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Published by Rigour & Flow with Aiwan and Tamanda
The show where business meets love, and culture meets critique. We’re Aiwan and Tamanda, two Black women with 20 years each in entertainment, research, and social justice. We’re also a married couple figuring out what it means to build a life and two businesses together. We'll talk about the realities of running a business, making creative work that matters, and navigating research with integrity. What You’ll Find: Honest conversations on entrepreneurship, research, and creativity. Unpacking the intersections of business, leadership, relationships, and identity. Hot takes on media, culture, and social change. Guest insights from entrepreneurs, researchers, and artists. If you’re navigating business, love, and the messiness of life while trying to do meaningful work, you’re in the right place. Episodes drop every Tuesday! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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“Stare at a wall.” That was one teenager’s viral answer to the UK social media ban. Beneath it is a darker reality of algorithmic harm and fragmented minds. Rigour & Flow is back for Season 6. And we’re decoding the under-16 ban, moving from a "nanny state" debate about over-regulation to some heartbreaking data and evidence from the Molly Rose Foundation. From the "moral panics" of the past to the algorithmic harm of the present, we explore why today’s digital landscape is qualitatively different from the world we grew up with in the 90s - the world of Nokia Snake and MSN Messenger. Drawing on her years as a teacher, Aiwan shares her firsthand account of the exact moment social media entered the classroom, turning childhood playgrounds and learning spaces into sites of permanent surveillance and fragmented attention. In turn, Tamanda reveals the devastating story and stat that changed her mind, as she moved from scepticism of a "nanny state" ban to advocating for the safeguarding of young minds after reviewing the crucial work of the Molly Rose Foundation. Together we ask: Isn’t "staring at a wall" actually the radical act of rebellion we all need? And if adults struggle to resist technologies designed to keep us scrolling, what are we really asking of our children? 🎙️ In this episode: The Philosophy of Boredom: Why great art and doctrines start by staring at a wall. The Broken Sanctity of Childhood: Why the freedom to be "unwatched" is a gift today’s kids are missing. The Fragmented Scrolling Mind: Aiwan on teaching through the rise of cyberbullying and why social media disrupts the foundation of learning. Prohibition vs. Protection: Tamanda on the work of the Molly Rose Foundation and the fatal cost of platform failure to protect young hearts and minds against harmful content. The Adult Mirror: We confront our own relationship with these "casino-style" platforms. Can we realistically expect kids to stay offline while we struggle with our own scrolling habits? Systemic Responsibility: Why safeguarding the next generation is the job of adults across family, broader community and government spheres. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/v3cg-G2SNOQ 🔁 Share with an adult assessing the impact of the UK social media ban for under-16s ☕ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
"It's almost comical that you can stand on African land and say it's yours. You're an immigrant, mate." In this special Living the Archive re-release for International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, we revisit one of the defining conversations from Rigour & Flow's first year: ‘The Land Is Still Not Ours!’. Living the Archive isn't about replaying old conversations. It's about returning to them in light of everything we've learned since. When we first recorded this episode, it sparked a powerful debate about colonialism, Indigenous land rights, and the enduring legacy of empire. Returning to it now, we're struck not only by how much of that conversation remains unfinished, but by how urgently it speaks to the present. As climate change accelerates, debates around reparations, land ownership and Indigenous sovereignty have only become more urgent. Inspired by the documentary The Battle for Laikipia , this episode explores the generations-long conflict between the Indigenous Samburu people of Kenya and fourth-generation white settlers. Through the lens of the film, Aiwan and Tamanda connect questions of colonialism, land ownership, climate justice and belonging with their own family histories in Botswana and the UK. 🎙️In this episode: Post-Colonial Reality: Why the struggle for Indigenous land rights didn't end with political independence. Institutional Legacy: How colonial systems of land ownership continue to shape the present. The Climate Intersection: Why climate justice and racial justice are inseparable. Property vs. Belonging: The tension between European ideas of private property and Indigenous communal traditions. A Story from Botswana: What Tamanda's family farm reveals about policing, belonging and colonial institutions. Land & Reparations: Why justice must include both land and historical reckoning. Whether you're listening for the first time or returning to this conversation, this episode is an invitation to think differently about the stories we inherit. Because before we can decide who owns the land, we first have to ask where the story begins. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KLF0TuaoYDc 🔁 Share with someone thinking about land, reparations and change ☕ Want to support the show? Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In the next instalment of our Feedwarmer series, we’re sharing the creators and conversations currently shaping our own thinking. This week’s recommendation is a thoughtful, intellectually rich and deeply personal exploration of faith, power and knowledge. As Tamanda begins her postdoctoral research at the University of the Western Cape's Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, she introduces Aiwan to Belonging: Gender, Sex & Spirituality - a new podcast hosted by Reverend Mpho Tutu van Furth and Professor Marceline Tutu van Furth. In this episode, they sit down with leading South African womanist theologian, Professor Sarojini Nadar, to explore embodied knowledge, biblical interpretation and what happens when religious traditions are used to justify oppression. The conversation resonates deeply with Aiwan’s own experiences growing up around fundamentalist Christianity. This opens up an honest discussion about the lasting impact of religious conditioning before exploring one of Tamanda’s more recent encounters with the Bible as a tool of oppression. 🎙️In this episode: The Bible as a Tool of Power: Why sacred texts can become dangerous in the wrong hands. The "Three I’s" of Interpretation: Breaking down inspired, infallible, and inerrant views of scripture. Embodied Knowledge: Why your body’s "felt sense" is a vital form of authority and resistance. The Girl in the Denim: How small acts of rebellion - like wearing jeans or a denim skirt - can lead to radical scholarship or creative practice. Podcasting as Public Theology: How Black women are creating new spaces for knowledge, faith and resistance. We are playing the first half of this powerful original conversation. If it leaves you wanting more - and we think it will - we highly encourage you to listen to the full episode of Belonging: Gender, Sex & Spirituality . 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZeEq_GXV_vA 🔁 Share this with someone whose body knew something long before they had the words to explain it. ☕ Want to support the show? Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
"I had a group of people actually instigate a panic attack behind the decks... and I still had to finish the set. That was the closest I came to quitting." Where are all the Black women composers? It's a simple question but one that reveals just how invisible some of the most important creative work in film, television and audio storytelling still is. In this special feedwarmer episode of Rigour & Flow , Aiwan sits down with award-winning turntablist, composer and sound designer NikNak for a conversation about creativity, resilience and the hidden power of sound. Drawing on their collaboration on Audible's Hidden Histories , they explore what it means to build sonic worlds that audiences feel but rarely notice, why sound is one of the most overlooked elements of storytelling, and how Black women continue to navigate industries that struggle to imagine them beyond familiar creative roles. NikNak reflects on surviving racism in the music industry - including the moment she experienced a panic attack behind the decks - and why staying true to her artistic voice became an act of resistance rather than compromise. 🎙️In this episode: Sound is 50% of Your Film: Why audio is often a filmmaker's biggest afterthought - and why great storytelling depends on getting it right Where Are All the Black Women Composers? Why so few Black women are recognised behind the mixing desk and why representation matters just as much behind the scenes as it does on screen Panic at the Decks: NikNak's powerful story of facing racism in the club scene, surviving a panic attack mid-set and choosing not to let the experience end her career The Politics of Sound: From Hidden Histories to sampling Palestinian graduation speeches, how sound becomes a way of preserving memory, resisting erasure and telling stories differently Industry Gatekeeping: Why some of the creative industry's most celebrated institutions and awards still struggle to recognise experimental Black artists and what that says about who gets to define excellence Whether you're a filmmaker, musician, podcaster, creative practitioner or simply curious about the invisible craft behind the stories we love, this conversation offers a rare glimpse into the people shaping what we hear - and why that matters. About NikNak: Award-winning turntablist, DJ, music artist/producer, composer and an afrofuturistic, sonic storyteller. A pioneering figure in the UK turntablism scene, NikNak became the first Black turntablist to win the Oram Award in 2020, and the Pop‑Experimental Award at the ZKM Gigahertz Festival in 2025. Her work pushes the boundaries of what turntables can do, merging live improvisation with immersive electronic production. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YK1nwrMjSX4 📸 Photo credit for artwork for this Feedwarmer: Sophie Jouvenaar 🔁 Share with someone who'll never hear films, music or podcasts in quite the same way again ☕ Want to support the show? Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
"Who gets to decide who you are? And why do systems still shape who you are in the present?" In the first episode of our new Living the Archive series, we are revisiting one of the most significant and debated conversations from Rigour & Flow’s first year: "Are Mixed Race People Properly Black?" A year ago, this topic sparked a viral "storm." Our trailer reached hundreds of thousands, generating intense debate across social media and prompting hundreds of messages from listeners sharing their own experiences of identity, belonging and race across our social channels. But archives shouldn’t gather dust. As we enter Year 2, we are looking back to ask: What has changed, and what do these discussions mean now? Ahead of Nelson Mandela Day, Tamanda reflects on a recent return to South Africa for her postdoctoral research. An unexpected encounter with apartheid-era racial categories on university diversity monitoring forms reopened questions that have followed her since childhood. 🎙️In this episode: The Living Archive: Why we’re revisiting our most controversial conversations Crossing Borders: Growing up mixed race between Botswana, apartheid South Africa, and the UK Apartheid’s Legacy: Why institutional systems still use apartheid era categories and racial scripts in 2026 The Politics of Belonging: Deconstructing colourism, the "best of both worlds" myth, and competing ideas of Black identity The Intimacy of Violence: The hidden impact of racism within families and intimate relationships Whether you're discovering this conversation for the first time or returning to it with us, this episode is an invitation to think differently about race; not as a fixed category but as an evolving story. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wMHY_t9Z8e0 🔁 Share with someone thinking about systems, power and change ☕ Want to support the show? Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow 👓 Subscribe for more critical deep-dives into history, storytelling and public scholarship Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How do we move beyond stories of victimhood to stories of Black ingenuity and resistance? In this special summer Feedwarmer, Aiwan and Tamanda explore the power of audio storytelling to reshape how we understand Black history and agency. Aiwan pulls back the curtain on her experience producing "Escape the Underground Railroad" - the official companion podcast to Barry Jenkins’ acclaimed Amazon Prime series. And dives deep into another experience of producing the Small Axe companion podcast, to reflect on what happens when podcasting, film and historical research come together to centre Black agency rather than passive victimhood. From a surreal first meeting with Sir Steve McQueen to being "whipped into shape" by legendary executive producer Isis Thompson, Aiwan shares the steep learning curve of bringing cinematic sound design to the podcasting world. This is a conversation about who gets to write the story, the "silly games" systems play, the responsibility of telling history well, and why we must give people their flowers while they can still smell them. 🎙️ In this episode: The Cincinnati 28: How a group of enslaved people used the ultimate "hidden in plain sight" tactic to secure their freedom. The Power of Companion Podcasts: Why audio allows for a "deeper dive" into history than film or TV can often provide. Working with Luminaries: Insights from collaborating with Barry Jenkins and Steve McQueen. The "Rigour" of Academics: The challenge (and joy) of translating dense historical research into captivating, human-centric stories. Sonic World-Building: How artists like Lex Amor are redefining the "cinematic" sound of modern podcasting. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more critical deep-dives into history, storytelling and public scholarship. ☕ Want to support the show? Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mFX1ccU9ErA 🔁 Share with someone thinking about systems, power and change Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It happened to us right here at Rigour & Flow. One of the stories we needed to tell turned out to be the one the digital world was least willing to amplify. In this Unfinished Business episode, Aiwan and Tamanda revisit some of the most powerful conversations from our Women's History Month series and ask: What happens when the systems designed to protect people end up protecting power instead? Across marriage, the law, academia and technology, this episode explores the uncomfortable reality that the systems built to protect people can sometimes end up protecting power instead. From debates around sex work and marital rape to the courage of survivors like Gisèle Pelicot and the disturbing rise of online "rape academies", we explore the cultures of silence that continue to shape how violence against women is understood, discussed and challenged. We also reflect on a fascinating conversation with Washington-based researcher Olga Naidenko about academic authority, survivor knowledge and the ethics of citation. Should influential thinkers still be treated as intellectual authorities when serious allegations of harm surround them? And who gets to decide whose voices deserve to be amplified? Along the way, we unpack the unexpected suppression of our own content by social media algorithms and what that reveals about technology, safety and the unintended consequences of platform moderation. 🎙️ In this episode: The Algorithm of Silence. How social media platforms unexpectedly suppressed some of our most important conversations on violence against women - and what that reveals about digital gatekeeping. When Safety Becomes Transactional. Revisiting debates around marriage, sex work, capitalism and the blurred lines between intimacy, protection and obligation. Gisèle Pelicot and the Switching of Shame. What happens when a survivor refuses silence, chooses public accountability, and forces society to confront its own complicity. The "Do Not Cite" List. The ethical minefield of academia, intellectual authority and whether influential thinkers should remain untouchable when allegations of harm emerge. The Ethics of Looking Away. Exploring the tension between protecting a cause and confronting the harm that can exist within it. Why Do We Protect Powerful Men? Across marriage, the law, academia and technology, asking why institutions so often shield the powerful while failing the people they were designed to protect. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CbNxG3UeFx8 🔁 Share this with someone who is tired of being dictated to by the algorithm and is ready for rigorous conversations. ☕ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What happens when your white father, who’s your ultimate hero, has not lived your Black reality? In part two of our fatherhood series, Tamanda shares the intensely personal story of her father. For years, he was the "encyclopaedic hero" of a "Disney-esque" childhood on a school campus in Botswana. But as the Tamanda of 11 years in age moved to the North of Ireland, the "invisible privilege" of good fatherhood met a complicated reality: a white father who, despite his love and intellectual depth, had not lived the realities of racism his Black-mixed daughter was now navigating. In this episode, we explore the "secondary wounding" that occurs when the person who represents safety is experientially removed from the systemic oppression you face - simply on account of race or ethnicity. We discuss the decades-long journey of taking a parent off their pedestal to meet the man beneath the hero you held so high in your heart and mind. And the humbling "once a man, twice a child" transition that emerges, when carer roles are eventually reversed, and your parent enters their twilight years. With our lens fixed on mixed race family dynamics, we ask: Can we keep loving someone deeply while acknowledging the ways they were unequipped to see us? How do we find our own validation when it isn’t just naturally mirrored back? 🎙️ In this episode: The Hero and The Vortex: Tamanda reflects on being the quintessential "daddy’s girl", where her every curiosity was nurtured by her father’s gentle, intellectual power. The Gap in Lived Experience: Grasping the moment a Black-mixed child realises their white parent cannot be their compass or protector for a world they have never had to navigate. The Pedestal vs. The Man: The "different kind of hard" that comes with processing grief for a living parent while moving from idealisation to a level of understanding and on to acceptance. A "Soft Place to Land": How Tamanda’s stable upbringing provided a "nervous system peace" that now anchors her and Aiwan’s marriage. Once a Man, Twice a Child: A raw look at the "privilege of giving back" through caregiving and the power of a final, imperfect validation in the twilight years. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NJ1NRqh1CXA 🔁 Share this with someone who is navigating the "different kind of hard" that comes with taking a parent off their pedestal and learning to love the human beneath. ☕ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this deeply personal episode, Aiwan shares the "three goes" she had at fatherhood and why all of them failed her. From a biological father known only through fragments, to a step-parenting experience defined by high control religion and mushrooms growing out of tower-block walls, Aiwan and Tamanda peel back the layers of what happens when the "protector" figure is absent, abusive or conditional. Together we dive into the complex world of Nigerian Pentecostal "Spiritual Fathers" and the moment a violent sermon in 2014 forced Aiwan to choose between her faith and her humanity. As she left home and chose homelessness to keep her self-worth intact. But this isn't just a story of absence. It’s a conversation about reclaiming the "missing story" and redefining what it means to be meaningfully present as a parent. Aiwan describes the father she never had, the caregiver dads she imagines for the next generation, and how her own experiences shape her own thinking about raising a child herself one day. 🎙️ In this episode: Status and Absent Fathers: How growing up fatherless on a council estate impacts a child’s sense of protection The Myth of the Presence: Why having multiple "father figures" can sometimes feel lonelier than having none at all The Spiritual "Daddy": The power dynamics of the Nigerian Pentecostal church and the moment Aiwan left it all behind Breaking the Cycle: The intellectual and emotional work of building a parenting blueprint from scratch Saluting Dope Black Dads: A celebration of the Black fathers counteracting stereotypes with "soft discipline" and intentional love 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6dRWI1PWnBc 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🔁 Share this episode with someone healing their inner child or a father figure who understands that presence is the greatest gift of all. ☕ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
DEI is under attack. But what exactly is being defended? We take on the three letters that have become everything from a flagellant workplace promise, to an impotent political punchline. We get into Reform UK’s proposal to scrap the Equality Act, the backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion, and the class conversation that keeps being used as a wedge instead of a route to solidarity. Tamanda explains what the Equality Act and Public Sector Equality Duty actually do, why the Bank of England internship controversy became such a political flashpoint, and why class and socioeconomic status need to be part of any serious conversation about equality. Aiwan reflects on the creative industries after BLM, the realities of being treated like a quota, and why marginalised creatives do not need endless “emerging talent” schemes as much as they need infrastructure, commissioning, fair pay and real backing. Together, we ask: What happened to DEI? How did radical struggles for justice become corporate diversity awards, PR statements, bureaucratic documents and business-case language? And can DEI ever be reclaimed if it cannot talk honestly about race, class and power? 🎙️ In this episode: Reform and the Equality Act: What the proposal to scrap the Act reveals about race, class and political dog whistles Tokenisation vs. Transformation: Aiwan shares her personal experiences of being "box-ticked" by white-led companies during the BLM era and the "disheartening dehumanisation" of being instrumentalised for PR The Missing Class Link: Why the exclusion of socioeconomic status from the Equality Act allows elites to use "divide and conquer" tactics to keep marginalised groups at odds The Language of Distraction: A look at the ever-shifting terminology, from "BAME" to "Global Majority" and whether this towering "Babel" of acronyms prevents us from facing systemic racism head-on Radical Histories & What DEI Should Become: Remembering the legacy of warriors like Doreen Lawrence and the McPherson report, and why we must restore DEI as a moral and ethical imperative 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Y2-pmW9WwV0 ☕ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow 🔁 Share this episode with someone ready to move beyond the "business case" and toward actual justice Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why do we let 'experts' from outside our communities decide what we need? Today, we’re talking about the politics of help, the myth of the 'hard to reach' and why genuinely community-led research has the potential to solve global crises like suicide and inequality. From Black maternal health to Black men’s mental health, in this episode Aiwan and Tamanda explore what could happen when money, power and agency move directly into the hands of communities. When communities set the agenda, choose the questions, shape the process and decide what counts as change. Aiwan reflects on entering Tamanda’s research world, being baffled by its language and slowly realising that terms like “participatory action research”, “community engagement” and “co-production” point to a pivotal question: who gets to decide what matters and what change is needed? From there, the episode moves into the anger that surfaces when communities recognise how often they have been studied, used, consulted, underpaid and discarded. Aiwan speaks honestly about the fury of realising how often “help” is designed without the people it is meant to serve. Tamanda unpacks why this anger is not a distraction from the research, but part of the process of knowledge production. Together, they explore the difference between research that extracts and research that heals. 🎙️ In this episode: Beyond the Buzzwords: Stripping away research jargon to understand the truths The Extraction Economy: How communities have been "used and discarded" by traditional research institutions Research and Community Agency: What happens when we stop being the "subject" and start being the "architect" Setting the Agenda: Why the "most important problem" shouldn't be decided upstream by strangers Relational Research: Why connection is the only real antidote to a disconnected world From Local to Global: How community-led insights can fix our hyper-connected but deeply fractured and unequal world 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7f5vKA-hYNQ 🔁 Share with someone who believes communities should lead the change that affects them ☕ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What happens when the oppressed become the oppressor? In this episode, taking inspiration from an article by Dr Yvon Guest, Aiwan and Tamanda pull back the curtain on the concept of the "wounded activist”, a phenomenon where unresolved trauma drives social movements, often leading to the very oppression, hierarchy and exclusion we claim to fight. From the "untouchable founder" to "brand activism", we reflect on justice spaces we’ve been in that felt like fundamentalist religions and explore how to understand and break the cycles of trauma-driven bad behaviour. Aiwan shares about entering Black queer activist spaces with hope, only to find new rules, "pronoun politics" and exclusion. From vegan safe spaces to the murky line of “no hierarchy”, she traces the ways community can quickly turn into conformity. Tamanda brings the conversation inward, questioning her own journey in antiracism and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work. She takes a vulnerable look at her historical need for recognition from white institutions and the identity collapse that happened when she realised no movement could heal her wounds. That she had to do that work herself. 🎙️ In this episode: The Wounded Activist: How trauma can become both fuel and fracture in justice work The Oppressed as Oppressor: How marginalised spaces can recreate the hierarchies they hate Activist Archetypes: Identifying the “Spiritualisers”, “Perpetual Martyrs” and “Untouchable Founders” Class Silence in Black Queer Spaces: What gets hidden when everyone performs sameness Burnout and Identity Crisis: Who are you when activism is no longer your whole self? Healing the Core Wound: How come activists die young and how to break the destructive cycle Note: This is not an anti-activism episode. It is a conversation about what happens when people carry their wounds into spaces that promise belonging, then reproduce the same control, hierarchy and judgement we were all trying to escape. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tmYBzXCMWYo 🔁 Share with someone who has ever loved a movement, left a movement or been hurt by one ☕ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow #RigourAndFlow #WoundedActivist #PsychologyOfActivism #ActivistBurnout #SocialJusticeAnalysis #DEICritique #BlackQueerThought #CriticalThinking #TraumaInCommunity #SocialMovements Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Have you ever looked at your own neighbourhood and felt like you weren’t actually meant to be there? In this episode, Aiwan and Tamanda reveal that it’s not in your head. It’s in the blueprints. We dive into the sobering reality that communities are increasingly under surveillance, including how the Metropolitan Police are far more directly involved in the architecture of homes, schools and playgrounds than we might ever imagine. With memories of the Meridian Estate and the "prison-like" Ferrier Estate, Aiwan explains how our built environment is designed to infantilise us, and why the antidote is teaching the "structure of local politics" from a young age. We explore the possibility of training the next generation of architects directly from the community, so the people designing estates are the same people who call them home. The same people who live, breathe and feel their realities. Finally, we move beyond the critique of hostile architecture to ask how we take our power back from these structures of control. Tamanda brings in Amahra Spence’s work on "architectures of abolition" - plus learnings from some recent work with The Ubele Initiative - which remind us that safety isn't simply the absence and prevention of crime, but the presence of care, dignity and collective agency. From Northumberland Park and the shadows of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to the sterile playgrounds of modern social housing, this is a conversation about race, class and the radical act of reclaiming our agency through architecture that reflects that its communities have been heard. 🎙️ In this episode: The Met as Architect: How police influence the design of our "securitised" streets The Southwark Pergola: A case study in how "security" logic destroys community’s sense of safety The Technology of Power: Why buildings, barriers and shutters are never neutral Architecture from the Ground Up: Why the kids on the estate should be the ones designing its future Agency as a Basic Right: Why every living thing needs control over its environment The Power of the Mass: Why collective agency is the only way to "reclaim and rebuild the block" 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rsv0XzIrFp0 🔁 Share with someone thinking about housing, class or the places that shaped them ☕ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow #RigourAndFlow #SpatialJustice #UrbanDesign #PoliceByDesign #LondonHousing #SocialHousing #Architecture #AmahraSpence Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Is body positivity dead in the wake of Ozempic? We're exploring how weight loss culture and the 'heroin chic' aesthetic are making a high-speed comeback under the guise of medical wellness. ☕ Support the show: www.buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow With this being Mental Health Awareness week, we couldn’t think of a better time to put the spotlight on one of the most overlooked mental health conditions in the Black community. As just six months ago, body positivity felt like a permanent cultural shift and today, the landscape has changed. People are "shrinking" overnight. In response, Aiwan and Tamanda interrogate the radical shift in weight loss culture in 2026. From the medicalisation of weight loss using a “miracle” drug to the normalisation of "shrinking," we unpack how quickly the conversation has shifted back toward unhealthy control. We deep dive into how so called “wellness” language - and even medical terminology - is being used to mask aesthetic pressure and the impact of diet culture on Black body image. Drawing on her personal experience with eating disorders and recovery, Tamanda reflects on the unsettling "seduction" of these new drugs, and what this shift means for a generation of teenagers watching people dwindle in real-time. 🎙️ In this episode: The Rise and Retreat: How body positivity moved from a cultural force to a quiet disappearance The Ozempic Effect: The medicalisation of weight loss and the normalisation of "shrinking" Wellness or Control?: Decoding how "health" language is being used to mask aesthetic pressure Race and Body Politics: How Black bodies sit differently inside cycles of visibility, pressure, and desirability Chasing Capitalism: Why the system needs our bodies to remain "projects" that need fixing Watching in Real Time: What this shift means for teenagers growing up inside it Subscribe for more critical deep-dives into power, class and the Black experience. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/g-yUKuuTSCU 🔁 Share with someone thinking about what “health” and “beauty” mean today. Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
92% of England is off-limits to the public. And 50% of the land is owned by 1% of the population. Most people in Britain believe they are free. But are we really? Episode description and notes: In this episode of Rigour & Flow, we move between the personal and the structural to interrogate land ownership in Britain today. We start with the film 'Our Land' and its exploration of the politics of walking, before widening the lens to connect British land estates to global colonial histories. Touching on the Right to Roam movement and contrasting rights of passage in Scotland vs. England, we ask: what does it mean to live in a country where you are legally a trespasser on most of the land? This conversation is not just about countryside access or a "nice walk". It is about who is allowed to belong, how colonial logic reorganised itself into modern property law, and how community wealth building is being systematically stalled. 🎙️ In this episode: Landing British Realism: The myth of freedom in a country where 92% of land is inaccessible. The Right to Roam: The radical differences between Scotland and England and what they reveal about power. Colonialism at Home: How 1% owning 50% determines class, control and belonging in the British countryside. Indigeneity and Erasure: Why Western societies do not see themselves as indigenous and the discursive moves that separate us. Community Wealth Building: Why land ownership is the centre of long-term Black community security and survival. Subscribe for more critical deep-dives into power, class and the Black experience. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SQUH9YPO6Lo 🔁 Share with someone thinking about land, freedom or belonging ☕ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
95% of doctors who died during COVID-19 were Black and racially minoritised. And at the height of the pandemic, while making up only 14% of the population, Black and minoritised communities accounted for 63% of all healthcare worker deaths. Why was the risk so unevenly distributed? It’s time to stop sitting with the numbers and shift the stakes. In this Feedwarmer edition, Tamanda and Aiwan revisit a 2021 conversation to dismantle the deep-seated racial disparities in UK healthcare. Featuring Rianna Raymond-Williams (Ree Speaks) and Michael Hamilton (The Ubele Initiative) , we explore how youth-led organising like the "We Need Answers" campaign forced accountability onto the national agenda. From public health activism to the deeper architecture of systems change, we ask: Who is protected? Who is exposed? And what must happen now? 🎙️ In this episode: The 95% Reality: What COVID-19 revealed about racial inequality in the UK The Frontline Cover Up: Why black and racially minorised doctors were sent to the frontline over their white colleagues and what this reveals about a lack of institutional safety We Need Answers: The power of youth-led organising and how it put accountability onto the agenda Unhealthy Structural Racism: What could happen when data confirms what communities already know? Moving up the “Funding Food Chain”: Why black organisations must shift from "firefighting" on small, unpredictable grants to controlling large-scale institutional capital 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/L5WdH5NZiIA 🔁 Share with someone thinking about systems, power and change ☕ Want to support the show? Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Subscribe for more critical deep-dives into power, class and the Black experience. And be ready for the launch of Season 5 next week! Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Rigour & Flow is evolving. After a full year of weekly episodes, we are moving to a Seasonal rhythm starting with Season 5 this May. In this intimate update, we reflect on our first year through the lens of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count and our own personal Easter Monday reflections. We’re sharing the "why" behind our move to seasons, what the data from Year 1 told us, and a preview of the incredible conversations we’ve already recorded for the new season. Stay tuned for a feedwarmer coming soon! 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KCuL_ALYTsA 🔁 Share with someone trying to build something that lasts ☕ Want to support the show? Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Everyone has a podcast. But very few people sustain one. In this final episode of Season 4, we mark one year of Rigour & Flow - a milestone that feels both significant and, at times, improbable. Because behind the weekly releases, the conversations and the growth, there have also been moments of doubt, exhaustion, and the very real question of whether we could keep going. We reflect on what it actually takes to build and sustain an independent podcast. Not just creatively, but emotionally, relationally and practically. This takes us back to the beginning: the original names we nearly chose, the friend who thankfully stopped us being ‘Ditsy Wise’, the poll that pointed us one way, the reality check that forced us another, and the emergence of ‘Rigour & Flow’ as the title that could hold the tension between depth and levity, critique and ease, research and culture. We talk about how the show has changed us. Aiwan speaks about getting to understand, from the inside, what clients go through when they try to make podcasting sustainable. Tamanda reflects on how hosting has expanded her sense of identity, raising new questions about research, knowledge, public thought, and the blurred line between scholar and public intellectual. Finally, we look back at the first year of the show itself: 52 episodes, platform features, awards, global listeners, growing audience connection, the first signs of monetisation, and the reality that sustainability has to become the next serious conversation if the show is to keep evolving. 🎙️ In this episode: One year is no small thing: Why sustaining a weekly podcast matters more than simply launching one The podcasting apocalypse horsewomen: Burnout, time and despair as real threats to creative consistency The names before the name: From Ditsy Wise to In Tandem to Rigour & Flow From producer to podcaster: What Aiwan learned by living what clients face Research in real time: Tamanda on audience, interpretation and the question of public intellectual work The archive before the show: How relationship video diaries became the seedbed of the podcast What the show has changed in us: Podcasting, identity and becoming ourselves in public Marking the journey: Apple features, awards, global listeners and building from zero Sustainability and the future: What has to change if independent podcasting is going to endure 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7kq4dvcwNMw 🔁 Share with someone trying to build something that lasts ☕ Want to support the show? Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Podcasting is shaping politics. But who controls the mic and who gets left out? In this episode, we turn the mic on the podcasting industry itself. We start with Aiwan’s journey into podcasting, from the early iTunes and RSS era to producing shows professionally and use that to ask what makes podcasting so different from film, television and music. What emerges is a picture of a medium that still feels young, unstable and oddly opaque: open source, easy to access, but thin on shared standards, reliable metrics and real accountability. From there, we get into the politics of measurement, or the lack of it. We unpack the confusion around downloads, plays, streams and influence, and why podcasting can still feel full of smoke, mirrors and unverifiable claims. We also look at Spotify’s move to make play counts visible and what that revealed about hype, visibility and the pressures facing indie creators. We then move to one of the episode’s sharpest concerns: podcasting as a site of power. From the Steven Bartlett health misinformation controversy to the underrepresentation of women - and especially Black women - across major podcast ecosystems, we ask: who gets to dominate the mic, whose voices get amplified, and who still gets left out? Finally, we turn more directly to big ‘P’ of politics. We reflect on the so-called “podcast election”, the rise of right-leaning media ecosystems, and the way entertainment formats now carry ideology far beyond formal news spaces. Beneath all of this sits the major challenge: if podcasting is helping shape the future, who is building that future through sound, story and representation? And what responsibility comes with having listeners, however many they may be? 🎙️ In this episode: Origin stories and RSS feeds: How podcasting began, and how Aiwan found her way into the medium The Wild West problem: Why podcasting still feels under-regulated, opaque and structurally immature Metrics or mythological claims?: Downloads, plays, streams and the absence of shared industry standards Smoke and mirrors: Why podcasting can be easy to hype and hard to verify Misinformation on mic: What the Steven Bartlett controversy reveals about health claims, platform power and mis and disinformation Who dominates the mic?: Gender, race, class and the myth of podcasting as a democratised medium The podcast election: How entertainment formats increasingly shape political discourse Right-wing media ecosystems: Why the best-funded voices often dominate culture through repetition and reach Responsibility and risk: What Rigour and Flow means when you are speaking into public life in real-time 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/f3owORRx3BY 🔁 Share with someone thinking about media, politics and who gets to shape public conversation ☕ Want to support the show? Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
From sex work in Georgian England to modern debates on marriage, consent and criminalisation, this episode of Rigour & Flow focuses on women’s perspectives on power, survival and who gets to define respectability. We start by discussing the historical drama Harlots , a series set in 18th-century London that centres the lives of women working in the sex trade. Written by women, the show offers a refreshing lens on the world’s “oldest profession.” Instead of caricatures or moral judgement, we see the economic realities, survival strategies and brutal power dynamics shaping women’s lives. Our behind-the-scenes conversation evolves to consider what happens when women control the narrative. When the story is told from a woman’s experience, the hypocrisy of power becomes harder to ignore. In this case, the series depicts men not as romantic heroes but as unrefined figures of entitlement and violence. From there, we move beyond the show. Exploring the politics of sex work today, the consequences of criminalising sex work, and some unconsidered parallels between sex work and marriage as historical economic transactions. religion, law and survival as we draw attention to the structures and hierarchies societies build around sex and sex work. Finally, the episode then turns personal. As Aiwan and Tamanda reflect on their own perspectives on sex work, the sociology behind it and why an 18th-century dominatrix in Harlots - who flips the power dynamic entirely - represents a radically different form of agency for women. Underneath the humour and cultural critique runs the question: What exactly is sex work and what does it tell us about women’s lives today? 🎙️ In this episode: Women holding the pen: Why Harlots tells a truer story of women’s lives No heroes here: What women-centred storytelling exposes about male power and hypocrisy Survival for sale: Sex work, status and the brutal economics of being a woman in Georgian England When payment becomes permission: Consent, coercion and the fiction of contractual sex Holy performance: Religion, shame and Florence’s use of faith as shield and strategy Marriage as transaction: Why the line between wifehood and sex work is not as neat as we pretend Murky power: Secrets, brothels and the influence women hold inside patriarchal systems Whips, wit and reversal: Nancy Birch and the seductive idea of women turning power back on men 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ivPBaWFO4sE 🔁 Share with someone interested in culture, feminism and social power Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes. Connect with us on: TikTok Instagram LinkedIn AiAi Studios Roots & Rigour This is an AiAi Studios Production ©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Observed September 17, 2026. Cached outside the daily freshness window; the positions keep the date they were taken on.
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