Edge Dwellers Café
| ABN: 76 162 868 713
Edge Dwellers Café is a regular(ish) long-form interview-based podcast featuring conversations about politics, environment and neurodiversity in a world on edge, with Ben Habib. Ben is a bridge between different communities as an International Relations researcher, environmental educator, neurodiversity advocate, sci-fi / fantasy nerd and basketball tragic who likes having a chat over a hot coffee. Through deep and thoughtful conversations, the podcast tries to make sense the different kinds of edges that define us, divide us, and shape how we interact with each other in a world that’s under stress, and what it means to be a little different.
Thursday Oct 21, 2021
Thursday Oct 21, 2021
Thursday Oct 21, 2021
In this episode, Ben Habib is joined by Dr Simin Fadaee, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Manchester in the UK. We discuss our recent co-authored article “Permaculture: A Global Community of Practice”, published in the journal Environmental Values, where we tease out how we can understand permaculture as a transnational movement. We explore the relationship between the permaculture movement and global inequality, First Nations sovereignty movements, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. We also reflect on the process of our research collaboration and offer some advice for early career researchers on pursuing collaborative projects.
00:00:00 Introduction.
00:04:48 How Simin found Permaculture through researching environmental activism in Iran.
00:07:21 Permaculture ethics and design principles can be applied to all aspects of life.
00:09:08 How can we understand the Permaculture movement at transnational scale.
00:13:47 Defining a "community of practice": Shared domain, communality, and shared practices.
00:15:28 Shared domain of the global permaculture movement.
00:17:42 Communality, diversity and horizontal diffusion of the permaculture movement.
00:23:31 Socio-economic divisions within the global permaculture movement.
00:26:06 Shared practices of the permaculture movement.
00:27:20 Challenges and opportunities of collective permaculture action at international scale.
00:31:15 Permaculture and traditional farming practices in the Global South.
00:35:15 Permaculture and First Nations land sovereignty movements.
00:37:01 Evaluating the responses of the permaculture movement to the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:41:37 Permaculture in relation to climate adaptation and the IPCC 6th Assessment Report.
00:44:49 Importance of social movements in creating visions for a new world.
00:48:20 A resilient society is a just society.
00:49:49 Simin and Ben compare notes on the joys and challenges of fieldwork.
00:54:29 Simin and Ben reflect on the process of their research collaboration.
00:56:45 Advice on research collaborations for early career researchers.
Show links
The Art of Being a Mum Podcast with Alison Newman.
Habib, B and Fadaee, S. (2021) ‘Permaculture: A global community of practice‘. Environmental Values. Pre-print.
Habib, B. and Fadaee, S. (2019). “Responding to the biodiversity crisis: Permaculture and sustainability transition.” Discover Society. 07 August 2019.
Ingram, J., D. Maye, J. Kirwan, N. Curry and K. Kubinakova (2014). "Learning in the Permaculture Community of Practice in England: An Analysis of the Relationship between Core Practices and Boundary Processes." The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension. 20(3): 275-290.
Wenger, E., R. McDermott and W. M. Snyder (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
About Simin Fadaee
Simin Fadaee received her PhD from Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg in Germany (2009) where she also completed a Master's (2006). During her master's programme she spent semesters at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, and Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, India and prior to that obtained a BA from the University of Tehran, Iran. She worked at Humboldt University of Berlin for several years and held a research fellowship at the University of Sheffield before joining the University of Manchester in January 2018. She is the author of Social Movements in Iran: Environmentalism and Civil Society (Routledge 2012) and the editor of Understanding Southern Social Movements (Routledge 2016). She serves as a board member of the Research Committee on Social Classes and Social Movements (RC47) of the International Sociological Association (ISA) and is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Sociology. In Manchester she works with the research group Movements@Manchester and the Sustainable Consumption Institute and is a member of the Manchester University Press Editorial Committee.
About Ben Habib, host of Edge Dwellers Cafe
Ben@Earth | LTU staff profile | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | ORCiD
Support Edge Dwellers Cafe
Send a one-off monetary contribution to help cover the costs of producing Edge Dwellers Cafe via Ko-Fi. Contributions of any amount are welcome and much appreciated.
Credits
Logo design: Sarah Cook Design (cooklsarah@gmail.com).
Thumbnail artwork developed using Deep Art Effects.
Intro music: “Lala Bass” by Adele_Newiron from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Relax (Drum and Bass)” by vjgalaxy from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Centyś - Energy 4” by abctoja from Pixabay.
Interlude voice-over by Jess Love (https://www.jesslovefilmmaker.com/).
This podcast is broadcast from Naarm/Melbourne on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people. Edge Dwellers Cafe pays respect to their elders past, present and emerging.
Monday Oct 11, 2021
Monday Oct 11, 2021
Monday Oct 11, 2021
In this episode, Ben Habib is joined by Dr Markus Bell, Research Fellow at La Trobe University in the Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, migration and displacement researcher and freelance journalist. We explore Markus' new book “Outsiders: Memories of migration to and from North Korea”, published by Berghahn Books. We also discuss Markus’ career journey in and out of academia, his observations on labour migration and climate vulnerability in Southeast Asia, COVID and the coup in Myanmar, and the physical and mental health benefits of Markus’ martial arts practice.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:02 How Markus found anthropology and migration studies.
00:06:12 How life experiences influence what discipline academics end up specialising in.
00:07:51 Moving in and out of academia.
00:12:09 The inaccesability of academic writing.
00:17:33 Perversities and banalities of academic publishing under managerialism.
00:20:55 Importance of peer review to the knowledge ecosystem.
00:21:43 Is a lot of security-focused research on North Korea "repetitive bollocks"?
00:29:00 Markus' new book... Outsiders: Memories of Migration to and from North Korea.
00:35:49 Burden of obligation from the unrepayable gift of freedom for North Korean returnees to Japan.
00:38:57 Life for North Koreans-in-exile is difficult wherever they are.
00:45:21 Gendered differences in survival adaptations for Zainichi Korean returnees from North Korea to Japan.
00:49:56 Ethics of building a career researching vulnerable people.
00:52:03 Commodification of North Korean defector testimony.
00:56:23 Fitting North Korean refugee experiences into a redemption narrative.
00:56:49 Ethical obligations of researchers when North Korea refugees "lend" their stories.
00:59:45 Markus' freelance journalism in Myanmar on fighting and food.
01:02:11 Working with climate change-vulnerable communities near the Myanmar-Thailand border.
01:03:43 Working on labour migration in Myanmar and Southeast Asia.
01:05:04 The COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar.
01:09:26 February 2021 military coup d'état in Myanmar.
01:11:46 No pressure for restoring democracy in Myanmar from ASEAN.
01:12:24 Has Myanmar's grassroots political culture changed after a decade of democratisation.
01:15:38 Mental, physical and social benefits of Southeast Asian martial arts practice.
Show links
Bell, M. (2021) Outsiders: Memories of Migration to and from North Korea. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Bell, M. (2019) "What it's really like to drive for Grab in Myanmar". Myanmar Times. 27 December 2019.
Bell, M. (2019) "Portraits of Yangon". Myanmar Times. 01 November 2019.
Bell, M. (2016) "Curry’s Great Transnational Journey from India to Japan and North Korea". Food Anthropology. 07 April 2016.
About Markus Bell
Researcher, writer, analyst and migration policy specialist with over ten years of experience in the fields of forced migration & displacement, labour migration, and ethnic minority affairs focusing on the Asia-Pacific region. Published author (book coming out in October: Outsiders: Memories of Migration to and from North Korea) and writer for online outlets such as The Guardian, The Independent, The Conversation, Foreign Policy in Focus, National Public Radio (NPR), and The Diplomat. Often called on for expert opinion by Al Jazeera, The Washington Post, The LA Times, the South China Morning Post, and the Christian Science Monitor.
Contact Markus Bell: Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Academia.com
About Ben Habib, host of Edge Dwellers Cafe
Ben@Earth | LTU staff profile | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | ORCiD
Support Edge Dwellers Cafe
Send a one-off monetary contribution to help cover the costs of producing Edge Dwellers Cafe via Ko-Fi. Contributions of any amount are welcome and much appreciated.
Credits
Logo design: Sarah Cook Design (cooklsarah@gmail.com).
Thumbnail artwork developed using Deep Art Effects.
Intro music: “Lala Bass” by Adele_Newiron from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Relax (Drum and Bass)” by vjgalaxy from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Centyś - Energy 4” by abctoja from Pixabay.
Interlude voice-over by Jess Love (https://www.jesslovefilmmaker.com/).
This podcast is broadcast from Naarm/Melbourne on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people. Edge Dwellers Cafe pays respect to their elders past, present and emerging.
Sunday Sep 26, 2021
Sunday Sep 26, 2021
Sunday Sep 26, 2021
Dr Bec Flower, Lecturer and autism researcher in the Department of Psychology and Counselling at La Trobe University, joins us at the Edge Dwellers Cafe. Bec and Ben explore the social model of disability and how we apply this to understanding the lives of autistic people, in contrast to the medical/deficit model of disability that so often dehumanises and disempowers people on the spectrum. We discuss the barriers to the diagnostic process for adults and some of the issues that arise post-diagnosis, and examine the challenges that arise for neurodiverse students at university and explore some strategies for students navigating that journey. We conclude with a fascinating dive into music the role of music and movement in emotional regulation.
00:00:00 Introduction.
00:03:41 Bec's career progression into autism research.
00:10:20 Co-creation of autism research with the autism community.
00:14:47 The social model of autism and the persistence of the deficit model.
00:18:25 Understanding the employment challenges for autistic people through the social model.
00:20:59 Autistic people as a 'canary in the coalmine' for socio-economic dysfunction.
00:24:01 Masking our sensitivity as a survival adaptation.
00:25:39 The ontological shift one goes through after adult diagnosis.
00:27:57 Difficulties in accessing reliable information on autism and ADHD.
00:32:40 Barriers to diagnosis and the difficulties of the diagnostic process.
00:42:50 Common challenges for neurodiverse students at university.
00:46:48 Strategies for assisting neurodiverse students with university study.
00:51:20 Navigating university bureaucracies as a student is intimidating.
00:53:28 Advice for neurodiverse students (and students who think they might be).
00:58:26 Work hacks for ADHD'ers.
01:06:35 Hard music and emotional regulation for the neurodivergent brain.
01:12:26 Dancing and embodied movement as therapy.
01:13:53 Deeply resonating with underground music with a social justice edge.
Show links
Understanding and Support for Autism (PSY3ASD), La Trobe University.
Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre (OTARC).
ADHD Comics with Dani Donovan.
How to ADHD. YouTube.
Aspergers from the Inside. YouTube.
Pattillo, A. (2021). ‘How heavy music saved me from my ADHD brain’. Metal Hammer.
Habib, B. (2016). “Kick-Drum Therapy: Hard Music as My Anxiety Medicine.”Ben@Earth.
Ben’s COVID lockdown #mixtape (YouTube).
About Bec Flower
Dr Bec Flower (she/her) is a Lecturer in the Department of Psychology and Counselling at La Trobe University. Bec's research centres around equity of access to employment and mental health services for autistic adults. As a first in family graduate with ADHD, Bec has a passion for learning about how her research and teaching can be accessible.
Contact Bec Flower: Email | LTU Staff Profile | Twitter | LinkedIn
About Ben Habib, host of Edge Dwellers Cafe
Ben@Earth | LTU staff profile | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | ORCiD
Support Edge Dwellers Cafe
Send a one-off monetary contribution to help cover the costs of producing Edge Dwellers Cafe via Ko-Fi. Contributions of any amount are welcome and much appreciated.
Credits
Logo design: Sarah Cook Design (cooklsarah@gmail.com).
Intro music: “Lala Bass” by Adele_Newiron from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Relax (Drum and Bass)” by vjgalaxy from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Centyś - Energy 4” by abctoja from Pixabay.
Interlude voice-over by Jess Love (https://www.jesslovefilmmaker.com/).
This podcast is broadcast from Naarm/Melbourne on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people. Edge Dwellers Cafe pays respect to their elders past, present and emerging.
Friday Sep 24, 2021
Friday Sep 24, 2021
In this episode Ben Habib is joined in conversation by Ben Walta, program coordinator at the Taungurung Land & Waters Council, social entrepreneur, and global adventurer, who for nearly ten years managed CERES Global, providing short education travel programs in sustainability and international development. In this conversation, the two Bens reflect on their collaboration co-leading environment and sustainability-themed study tours to China, South Korea and India with CERES Global. They also explore the educational value of international travel, cross-cultural interaction and people-to-people engagement, and global citizenship vs localisation in an era of COVID and climate change.
00:00:00 Introduction.
00:02:53 The COVID travel pause.
00:04:10 Origins of CERES Global.
00:06:51 Mission and modus operandi of CERES Global.
00:09:12 Environment and Sustainability in East Asia study tours 2015-2017.
00:15:53 Localisation vs cross-cultural connection.
00:18:06 People-to-people engagement across CERES Global programs.
00:26:28 Overcoming insularity in the world in retreat.
00:29:45 Global citizenship.
00:31:45 Travel enabling reflections about home, the world and oneself.
00:34:52 Overseas travel as a rite of passage.
00:38:01 Overseas travel as pilgrimage.
00:40:36 Analogy of overseas travel as a 'shamanic journey'.
00:42:44 Travel creating Mesirow's 'disorienting dilemma' for learning.
00:44:06 Navigating unequal power dynamics between visitors and hosts.
00:45:58 Integrating the travel experience and reverse culture shock.
00:48:14 The CERES Global alumni community.
00:50:39 What does it mean to be an edge-dweller in 2021?
Show links
CERES Global.
La Trobe University-CERES Global Environment and Sustainability in South Korea Study Tour 2017.
CERES Global in India 2017 blog series with Ben Habib.
La Trobe University-CERES Global Environment and Sustainability in China Study Tour 2015: A Photographic Celebration.
Habib, B. (2019). 'The shamanic journey as pedagogical framing for study abroad programs'. Ben@Earth.
Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass.
About Ben Walta
Ben Walta is currently program coordinator at the Taungurung Land & Waters Council, social entrepreneur and global adventurer with an interest in cross-cultural engagement and environmental sustainability. Ben also managed CERES Global for nine years where he facilitated international travel-based education programs based around environment, community development and social equity.
Contact Ben Walta on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Ben Habib, host of Edge Dwellers Cafe
Ben@Earth | LTU staff profile | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | ORCiD
Support Edge Dwellers Cafe
Send a one-off monetary contribution to help cover the costs of producing Edge Dwellers Cafe via Ko-Fi. Contributions of any amount are welcome and much appreciated.
Credits
Logo design: Sarah Cook Design (cooklsarah@gmail.com).
Intro music: “Lala Bass” by Adele_Newiron from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Relax (Drum and Bass)” by vjgalaxy from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Centyś - Energy 4” by abctoja from Pixabay.
Interlude voice-over by Jess Love (https://www.jesslovefilmmaker.com/).
This podcast is broadcast from the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people in Naarm/Melbourne. Edge Dwellers Cafe pays respect to their elders past, present and emerging.
Friday Sep 24, 2021
Friday Sep 24, 2021
Friday Sep 24, 2021
In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Raul Sanchez-Urribarri, Senior Lecturer in Crime, Justice and Legal Studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne. In this discussion, Raul and I explore populist politics in Venezuela and the United States, and what trends in those countries might portend for politics here in Australia. We get into Venezuela as a petro-state and discuss environmental vulnerabilities in the Caribbean, in the context of Hurricanes Ida and Katrina. We also reflect on Raul’s experiences leading undergraduate students on study tours to the US, and the challenges teaching during the COVID pandemic.
00:00:00 Introduction.
00:02:55 Populisms in this world-historic moment.
00:08:29 Rise and fall of the Chavizmo system in Venezuela.
00:10:52 Top-down and bottom-up elements of Chavismo.
00:14:45 Nicholas Maduro and Venezuela's post-populist moment.
00:16:21 The global populist moment.
00:17:19 Populism and the Trump presidency in the United States.
00:20:40 Erosion of the norm of 'loyal opposition'.
00:22:25 Precarity and the 'fuck you' impulse in the United States.
00:27:55 Inequality and precarity in Venezuela.
00:29:45 Culture wars.
00:32:17 The Faustian pact of the petro-state in Venezuela.
00:36:37 Ida, Katrina and the hurricane vulnerability of New Orleans.
00:40:19 Climate change and institutional fragility in the Caribbean.
00:41:17 Leading a New Orleans-Memphis undergraduate study tour.
00:43:38 New Orleans as an example of where the best music comes from the margins.
00:45:22 Extraordinary geography of New Orleans and the Mississippi delta.
00:47:54 Challenges and opportunities for international short-program study post-COVID.
00:51:40 Teaching in times of (ongoing) catastrophe(s), a tale from Melbourne.
00:54:17 Humility in the face of the evaporation of 'normality'.
Show links
Sanchez-Urribarri, R. (2021). Teaching in Times of (Ongoing) Catastrophe(s): A Tale from Melbourne, Australia.
Sanchez-Urribarri, R. (2019). “(Old) Challenges and (New?) Crises in Latin America”. Australian Outlook, Australian Institute of International Affairs.
Thesis Eleven Journal.
About Raul Sanchez-Urribarri
Dr Raul Sanchez-Urribarri is a Senior Lecturer in Crime, Justice and Legal Studies at the Department of Social Inquiry, La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia). During 2020-2021, he is a Visiting Scholar (non-resident) at the American Bar Foundation (Chicago, IL) and at the Center for the Study of Law & Society (UC Berkeley School of Law, Berkeley, CA). He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of South Carolina, an LL.M. from Cambridge University and a Law Degree from Universidad Catolica Andres Bello (Caracas, Venezuela). His research focuses on democracy, rule of law and comparative judicial studies, with an emphasis on Latin America and Venezuela in particular. His work has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Journal of Politics, Law and Social Inquiry, the Annual Review of Law and Social Sciences, and International Political Science Review. He is a Non-Resident Research Fellow at Tulane University’s Center for Inter-American Policy and Research, and a Commissioning Editor at Thesis Eleven Journal. Currently, he serves as Chair of the Section on Venezuelan Studies (SVS) of the Latin American Studies Association.
Contact Raul Sanchez-Urribarri: LTU staff profile | Twitter | LinkedIn
About Ben Habib, host of Edge Dwellers Cafe
Ben@Earth | LTU staff profile | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | ORCiD
Support Edge Dwellers Cafe
Send a one-off monetary contribution to help cover the costs of producing Edge Dwellers Cafe via Ko-Fi. Contributions of any amount are welcome and much appreciated.
Credits
Logo design: Sarah Cook Design (cooklsarah@gmail.com).
Intro music: “Lala Bass” by Adele_Newiron from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Relax (Drum and Bass)” by vjgalaxy from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Centyś - Energy 4” by abctoja from Pixabay.
Interlude voice-over by Jess Love (https://www.jesslovefilmmaker.com/).
This podcast is broadcast from Naarm/Melbourne on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people. Edge Dwellers Cafe pays respect to their elders past, present and emerging.
Thursday Sep 23, 2021
Thursday Sep 23, 2021
Thursday Sep 23, 2021
In this episode I’m joined in conversation by Tessa Zirnsak, PhD researcher at La Trobe University, to discuss coming out as 'mad' in academia. We explore the Madness movement and the field of mad studies, the expertise of lived experience, university study for mad people, and the pitfalls of coming out as “mad” in the university. We also discuss what it’s like to go through a university restructure process from our perspectives as mad academics, as well as Tessa’s research into systemic violence in the disability sector.
00:00:00 Introduction.
00:03:27 Tessa's courageous invitation for research collaboration with a senior colleague (Ben).
00:09:24 Ben's enthusiasm to collaborate in Tessa's research project.
00:13:17 Ben's story coming out as 'mad'.
00:14:28 Mad Studies and the mad movement.
00:23:00 Madness and the expertise of lived experience.
00:24:07 Auto-ethnography and lived experience.
00:27:01 University study as a mad student.
00:37:46 Critiquing 'resilience' in mental health.
00:41:22 Going through an organisational restructure as a mad person.
00:46:12 Additional emotional labour of being 'out' as mad in the workplace.
00:47:34 Tessa's fears about coming out as 'mad' on campus.
00:53:45 Tessa's PhD research into social approaches to disability.
00:58:27 What might 'best practice' look like in the disability sector?
01:00:55 Queer-phobia in disability services.
01:04:05 What does it mean to be an edge-dweller?
Show links
Zirnsak, T & Habib, B. (forthcoming), “Learning from Each Other: An Autoethnographic Dialogue on Being Mad in the Academy” in (ed.) C. McGunnigle. Disability and the Academic Job Market, Delaware: Vernon Press.
Elizabeth Smith, Tessa-May Zirnsak, Jennifer Power, Anthony Lyons and Christine Bigby. (2021). ‘Social inclusion of LGBTQ and gender diverse adults with intellectual disability in disability services: A systematic review of the literature’. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 1– 14.
Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.
Living with a Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University.
Scope.
About Tessa Zirnsak
Tessa Zirnsak is a researcher into social approaches to disability. She currently works at Melbourne University as a Research Fellow on the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, and as a Research Assistant at La Trobe University and Scope across multiple projects concerning psychosocial and intellectual disability. Tessa is also a PhD candidate working on a new philosophical approach to violence against people with intellectual disability.
Contact Tessa on Twitter: @TZirnsak
About Ben Habib, host of Edge Dwellers Cafe
Ben@Earth | LTU staff profile | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | ORCiD
Support Edge Dwellers Cafe
Send a one-off monetary contribution to help cover the costs of producing Edge Dwellers Cafe via Ko-Fi. Contributions of any amount are welcome and much appreciated.
Credits
Logo design: Sarah Cook Design (cooklsarah@gmail.com).
Intro music: “Lala Bass” by Adele_Newiron from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Relax (Drum and Bass)” by vjgalaxy from Pixabay.
Interlude music: “Centyś - Energy 4” by abctoja from Pixabay.
Interlude voice-over by Jess Love (https://www.jesslovefilmmaker.com/).
This podcast is broadcast from Naarm/Melbourne on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people. Edge Dwellers Cafe pays respect to their elders past, present and emerging.