We’re just weeks into 2026, but it is already messed up. US imperial attacks on Venezuela, the ICE raids across the US and Renee Good’s murder, the kidnapping of activist Chantal Anicoche by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, continued Israeli attacks in Gaza…it’s been a lot. So why are we talking this week about … Read more
(Audio fixed) In our last episode for 2025, we welcome back the OG auntie, Dr. Rita Dhamoon, and Academic Aunties producer, Dr. Nisha Nath for the latest instalment of our year-end conversation, Academic Aunties After Hours. It’s been quite a year, but it’s always wonderful to think about what inspired us, what vexed us, and … Read more
In academia you are constantly making compromises. In my time, there have been numerous instances when I’ve found myself having to make compromises, prioritizing academic expectations over family and community. Times where I have to hustle hard, forgoing time with my young kids just to try to get tenure. I even remember writing my PhD … Read more
There are many so-called truths in academia. One of them is the belief that academia is a calling, and that you have to relinquish everything for your career. Even if it means leaving everything behind, taking you away from family and support systems. On this episode, we challenge this truth with our guest, Dr. Jessica … Read more
Academia likes to put people into a box. The pressure to stay within disciplinary boundaries is strong. For those who reject these disciplinary regimes, this can be felt personally, with gatekeepers discouraging this kind of scholarship at every opportunity. On this week’s episode, we talk to Dr. Aadita Chaudhury, who just finished a PhD in … Read more
For many of our listeners, and certainly in conversations among friends, we talk about how one of the most dangerous figures we’ve encountered within the university are nice white women, and I don’t use the word dangerous lightly. A lot has been written about the exaltation of white womanhood and especially the collusion of white … Read more
In academia, it’s taboo to be unserious. Not here, though, at Academic Aunties. On today’s episode, we show that we can be good academics and also like unserious things by diving deep into one of my guilty pleasures, The Summer I Turned Pretty, streaming on Amazon Prime. The show, despite supposedly having a target audience … Read more
Season 6 premiere! We’ve just started the school year and I’m realizing that I am already stressed. How can this be? The year literally just started! My goal this year was to slow down, to take it easy and to not lose sight of my health. But it’s so hard to do when it seems … Read more
Season finale! The past year, we’ve talked a lot about just how much we’ve had to fight for the university. From authoritarian leaders who wish to suppress dissent and protests in universities, particularly protests in support of Palestine, to rudderless senior administrators who suspend programs, fire long-term staff, and hire expensive and useless consultancy firms, … Read more
The need for care – for radical care, for decolonial care, for accountable and reciprocal and emancipatory care – has never been more obvious. In a world where it is clear that institutions don’t care for us and that many of our elected political leaders just want to amass power and wealth, it is clear … Read more
We are living in an age of fascism where you have political leaders who disregard democratic process and are going full steam ahead in shaping the world the way they want it to look like. And this world includes a depleted higher education sector that they see as enemy number one. All over, we are … Read more
Higher education is under attack. You’ve probably heard about the cases of Mahmoud Kahlil, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Alireza Doroudi. Students, studying in American universities being arrested and disappeared for their political stances. And our academic institutions are all too willing to capitulate in the face of the fascist, anti-education turn of our leaders. On this … Read more
There is a backlash to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. All around us, we see the dismantlement of various DEI initiatives including in academia. Institutions and corporations that once rushed to put out statements in support of Black Lives Matter, Landback, and other social movements for justice, now seem all too ready to abandon their initiatives … Read more
(This is a reissue of the episode with audio issues corrected) Last week, at the end of the day on a Friday, York University announced the suspension of program admissions for 19 undergraduate programs, including Indigenous Studies, Gender Sexuality Women’s studies programs. These cuts occurred against established procedures for collegial governance, and is part of … Read more
In academia, we assume that our value rests solely with our brains. The smarter we are, the more grants and publications we have, the more value we give to our institutions, to our fields, to our professions. What this means is that anything that gets in the way of our ability to produce is seen … Read more
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the passage of time, about priorities, about health, about our larger purpose. I’ve been thinking, too, about intentionality. What is it that I want to do with my career? Am I doing the work that feeds me and my community? Or am I pursuing projects not because they … Read more
If you have had to write or request an academic reference letter, which is probably all of you, then you know that there is a whole, mysterious hidden curriculum behind them. On this episode, Ethel and Nisha talk about what it’s like to write reference letters, how letter readers react to different kinds of letters, … Read more
What is it like to go into the holiday season when grieving the loss of a loved one? How do we honour and remember people who are no longer with us? In this episode, I remember my dad, Leonides Tungohan – or Boyet – for short. With special guests, Winifred and Georgina, we talk about … Read more
Can we reimagine new ways living and being? Our guest this week certainly did so. After suffering tremendous loss during the pandemic, including the loss of her son, Dr. Robyn Magalit Rodriguez gave up her tenured faculty position as a full professor at UC Davis to become land steward of Remagination Farms. Located two and … Read more
As I record this episode, it’s been about six hours after the major news networks have declared that Donald Trump will once again be the President of the United States. I’ve got a lot of feelings. I’m unsurprised, but also disheartened. I’m still processing all of this and I know you are too. So today … Read more