We are experiencing a precarious moment in time. On the one hand, it is emblematic of late-stage capitalism and on the other, it is providing us with piercing clarity, luring us into consciousness. This week’s guest, Anjali Nath Upadhyay, reminds us that because this moment is so precarious, false starts are no longer an option and recognition is not enough. Instead, we must engage in a deep unlearning. Having grown within the dominant culture’s educational model, our knowledge has been commodified and our relationships transactional, clearly, this system was never intended to equip us with the tools for collective liberation. In response, Anjali encourages us to participate in radical unlearning and community-based education. Instead of remaining reliant on an exploitative and traumatizing system, we are called to feel into our creative powers, honor our responsibilities and cultivate our deepest curiosities in the name of collective liberation.

Anjali Nath Upadhyay, M.A.² is academically trained as a political scientist, philosopher, & educator. She is the founder of the grassroots adult education program Liberation Spring & host of the decolonial feminist podcast Feral Visions. A recovered academic, her longstanding curiosities focus on learning & teaching as practices of liberation. She holds an M.A. degree in Political Science from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa with specializations in Political Theory & Indigenous Politics (the only program of its kind in the US). Additionally, she earned a Graduate Certificate in International Cultural Studies from the only Cultural Studies program in the US that explicitly centers scholarship from the Global South. Furthermore, she holds an M.A. degree from the oldest Women’s Studies Department in the US. From 2010-2014, she was a Fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu. This training, combined with a lifetime of organizing, healing & loving dignity animates Anjali’s purpose. It’s her honor to support folks in making their impact as good as their intentions.

In conversation with Ayana, Anjali shares how in order to truly support liberatory work and movements, we must unlearn, otherwise, we will continue to create harm. In recognizing our illusions and perceptions, we are able to ensure that our impact and intentions are in alignment. Beginning with how and where we should source or knowledge, we discuss the problem with passive consumption, the pervasiveness of miseducation, and the academic-industrial complex. Rather than continue to uphold the power of the academic-industrial complex, Anjali shares how we can create community-based spaces that cultivate knowledge and honesty. We invite you to tune in to this ripe episode as we explore liberatory education, land-based pedagogy, and more.

♫ Music by Zena Carlota and Amaara

References & Action Points

“Pull weeds before planting seeds! I encourage listeners to invest in substantial unlearning before embarking on crafting solutions within your lives or vocation. When this doesn’t happen, it’s unsurprising if your career pivot, project or campaign ends up being a false start or business as usual. Be discerning in vetting sources to (un)learn with and from- your consciousness is to be cherished!” -Anjali Nath Upadhyay, M.A.²

Cooperation Jackson

Liberation Spring & Feral Visions

Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngũgĩ Wa Thiongʼo’

Decolonization is Not a Metaphor by Eve Tuck & Wayne Yang

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