Making academia accessible

Theoryish is a podcast that effortlessly bridges the gap between academic theory and everyday conversations. Join hosts Paola and Hannah as they curate a diverse selection of feminist and queer texts, engaging in discussions with academics. By exploring the rich body of works by philosophers, feminists, and activists, Theoryish empowers listeners to embark on a journey of intellectual discovery without feeling overwhelmed or intimidated.

We sat down with Hannah and Paola to learn about their journey of starting Theoryish.

Question: What is the origin story of Theoryish?

Paola: It started almost a year and a half ago. Hannah and I had just left Hannah's original group called queer/disrupt. We were just talking about how much we miss being creative, and somehow, we got into the subject of theory and then it's just sort of snowballed into the idea of we don't think many academics know the theory that they're talking about just because it becomes such a huge part of our daily vernacular that you often forget what's the 'patient zero', where's the beginning of everything. It's also like a place of educational privilege. A lot of students are coming in from many different backgrounds. There is that big gap coming in from high school to university. And we felt that podcasting is a really fun, easy, and accessible way to bring this to people. It's engaging but also passive for someone who wants to sit longer with the material before going forward to the next episode.

Hannah: In queer/disrupt, they used to have a podcast where I did most of the editing which I liked very much. Podcasting was one of the things I personally missed the most. I wanted to start doing it again. Also personally, I don't know a lot of theory. I know theory in my specific area, but I came from a very traditional history degree. When it comes to actually reading theory, I just hadn't done any of it. I feel sometimes a little bit lost when it comes to conversations around the theory. People bring up all sorts of names. And you're supposed to just know what all of this means. Starting Theoryish was one part of it, just wanted to learn theory for myself. And Paola already knew a lot of it, and we got on really well. So we thought that would be a good project to start together. I wanted to create a space with accessible knowledge. The goal is that anybody should be able to listen to these episodes and get the confidence to continue learning. You don't necessarily have to be in university. And even if you are most of these undergrads learn theory early but sometimes it doesn't click until you get to your PhD.

How do you choose the topic for your episodes? How are you coming up with the book you want to discuss? Is it depending on the guest or it comes from you first?

Paola: In terms of scheduling and the topics, it comes down to what we like, and what we actually want to discuss and read. This season we did a lot of queer theory which is our bread and butter, but we will try to balance it out next season with broader topics. In terms of guests, it's either hunting them down or calling in favors. We mostly called in our friends this season. We basically tell them, hey, we're asking you because you are very well versed in this subject, or you interact with this theory. We're not asking you about your Ph.D. subject, which is always a relief and people's eyes. We're just asking you to tell us more about how you engage with this specific theory, and it works.

Hannah: In the beginning Paola and I wrote down the theories that either of us wanted to know more about. So for the first episode about Walter Benjamin we needed to read the book. We have an episode about Sara Ahmed, it was very enjoyable to get into her work. And that was something that I don't think Paola would have come across. So it's nice to give each other something to read and open new horizons. Sometimes we go to people and we're like, we don't know what we want to do. What do you want to do? We want you on the episode. It's your decision on what you want to do. Recently did an episode that was an introduction to queer theory, and that episode ended up being quite popular, I assume, because it's very hard to find an intro to queer theory, especially one that's like 40 I think it's 45 minutes, maybe 40 minutes. We made a poll for our listeners, and next we most likely will do an intro to intersectionality. Things keep changing but we're very much open to suggestions from our audiences to see what they are interested in.

From my experience learning about theory is a very fragmented experience. I for example find an interesting deep-dive podcast or video and just try to dig from there. But from your experience what's the easiest way to get into theory (other than listening to Theoryish of course)?

Paola: Start with something that you personally are very interested in. It's very hard to get into everything all at once because the conversations are very different depending on where are you from, for example regarding feminism the conversation is different whether you're in US, UK, or in Southern Asia. Find that topic that excites you, google around, and follow specific people on social media that talk about that subject. So when you get to watch that long deep dive video or listen to the podcast you'll know 'Aha this is what they are talking about' or you'll find a new quote that sparked your interest and you'll just follow the breadcrumbs.

Hannah: This is so hard to answer because it depends on the person. Support people on social media or on their websites who talk about the things that are important to you. Follow them on social media. Maybe this is bad advice because the algorithm on TikTok or on YouTube can sometimes lead you to strange places. But I really do believe that if a person is saying interesting points if this person is introducing you to a type of theory that you've never heard of, listen to them, support them. Sometimes they lead you to lots of free resources. Universities online have a lot of free resources. Again, that requires a certain willingness to read and spend time with some of these things. Pluto press release is really pretty good like books, through their publishing house. Verso prints a lot of books on theory. There are a lot of small independent bookstores that carry very specific books. Gays the word in London is a specific bookstore that carries queer literature and theory, and it's been very long running. For me, it comes down to supporting the local bookstores and specific people who help you figure out the things you're passionate about.

Paola: I'll add Freedom press in London, which is an anarchist bookstore. And I think I've missed the most important point which is people need to not be afraid of not knowing. Actually while engaging with the theory sometimes it helps, not knowing everything. It helps you to engage with it from new points of view and bring your own unique understanding of the world to the table. Don't be afraid of not knowing.

I'm really curious about all these episodes which one was the most fun to record as of yet? Or maybe it's upcoming and you can tease us a bit.

Paola: Notes on Camp hands down. There was something in the air that day, we laughed and had so much fun. And a week after that every interaction was like 'Is this camp?' or 'Is that camp?'.

Hannah: Yeah, I will agree. I don't know what happened that day, because I would like to recreate the energy we had in that room. I think that was the first episode where I and Paola had got really comfortable with recording. Because we're friends, I think recording in a space with each other sometimes can feel artificial. Until it doesn't. And on that notes on the camp episode, it finally clicked for us. I also liked recording the episode about Sara Ahmed I think it has similar energy. I'm noticing there's a difference in episodes we record with other people versus the episodes we're recording with ourselves. And I think we have reached the level of comfort on the podcast where every episode has some unique energy to it.

And the last question, which is actually two questions squished into one: what is a podcast you listen to learn something and a podcast you listen to just for fun?

Paola: Okay, so most of the podcasts I listen to are for learning. I can't stop. I'm like a self-learning computer. Although there's one that is not strictly educational Celebrity Memoir Book Club. I love that one. And I also love Why Won't you date me by Nicole Byer. She's a comedian that I love and admire. For learning, I would say I'm afraid to say that like my number one podcast is Behind the Bastards. The host is a former journalist who goes through the bastards in history and gives an overview of their life. So he did one on Vince McMahon. He did one of Josef Mengele, my number one nemesis Henry Kissinger.

Hannah: like no, I feel like you listen to us constantly. I do know I was looking or Yeah, I can't just give one. My top listen-to podcast, maybe somewhat controversial. Is the Last podcast on the left. I go through their episodes all the way from the beginning. They have such a massive catalogue I'm in 2021 now I think. I haven't quite caught up, but that one's really good. Most of the things I listen to are close to my work. I'd like to listen to Bad Gays. I think Making Gay History is really good. But if you want relaxing one chill out relaxing, then I have to say first that I'm a bit of a nerd. So I listened to Split the Veil they cover Bioware, which is Mass Effect, and Dragon Age and all that stuff. So it's super nerdy. Also nerdy. And it's really great in the gym, for some reason is the Fallout Lorecast where you learn all about the Fallout game. And there's this one that I just got recommended, and it's already finished so you can go and listen right now it's Archive 81. I started listening to it because of the show. The podcast is better. Essentially the premise is somebody working archive and listening to tapes. So you're part listening to tapes, and then a lot of weird stuff starts happening around them. And of course the classical Magnus Archives.