NEW SEASON – NEW EPISODES NOW AVAILABLE

We close the TOI Fall 2024 season with a special edition with guest host Natasha Howard, who is a health librarian and Head of Knowledge & Library Services at North East London NHS Foundation Trust.  Natasha is joined by Dr. Rageshri Dhairyawan, who is the author of the recently published book, Unheard: The Medical Practice of Silencing. Dr Dhairyawan was inspired to pen her monograph about injustice in healthcare based on her own experiences of being unheard as a patient as well as her work with minoritised communities.

Natasha and Rageshri who were  secondary schoolmates in Essex UK – southeast of London discuss their early inspirations. The discussion also includes insights about Rageshri being part of a family of doctors. They then pivot to topics of epistemic injustice, health literacy, and yes, the dynamics of the medical practice of silencing. This episode was recorded on October 29, 2024 during health literacy month in the UK as well as being Black history month.

Producer: Dr. Tony Dunbar

The 2024 Fall season kicks off with the return of TOI – N – LA.  If you missed the TOI – N – LA 2023 episodes you can find and listen to them here. TOI- N – LA 2024 focuses on a 30-year legacy of Critical Race Theory scholarship and community building. Since the mid-1990’s Dr. Daniel G. Solórzano, affectionately referred to as Danny, has curated an unique space for discussing race through CRT frameworks; while also cultivating an amazing community of CRT scholars. On June 7th (2024), the (UCLA/Education Department) Research Apprenticeship Course (RAC) community came together on UCLA’s campus to convene a one-day conference, 30 YEARS OF RAC: Reconvening with Past and Current Critical Race Theorists in Education.

The Organic Intellectual Podcast spent 10 days in California and connected with several RAC community members who attended “RAC30.” These episodes not only engage the listeners about the unique space that is Danny’s RAC but we get a glimpse of intentionality that Dr.  Solórzano places on his mentorship of the community and each member of the community. Listeners can count on each episode (as is customary on TOI) also pulling out the intimacy of the stories and background of the RAC members…we get to learn about their personal paths and academic journeys of their praxis.

TOI – N – LA 2024 has six episodes and here are the release dates:  9/19, 10/1, 10/10, 10/18, 10/29, and 11/12

We conclude the RAC30 TOI–N-LA series with the sixth and final episode.  We go to the TOI vault for an interview conducted in 2023 with Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal, Professor of Educational Leadership & Administration at Loyola Marymount University. It is literally the prequel to the RAC30 series in two interesting ways. First, Dr. Delgado Bernal’s connection to Professor Solórzano predates the convening of Danny’s Research Apprenticeship Course (RAC). Second, this session was the first TOI recording for this series, which was conceptualized in 2023, a year before the RAC30 engagements.

Dolores first crossed paths with TOI host, Tony Dunbar when both were in Salt Lake City at the University of Utah.  Dr Delgado Bernal was an Assistant Professor, and a new mom at that time, and Dr. Dunbar was a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in Education. In this prequel edition, Dolores touches on her early life in Kansas City, Missouri as well as her professional journey prior to her full commitment to academia. Before concluding, Dolores not only shares her path to academia but also discusses how her work has evolved over the years from Assistant Professor to becoming a Full Professor, fementor, and an elected fellow of the American Educational Research Association (2023). 

We continue the RAC30 TOI–N-LA series with a two part fifth episode.  We transitioned from Sacramento and returned to Los Angeles where we caught up with Dr. Lindsey Perez Huber who is a Professor of Equity, Education & Social Justice in the College of Education at California State University, Long Beach.

In part one of this episode, Lindsey shares about her early educational aspirations including her high school days in Murrieta, California to completing bachelor’s degrees in both Political Science and Chicano/Latino Studies at University of California, Irvine. Dr Perez Huber then shares how with the help of timely fementorship and how she was able to earn both her Masters and Doctorate from UCLA and appreciate the blessings as well as navigate the challenges of being a young mother. Part one also includes the early development of her relationship with Dr. Danny Solórzano.

 In part two of this inspiring discussion with Dr. Perez Huber, we pivot to Lindsey’s experiences and insights of being part of Danny’s RAC community along with starting her own Research Apprenticeship space as a faculty member at California State University Long Beach. Dr Perez Huber also shares about co-authoring a book with Dr. Solórzano and, in turn, how she and her daughter Layla have partnered on research about how Latino’s are portrayed in Children’s literature.

RAC30 – TOI-N-LA traveled 6 hours north of Los Angeles to the California state capital of Sacramento and the campus of Sacramento State University. Doctors Lorena Camargo Gonzalez and Alma Itzé Flores are tenure track faculty in CSUS’ School of Education. We start off our visit as we always do on TOI, with the storytelling of their journey that has led them totheir current level of success. They then help us begin to grasp the broader impact of Danny’s RAC through the lineage and depth of community by sharing how they have grown as people and developed as scholars with assistance from their femtors and mentors. This episode was recorded on Tuesday June 11th a few days after the RAC30 reconvening.

In this third RAC30 episode we leave the UCLA campus and the comforts of “Solórzano Studios.” For thisconversation we connected with Doctors Sergio Gonzalez and Nichole Garcia at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel’srooftop restaurant Circa 55. These RAC community members have an unique academic journey that led each tobe part of the special space Dr. Solórzano has nurtured. In turn, being part of Danny’s RAC led both to not onlybecoming higher education professors but was also key to each of them developing their own unique iteration ofcritical race work. This episode was recorded on June 6th the day before the RAC30 reconvening. Please note therecording location, which contributed to some of the background audio

In this second RAC30 episode, TOI–N-LA (2024) Co-producers and Co-hosts Magali Campos, Brenda Lopez, and Tony Dunbar, again bring this episode from Daniel G. Solórzano’s Moore Hall office on UCLA’s campus, affectionately now also known as “Solórzano Studios.”  The trio are joined by doctoral student’s, Omar Alvarado and Michelle Velasco for parts 1 and 2 of this second episode. Omar specializes in Race, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies in Education. Michelle, a 2024 CSU Chancellor Doctoral Incentive Program fellow, focuses her work on the social, cultural, and historic institutions that influence how Pilipino students navigate higher education institutions. Bryant Partida pays a visit to Solórzano Studios for part 3 of this second episode. Each of the guests share their path to and through Higher Education. More importantly, these amazing conversations fully share and make clear how Danny’s RAC serves as a Scholarly Space and an Unparalleled Place.

  In this first episode, TOI host Tony Dunbar, visits with Co-producers Magali Campos and Brenda Lopez who are also RAC members along with being doctoral candidates completing the journey to PhD in 2024. The three of them are also joined by Dr. Iris Lucero, who is currently the Assistant Director of UCLA’s McNair Research Scholars Program. Dr. Lucero has also contributed to the RAC legacy as one of a longline of members who have assisted Dr Solórzano in maintaining the community’s connectedness. This episode was recorded three days before the RAC30 (June 7) conference in Danny’s office in Moore Hallon UCLA’s campus. Affectionately the esteemed professor’s office is now also know as “Solórzano Studios.” Take a listen to Episode One of this series: RAC Community Connectedness EPISODE 1: RAC COMMUNITY CONNECTEDNESS 

Dr. Iris Lucero, RACMember & Community Connector Assistant Director ofUCLA’s McNair Research Scholars

Dr. Daniel G. Solórzano