Witten by Clara Ramos, edited by Isabella Hall Allen

Today it feels nearly impossible to avoid podcasts.  Since the COVID lockdown five years ago, this format has grown exponentially. No doubt your friends, family, and colleagues love them, and they’re a common source of daily conversations. Once we open Instagram or TikTok, we are flooded with video snippets of podcasters dishing out whatever might create that viral video moment. 

In many ways, the viral possibilities and easily accessible equipment have made podcasts incredibly popular with creators who  people see it as an ideal way to get their point of view and ideas out to the public. However, because social media algorithms favour the controversial (as they get more clicks), suddenly, the algorithms in social media and the podcast medium appears to be dominated by extreme-right-wing content creators spreading misinformation and hate speech against minorities and women. Indeed, the public’s perception of podcasts mostly being men spreading hateful discourse has become so mainstream that it has become a memeable. As President Trump rolled out his confusing tariff plan, a thread post generated over 16’000 likes stating we should put tariffs on men with podcasts. 

However, podcasting is not limited to men peddling hate speech. At Re/Presenting Europe, we see podcasting as an inherently powerful method of communicating our research in the hope that it reaches the relevant audiences in an accessible way. To write this blog post we spoke with Rachel Gillett (Utrecht University) and Robert Jastrzebski (Utrecht University) from Unsettling Knowledge, Zehra Çolak (Utrecht University) from Joy in Academia and Durwin Lynch (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and supervisor of the literature review “Design of podcasting to address sensitive topics effectively” (2023).  Overall, podcasting as a method has some similarities with traditional academic methods, but its distinctiveness and audio format makes it so appealing. There is researching the initial phase for creating the episode, and then a selection of the knowledge you will share. However, this is an audio medium that opens the knowledge and how you express it. You can interview someone, have an open debate, or narrate a story… the possibilities are endless. Robert mentioned that for him, podcasting is a form of oral history and as a historian myself I can see it!

Joy in Academia was created to talk about the positive experiences of people of color in Dutch and Belgian academia, to go beyond their daily experiences with racism and discrimination in their workplaces. Together with a team of PoC academics, they created a podcast inviting guests to talk about their experiences of joy in research, teaching, and community engagement. Zehra mentioned that:

 “I was intrigued to find another medium to share people’s experienced and stories. How this could be another tool for doing research is even a decolonial tool in some ways. Because the conventional research methodologies that we [as academics] are not usually designed to help and engage with the stories of the people that are the objects in research and not centered on it. It was intriguing because it opens the space in not a hierarchical way, creating different relationality and engagement with those stories.” 

Podcasts allow their participants to welcome subjects that had been forgotten or set aside to a secondary place in more traditional research methods, giving them the opportunity, in the literal sense, to hear their voices. For her, it becomes an informal conversation between the researchers and the subjects that is more engaging and intimate. You can read more about Joy In Academia in this article co-written by Zehra Çolak!

Durwin Lynch alongside his students worked on a literature review on ethical podcasting and the impact it has for breaking down stereotypes, negative associations, bringing people together in community, and information dissemination on issues that are surrounded by stigma or taboo. One notable example is the ongoing project of releasing two podcasts on the Dutch Toeslagen scandal in which Durwin and his team are currently working. They are following the life of a mother, for an entire year, who was a victim of the scandal. The other podcast will be a documentary-style podcast, a unique way of podcasting in its own right that moves away from the purely conversational format. It will be translated into several languages to break down language and sociocultural barriers surrounding the events. By offering the podcast in multiple languages, it also provides the possibility for affected families to share the podcasts with their close ones (who do not speak Dutch) so that they might get a better idea of what happened to them. Durwin sees these podcasts as a possible first step into healing for those affected.

Unsettling Knowledge created by Rachel Gillett and Matthijs Kuipers discusses the traces and legacies of empire in Europe. It engages Europe beyond its geographical borders to acknowledge its colonial influence, and try and unsettle” history.. So, it insists on inclusive history, by hosting scholars and guests who collectively bring research expertise and lived experience of colonialism and its afterlives to the table .  History podcasts are extremely popular thanks to general societal interest in the past. Unsettling Knowledge offers the listener insight into the parts of history sometimes left in the shadows,  outside grand narratives, great wars and great men. Alongside the guests, we informally chat, more recently in multiple languages, using a ’micro-cast’ format  to share  knowledge of a shared, difficult, resolutely creative past and its presence. The multi-lingual micro-cast fits our co-creative, non-hierarchical production process, and puts guests and hosts in a shared situation of linguistic bravery alternating with familiarity – and sometimes hilarity as we reach beyond our comfort zone! 

This doesn’t mean they’re easy to make! They offer some touch challenges. 

First,  the ethical questions posed by podcasts are different from those of traditional academic papers. While many academic papers anonymize their participants, or refer to those long dead, a podcast does not offer that option. When it comes to discussing sensitive topics, such as the effects of the Toeslagen Scandal, those wishing to do a podcast must seriously consider the ethical implications of putting out sensitive information out to the public. Hosts and producers have an obligation to discuss these sensitivities and ensure that all participants are willing. If not, we can do harm, rather than sharing knowledge. Podcast makers also face the challenge of audio editing.  Audiences turn off shows with poor sound quality. As scholars, if we wish to change the negative stereotype of podcasts and transform it into a truly inclusive, attentive, and sensitive method, we must take this technical aspect seriously. 

At Re/presenting Europe we are proud and excited about our various podcasts that are taking on these challenges and creating transformative podcast series. Here are some excerpts of the latest episodes of Unsettling Knowledge and Joy in Academia, now streaming on Utrecht University SoundCloud and Spotify! Drop your recommendations of other academic podcasts in the comments!