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A slave woman in 1840s America dresses as a white, disabled man to escape to freedom, while a twenty-first-century black rights activist is 'cancelled' for denying her whiteness. A Victorian explorer disguises himself as a Muslim in Arabia's forbidden holy city. A trans man claiming to have been assigned male at birth is exposed and murdered by bigots in 1993. Today, Japanese untouchables leave home and change their name. All of them have "passed," performing or claiming an identity that society hasn't assigned or recognized as theirs. For as long as we've drawn lines describing ourselves and each other, people have naturally fallen or deliberately stepped between them. What do their stories--in life and in art--tell us about the changing meanings of identity? About our need for labels, despite their obvious limitations? In Passing: An Alternative History of Identity (Oxford UP, 2021), Lipika Pelham reflects on tales of fluidity and transformation, including her own. From Pope Joan to Parasite, Brazil to Bangladesh, London to Liberia, Passing is a fascinating, timely history of the self. Katrina Anderson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
A slave woman in 1840s America dresses as a white, disabled man to escape to freedom, while a twenty-first-century black rights activist is 'cancelled' for denying her whiteness. A Victorian explorer disguises himself as a Muslim in Arabia's forbidden holy city. A trans man claiming to have been assigned male at birth is exposed and murdered by bigots in 1993. Today, Japanese untouchables leave home and change their name. All of them have "passed," performing or claiming an identity that society hasn't assigned or recognized as theirs. For as long as we've drawn lines describing ourselves and each other, people have naturally fallen or deliberately stepped between them. What do their stories--in life and in art--tell us about the changing meanings of identity? About our need for labels, despite their obvious limitations? In Passing: An Alternative History of Identity (Oxford UP, 2021), Lipika Pelham reflects on tales of fluidity and transformation, including her own. From Pope Joan to Parasite, Brazil to Bangladesh, London to Liberia, Passing is a fascinating, timely history of the self. Katrina Anderson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware.
A slave woman in 1840s America dresses as a white, disabled man to escape to freedom, while a twenty-first-century black rights activist is 'cancelled' for denying her whiteness. A Victorian explorer disguises himself as a Muslim in Arabia's forbidden holy city. A trans man claiming to have been assigned male at birth is exposed and murdered by bigots in 1993. Today, Japanese untouchables leave home and change their name. All of them have "passed," performing or claiming an identity that society hasn't assigned or recognized as theirs. For as long as we've drawn lines describing ourselves and each other, people have naturally fallen or deliberately stepped between them. What do their stories--in life and in art--tell us about the changing meanings of identity? About our need for labels, despite their obvious limitations? In Passing: An Alternative History of Identity (Oxford UP, 2021), Lipika Pelham reflects on tales of fluidity and transformation, including her own. From Pope Joan to Parasite, Brazil to Bangladesh, London to Liberia, Passing is a fascinating, timely history of the self. Katrina Anderson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology
A slave woman in 1840s America dresses as a white, disabled man to escape to freedom, while a twenty-first-century black rights activist is 'cancelled' for denying her whiteness. A Victorian explorer disguises himself as a Muslim in Arabia's forbidden holy city. A trans man claiming to have been assigned male at birth is exposed and murdered by bigots in 1993. Today, Japanese untouchables leave home and change their name. All of them have "passed," performing or claiming an identity that society hasn't assigned or recognized as theirs. For as long as we've drawn lines describing ourselves and each other, people have naturally fallen or deliberately stepped between them. What do their stories--in life and in art--tell us about the changing meanings of identity? About our need for labels, despite their obvious limitations? In Passing: An Alternative History of Identity (Oxford UP, 2021), Lipika Pelham reflects on tales of fluidity and transformation, including her own. From Pope Joan to Parasite, Brazil to Bangladesh, London to Liberia, Passing is a fascinating, timely history of the self. Katrina Anderson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies
A slave woman in 1840s America dresses as a white, disabled man to escape to freedom, while a twenty-first-century black rights activist is 'cancelled' for denying her whiteness. A Victorian explorer disguises himself as a Muslim in Arabia's forbidden holy city. A trans man claiming to have been assigned male at birth is exposed and murdered by bigots in 1993. Today, Japanese untouchables leave home and change their name. All of them have "passed," performing or claiming an identity that society hasn't assigned or recognized as theirs. For as long as we've drawn lines describing ourselves and each other, people have naturally fallen or deliberately stepped between them. What do their stories--in life and in art--tell us about the changing meanings of identity? About our need for labels, despite their obvious limitations? In Passing: An Alternative History of Identity (Oxford UP, 2021), Lipika Pelham reflects on tales of fluidity and transformation, including her own. From Pope Joan to Parasite, Brazil to Bangladesh, London to Liberia, Passing is a fascinating, timely history of the self. Katrina Anderson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
A slave woman in 1840s America dresses as a white, disabled man to escape to freedom, while a twenty-first-century black rights activist is 'cancelled' for denying her whiteness. A Victorian explorer disguises himself as a Muslim in Arabia's forbidden holy city. A trans man claiming to have been assigned male at birth is exposed and murdered by bigots in 1993. Today, Japanese untouchables leave home and change their name. All of them have "passed," performing or claiming an identity that society hasn't assigned or recognized as theirs. For as long as we've drawn lines describing ourselves and each other, people have naturally fallen or deliberately stepped between them. What do their stories--in life and in art--tell us about the changing meanings of identity? About our need for labels, despite their obvious limitations? In Passing: An Alternative History of Identity (Oxford UP, 2021), Lipika Pelham reflects on tales of fluidity and transformation, including her own. From Pope Joan to Parasite, Brazil to Bangladesh, London to Liberia, Passing is a fascinating, timely history of the self. Katrina Anderson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
We have a very special guest this episode, Alex Howlett, who is currently a reporter with Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit but most importantly, she is Alex B's co-author for their newly released book, Wander Women: Tales of Transgression in a Bordered World - OUT NOW! In this episode, the Alexes natter about their writing processes, delving into the details of the book and what they're wearing for the launch party on 14th Dec in London. BUY THE BOOK HERE - https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/wander-women/ Check out these reviews! A deeply thoughtful, intimate yet political exploration of women's free and unfree movement, sharing stories from refugees, disability activists and more. ‘A searing examination of human mobility at the margins, in this age of criminalisation and violence against those who move in search of safety and opportunity.' — Nanjala Nyabola, author of Travelling While Black and Strange and Difficult Times ‘Urgent and affecting, Wander Women brings forth extraordinary stories of courage and resistance.' — Aanchal Malhotra, author of Remnants of Partition: 21 Objects from a Continent Divided ‘Everyone should read this. Wander Women shows viscerally that we are all united by the pain caused by the patriarchy and our longing to be free. It takes a village to change the world–and I am more confident than ever that we can do it.' — Charlotte Proudman, award-winning barrister, and author of Female Genital Mutilation: When Culture and Law Clash ‘Wander Women explores the physical and social experiences of some remarkable individuals, navigating a bordered world and overcoming a complex intersection of vulnerabilities arising from war, migration, disability, sexual orientation, gender queerness and more.' — Lipika Pelham, author of Passing: An Alternative History of Identity ‘Intimate and powerful storytelling through the voices of women on the move whose experiences and struggles are too often marginalised or ignored.' — Leonie Ansems de Vries, Director of the King's Sanctuary Programme and Chair of the Migration Research Group, King's College London
The term “passing” was first used in 19th-century America to refer to light-skinned slaves who fled to freedom by claiming a white identity, but the phenomenon both pre- and postdates its naming. Lipika Pelham, joined Sean to explain how she looks at this history in her new book “Passing: An Alternative History of Identity.”
The term “passing” was first used in 19th-century America to refer to light-skinned slaves who fled to freedom by claiming a white identity, but the phenomenon both pre- and postdates its naming. Lipika Pelham, joined Sean to explain how she looks at this history in her new book “Passing: An Alternative History of Identity.”
Can the prison be a “citizen factory” where the rebellious soul goes in and comes out as a demure, indoctrinated model citizen? Is the God of Punishment the same as the God of Salvation? How do priests, imams and rabbis work with inmates who wish to return to faith? Lipika Pelham examines whether the Foucauldian phrase “soul is the prison of the body” offers a guideline to the modern criminal system for its rehabilitation programme. Traditionally, religious beliefs have inclined to the opposite, that the body imprisons the soul. Earlier ways of dealing with outlaws often involved extreme physical stress to achieve the docility of the body. This was believed to be the key to making prisoners conform to social norms and become good citizens. Lipika asks representatives of major world religions if they think the pathway to correction is through faith. She hears conversations between an inmate and his Christian worker; reflections of a rabbi, an imam, and a Buddhist meditation teacher about their methods to stop offenders from committing further crimes.
Lipika Pelham is a British-Bengali journalist and author, who worked for a number of years for the BBC World Service in London before moving to Jerusalem. Continuing her work for BBC radio there, she also made the award-winning documentary ‘Deadly Honour’. She speaks to Georgina Godwin about her latest book ‘Passing: An Alternative History of Identity’.
By day Dr Jamasp JamaspAsa, works in the UK as a cancer surgeon, but now, due to the passing of his father he has a new role, the High Priest of the Zoroastrian faith in a Mumbai Fire Temple. Lipika Pelham meets the High Priest as Zoroastrians, or Parsees, celebrate the most auspicious days in their calendar. The “All Souls Festival” is when they believe ancestors visit them. She is curious whether his medical skills as a doctor make him a 'holy warrior', fighting to stop the work of evil, by keeping his patients alive. Far from being just a sombre memorial of the dead, “Mukhtad” is a festive occasion. With a feast of consecrated food, flowers, and lamps that are constantly kept alight, Zoroastrians welcome the “farohars”, the spirits of dead relatives, who come to help the living to celebrate life, which is the work of God, against the evils of death. Lipika will explore the faith’s most distinguishing feature, which is the religious duty of every Zoroastrian to prolong and focus on life, even at the time of death. Producer and Presenter: Lipika Pelham
Lipika Pelham tells the extraordinary story of the Sephardi Jews of 17th century Amsterdam. The community, part of a ‘carnival of nations’ formed of French Huguenots, North African merchants, Spanish Moriscos and Iberian New Christians, was integral to the success of the Dutch Golden Age. They traded, wrote, staged plays and were painted by Rembrandt. They achieved unparalleled freedoms. While Jews elsewhere were confined to the ghetto, this community dared to nurture the ‘Hope of Israel’, sowing the seeds of Zionism. Lipika also searches for what remains today of Jerusalem on the Amstel. In association with Jewish Renaissance This event took place on 5 March as part of Jewish Book Week 2019
Lipika Pelham talks to Dan about the Dutch Jewish community in Amsterdam, how the Sephardim Jews ended up there and what they endured during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.For ad free versions of our entire podcast archive and hundreds of hours of history documentaries, interviews and films, signup to History Hit TV. Use code 'pod4' at checkout to get a 30 day free trial and your first 4 months for £4/$4. Producer: Natt TapleyAudio: Peter Curry See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Lipika Pelham talks to Dan about the Dutch Jewish community in Amsterdam, how the Sephardim Jews ended up there and what they endured during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.For ad free versions of our entire podcast archive and hundreds of hours of history documentaries, interviews and films, signup to History Hit TV. Use code 'pod4' at checkout to get a 30 day free trial and your first 4 months for £4/$4. Producer: Natt TapleyAudio: Peter Curry See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Abraham of the Old Testament, or Ibrahim of Islam, is a vital figure across Christianity, Islam and Judaism. His prophetic fame, arises from the story of his offering of one of his sons to God, because He commanded him so. God however, spared the son and a sacrificial lamb was offered instead. In the city of Hebron, are the Caves of The Patriarch where Abraham is said to be buried and above them stand a Mosque and Synagogue where Jews and Muslims pray. It is an uneasy understanding between two communities that share this ancient city and this home of worship. Lipika Pelham explores Hebron, the caves that are central to it and the faith of the people who live in this tense, disputed city. Photo: Hebron resident Kholoud in front of old town. Credit: BBC
Jerusalem is the most religiously contentious city in the world On the weekend that Easter coincides with Passover and after President Trump’s controversial declaration of it as the capital of Israel, Lipika Pelham takes a journey around this contested city, talking to Jerusalemites who tell her how their faiths and lives are interconnected. She meets the Muslim who for 40 years has kept the Dome of the Rock clean, the devoted Jews praying at the sacred walls to explore how they are waiting at that very spot for the Third Temple to be rebuilt, and at Easter she joins Christians to walk the route taken by Jesus to his eventual crucifixion on Good Friday The religious and the political is constantly interwoven in this beautiful but complex city, Lipika will hear from worshippers from these three faiths to hear how Jerusalem is the centre of the believers’ spiritual quest. Producer and Presenter: Lipika Pelham Photo: Dome of the Rock Credit: Getty Images
He is he says, on a mission from God, Robert Berman’s lifelong campaign for organ donation to be permissible under Jewish/Talmudic law – Halacha – is at the centre of an ongoing debate in Israel. Berman, a Harvard University graduate, is striving to change attitudes to the donating of organs and possibly redefine the strict and ancient definition of death. Berman has been referred to as “the murderer” as he continues to promote donor cards to this traditional community. Berman’s campaign has left him at loggerheads with Orthodox Rabbis, who view him with outright suspicion and as an outsider who wants to reform Talmudic decrees. Lipika Pelham meets Berman in Jerusalem discussing his belief that the Torah promotes all selfless acts, including specifically consensual live organ donor ship. She takes to the street of Jerusalem amongst the religious Jews to explore with the faithful their attitudes to donating and receiving organs and whether there is a chance that the rules over when a person is dead can be altered to make donation allowable under Talmudic law. Produced and presented by Lipika Pelham To find out more please click on www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38230114
Lipika Pelham travels to a remote part of south eastern Bangladesh to report on claims of human rights abuses against indigenous inhabitants of the area. The Chittagong Hill Tracts are home to thirteen indigenous groups with the Chakma, Marma, Chak and Mro mostly practicing Theravada Buddhism. Thousands were forced off their lands from the 1960s until the 1990s. An insurgency that started in the mid 1970s ended in a peace settlement in 1997 under which the army was supposed to withdraw but it continues to maintain a tight grip on the area. The resettlement of tens of thousands of Bengalis from other parts of the country has only added to tensions. Lipika is one of the few journalists from a foreign media organisation to report from there in recent years. She has returned with first-hand accounts of alleged rape and torture and hears claims that soldiers have been involved in evicting people from their homes. Her report carries details of attempts to forcibly convert young children to Islam as well as accusations of rape by Bengali settlers of girls as young as thirteen.
Lipika Pelham investigates a marriage between two Bengali women, and asks what this extraordinary love story says about attitudes to sexuality in this conservative nation.