Advertise on podcast: Within Our Gates

Stephen Sheehi joins me to talk about his text Camera Palaestina, a critical exploration of Jerusalemite chronicler Wasif Jawhariyyeh (1904–1972) and his seven photography albums entitled The Illustrated History of Palestine. We have an expansive conversation, talking not only about the collection but the historical context in which they were collected, and how these images and the history around them tell us about Palestine, and the struggle against colonial erasure and genocide. During our conversation we talk about a few images. You can click the link to images below and follow along! Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4 Stephen Sheehi is the Sultan Qaboos Professor of Middle East Studies at William & Mary in Arabic Studies, Asian and Middle East Studies and Asian and Pacific Islander American Studies.  He is also Professor Extraordinarius at the Institute for Social and Health Sciences at the University of South Africa (UNISA). He has written a number of books, articles and book chapters around Arab photography and cultural history, Palestine and Palestinian studies,  psychoanalysis and settler colonialism, race, anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia, and, more recently, gender and sexuality in Southwest Asia and the Global South. Most recently, he is co-author with Lara Sheehi, Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine (Routledge, 2022), which was awarded the 2022 Palestine Book Award.  He is also the author of  Camera Palestina (University of California Press, 2022) with Salim Tamari and Issam Nassar. He current research project is entitled Intimacies of Guerillas: Queer Objects of Palestinian Liberation. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes

For this episode I am joined by Gabriel Rockhill to further my discussions on arts, culture and aesthetics from a dialectical materialist framework. Rockhill is the author of the newly released "Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?" on Monthly Review Press, a text which offers a crash course in the history of imperialist propaganda, as well as in the Marxist method for analyzing culture and ideology. In our discussion we cover many grounds, some related to his new book, but also other areas of scholarly interest concerning analysis of the failures of bourgeois cultural analysis and practice, and questions we must ask ourselves when looking towards developing revolutionary artistic pathways. Dr. Gabriel Rockhill is the Founding Director of the Critical Theory Workshop / Atelier de Théorie Critique, Professor of Philosophy and Global Interdisciplinary Studies at Villanova University, and the author or editor of twelve books, as well as numerous scholarly and general public articles. He is also the Director of Cultural Studies at Villanova University, Research Associate at the Laboratoire d'anthropologie politique – LAP (EHESS, Paris), one of the editors-in-chief of the World Marxist Review, and co-editor of the book series AIM–Anti-Imperialist Marxism. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes     

This week I have with me Andre Easton, a Bronx born native running for Congress in New York's District 15 in The Bronx. We dig in on Andre's platform which looks to spark radical reconstruction under a socialist vision. We talk about what this vision mean in terms education, arts and culture and how his campaign in The Bronx reflects the broader the struggle happenining not only here in the heart of global capitalism but the entire world.  To find out more about Andre's campaign and how to be apart click here To donate to Andre's campaign click here To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes     

This episode I have a returning guest Macedonia to discuss one of the most unsung gems of the 1970's; Christopher St. John's Top of the Heap. A radical take down of the pangs of social mobility for the Black individual, Top of the Heap is an entry into Black Cinema that takes a hard look at Black existence in the imperial core through the experience of the Black Police Officer. Macedonia and I dissect this film that both hit us like a ton of bricks upon first viewing and we both believe it holds significant keys to discussions around Blackness within empire. If you want to watch Top of the Heap before the episode drops its free on Tubi To see more of Macedonia is doing you can check his work on these platforms: Radio BSOTS - http://bsots.com/ BSOTS blog - https://radiobsots.blogspot.com/ Mixcloud - https://www.mixcloud.com/macedonia/ Mastodon - https://mastodon.social/@bsots Threads - https://www.threads.com/@bsots IG - https://www.instagram.com/bsots/ To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes 

Popular educator and organizer Layan Fuleihan joins me to discuss the current battle of ideas here in the Imperial Core of the U.S. and in the long struggle towards dismantling capitalism to build a socialist future what is the educators job and approach? I talk to Layan both philosophically and practically about the work she does at The People Forum in the belly of beast of New York City and the importance of spaces for political education that support active organizing in this current moment. Its a rich convo and the first of many of its type about education I plan to have on Within Our Gates. We also talk about The Peoples Forum current campaign to raise funds for the new space in NYC. For more info about the initiative on how to donate click here Layan Fuleihan is a popular educator, organizer, and lifelong student of historical and contemporary struggles of the oppressed. Layan developed her educational approach while working with youth and families in schools, libraries, and community and feminist organizations. In her role at The Peoples Forum, she is committed to developing political education programming and resources to support the building of working class, internationalist movements. Layan approaches her work with optimism and the conviction that a world free from the control of imperialism and capitalism is possible. When not studying or organizing, Layan cooks for friends, enjoys poetry, and dreams of returning to a liberated Palestine. Contact Layan at [email protected] To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes 

For this episode of Within Our Gates I am joined by my comrade Jared Ball to do a long awaited talk on Hip Hop and its politics. We dig into some significant, yet under known projects that looked to deepen Hip hop's connection to the broader movement of Black revolutionary history such as the Black August Hip Hop project, and what this period history uncovered about the issues of the artist/celebrity in liberal capitalist culture in the context of wedding them with political movements. We dig into a rather unseen documentary on the project as well as some other sources. Its a dope episode and frankly one of the first in a series of episodes I plan on doing with Jared on this subject. Looking forward to hearing thoughts! Check out some of these links before the episode drops! Black August Hip Hop Project Documentary My 50th Anniversary Hip Hop Documentary by Jared Ball The Assimilation of Hip Hop, Hegemony, and the Empire State by Shellyne Rodriguez 50 Years, Is There Anything Left Of Hip Hop? Dr. Jared A. Ball is a Professor of Communications Studies and Black/Africana Studies at Morgan State University, author of I Mix What I Like!: A Mixtape Manifesto: https://imixwhatilike.org/2011/07/01/..., The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power, host of iMiXWHATiLiKE!, co-founder of Black Liberation Media, and co-host of Saturdays with Renee:    • Saturdays With Renee   You can find his work on YouTube at    / @imixwhatilikejaredball   and    / @blackliberationmedia   To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes 

Peace Comrades! This episode is actually one I recorded October of last year, but was only exclusive on my Patreon, but it was too good of an episode and too important in terms of topic to NOT release to you all. So here it goes. I am joined once again by my friend Adam Thomas to talk about the then recent rerelease of The Spook Who Sat by Door, and how this film has a shaky reputation with the Black professional managerial class. We also dig into how Spook got made, the differences between the film and the book, how it existed in its time and even do some side convos on how cold war logic for Gen X audiences effect how the film is remembered.  Hope you all enjoy! To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes 

Peace Everyone. Im back with another solo episode talking about the world premiere of my feature length film The Hand that Feeds, and my thoughts around the current state of independent cinema. I wrestle with the contradictions of Second Cinema and how under its heavy hand a truly radical cinema can never materialize. I also speak on what I believe is the need for a Revolutionary Arts International, and address some (unprincipled) criticism thrown my way. Looking forward to hearing comments on this one! To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes 

Peace Folks. For this episode I am doing something a bit different. I decided to solicit questions from my listeners and answer them! And boy did I get some fantastic questions and hopefully the answers I give are up to snuff. I tackle things from the Hollywood response to the genocide in Gaza, my opinion of Fourth Cinema, how art fits into the Marxist concept of the superstructure, the work of David Lynch and some other things. This is something Ill be looking to do at least a few times a year. I hope you all enjoy! Shout out to the Patrons who sent in these (great) questions! To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes 

Joining me on Within Our Gates is Animator and Scholar to Samantha Youssef to talk about the entertainment industry and how it uses often initially well meaning artists to uphold Hollywood's imperial messaging system. Samantha and I take a deep and personal dive into our experiences in the training grounds of arts/entertainment, we compare and contrast our similarities and differences but ultimately come to conclusions that all the methods point in the same pernicious direction. Its a great talk and look forward to more with Samantha on these topics. Here are some things to check out that feature Samantha speaking about her work and experiences. Is Superman Pro-Watermelon? True Hollywood Stories on the Military Industrial Complex "We See the Audience as Marks!" the Psychology of Manipulation in Film Encoding Empire: How Black Panther Manufactures Consent for Imperialism Among Oppressed Groups Donald Duck Does D.E.I. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes   

Joining me for this episode is writer and political theorist Sudip Bhattacharya as we dig into Mira Nair's cult favorite film Mississippi Masala. We dig into its attempt to have commentary on the conundrums of cross cultural exchange and how the film fits into the trajectory of liberal diversity projects in American Cinema during the early 90's. We also fit this into work Sudip has done on the topic of culture from a socialist/Marxist perspective in order to deepen our convo on what was/is missing then and now in works like Masala and others. We also have some great digressions talking about Domenico Losurdo's work, the conservative nature of Spike Lee, the Birth of a Nation level racism of Indiana Jones Temple of Doom and the grave problem of socialist groups like Platypus Affiliated Society. Its a top notch convo and the first of many to come with Sudip. Enjoy and let me know what you think! The Hampton Reader To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Currently we are hosting a asynchronous study group talking about Ariel Dorfman & Armand Mattelart's classic text How to Read Donald Duck. We will going for the rest of the month so join up now! Also check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's  co-hosted series beginning with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We will be posting the audio recordings of the episode here but make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams

How are the arts in the vaunted "age of tech" affected? And how do we study these effects with a materialist approach? To answer these questions I have with me Dwayne Monroe who is a technologist with decades of experience in the US and Europe. He intimately knows how technologies the media describes as ethereal really work, where they come from, and how they are used in the multinational corporations and governments dominating our lives. He applies what he calls a Noir Marxist lens (stylistically informed by the work of Raymond Chandler, analytically informed by Marxian materialism) to dissecting the tech industry. We have a fantastic conversation covering everything from so called Artificial Intelligence, how the creative class is a deployment zone for tech industry shenanigans, the sordid history of camera technology within the world atomic bomb testing and military projects and what radicals need to consider when integrating tech in their lives and organizations. Its really an important convo and one of the first of many I plan to have with Dwayne. For some links to Dwayne's work check it here: My main blog, 'Computational Impacts'  - https://monroelab.com Verdigris (the literary journal I started with a few friends, I typed the wrong URL in the label I used for the show) - https://vdgasjournal.com The film podcast, Film Conversations (we talk about films and the industry overall from a grounded perspective) - https://open.spotify.com/show/3E5dPk4of0pFAVdcTjGbzy And here is a link to the film we discussed in the episode: https://youtu.be/XdrVWeXYUog?si=Kvh9ApjSzo90hSaw Also two of Dwayne's recent appearances on MAKC: https://www.youtube.com/live/TLue-ZDo04Y?si=vvF7gKK3NOjwOASN https://www.youtube.com/live/OxQ_EWinHtA?si=ns-6ZXUpyTKC2r-G To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Currently we are hosting a asynchronous study group talking about Ariel Dorfman & Armand Mattelart's classic text How to Read Donald Duck. We will going for the rest of the month so join up now! Also check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's  co-hosted series beginning with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We will be posting the audio recordings of the episode here but make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams

Is it Black Cinema or Black Hollywood? To me this is an essential question and for this reason I had to bring on Filmmaker Chad Murdock to talk about with me. We dig into a piece that Chad written called The False Notions of a Blackened Image where he does a material analysis on images that are routinely dispersed currently throughout popular Black movies. We also speak about his recently released film, Phantom of a Killing, and dig into the origins of Chad's development as an artist, his politicization and how thats informed his mode of production. We go a lot of angles, dig into a lotta artists from Ousmane Sembene to Yukio Mishima. Its rich and robust and frankly will be the first of many! Chad also has a special on-line screening of his work on Write Brain TV this Thursday July 24th at 6pm EST Check it out! For more on Chad's work check his website. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Currently we are hosting a asynchronous study group talking about Ariel Dorfman & Armand Mattelart's classic text How to Read Donald Duck. We will going for the rest of the month so join up now! Also check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's  co-hosted series beginning with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We will be posting the audio recordings of the episode here but make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams

This week I'm joined by Julia Alekseyeva to talk their book Antifascism and the Avant- Garde: Radical Documentary in the 1960's published by University of California Press. Julia is an Assistant Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies at the University of Pennsylvania as well an artist and activist. We have a fantastic conversation about the book which covers the leftist filmmakers of Japan and France who helped revolutionize the documentary form (and cinema overall) and what does this period of radical practice inform us about cinema, and the politics of art both in form and content more broadly. Its a rich conversation that has many angles, I think you will all enjoy! I highly recommend picking up the text and following Julia's work. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Currently we are hosting a asynchronous study group talking about Ariel Dorfman & Armand Mattelart's classic text How to Read Donald Duck. We will going for the rest of the month so join up now! I also have a special co-hosted series beginning with my friends over at Millenials are Killing Capitalism called The Imperial 80's. We kick off July 15th at 10AM with Sylvester Stallone's First Blood. It will be exciting! Tumes

Peace Comrades! For this episode I am joined by two great guests who I plan to have here regularly to discuss Paul Schrader's 1978 film, Blue Collar starring Richard Pryor, Yaphet Kotto and Harvey Keitel. Jared Ball is a professor of communication studies and Africana / Black Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Ball is also host of the podcast "iMiXWHATiLiKE!" and a co-founder of Black Liberation Media. Jared Ware is the co-host of the anti-imperialist podcast Millennials are Killing Capitalism, and also the host their livestreams. We take a deep dive into Schraders film, with a strong emphasis of the history that lies within the film, and also wrestle with the living history Schrader looks to exclude from the film. Through this process we come to conclusions around the political unconscious that lie in the film and American ideology overall. Its an exciting convo, looking forward to folks thoughts and responses! Note - if my mic is not as robust as usual is because of a recording mistake I made. Its all clear, and I did some good treatment of it in post, but its not to my standard. The two Jared's sound fantastic though, and thats whats important, ha! To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!  Tumes