Text reads 'Finding Joy in Activism, Resistance and Movements: 12 Podcasts to Inspire'. on two opposite corners are party poppers blowing out confetti.

Finding Joy in Resistance: 12 Inspiring Podcasts

By

Introduction

In these hard times find your joy! Here is a collection of podcasts to listen to about finding joy in activism, resistance, and movements.

Listen

How to Find Joy in Activism

There is no one way to change the world. That’s what Karen Walrond realized when she wrote a book about the relationship between joy and activism.

Throughout her life, Walrond has marched in parades, given motivational speeches to thousands and gone on humanitarian trips for efforts against HIV and AIDS. “But in my mind, activism was something that you did and got arrested for, it was something that you did and got tear gassed.”

It’s true, activism can look big, like organizing a march for racial justice or occupying a pump station to protest a pipeline. But after reflecting on interviews and research for The Lightmaker’s Manifesto: How to Work for Change Without Losing Your Joy, Walrond realized it was time to expand her definition of activism.

23 mins, NPR – Listen below or here.

Joy is Necessary

Veteran activist Mark Heywood shares the stories of his childhood in Botswana, the challenges of Whiteness and activism, and the necessity of joy in activism and creating freedom.

FreedomAfter is a podcast by the Nelson Mandela Foundation about Freedom. In 1994, South Africa became a democracy, an event that is often credited for ushering in freedom for South Africa. However, there are many significant residues of Apartheid that remain – in our globally unmatched levels of inequality, the persistence of racism and sexism, and many other areas. In the ’freedomafter’, what have we done to gain the freedom that we have, and what must we do to gain more freedom? More about Podcast.

In the episode, Mark speaks on redefining what activism is. He explores how one’s ability to keep joy alive is linked with the ability to keep one’s humanity alive. Mark says that “if you lose your humanity, you cannot appeal to people on a human basis”. This is fundamentally what I think activism should be rooted in. An appeal to people on a human basis, and a way of grappling with our very humanity, and the humanity of those around us. – Source

33 mins, Freedom After – Listen below or here.

Joy in Movement Building

On this episode of The Joy Report, we’re discussing the importance of joy—specifically, joy in activism, joy in advocacy, and joy in movement building.

“The Joy Report” is a podcast dedicated to sharing stories about climate solutions and environmental justice grounded in intersectionality, optimism, and joy.

16 mins, The Joy Report – Listen below or here.

Maintaining Joy as an Environmental Activist with Arielle V. King

Arielle V. King, an environmental justice staff attorney at an environmental law think tank in Washington DC and host of The Intersectional Environmentalist podcast, The Joy Report, chats about how to maintain joy as an environmental activist. They talk about:

  • how Arielle’s sustainable journey began
  • her job as environmental justice staff attorney & what that entails
  • The Joy Report podcast & how Arielle stay optimistic
  • art’s role in environmental activism

16 mins, – Watch/Listen here.

Finding Joy as Resistance

It’s time for a pep talk! In this solo episode, I dive into how we can reclaim our personal power and cultivate an audaciously hopeful mindset, even in the midst of chaos. I explore how we can shape our attitudes and perspectives, no matter what challenges come our way.

I’ll also share practical ways to take care of ourselves—physically, mentally, and spiritually—while building strong, supportive communities. Because here’s the truth: joy isn’t just a feeling; it’s an act of resistance. And in times like these, choosing hope, love, and connection is the most powerful thing we can do.

So, if you’re looking for a boost of inspiration, tools to navigate uncertainty, and a reminder that you do have control over your energy and mindset, this episode is for you. Let’s rise up together!

19 mins, Marli Williams Podcast – Listen below or here.

How Creating Space for Joy can Build Resilience

With all the terrible things happening in the world lately, does the idea of maintaining a spark of joy in your day to day feel unrealistic? Or even inappropriate?

Miracle Jones believes that all the collective tragedy makes the role of joy in our routines even more crucial.

She is a community organizer and queer activist who currently serves as the director of policy and advocacy at 1Hood Media. In this episode, Miracle meditates on the importance of joy as a catalyst for resilience, growth, and collective action, and shares how we can cultivate its practice even (and perhaps especially) in the darkest of times.

33 mins, How to be a Better Human, TED – Listen below or here.

Joy, with Akwugo Emejulu

What comes to mind when you think about joy? And can there be joy in protest and refusal?

Someone who’s been asking and trying to answer questions about this is Akwugo Emejulu. She’s been investigating the relationship between Black feminist joy, ambivalence and futures, asking how Black feminists are remixing political media, meanings and messages to co-create manifestos for change.

Akwugo has also been mapping the grassroots organising and activism of women of colour for more than 15 years, and in this episode shares her insights about the role of joy and other emotions in understanding society and social change.

58 mins, Uncommon Sense, The Sociological Review – Listen here.

Hope, Joy, and Community as Resistance with Lisa Woolfork

Lisa Woolfork shares her journey of creating Black Women Stitch as a sewing community where Black women can be fully themselves. She discusses the catalyst for starting the community,and the importance of community and the need for spaces where Black women can feel seen, safe, and cherished.

57 mins, Be Well Sis Podcast – Listen below or here.

Cultivating Joy as a Sacred Practice of Resistance

Watch / listen to Dr. Thema Bryant’s Justice & Joy presentation: Cultivating Joy as a Sacred Practice of Resistance.

Who is it that wants to steal your joy? and what is it that desires to steal your joy?..there are peoples and systems that have organized themselves intentionally to steal our joy. – Thema Bryant

60 mins, Society of Counseling Psychology, American Psychological Association – Watch / listen below or here.

Joy is an Act of Resistance

First, reclaim your joy.

You’ll want to gird your loins against the sort of grief and hopelessness that can take you down for weeks/months/years at a time.

That’s where Joy is an Act of Resistance comes in.

Is joy the most important thing you can do for the resistance in the short term? It doesn’t seem like it! It seems frivolous and wasteful, and how can you be talking about confetti and wonder and delight at a time like this, Kristen!?????

Is keeping your joy the most important thing you can do when you look at the span of the next three years or decades? I would argue that yes, yes it is.

When you’re able to re-frame whatever is happening without being flooded by waves of despair and only despair, you’ve got more of your own internal resources available to you.

33 mins, That’s What She Said, Listen below or here.

Grace Williams, Gentle Activist

Grace Williams is an emerging leader with a love of law, story-telling and ‘activism without resistance.’ She was born into a refugee camp in Ghana; her early life was spent in learning to speak different languages, befriending with other largely displaced peoples and not taking much of anything for granted.

Today, she has degrees in political economy and philosophy, and she’s on the cusp of finishing her law degree in Hobart, Tasmania. Along the way she has become a passionate story-teller, using books and film to shed light on issues that might seem far away (war and global conflict), or painfully close to home (domestic violence).

In this interview we talk about how both the arts and the law can serve us, about what gentle activism means to her, and why she believes it’s time to make joy the fuel — not just the by-product — of doing good work.

65 mins, The Remakers, Australia Remade – Listen here.

Radical Joy – The Rude Mechanical Orchestra

n the 18th episode of The Activist Files, Jen Nessel talks with Sarah Blust and Bronte Walker of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra about the activist street band’s mission and the ways it brings joy to resistance. Sarah is a co-founder of the project and plays the bass drum. Bronte plays the trumpet. With dozens of active members in the NYC-based band at any time, the RMO exists “in order to serve the efforts of progressive and radical groups and causes, including: feminism and women’s rights, immigrant rights, queer rights, labor, the environment, peace, community self-determination, and racial, social, and economic justice.”

Through their music, they “strive to bring joy and inspiration to these communities and to bring new people into radical causes.” To do that, they play at marches, demonstrations, picket lines, and every kind of political event.

Sarah and Bronte discuss challenges they’ve had with the NYPD, the changing protest landscape, and the band’s shared love of Janelle Monae.

This episode highlights the important ways art can uplift social movements—Sarah and Bronte encourage everyone to go out and start a marching band!

45 mins, The Activist Files: A Center for Constitution Right’s Podcast – Listen below or listen here.

Explore Further

Share Resource

Share on LinkedIn

Topics:

Tags:

Format:


© All Rights Reserved

Contact a Commons librarian if you would like to connect with the author

Topics