Radio Chthulucene 87.9 FM

Thinking in conversation with the Future Echos by Cognate Collective, which they describe as “seek[ing] to make the inaudible audible and to amplify the stories of communities that have organized to resist erasure and displacement…” I recall the class I took on Palestinian Folklore with Professor Batarseh. I think it is important that there are always avenues and people in the literary and visual arts who use their privileges to assist in elevating the voices and capturing the life of those who are unable to. This should, of course been lead with empathy and as a conduit for the people who are encountering the mused experiences, to avoid the hijacking of minorities voices and exploiting other peoples pain. Nonetheless, in the class Professor Batarseh taught us Folklore from the Palestinian people, which is paramount in the preservation of their cultural and literary traditions that have been destroyed throughout the erasure of their people. Folklore acts as a rebellion against this cultural erasure because it allows the literary and cultural traditions to survive orally. Therefore, the existence of the oral traditions acts a resistance amongst the Palestinian people, as well as us learning it in the college setting, because the cultural traditions continue to survive despite attempts to eradicate them.

Thinking about these themes, and how we as students and as people, can utilize our privilege and creativity would result in me doing a completely different radio project if presented with the opportunity. I would redo it as an opportunity for collaboration with other people and allow for them to read it in their own voice on the radio. As in Cognate Collective, radio also provides a unique opportunity for people to be physically heard, which is integral for the moment in history we exist in.

Can you hear me?

Are you listening?

Have your ears been flooded?

By water that clogs and ruptures.

Thats prevents sound from entering.

Color and memory damned up and unable to penetrate.