Mother Country Radicals

We are impatient with radicals who summon up the imagined “good old days” when every campaign was inspired and every action a success—all of it wrapped in the gauzy glow of nostalgia. What could be more depressing than longing for a ship that’s already left the shore. But there are occasions when a long and deep look backward can give us courage and vision to face forward, perhaps most productively when our guide is a talented artist. Zayd Ayers Dohrn is the creator and host of one of the most listened to podcasts of 2022, Mother Country Radicals, a 10-episode series from Crooked Media that won the award for Best Audio Storytelling at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival in New York. He is a playwright, professor, and director of the MFA in Writing for Screen and Stage in the Department of Radio/Television/Film at Northwestern University.

Om Podcasten

“Under the Tree” is a new podcast that focuses on freedom—a complex, layered, dynamic, and often contradictory idea—and takes you on a journey each week to fundamentally reimagine how we can bring freedom and liberation to life in relation to schools and schooling, equality and justice, and learning to live together in peace. Our podcast opens a crawl-space, a fugitive field and firmament where we can both explore our wildest freedom dreams, and organize for a liberating insurgency. "Under the Tree" is a seminar, and it runs the gamut from current events to the arts, from history lessons to scientific inquiries, and from essential readings to frequent guest speakers. We’re in the midst of the largest social uprising in US history—and what better time to dive headfirst into the wreckage, figuring out as we go how to support the rebellion, name it, and work together to realize its most radical possibilities—and to reach its farthest horizons?