Unruly Subjects – Details, episodes & analysis

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Unruly Subjects

Rowhome Productions

News

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/8d. Total Eps: 28

Unruly Subjects is a weekly show about politics and culture hosted by Chenjerai Kumanyika, media professor and Peabody Award-winning audio journalist. Each week, Chenjerai makes sense of the week’s struggles with some of his favorite people - thinkers, journalists, friends, and folks who can help us laugh through the pain.

The show is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Support Unruly Subjects at Patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

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Apple Podcasts

🇩🇪 Germany - newsCommentary
25/07/2026
#96
🇬🇧 Great Britain - newsCommentary
01/06/2026
#99
🇫🇷 France - newsCommentary
11/05/2026
#91
🇫🇷 France - newsCommentary
10/05/2026
#67
🇩🇪 Germany - newsCommentary
25/04/2026
#69
🇩🇪 Germany - newsCommentary
24/04/2026
#51
🇬🇧 Great Britain - newsCommentary
23/04/2026
#59
🇩🇪 Germany - newsCommentary
23/04/2026
#31
🇺🇸 USA - newsCommentary
23/04/2026
#97
🇨🇦 Canada - newsCommentary
22/04/2026
#90

Spotify

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Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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https://rowhomeproductions.com/
28 shares
http://haymarketbooks.com
11 shares
https://www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/proxy-with-yowei-shaw
4 shares

https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects
49 shares
http://patreon.com/unrulysubjects
32 shares
https://www.patreon.com/posts/letter-from-hall-159442165
2 shares

https://www.instagram.com/chenjerai
26 shares
https://www.instagram.com/unrulysubjectspod
24 shares
https://www.instagram.com/msrachelforlittles
2 shares

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RSS feed quality

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Score global : 68%

Publication history

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How Civil Rights Law Became a Weapon Against Dissent—on Palestine and Beyond

Season 1 · Episode 4

Thursday, December 18, 2025 • Duration 01:18:01

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

As the assault on Gaza continues and the crisis deepens, our individual freedom to critique Israel’s actions has become more and more fraught. We have a deep commitment to anti-racism in all its forms on Unruly Subjects, including antisemitism. But we find ourselves in a place where condemning the actions of a country is falsely - and often frighteningly - equated with being anti-semitic.

Darryl Li is an anthropologist and lawyer teaching at the University of Chicago. He's the co-author of a new study that puts this current moment in context. The study is titled “Discriminating Against Dissent: the Weaponization of Civil Rights Law to Repress Campus Speech on Palestine”, published by the AAUP and Middle East Studies Association. We discuss the history of Title VI, academic freedom, and the ways that both Democratic and Republican administrations have been implicated in the suppression of free speech.

Also in this episode: Following last week’s conversation with Daniel Coates about resisting ICE with Hands Off NYC, Chenjerai and his wife Saadiqa attend an action in Washington Square Park in NYC.

Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy After Savagery at Haymarketbooks.com Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly Beatz

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions

Support the show

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*BONUS EPISODE* News Fiend #3 (Dec 8-12, 2025)

Season 1 · Episode 4

Friday, December 12, 2025 • Duration 06:59

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

NEWS FIEND is a weekly segment where Chenjerai offers his commentary and reflections on some of the week's headlines. This is a feature that is offered for all Patreon members of Unruly Subjects, but we wanted to give our listener's here a taste of the UNRULY SUPPORTER perks. We're a completely independent show! Each new supporter helps us make this project possible.

Become a Patreon supporter here: http://patreon.com/unrulysubjects

Included below are links to some additional articles and resources about the topics covered in this week's segment.

Afghan CIA fighters, like National Guard attack suspect, face stark reality in U.S.

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/nx-s1-5637440/afghan-zero-unit-lakanwal-national-guard

More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/08/us-data-centers

Louisiana v. Callais and voting Rights

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/section-2-voting-rights-act-supreme-court

Spotify Unwrapped campaign calls for boycott over ICE ads and AI music

https://www.nme.com/news/music/spotify-unwrapped-campaign-calls-for-boycott-over-ice-ads-and-ai-music-3915774

Giving organizers of color power in electoral politics with Maya Meredith

Season 1 · Episode 3

Thursday, December 11, 2025 • Duration 01:10:37

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

This week - on the heels of Zohran Mamdani’s historic victory in NYC’s mayoral election - we’re featuring an interview with Maya Meredith, a Brooklyn-based leader in the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America’s Afrosocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus. Maya lets us know about some of DSA’s upcoming campaigns, talks about canvassing and organizing Black voters, and discusses fighting to create a more multiracial coalition within DSA.

Also in this episode: Chenjerai talks with Daniel Coates about resisting ICE with Hands Off NYC, and Brooklyn-based artist Lauren Kaelin - a longtime former ice cream worker - gives advice on how to transport ice cream cones around the city, and more…

Further reading & sources from this episode

Maya was one of the authors of Will Zohran Mamdani Win Over Black New Yorkers?” in issue #8 of Hammer and Hope.

How the Black Panther’s free Breakfast Program both inspired and threatened the Government

https://www.history.com/articles/free-school-breakfast-black-panther-party

DSA Afrosocialist and Socialist of Color Caucus

https://www.dsausa.org/working-groups/afrosocialists-and-socialists-of-color-caucus/

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Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

What do we need from the culture? Lovia Gyarkye on writing critically in an age of fascism

Season 1 · Episode 2

Thursday, December 4, 2025 • Duration 01:15:30

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

This week, we’re featuring an interview with the writer & culture critic Lovia Gyarkye, an editor at Hammer & Hope, a magazine of Black politics and culture. Lovia discusses her approach to cultural critique, looks back at a 2017 piece she wrote about Trevor Noah, makes a case for why everyone should become familiar with the Jamaican-born cultural theorist Stuart Hall.

Also in this episode: An excerpt of a conversation with Conscious Lee about processing the news as an influencer. And Chenjerai responds to voicemails from the Unruly Hotline. Last week’s question was: “How do you balance your love life with the struggle?”

For more Unruly Content, expanded show notes, chat room, polls, & more... Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy Their End Is Our Beginning at Haymarketbooks.com

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly Beatz

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions.

The Truth Behind The Joke: Roy Wood Jr. on Comedy and Survival

Season 1 · Episode 1

Friday, November 21, 2025 • Duration 01:02:34

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

This is the very first episode of Unruly Subjects! And we’re featuring an interview with Roy Wood Jr. Roy is a stand-up comedian and Emmy-nominated writer with a new book out - a memoir entitled The Man of Many Fathers. We talk about fatherhood, dive deep into a segment he did on the Daily Show about Cop City, and the role of comedy in times of political turmoil. Also, Chenjerai reflects on a few news headlines, takes a phone call, & more.

The Man of Many Fathers – Roy Wood Jr.

Roy’s new memoir about fatherhood, manhood, and the many “fathers” who shaped him, blending deeply personal stories with his stand-up sensibility https://roywoodjrbook.com/

On how volunteer medics are trying to care for people in Sudan living with displacement, war trauma, and a collapsing health system. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2622402/middle-east

For bonus audio & more exclusive content, support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai.

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy Black History Is For Everyone at Haymarketbooks.com

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions.

Support the show

Introducing Unruly Subjects

Season 1

Thursday, October 30, 2025 • Duration 03:00

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

Unruly Subjects is a new podcast from Chenjerai Kumanyika and Rowhome Productions about the world as we’re living it, right now. Each week, we’ll check in about what’s happening in the news, and bring on some of the most brilliant, funny, and inspiring people to help us make sense of it all.

We’ll also be finding ways to connect with you and deepen the conversation on Patreon in the coming weeks and months. Unruly Subjects is an independent podcast, so to support the show, consider joining our Patreon starting at $5 a month. You’ll get exclusive premium episodes, ad-free episodes, and access to the chat.

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai.

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Support the show

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*UNRULY HOTLINE* The Love Struggle

Season 1

Wednesday, January 7, 2026 • Duration 19:26

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

While we're cooking up our next full episodes of Unruly Subjects, we wanted to re-share our first UNRULY HOTLINE segment that we originally published in Episode 2. In this segment, Chenjerai listens and reacts to callers that responded to the question: "How do you balance your love life with the struggle?”

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions.

Become a Patreon supporter here: http://patreon.com/unrulysubjects

Support the show

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What It Takes to Shut It Down: General Strikes, Movement Strategy, Solidarity

Season 1 · Episode 7

Thursday, January 29, 2026 • Duration 01:07:33

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

This week, we feature a conversation with veteran labor organizer and strategist Bill Fletcher Jr. all about general strikes. What do people mean when they say general strike? What makes strike power different from other kinds of protest power? And what kind of conditions actually have to exist for this kind of action to succeed, especially in a moment when the repression is this real?

In this episode, we also hear from two workers on the ground in Minneapolis: Dr. Robert Mills III is a pediatrician and Nakia Dunbar is a school administrator. They talked about what it's been like to do their jobs while ICE is terrorizing the city, when families are scared, and when employees are scared to come in.

And Chenjerai takes us to a Salon 50 event in NYC where he interviewed author Sequoia Patterson about her new book, talked to Dana Rachlin about the event series and learned more about the connections between childcare and public safety.

Writer and scholar Leigh Claire La Berge will join Chenjerai on an upcoming episode to discuss the hotline responses. She’s the author of Fake Work (Haymarket Books), a memoir that looks back at her stint as a management consultant in the late 90s.

We make Unruly Subjects 100% independently - support the show on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects

The Citywide General Strike has a Rich History in AmericaSolidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social JusticeClaim No Easy Victories: The Legacy of Amílcar Cabral

How Trump 2.0 Built a Vote Purging Machine with Abby Vesoulis

Season 1 · Episode 6

Thursday, January 22, 2026 • Duration 01:00:33

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

This week, we feature an interview with Mother Jones reporter Abby Vesoulis, who recently co-authored with Ari Berman the report “Your Private Data Is Building Trump’s Voter Purge Machine”. Vesoulis breaks down the Trump administration’s plans for election interference via voter suppression, the Department of Justice’s role in purging voters, and how we can try to fight back ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.

Also, Chenjerai previews a longer interview with veteran labor organizer and strategist Bill Fletcher Jr. about the purpose and power of general strikes. They discuss this in the context of the ongoing nurses strike in New York City and the statewide walkout planned in Minnesota this Friday, January 23rd in reaction to the violent ICE escalations that are ongoing in Minneapolis.

We make Unruly Subjects 100% independently - support the show on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod

Get in touch .

Debate, Journalism, and Power in the Feed with George “Conscious” Lee

Season 1 · Episode 5

Thursday, January 15, 2026 • Duration 01:08:21

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

This week, we feature an interview with George “Conscious” Lee. He’s an orator, educator, and social media influencer who uses his platform to break news and promote dynamic understandings of justice. He’s built a massive, engaged audience on Instagram and TikTok by highlighting social and political issues that demand widespread awareness. In his interview with Chenjerai, Conscious talks about why analyzing power is the center of his work, how joining his college debate team gave him lessons that organizers, journalists and all of us need right now, how he approaches interpreting the news, and the limitations and risks of social media.

Writer and scholar Leigh Claire La Berge joins Chenjerai. She’s the author of Fake Work (Haymarket Books), a memoir that looks back at her stint as a management consultant in the late 90s.

Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy Solidarity with Children at Haymarketbooks.com

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly Beatz

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with

Unruly Subjects – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Unruly Subjects – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other91

Patreon7

Instagram5

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other91

Patreon7

Instagram5