History. Currently, he is the Director of the Initiative for Student Teaching and Research on Chinese Canadians (INSTRCC) and the Principal of St. John’s College at UBC, as well as a Board Member of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia (CCHSBC).
Evaluating Community Engagement — with Lauren Wendling
2026/03/10
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, our host Am Johal is joined by Lauren Wendling, Director of Institutional Success at Collaboratory. Together, they chat about community engagement in higher education, how she got involved in the work, and the evaluation and evolution of the field. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-lauren-wendling.html Resources: Collaboratory: https://cecollaboratory.com/ Carnegie Classification: https://cecollaboratory.com/carnegie/ Lauren’s website: https://laurenwendling.wixsite.com/laurenwendling Bio: Dr. Lauren A. Wendling is a scholar-practitioner whose work focuses on integrating community engagement, institutional policy, and data to drive cultural change in higher education. In her role at Collaboratory, she guides institutions in capturing and utilizing engagement data to inform assessment, institutional decision-making, and the broader institutionalization of community-engaged scholarship. Prior to joining Collaboratory, Lauren worked within the IU Indianapolis Office of Community Engagement, where she built structures to track collective impact and improve campus-wide reporting. Her scholarship focuses on the institutionalization of community engagement and the evaluation of faculty work across diverse campus contexts. Lauren earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education from Indiana University Bloomington, with a focus on urban education. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Evaluating Community Engagement — with Lauren Wendling.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, March 9, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-lauren-wendling.html.
I Am My Mother's Daughter — with Farheen Haq
2026/02/17
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Farheen Haq, an interdisciplinary artist who works with video, textile, installation and performance to explore personal, familial, cultural and political reconciliations. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/farheen-haq Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/farheen-haq Resources: Farheen Haq: https://www.farheenhaq.com/ Hamara Badan: https://www.farheenhaq.com/#/rhb-2/ Feast: https://www.farheenhaq.com/#/feast/ Silsila: https://www.farheenhaq.com/#/silsila/ Bio: Farheen Haq (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist living and working on unceded Lekwungen territory (Victoria, BC). She was born and raised on Haudenosanee territory (Niagara region, Ontario) amongst a tight-knit Muslim community. Her family roots are from Bihar, India and Karachi, Pakistan. Farheen works with video, textile, installation and performance to explore personal, familial, cultural and political reconciliations. Farheen’s current work is focused on the teachings of the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb and how it can be applied to settler-Indigenous relationships on Turtle Island through culture making and ceremony. She has exhibited her work in galleries and festivals throughout Canada and internationally including New York, Paris, Buenos Aires, Lahore, Hungary, and Romania. Recent exhibitions include I am my mother’s daughter at the Art Gallery of Hamilton (2023) and The Reach Gallery, Abbotsford (2024), Sentirse en Casa at Casa Cultura Gallery, Medellin Colombia (2018), Being Home at the Comox Valley Art Gallery (2015), Fashionality at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (2012), Collected Resonance at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (2011), The Emperor’s New Clothes at the Talwar Gallery, New York (2009), and Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Miami (2008). Farheen received her BA in International Development (1998) from the University of Toronto, her BEd (2000) from the University of Ottawa and her MFA in Visual Arts (2005) from York University. In 2014, Farheen was nominated for Canada’s pre-eminent Sobey Art Award. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “I Am My Mother's Daughter — with Farheen Haq” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, February 16, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-farheen-haq.
What’s Fear Got To Do With It? — with Ivana Filipovich
2026/02/02
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Ivana Filipovich, a Serbian-Canadian artist with a background in educational media, architecture, archaeology and design. We discuss her journey as an artist and her first graphic novel ‘What’s Fear Got To Do With It?’ Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-ivana-filipovich Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-ivana-filipovich Resources: Ivana Filipovich: https://www.ivanafilipovich.com/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio What’s Fear Got To Do With It?: https://conundrumpress.com/product/whats-fear-got-to-do-with-it/ Bio: In 1999, Ivana Filipović/Ivana Filipovich/Ивана Филиповић, an architect, archaeologist, designer, cartoonist, and occasional procrastinator, became a literal escape artist, selling her beloved black lacquer piano for a one-way ticket to Vancouver. After a 20-year hiatus, during which she worked in educational media and communications at a Canadian university, she returned to cartooning. In the last few years, her comics were published in Sweden, Slovenia, and Serbia and were exhibited at the French Institute (L’Institut français) galleries in Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia, and at the NOVA comic arts festival in Serbia. Deeply interested in psychology, her work aims predominantly to portray complex female characters and other underrepresented persons and groups. Mainly focused on slice-of-life stories, she occasionally ventures into other genres. Stylistically close to French and Italian cartooning, she uses both traditional and digital tools. Most recently, the Canada Council for the Arts has supported her exploration of 3D storyboarding. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “What’s Fear Got To Do With It? — with Ivana Filipovich” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, Feb 2, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-ivana-filipovich
Lost Days, Endless Nights — with Andrew Witt
2026/01/26
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Andrew Witt, an art historian and critic who writes on contemporary art. We discuss Andrew’s new work Lost Days, Endless Nights, a critical study and artist's book on the history of photography and film from Los Angeles. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-andrew-witt Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-andrew-witt Resources: Andrew Witt: https://www.ici-berlin.org/people/witt/ Lost Days, Endless Nights: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262049078/lost-days-endless-nights/ Bio: Andrew Witt is an art historian and critic who writes on contemporary art. He is currently the 2025–2026 PERICULUM Foundation for Contemporary Art Discourse Fellow. His book "Lost Days, Endless Nights: Photography and Film from Los Angeles" was recently published by MIT Press (2025). Andrew's writing has appeared in Camera Austria, History of Photography, Momus, Oxford Art Journal and Philosophy of Photography. Witt completed his PhD at University College London in 2017 and his MA at UCL in 2010. From 2018 to 2022 he was Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Lost Days, Endless Nights — with Andrew Witt” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 26, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-andrew-witt.
Of Memory and Association — with Philip Hoffman
2026/01/26
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Philip Hoffman, a renowned experimental filmmaker. We discuss his journey as an artist, founding the Film Farm, and what it means to work with a focus on process and memory. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-philip-hoffman Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-philip-hoffman Resources: Philip Hoffman: https://philiphoffman.ca/ Philip’s Films: https://philiphoffman.ca/filmography/ Film Farm: ​​https://philiphoffman.ca/film-farm/ Bio: Philip Hoffman has been making art and film for more than 40 years. His recent work explores plant processing of motion picture film. vulture (2019) received the Kodak Cinematic Award from Ann Arbor Film Festival and the Fugas Award at Documenta Madrid. Deep 1 received a Jury Award at Ann Arbor. He has been honored with more than a dozen retrospectives of his work, and the publication Landscape with Shipwreck: First Person Cinema and the Films of Philip Hoffman, comprising some 25 essays by academics and artists. In 2016 Hoffman was awarded the Governor General Award in Media Arts. He currently teaches Process Cinema in York University's MFA in Cinema and Media Arts. philiphoffman.ca Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Of Memory and Association — with Philip Hoffman” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 26, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-philip-hoffman.
No More Loopholes Act — with Kelsey Gallagher
2026/01/13
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, our host Am Johal is joined by Kelsey Gallagher, Senior Researcher with Project Ploughshares. They chat about Kelsey’s work with Ploughshares on Canadian arms export control policies, and Bill C-233, or the No More Loopholes Act. Bill C-233 is a private member’s bill put forward by MP Jenny Kwan to press Canada to abide by the Arms Trade Treaty that it signed in 2019. It is set to be voted on in Parliament at Second Reading in late-February 2026. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-kelsey-gallagher.html Resources: Kelsey Gallagher's work with Ploughshares: https://ploughshares.ca/author/kelsey-gallagher/ Ploughshares Report on Bill C-233: https://ploughshares.ca/situating-bill-c-233-within-canadas-arms-control-framework/ Parliamentary Petition on No More Loopholes Act: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-6808&fbclid=IwY2xjawPSRrFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFKNndhNE1pV0tKTVhCQlRKc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHox9BGh-D98cXXqyy823e2-_3ehTWtk_u1bHQNbpF4E0PwvdRYLwV5BT2on__aem_1GUchewA_DmcwDwE2Gp0Iw Public Forum on January 30, 2026: https://events.sfu.ca/event/47169-the-no-more-loopholes-act-cleaning-up-the-canadian Bio: Kelsey Gallagher is a Senior Researcher with Project Ploughshares, where he focuses on conventional arms controls and the Canadian arms trade. He monitors exports of conventional weapons and their use in conflict abroad, as well as export control policy and transparency. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “No More Loopholes Act — with Kelsey Gallagher.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 12, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-kelsey-gallagher.html.
Panic Now? — with Ira Allen
2026/01/06
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, our host Am Johal is joined by Dr. Ira Allen, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Writing, and Digital Media Studies at Northern Arizona University. Ira is the author of The Ethical Fantasy of Rhetorical Theory and Panic Now? Tools for Humanizing. Together, they chat about living in a system of Carbon-Capitalism-Colonialism (or CaCaCo), AI’s disruption to meaning-making, and panicking. Enjoy the episode! Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-ira-allen.html Resources: Ira J. Allen: https://troubledfreedom.com/ Ira’s CV: https://directory.nau.edu/?person=ia298 The Ethical Fantasy of Rhetorical Theory: https://upittpress.org/books/9780822965367/ Panic Now? Tools for Humanizing: https://utpress.org/title/panic-now/ Bio: Dr. Ira Allen (he/him) is Associate Professor of Rhetoric in the Departments of English and of Politics & International Affairs at Northern Arizona University. His scholarship on human meaning-making includes The Ethical Fantasy of Rhetorical Theory (U Pittsburgh P, 2018), alongside many articles and chapters, and undergirds his inquiry into the AI revolution and other features of polycrisis in Panic Now? Tools for Humanizing (U Tennessee P, 2024). With Scott Sundvall and Caddie Alford, he has a volume exploring our hypermediated and increasingly automated crisis of meaning forthcoming in 2026: Rhetoric Before and Beyond Post-Truth (U Pittsburgh P). Among other topics, Ira teaches undergraduate courses on digital argumentation and graduate courses on #datapolitics and humanizing rhetoric. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Panic Now? — with Ira Allen.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 5, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-ira-allen.html.
The Future of Hogan's Alley — with Djaka Blais
2025/12/04
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Djaka Blais, the Executive Director of Hogan’s Alley Society. Am and Djaka discuss the history and future of the organisation, and its ongoing work in daylighting Black history in Vancouver and beyond. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-djaka-blais Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-djaka-blais Resources: Hogan’s Alley Society: https://www.hogansalleysociety.org/ Hogan’s Alley 2024 report: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/654e87e4e6889372eafb1636/t/6776c85dd93b442d0750f334/1735837829981/HAS+-+2024+Final+Year+In+Review-compressed.pdf Bio: Djaka Blais (she/her) is a social sector leader with 21 years of experience in philanthropy, government, and community mobilizing. She is a change agent to shift power dynamics and remove oppressive structures within philanthropic and nonprofit organizations. Djaka is the inaugural Executive Director of Hogan’s Alley Society, a Vancouver-based non-profit focused on advancing the social, political, economic, and cultural well-being of people of African descent (Black People) through the delivery of inclusive housing, built spaces, and culturally informed programming. Djaka is a founding Director of the Foundation for Black Communities, the first philanthropic foundation for Black communities in Canada. She is a board member with Philanthropic Foundations Canada and a How Women Lead fellow in their first Black cohort. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “The Future of Hogan's Alley — with Djaka Blais” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, November 12, 2025. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-djaka-blais.
The Regular — with Ness Nöst
2025/10/24
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Ness Nöst, an independent singer-songwriter. Ness is known for her powerful live performances, and her breakout EP, Working Hours (2024), received international airplay and acclaim. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-ness-nost Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-ness-nost Resources: Ness Nöst: https://www.nessnostmusic.com/ Ness’ Bandcamp: https://nessnostmusic.bandcamp.com/ Bio: Ness Nöst is known for her soulful blend of indie folk, jazz, and dark poetic storytelling. Think Joni Mitchell and k.d. lang meets Feist. She is currently working on her debut full-length album following the release of Glimmers (March 2025), her second self-released, self-produced EP. A fully independent artist, Nöst continues to push creative boundaries while integrating themes of women’s rights and advocacy into her music. ​ Her breakout EP, Working Hours (2024), received international airplay, including on London Soho Radio in the UK, and was featured in Exclaim! and RANGE Magazine. Following a Canada-wide tour in 2024, she returned with Glimmers, which has already been featured on CBC Music. She has also collaborated with grassroots organizations such as Good Night Out and #NOTME, using her platform to support workplace safety and harm reduction. Known for her powerful live performances, Nöst has played over 250 shows across Canada, captivating audiences with her rare ability to connect through music. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “The Regular — with Ness Nöst” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, October 25, 2025. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-ness-nost.
We Have Stories — with Rosemary Georgeson and Jessica Hallenbeck
2025/10/24
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Rosemary Georgeson and Jessica Hallenbeck, two artists whose ongoing community engaged collaborative work have produced multiple acclaimed film and research projects. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-rosemary-georgeson-jessica-hallenbeck Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-rosemary-georgeson-jessica-hallenbeck/ Resources: Lantern Films: https://www.lanternfilms.ca/ Rosemary Georgeson: https://rosemarygeorgeson.wordpress.com/ Jessica and Rosemary’s Research: https://geog.ubc.ca/news/written-out-of-history-restorying-the-archive/ We Have Stories: Women in Fish: https://www.facebook.com/WeHaveStories The Saltlicks: https://thesaltlicks.bandcamp.com/album/diaries Bio: Rosemary Georgeson is a Coast Salish and Sahtu Dene filmmaker and multi-media artist. She was born and raised in the commercial fishing industry, spending the first half of her life fishing around Galiano Island and the Salish Sea, sometimes as far as Prince Rupert. Since leaving the industry, she’s worked in the arts community as a writer, storyteller and researcher. Recognized in 2009 by the Vancouver Mayor’s award for emerging artist and in 2014 as the Vancouver Public Library’s Storyteller in Residence, her work is deeply rooted in her family history on Galiano Island. Jessica Hallenbeck is a documentary filmmaker, independent scholar and community planner. With an undergraduate degree in media and film from Queen’s University, she has worked in documentary for 20 years. Jessica holds a PhD in Geography from the University of British Columbia and her multimodal research cuts across filmmaking, writing, and exhibitions. Jessica is a Sundance Institute and Chicken and Egg Alumni. Her dissertation (2020) won The Starkey-Robinson Award for graduate research on Canada and is currently under contract with UBC Press. She has been the recipient of multiple Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grants (SSHRC), including the prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “We Have Stories — with Rosemary Georgeson and Jessica Hallenbeck — with Rosemary Georgeson and Jessica Hallenbeck” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, October 14, 2025. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-rosemary-georgeson-jessica-hallenbeck.html.
No More Watno Dur — with Sadhu Binning
2025/10/19
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we are joined by Sadhu Binning, bilingual author, educator, and advocate for Punjabi literature, culture, and language. Sadhu shares stories from his life, and discusses the path to founding arts and cultural collectives in Vancouver in the 80s and 90s. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-sadhu-binning.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-sadhu-binning.html Resources: No More Watno Dur: https://www.mawenzihouse.com/product/no-more-watno-dur/ Watan: https://www.watanpunjabi.ca/oct2018/ Bio: Sadhu Binning, a bilingual teacher, advocate/founder, author, and editor, has lived in Vancouver since 1967, when he migrated there. During his resilient career, he has published and edited over nineteen poetry, fiction, plays, translations, and research books. His works have been included in more than fifty anthologies both in Punjabi and English. He edited and co-edited the Punjabi magazines Watno Dur and Watan. He co-founded Vancouver Sath, a theatre collective (1983), Ankur, an English literary magazine (1993), and founded the Punjabi Language Education Association and various other literary and cultural organizations, including the Punjabi Literary Association (1973). He has sat on the BC Arts Board, is a central figure in the Punjabi arts community, and was named one of the top 100 South Asians who made a difference in BC. He has received numerous awards in Canada and Punjab, India, including the supreme nonresident Punjabi author in 2015. Sadhu Binning received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from UBC in 2019. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “No More Watno Dur — with Sadhu Binning.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, October 21, 2025.. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-sadhu-binning.html.
M.I.T.C.O.E — with Dave Biddle
2025/10/18
On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Dave Biddle, artist, musician, theorist, and PhD Candidate at SFU's School for the Contemporary Arts. Together, they chat about Dave’s research, artistic practice, and rugby. Enjoy the episode! Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-dave-biddle.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-dave-biddle.html Resources: Copyright Linda Fox: https://kopyrightlindafox.bandcamp.com/ Dave’s Oasis: https://davesoasis.cargo.site/ Liquidation World: https://www.instagram.com/liquidationw0rld/?hl=en Bio: Dave Biddle (being me) is a musician (being Copyright Linda Fox), a theorist (being susceptible to gnosis), and a filmmaker (being quick to tell you about his new "script"). He (still being me) is interested in how the many different forms of life on earth (being metaphorically different) are all oriented toward the production of new expressions of meaning (being negentropic), and in this process some of those expressions emerge as something called an "artist bio" (being the ultimate expression). Dave Biddle (being the artist whose bio is in question) was born in Vancouver (being the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations) and he continues to live in that (being this) strange place where he studies the silverfish in his books (being being). Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “M.I.T.C.O.E. — with Dave Biddle.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, October 21, 2025. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-dave-biddle.html.
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat — with Johan Grimonprez
2025/10/08
On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Johan Grimonprez, a Belgian multimedia artist, filmmaker, and curator whose film Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary at the 97th Academy Awards. Am and Johan discuss Johan’s past video work, and what Johan discovered along the way in creating and sharing Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-johan-grimonprez Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-johan-grimonprez Resources: Johan Grimonprez: https://www.johangrimonprez.be/ Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat: https://kinolorber.com/film/soundtrack-to-a-coup-d-etat Vancouver International Film Festival: https://viff.org/ Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y: https://vimeo.com/231411671 Bio: Who owns our imagination in a world of existential vertigo where truth has become a shipwrecked refugee? Is it the storyteller who can contain contradictions, who can slip between the languages we have been given to become a time-traveler of the imagination? Johan Grimonprez’s critically acclaimed work dances on the borders of theory and practice, between art and cinema, beyond the dualisms of documentary and fiction, other and self, mind and brain to weave new pathways and stories, emphasizing a multiplicity of realities. Informed by an archeology of present-day media, his work depicts intimate stories that brush up against the bigger picture of globalization. It questions our collective imagination and the contemporary sublime, one framed by a fear industry that has infected political and social dialogue. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat — with Johan Grimonprez” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, October 14, 2025. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-johan-grimonprez.html.

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