Break The Boxes

2x Author, Master of Capoeira Angola with 30 years experience, and Founder of Bantu Cultural Institute, Mestre Roxinho, sits with Azmera to discuss his newest book "Ginga of Resilience". He offers a new narrative approach on the dialogue of the body, memory of the body and ways we overcome trauma and build resilience to empower young people through Capoeira Angola. For anyone curious about how Capoeira serves as an education tool for psycho-social-emotional development, you're in for a treat! Capoeira has always been a tool of social change, but decision makers in power don't always recognize its significance in Brazil and abroad. Mestre Roxhino breaks it down for us on this episode!

IG: @bantu.brasil / https://www.instagram.com/bantu.brasil/?hl=en

Show theme music by: Dennis Ojogho

Learn more about: Brasil Culture Connections

Award-winning author, poet, activist anthropologist, former president of Shaw University and leadership guru, Dr. Irma McClaurin, sits down with Azmera to discuss the significance of the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive (BFA), unpack the gaps in archival representation that birthed this project, and highlight the importance of preserving Black women's cultural, political and intellectual contributions amid systemic erasure. #breaktheboxes | @breaktheboxes | breaktheboxes.org/btbstories

Website: http://irmamcclaurin.com

Authors/books/articles/orgs mentioned:

• Zora Neale Hurston
• CiteBlackWomen Collective, Podcast Featuring Dr. Irma McClaurin
• "Curating History" by Janelle Hobson in Ms. Magazine
• James Baldwin "The Fire Next Time"
• FollowTheKEEPERS
• FreshBoldSoDef Initiative
• Hip Hop's Feminist Herstory & Future: How Women Break The Boxes of Gender Norms Globally by Azmera Hammouri-Davis

Healer (Okomfo), Mother, Human Rights + Racial Justice Advocate and Co-Director of Ohemma Ku (Queen’s Society), Nana Akomfo Akosua Reed, offers insight into the Akan tradition of the Akom Religion from Ghana, discusses how reconnecting with one's spirit through the practice of obedience supports mental health, and reflects on the gifts of wisdom granted in motherhood.

Quotables:

"God speaks to us in the language that we understand" - Nana Akosua

Song:

• I Am Light by India Arie

Books:

• "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Walter Rodney
• "Wretched of The Earth" by Franz Fanon
• "For Brown Girls With Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts" by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez

Scholar, Kuumba Singer and PhD Candidate at Harvard University, Pamela Nwakanma, shares her motivation behind pursuing a professional career in academia as a first-generation grad student, her research on gender and political behavior in Nigeria, the value of theory when rooted in lived experiences, and what she’s discovered in the process of embracing all of who she is becoming.

#breaktheboxes | breaktheboxes.org/btbstories

Resources:

• Ronald McNair Scholars Program

Quotable's:

"How can I marry what I'm learning in the classroom with what I'm hearing in the streets?" - Pamela Nwakanma

"Theory gives language to an observed phenomenon" - Pamela Nwakanma

Music:

Voice of God by Maverick City Music ft. Chandler Moore

Writing:

• Whose Lives Really Matter? 

Contact Pamela:

pnwakanma@g.harvard.edu

Cambridge based Singer-Songwriter, Choreographer, Youth Educator and Founder of Soca Fusion LLC, Ms. Ella, discusses how her artistry has helped heal her inner child as an adoptee, the value of prioritizing joy in ones relationship with Self, naming ones needs in the practice of personal accountability, and the meaning behind her most recent music videos "They Wanna Know", "Tell Me How" and "Needing You". 

#breaktheboxes | breaktheboxes.org/btbstories | breaktheboxes.us@gmail.com

View Ms. Ella's visual work:

Tell Me How: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoJvPegBi6M

They Wanna Know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txkhuw3LhRc

Needing You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqodzXDlHBs

Mental Health Advocate + Author, Personal Finance Speaker, and Founder of Dear Athletes, Cristin Dent, shares the inspiration behind her new book Firehead: Poetry For Athletes. She reflects on the importance of rest, cultivating the courage to turn breakdowns into breakthroughs while a graduate student at USC, healing from generational trauma, and financial tips for saving and building wealth. Learn more about Dear Athletes here: The Dear Athletes Foundation and check out Cristin in Voyage LA. 

#breaktheboxes | breaktheboxes.org/btbstories @breaktheboxes

Books mentioned:

* bell hooks All About Love

* Paulo Freire Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Organizer, Curator and Director of Institutional Advancement at The Shabazz Center in Harlem, New York, Najha-Zigbi Johnson shares deep insights into the importance of being in right relationship with self + the world, opening oneself up to ancestral calling, and healing practices that can help one #breaktheboxes of structural oppression to live into the fullness of our humanity. 

Learn more: breaktheboxes.org/btbstories, theshabazzcenter.org #breaktheboxes

books mentioned:

bell hooks "all above love"

Mariame Kaba "fumbling toward repair"

adrienne marie-brown "emergent strategy"

Educator, Entrepreneur and CEO of Trajectory of Hope Britney Foster, kicks off Season 2's theme of spirituality with Azmera in a powerful conversation about the challenges of entrepreneurship and how honest reflection can catalyze creating change from within. Operating at the intersections of faith, innovation and social justice, listen as they discuss Britney's time at Harvard Divinity School, learning to trust ones creative idea, and the transformative power of unlearning old ways of being.

Learn more: trajectoryofhope.org

Instagram: @breaktheboxes.stories

#breaktheboxes

In the final episode of our first season Azmera and guest host Dennis Ojogho sit down with Lorraine Bradley, eldest daughter of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and Chairman of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Foundation. Listen as they discuss her fathers legacy, her work as a public servant, and the lacuna of African American history in the American education system. Follow @breaktheboxes.stories and email: breaktheboxes.us@gmail.com with any feedback + questions! #breaktheboxes

Black Lives Matter Boston organizer, entrepreneur and student Daunasia Yancey calls in from Puerto Rico to chat with Azmera and Leen about the inspiration behind her company Pay A Black Woman, the importance of overcoming imposter syndrome as first-generation incoming Harvard student, and the value of practicing self-care in this current socio-political climate. 

Professional Filmmaker, Editor and Creative Hunter Bermudez sits down with Lama, Azmera and Leen to share about his journey to becoming a full-time creative, bringing his authentic self to his work as a bi-racial trans male, and the role of creative resistance in movement building. Learn more about Hunter in Voyage LA and check out one of his recent projects, Skin, a film that centers the life of a queer teenage male. #BreakTheBoxes  Follow us on IG: @breaktheboxes.stories

Author, award-winning researcher and inaugural chairperson of the Department of African American and African Studies at Michigan State University, Dr. Ruth Nicole Brown, sits with our hosts Lama, Azmera and Leen to discuss Hip Hop feminism, the value of vulnerability, the importance of honoring Black girlhood and her pioneering book "Hear Our Truths: The Creative Potential of Black girlhood", a fruit of her work with the Saving Our Lives Hearing Our Truths (SOLHOT) Collective.

Harvard Professor of Education, Consultant, Artist, and Choreographer Aysha Upchurch aka The Dancing Diplomat dives into the importance of centering Joy, alternative modes of learning and different ways of being in the world with Lama, Lynn and Azmera.

Upchurch is the founder of @HipHopExLab and creator of the Cant Stop Hip Hop Conference based at Harvard Graduate School of Education with a plethora of resources, inspiration and encouragement to continue to feed the inner creative inside you!

Logo art by Azmera.

To learn more about our volunteer based work visit: breaktheboxes.org/btbstories

Palestinian writer, journalist and cultural activist Rami Younis discusses life post Harvard Religion, Conflict and Peace Fellowship as he calls in from Haifa, Palestine. Azmera Hammouri-Davis, Lama and new guest host Lynn Ezzeddine dive into the creative cypher discussing everything from Black-Palestine solidarity to keeping creative energy alive during the realities of COVID.

#BreakTheBoxes