Season 4: Creating a Culture of Democracy

Season 4: Creating a Culture of Democracy

Author: iHeartPodcasts February 9, 2023 Duration: 3:45

The podcast for people tired of tuning into bad news is back with a fourth season and brand new ways to interpret the word “citizen” as a verb! This season we’re asking, how can the practice of “citizening,” in ways big and small, create a dope culture of democracy? 

We’re getting practical, sharing things you can try in your community, in your workplace, in your home, and within yourself. To help us, we’ll hear from people like adrienne maree brown, Steve Kerr, Priya Parker, Nsé Ufot, and you! Our guests and live audience will help us find inspiration in everything from sports and birthday parties to climate action and web3. 

Cause we need to prioritize the culture we create around our democracy as much as the systems that make it function!

 

SHOW NOTES

Find How To Citizen on Instagram or visit howtocitizen.com to join our mailing list and find ways to citizen besides listening to this podcast! 

Please show your support for the show by reviewing and rating. It makes a huge difference with the algorithmic overlords and helps others like you find the show!

How To Citizen is hosted by Baratunde Thurston. He’s also host and executive producer of the PBS series, America Outdoors as well as a founding partner and writer at Puck. You can find him all over the internet

 

CREDITS

How To Citizen with Baratunde is a production of iHeartRadio Podcasts and Rowhome Productions. Our Executive Producers are Baratunde Thurston and Elizabeth Stewart. Allie Graham is our Lead Producer and Danya AbdelHameid is our Associate Producer. Alex Lewis is our Managing Producer. John Myers is our Executive Editor. Original Music by Andrew Eapen and Blue Dot Sessions. Jasmine Lewis and Gabby Rodriguez  are our Audience Engagement Fellows. Special thanks to Joelle Smith from iHeartRadio and Layla Bina.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.


Finding your place in a world that often feels broken can be disorienting. How To Citizen with Baratunde, from iHeartPodcasts, tackles that confusion head-on by treating "citizen" not as a static label but as a series of actions we can all learn. This podcast moves beyond the headlines and the outrage to explore the tangible, often surprising ways we can participate in shaping our communities and systems. Each episode is a deep dive into the mechanics of collective power, featuring conversations that span society, culture, technology, and news. You'll hear from people who are actively redefining what it means to belong and contribute, offering practical insights that replace helplessness with agency. The discussions remind us that while voting is crucial, a functioning democracy requires much more from all of us. This isn't about abstract theory; it's about the real-world application of citizenship. Tune in for a thought-provoking and actionable guide to wielding your influence, discovering how to move from being overwhelmed to being effectively engaged. The entire premise of this podcast is built on the idea that we can learn to citizen better, together.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 69

How To Citizen with Baratunde
Podcast Episodes
Democracy without Politicians (Claudia Chwalisz) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:30
Instead of electing politicians to represent us…what if we just represented ourselves? Peer to peer. Neighbor to neighbor. Baratunde talks with Claudia Chwalisz about citizens’ assemblies—groups randomly-selected by lott…
Love is a Renewable Resource (Nsé Ufot) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:25
We all know that voting alone won’t save democracy. But it does help…a lot. No one understands that better than voting rights organizer Nsé Ufot. She’s the former CEO of the New Georgia Project, where she leveraged techn…
Democracy, Fractals, and Sci-fi (adrienne maree brown) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:29:25
Saving our democracy isn’t just about registering people to vote, ending gerrymandering, and so on. It’s about getting back to the basics of living together well through micro, everyday moments. To kick off season four o…
Crafting a Citizen Story (Jon Alexander) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:37
The stories we’re told & tell about ourselves shape the ways we act and how we citizen. And the story we’ve been living in for decades now is one of consumerism and self-interest. Baratunde talks with reformed ad-man and…
BONUS: Homelessness Is Solvable (with Aras Jizan) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:25
In this bonus episode, Baratunde learns how data, well-defined goals, and a sense of collective ownership are helping those at the front lines of America’s housing crisis work to solve, not manage, homelessness. His part…
Those We’ve Left Behind (with Shaka Senghor & Teresa Hodge) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:48
Baratunde asks how can we citizen with tech when we disconnect millions from technology and from society as a whole by incarcerating them? He closes the season in conversation with two people who’ve served time for felon…
Blockchain Chickens and Empathetic Tech Workers (with Xiaowei Wang) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:01
Baratunde is reminded that “tech companies” are really just people and asks what it would mean for tech employees to think critically about their work and its impact and use that power to remake the industry from the gro…
When The Data Is Us (with Krystal Tsosie) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:48
Baratunde continues his journey to discover how we can embed more justice into the data driving our increasingly automated lives and focuses on the most intimate data there is: our DNA. He talks with Krystal Tsosie, an i…
Arsenic in My Muffins (with Kasia Chmielinski) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:07
Baratunde knows what is healthy to eat or not, thanks to the required nutrition labels on our food. But how do we know the ingredients in the algorithms and AI we depend on are safe to use? Baratunde speaks with Kasia Ch…
Defending Our Collective Psyche (with Sander van der Linden) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:52
Can we inoculate ourselves against misinformation and conspiracy theories in the way we do for infectious diseases? Instead of debunking, can we “pre-bunk?” Sander van der Linden, co-founder of Inoculation Science, has c…