Academic Aunties
Episodes
Heated Rivalry
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
After Hours Part 2
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(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 late...
After Hours Part 2
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Academia is an MLM
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In academia you are constantly making compromises. In my time, there have been numerous instances when I've found myself having to make compromises, p...
Following Your Instincts
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Colouring Outside the Lines
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Academia likes to put people into a box. The pressure to stay within disciplinary boundaries is strong. For those who reject these disciplinary regime...
Nice White Women
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Summer I Turned Pretty Old
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 lik...
The Energy We Bring
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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! M...
Organizing, Mobilizing...and AI
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Communities of Care
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The need for care - for radical care, for decolonial care, for accountable and reciprocal and emancipatory care - has never been more obvious. In a wo...
Depleting Higher Education
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Fear, Heartbreak, Betrayal
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Higher education is under attack. You've probably heard about the cases of Mahmoud Kahlil, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Alireza Doroudi. Students, studying in ...
DEI in Academia
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There is a backlash to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. All around us, we see the dismantlement of various DEI initiatives including in academia. Inst...
Fighting for Our University
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(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 o...
Recognizing Our Messy Leaky Bodies
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
I am not my mind
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Reference Letters
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Remembering Boyet
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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? I...
Remagination
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Can we reimagine new ways living and being? Our guest this week certainly did so. After suffering tremendous loss during the pandemic, including the l...
What happens now?
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Demystifying Book Publishing
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We take a deep dive into the world of academic book publishing. If you're in academia, you probably have, or want to work with a university press to p...
One Year Later
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over the months, we have felt compelled to focus episodes on the ongoing genocide in Gaza, as well as on the implications here via the repression of s...
Academic Assholes Redux
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The OG academic aunties are back! On the season 5 premiere, we have Dr. Nisha Nath and Dr. Mariam Georgis, who appeared on the very first episode of t...
Student Encampments for Palestine
28 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is normally a time when we’re readying ourselves for the term, often with optimism, energy, and hope for what the new year will bring. But...
Feminist Killjoy Book Club
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the Season 4 finale, we revisit Sara Ahmed's new book, The Feminist Killjoy Handbook: The Radical Potential of Getting in the Way, with our very ow...
We didn't need the university, it needed us
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We've talked a lot this season about the accelerating attacks on academic freedom, including the campaigns of repression against expressions of Palest...
Suing for Silence with Mandi Gray
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A few days ago, we recognized International Women’s Day. Every year we shine a spotlight on the continuing realities of gender-based discrimination ...
There Can Only Be One
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Without community, a I wouldn’t have lasted through grad school and the years since. For me, in grad school, a special community that I was wit...
Fighting Feelings with Gulzar Charania
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’re in conversation with Dr. Gulzar Charania about her incredible new book “Fighting Feelings: Lessons in Gendered Racism and Queer Life.” Fig...
One Foot In, One Foot Out
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For many in academia, there is always a certain ambivalence about being here. And historically, institutions have been pretty ambivalent about our pre...
How to Make 2024 Easier
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're just a couple of weeks into 2024 and we are tired. After a restful break, we are back to the intense pressures of teaching, advising, and dealin...
Are we allowed to rest?
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the year comes to a close, many of us are feeling unsettled. After the rush of marking, teaching, and activism, are we allowed to rest during this ...
Striving for Systemic Safety
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We recently passed the 34th anniversary of the École Polytechnique anti-feminist shootings. The sad thing is that this horrendous crime isn't a thing...
The Violence We Face
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Academic Aunties, host Dr. Ethel Tungohan talks to Dr. Rebecca Major about the realities of gendered, racialized violence in academ...
Academic Freedom and Palestine
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the staggering death toll in Palestine rises, we talk about the censuring of Palestine solidarity discourse and the weaponization of anti-racism an...
What We Need To Know About Gaza
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The last few weeks have been devastating. Like many of you, I have been feeling this sense of immobilization, of helplessness, as we witnessed Hamas’...
The Feminist Killjoy Handbook with Sara Ahmed
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sara Ahmed, author, scholar, and one of our feminist heroes joins us to talk about her new book, The Feminist Killjoy Handbook!Sara's work both as a s...
How's Your September Going?
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We are back to school! So why do we feel so exhausted? On the season 4 premiere Ethel and Nisha listen to some academic aunties audio diaries about ho...
The Global Scholar
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Season 3 finale! We conclude our series on academia in the UK and in Europe with Dr. Kidjie Saguin, an Associate Professor of Political Science at the...
Hostile Environment
21 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Since the end of April, the University and College Union in the UK has been on a marking strike to demand fair pay and working conditions that have de...
#NameTheTranslator
04 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Yilin Wang is an award winning writer, poet, editor, and translator based in Vancouver, and recently has been passionately working on translating the ...
Precarity in British Higher Education
28 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Back from a fellowship in the UK, Dr. Ethel Tungohan talks to Dr. Eve Hayes De Kalaf about about cultures of backlash, processes of casualization, str...
We Regret To Inform You...
14 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"We regret to inform you..." Five words that academics read a lot. But no matter how many times you see it, it still hurts. On this episode, Dr. Ethel...
The Yale Aunties
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After hearing about Bobbi Wilson, a budding 9 year old scientist who was a victim of anti-Black racism, Dr. Ijeoma Opara, a scientist at the Yale Scho...
Academic Citizenship
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For many academics, especially those from global north and western institutions, we take our institutional and national identities for granted. But th...
Relationships and Academia
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As we close out February, we're going to be talking about relationships and academia, specifically with our life partners. One thing we've observed is...
#MoreThanWork
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Academia has a way to make us feel ashamed if we're not thinking about the work 24/7. In this episode we talk to Dr. Genevieve Fuji Johnson and Dr. Ha...
Perspectives of an International Scholar
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we talk about another dimension surrounding this taboo of talking about money, and that is the experiences of international students ...
Becoming The Writer You Already Are
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With a new year comes new resolutions, and for many, these resolutions inevitably involve writing. There are so many books about how to be a better wr...
Harry and Meghan
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A special holiday bonus episode for you! Harry and Meghan on Netflix is THE documentary event of this year. And of course we binged it and and of cour...
Wrapping up 2022
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
2022 is about to come to an end, and with that comes a period of reflection for many of us. How is 2022 for you? How did it compare to 2021 or heaven ...
Talking About Money
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Academics would rather talk about their sex lives than talk about their salaries. So in today's episode, we talk to Dr. Rebecca Major about one of the...
How do I look?
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How we appear, our dress, our hair, our style, how we carry ourselves are all things that we as marginalized academics are being judged against. Do we...
Battling Toxic Productivity
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Good things happen but you just can't enjoy it, and maybe you feel even more anxious. This is a common feeling and is something that this week's guest...
The Not So Secret Lives of Academic Pets
19 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Many academics have pets. For me, most of my academic life from my postdoc until very recently involved my beloved cat, a long haired Maine Coon named...
Conference Audio Diaries
05 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We're on the road at the American Political Science Association conference! Producer extraordinaire, Dr. Nisha Nath joins the podcast to discuss Dr. E...
The Long Road Home with Debra Thompson
21 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Debra Thompson (@debthompsonphd), talks about her poignant, profound and powerful book, The Long Road Home: On Blackness and Belonging, about her ...
#AskAnAcademicAuntie: How to Sabbatical
14 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On this bonus episode, it's host's prerogative: What do you do on a sabbatical? Dr. Genevieve Fuji-Johnson (@JohnsonFuji) and Dr. Paola Ardiles (@Paol...
Back to School
07 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back to school is usually a fun time because it signals new beginnings. But this year it feels different. Confusing and maybe a bit frightening. After...
The Real Deal with Job Search Committees
24 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In theory, applying for academic jobs seems fairly straightforward. You see the job ad, you put together your application package, you send your appli...
Say No to Precarious Employment
10 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On this bonus episode of Academic Aunties, we hear from Dr. Vannina Sztainbok, who after working at her department on year-to-year contracts for seven...
#AskAnAcademicAuntie: Responding to Reviewers
11 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How do you respond to peer reviews for journal articles? Do you respond to every single reviewer comment? How do you respond to this strategically? On...
The Ultimate Academic Auntie
13 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Get your elbows up. On this episode, our season 2 finale, we talk to the ultimate academic auntie, Dr. Joyce Green, an emeritus Professor of Politics ...
Turning Red
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We talk about Turning Red, the newest Pixar film, directed by Toronto filmmaker Domee Shi, about a thirteen year old Chinese Canadian girl, Meilin Lee...
Conferences
18 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Conference season is almost upon us! And man oh man, do we have a lot to say about academic conferences. Conferences are a crucial part of academics’...
#AskAnAcademicAuntie: Productivity Tips
09 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On this #AskAnAcademicAuntie, Dr. Alison Smith (@AliSmith_UdeM), Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto Mississauga, te...
When Yasmeen Met Abbie: Collaborations and Friendships in the Academy
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When we think about academic relationships, we often think of romantic partnerships between two academics. We might also think about the power relatio...
Encanto
09 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We're talking about Encanto, the newest Disney animated film, featuring songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, about a magical family living in the mountains of...
Pandemic Parenting, Part II
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On Part II of our pandemic parenting series, we talk to Dr. Yolande Bouka (@YolandeBouka), Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies ...
Pandemic Parenting, Part I
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We're talking about Pandemic Parenting. We will be talking about the compromises we’ve had to make, the hard decisions we’ve had to take, and also...
After Hours
23 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this extended year-end episode, Dr. Rita Dhamoon, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Victoria, and Dr. Nisha Nath (@nnat...
Anatomy of Academic Advice
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Oh advice. It seems like you can’t turn a corner without someone telling you how you’re professor-ing or grad schooling wrong. Sometimes it’s a ...
#AskAnAcademicAuntie: Now Problems, Later Problems
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this #AskAnAcademicAuntie, a listener asks "how do you maintain a sense of peace in the face of such enormous stress?" Joining us to answer this qu...
Hierarchies of S**t
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We talk a lot about toxic work environments and strategies of survival. But there are moments when you just have to leave. And that is what today’s ...
#AskAnAcademicAuntie: Gratitude and Gifts
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is #AskAnAcademicAuntie, our bonus mini-episodes where we take your questions and try to impart a little auntie wisdom. Have a question? Send a v...
The Chair
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Season 2 premiere! We take a deep dive into The Chair, the new Netflix series starring Sandra Oh about the first woman of colour chair of the English ...
#AskAnAcademicAuntie: Playing the Game
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this #AskAnAcademicAuntie bonus episode of Academic Aunties, Dr. Shaista Patel joins host Dr. Ethel Tungohan to talk about "playing the game" in ac...
#AskAnAcademicAuntie: Finding Your Voice
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do you maintain your 'voice' as a writer and instructor when academic institutions expect particular structures, tones, and writing styles? And ho...
Searching for Joy
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
(Season finale) This was supposed to be a light episode. It's hot, it's been a long year of COVID and we all need a break. But it seems as though we'r...
Wait, was that racist?
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is probably my most personal podcast of this series. I'm chatting with my good friends, Dr. Jessica Soedirgo, Assistant Professor of Politic...
Subversives in the Academy
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For many women of colour, life in academia feels like a constant fight. As Dr. Rita Dhamoon writes, racism is a workload issue. So, when do we sit dow...
A-holes in the Academy
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why are there so many in academia? Does the institution attract them or does the institution make them? What is institutional gaslighting? And how do ...
Introducing Academic Aunties (Trailer)
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Academia. A-CAAAHHH---DEEEMM--AIYA! ACA-DEEM-YAAHH. It is a site of exclusion. For those of us who are first-generation, who are racialized, who are w...