Brown Don't Frown was borne out of a personal journey with womanhood. As a British Bangladeshi, navigating mainstream Feminism often felt exclusionary to me because it didn’t seem to value the experiences or views which shaped my grandmother’s, aunts’, mother’s or friends’ lives. Through this podcast, we seek to build a more inclusive discourse, which breaks down presumptions about different cultures, and shines a positive light on the stories of underrepresented women. Featuring new guest(s) from different walks of life in each episode, Brown Don’t Frown seeks to engage ordinary women and facilitate openness towards entirely new perspectives. It hopes to spark honest and meaningful conversations about intersectional feminist themes in contemporary society with the acknowledgement that our views are shaped by our cultural, racial, religious, social and political experiences. Whether it's discussing society's preconceptions about the Hijab with a British-born Jamaican Muslim woman or examining the impact of gendered expectations on our ability to grieve on our own terms, we hope listeners finish each episode feeling more rounded than they did before. Follow us on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/browndontfrownpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/bdfpodcast?lang=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/browndontfrownpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/browndontfrownpodcast
Episodes
Monday May 31, 2021
Monday May 31, 2021
Today, I am joined by Dr Fatima Rajina and Hajera Begum of Nijjor Manush, an independent campaign group which empowers and educates Bengalis and Bangladeshis in the UK.
Brick Lane’s legacy is synonymous with Bangladeshi cuisine, culture and history. It is both a symbol of struggle and success for Bangladeshis, from Altab Ali to infamous curry houses and everything in-between. It’s somewhere I frequented during my childhood as a Tower Hamlets resident, and now as an adult. I saw it through the lens of unadulterated fascination as a child, and now through the reality of gentrification. The Old Truman Brewery plans to build a five storey shopping complex in the middle of it. We discuss whether this gentrification of Banglatown is an inevitable response to changing consumer demand and economic growth, while also questioning the broader, underhanded motivations at play. We also talk about the potential impact of gentrification on first and second generation Bangladeshi women in East London.
We consider whether there is a sense of solidarity in the UK between different South Asian ethnic groups and also within the Bangladeshi diaspora itself. We each talk about our experiences as British Bangladeshis growing up in the UK, as well as the experiences of our families.
The portrayal of Bangladeshi, and particularly Muslim, Hijabi women in the media can be incendiary and damaging. The current mainstream feminist narrative simultaneously portrays Muslim women as threatening and oppressed, invalidating their agency and undermining their integrity. We share our perspectives on this narrative and whether we think it will ever evolve.
Follow Nijjor Manush on Twitter: @nijjormanush and Instagram: @nijjormanush.
If you enjoy listening to this podcast, please consider supporting it so it can continue to provide you with engaging, meaningful content. You can donate via Patreon: www.patreon.com/browndontfrownpod.
Sunday May 16, 2021
Sunday May 16, 2021
What are the challenges of dating, particularly in pandemic times? Has the pandemic accelerated innovations to dating apps for a more realistic dating experience? Has dating culture commodified romance and set unrealistic expectations for relationships? Today, I’m joined by Nichi Hodgson, a journalist, dating expert and author of ‘The Curious History of Dating’ who answers these questions, and more.
We also talk about our long-term relationships with our respective partners and what they have meant to us during the pandemic, as well as experiences of interracial dating and sexual fluidity. We reflect on how the growing acceptance of sexual fluidity and interracial relationships has had a positive impact on tackling prejudice, discrimination, and 'otherness'.
Finally, we discuss the importance of normalising rest and relaxation and slowing down. The first lockdown compelled many of us to take a step back from our fast-paced lives and leave FOMO behind. We consider whether our collective experience as a society during this pandemic has destigmatised opening up about our mental health and how we can ensure that the government prioritises it going forward. Some of us are looking ahead to our lives post-pandemic, though equally, some of us remain anxious about the future and the risks of the virus. We share our conflicting sentiments towards socialising and what ‘going back to normal’ might mean for us.
If you enjoy listening to this podcast, please consider supporting it so it can continue to provide you with engaging, meaningful content. You can donate via Patreon: www.patreon.com/browndontfrownpod. To stay updated on the latest news, sign up to the BDF newsletter here.
Monday May 03, 2021
Monday May 03, 2021
Season 4 kicks off with Shalina Patel, an award-winning history teacher and co-founder of The History Corridor on Instagram. Shalina tells us about her career journey and what motivated her to become a history teacher. We talk about the tendency to be tokenistic when it comes to teaching diverse history, for example a gloss over the Windrush Generation or the glorification of the British Empire, without much reflection of the consequences of exploitation and racism. The relevance of these isolated stories is then buried within the broader curriculum. So I ask, how do we create spaces for important stories to be told, and, is the current teaching curriculum compatible with diverse storytelling?
Shalina shares some advice on how teachers can embed intersectionality into their teaching curriculums and widen their pupils’ perspectives. Social media is saturated with facts, opinions, controversies and conspiracies, which can confound the truth. It might mean that children and young people are misguided about what they read and understand, which can be particularly dangerous because they lack the foresight and intuition that comes with age and experience when distinguishing fact from fiction. Within that context, we discuss how teachers can uphold integrity and objectivity when it comes to teaching history.
I also ask Shalina what discovery of the past has surprised her the most, what it means to her to be a feminist, and what particular intersectional, feminist piece of history inspires her.
You can follow the History Corridor on Instagram: @thehistorycorridor and you can find out more about Shalina here.
To stay updated on the latest news, podcast episodes and exclusives, you can sign up to the BDF newsletter here.
Sunday Apr 25, 2021
TRAILER - Season 4
Sunday Apr 25, 2021
Sunday Apr 25, 2021
Brown Don’t Frown is back! Season 4 drops on Monday 3 May! Make sure you hit the subscribe button and you will be notified as soon as a new episode goes live.
We will be bringing you six episodes and hosting some wonderful guests talking about a range of topics, including an award-winning history teacher who shares how to build a diverse and fairer teaching curriculum, a grassroots-led movement which educates Bengalis in the UK, celebrates the histories of the diaspora and challenges the issues facing women, as well as a dating expert and journalist who talks about modern dating and the benefits of a slower-paced life post-pandemic. We’ll also be featuring an Urban Planner who speaks about building feminist cities, a working class academic who argues against social mobility, and an award-winning Bangladeshi chef and writer.
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If you enjoy listening to the podcast and have benefitted from it, please consider supporting it - for as little as the price of a coffee! You can donate here: www.patreon.com/browndontfrownpod.
Follow us on:
Twitter - @BDFPodcast
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LinkedIn - @browndontfrownpodcast
Sunday Feb 14, 2021
Sunday Feb 14, 2021
“Disabled people are infantilised, sensationalised or they’re just not believed.”
We end Season 3 on a thought-provoking note and I’m pleased to welcome Lucy Stafford to the show. Lucy is the Director of Patient Led Engagement for Access (PLEA), a non-profit which advocates for access to medical cannabis through mainstream healthcare. She speaks about her experience as a long-term patient of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare, life-long genetic disorder which can cause debilitating effects. Drawing from her own experiences, she explains how we can facilitate greater accessibility for those with disabilities. As an able-bodied person, the discussion makes me confront some of my own ignorances about disability.
To cope with her long-term pain and the effects of surgery, Lucy was prescribed strong opioids for a long time, until she came across medical cannabis. She tells us about her journey with pain management and how her experience with medical cannabis has differed from taking traditional prescribed pain medication. She has become an advocate for decriminalising medical cannabis for those with serious medical conditions. She talks about her work with PLEA and a new initiative called ‘Project 21.’ As someone whose life has changed for the better from medicating with Cannabis, I ask her what she would say to someone in a similar position to herself, who might be experiencing serious pain and is looking for alternatives to opioids or surgery, but is worried about the stigma attached to cannabis.
The pandemic has accelerated remote engagement, whether working, studying or socialising, and makes participation much more accessible. We think about what that might be like post-pandemic. We end with Lucy talking about the most empowering aspects of her advocacy work so far and what she has learned from it.
You can find out more about Lucy and PLEA at:
https://www.pleacommunity.org.uk/executivecommittee/lucy
You can also reach her on Instagram: @lucystaffie and Twitter: @lucystaffie.
Sunday Jan 31, 2021
Season 3: Ep 29 - Why Queer South Asian storytelling matters
Sunday Jan 31, 2021
Sunday Jan 31, 2021
Today we’re joined by Adiba Jaigirdar, author of Young Adult fiction books The Henna Wars, and Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating. She shares with us her journey from Bangladesh, to Saudi Arabia to Ireland, her sense of identity and belonging, and her motivations for writing.
As a Queer Brown author, whose books are about Queer Brown girls, I ask whether she had any challenges with finding an agent who she could trust to represent her and her written work. Adiba talks about personal influences and experiences which inspired the main characters in her books and what she learned about herself when bringing her characters to life. The main character, Nishat in Henna Wars, stays true to herself in the face of resentment from her family after she comes out as a Lesbian and Adiba explains what she hopes Queer teens and young Women of Colour will take away from such themes in the book.
Adiba also tells us a bit about her second novel, Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating, which comes out this summer. As a newly published author, Adiba shares some advice for aspiring Queer novelists from the South Asian, and particularly Bangladeshi, diasporas. Finally, we leave you with our gripes about mainstream feminism and thoughts on reclaiming and reframing its narrative to be inclusive of Muslim women, the Queer space, and especially Queer Women of Colour.
You can follow Adiba on Twitter @adiba_j and Instagram @dibs_j.
Sunday Jan 17, 2021
Sunday Jan 17, 2021
Our first guest of 2021 is Sangeeta Pillai. She is the founder of Masala Podcast and Soul Sutras, a feminist platform tackling taboos in South Asian culture. South Asia is made up of diverse countries, ethnicities, cultures, faiths, and traditions. One thing that we share universally across the continent and beyond, is patriarchy. It forms a part and parcel of our social fabric. As a Keralan born Indian having spent a large part of her life in India, and now in the UK, Sangeeta talks about what intersectionality means to her and the patriarchal values which hold all women back universally.
Sangeeta has spoken openly about sexual empowerment, and while in Britain and in much of the West, sexual confidence has been reclaimed by women, the trajectory is not quite the same in South Asian countries. There is a correlation between inequality and lack of access to sexual and reproductive health facilities, which is often a barrier to sexual empowerment. By contrast, the conservative arm of feminism, both Western and Eastern, might argue the other way, and interpret sexual freedom as promiscuity and we reflect on these contrasting attitudes.
Globally, South Asian women have made significant inroads in industries including tech, medicine, scientific research and film-making. While that’s progress, we’ve also seen the personification of Indian “aunties” in mainstream television, with shows like Indian Matchmaker and Never Have I Ever, which highlight examples of internalised patriarchy. Societal structures shape our way of thinking. South Asian cultures centre around multi-generational extended families and strong communities, while in the West, the focus is on individualism and self-sufficiency. These structures still dominate women’s positioning, especially because women were designated home-makers up until relatively recently. We reflect on the impact of these structures on women and how they have evolved over time.
Sunday Dec 13, 2020
Sunday Dec 13, 2020
2020 has shown us that a world of remote working is entirely possible. But can mentorships, networking and representation be as effective over a screen?
We're excited to have Indy Sira, founder of Voices of Colour, a community action and leadership development programme for South Asian girls aged 15 to 18. The programme seeks to empower young girls by equipping them with the tools to create meaningful change within their communities and providing them with female role models through mentorships.
As someone who works at the forefront of securing mentorships for young girls, I ask Indy about her observations in terms of what they are looking for in a mentor, and whether there are particular areas which the traditional education system, parents or friends cannot provide. If there is one piece of career advice we could give to our younger selves, it might be to network more, but how accessible is it?
Representation has changed rapidly in recent years, but growing up, I remember people from mainstream television, and certain professions like politicians, lawyers, teachers, doctors didn’t always speak, act or look like me. 36 of the 1000 most powerful people in Britain are from ethnic minorities and just 0.7% of them are BAME women and this lack of representation can have an impact on aspirations. When we see people in high places who don’t resemble us, it’s hard to feel like we belong, let alone feel good enough to pursue a career in these areas. We also discuss the role of schools, local councils and youth programmes in widening access to opportunities.
You can find Voices of Colour and Indy on Twitter @VoicesofColour1, @IndySira1.
Sunday Nov 29, 2020
Sunday Nov 29, 2020
*Apologies in advance for the slightly off sound quality; we hope you still find the content meaningful.*
What is Artificial Intelligence? What role can it play in ensuring information is factually correct (especially during a pandemic) and that data is gender disaggregated? Today I’m joined by our first honorary male guest, Freddie Kalaitzis, Senior Research Fellow in Machine Learning at the University of Oxford. We know that AI is modelled on human behaviour, and given that humans are innately biased, can we trust AI to be unbiased and neutral?
Freddie also talks about his work with Amnesty International on ‘Troll Patrol', which investigated the extent of abuse against women online. One statistic which stood out was that Women of Colour were 34% more likely to be mentioned in abusive tweets than White women and that Black women were particularly affected, being 84% more likely than white women to be mentioned in abusive tweets.
Globally, Public Health policies have not addressed the gendered impacts of pandemics. Campaigners have argued that this research gap is caused by a lack of gender disaggregated data. Emerging evidence suggests that more men are dying, potentially due to gendered immunological or environmental differences, such as exposure to pollutants from working outside or smoking. 89% of nurses in the UK are women, emphasising the gendered nature of the healthcare workforce and the risks that women face. I ask Freddie if AI can drive information gathering techniques which simplify and enable sex disaggregated data to be collected and what solutions AI might provide in response to COVID-19. At a time when we are saturated with news and information at our fingertips, AI could play a crucial role in preventing misinformation. Finally, Freddie reminds us why we should be mindful that correlation doesn’t always mean causation.
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
In this candid episode, I am joined by Madhu Kapoor and Shenaly Amin from Mental Wealth, a Mental Health peer support group for South Asians aged 30+, and Sonam Patel of its sister organisation, Reroute, for younger South Asians. We explore Mental Health through the themes of migration, awareness and accessibility, cultural stigma and familial expectations.
South Asian communities are more likely to experience poverty, have fewer educational and work opportunities, and experience language and other communication barriers by virtue of integrational struggles. These social, economic, and cultural struggles can heighten mental health risks. Improving uptake of mental health services by ethnic minorities is a longstanding challenge for public health providers and we look at how health and social policies should factor these variables into their objectives. Reflecting on our personal mental health experiences, we recognise the importance of raising awareness and making mental health services more accessible for our communities.
Depression and mental illness are rarely spoken about in South Asian communities, and those who do speak about them can feel worn down by the judgment of others. Nonetheless, the younger generation have made significant inroads to help us collectively ‘unlearn’ these traditions and outlooks and Mental Wealth has revealed that attitudes among older generations are actually shifting. Particularly, with women, there’s a strong link between mental health and hormonal changes. For example, the menopause can have a series of mental impacts, such as anxiety, low self-esteem, and emotional distress, alongside the physical effects. Speaking from her own experience, Madhu explains why we need to show more compassion and openness towards it. We also consider the impact of intergenerational families on women’s wellbeing and the negative mental health consequences of idolising the “self-sacrificial” woman.