Clavis Aurea Podcasts
Where Scholarship, Publishing, and Culture Meet
Shaping dialogue across scholarship and the Global South.
At Clavis Aurea, we understand publishing as part of a wider intellectual and creative ecosystem. Our podcasts explore how knowledge is produced, circulated, translated, and transformed across disciplines, geographies, and communities.
We host conversations with scholars, artists, publishers, printmakers, cultural strategists, and thinkers from across the Global South and beyond. From academic research to visual culture, from printmaking to AI, from intellectual history to contemporary creative practice, our episodes bring together voices shaping today’s knowledge landscapes.
This is a space where scholarship meets artistic practice.
Where theory meets lived experience.
Where conversations travel across borders.
unlocking academia
Unlocking Academia explores the evolving landscape of scholarly publishing, research ecosystems, and knowledge innovation. Each episode brings together academics, publishers, and thought leaders to discuss the future of intellectual work, interdisciplinary dialogue, and global knowledge systems.
Hosts:
Tarin Ahmed
Raja Aderdor
Armin Firouzi Haj
Eleanor Woodfield
S2 E2
Lambros Fatsis
"Policing the beats: Black music, racism and criminal injustice"
In this episode of Unlocking Academia, Tarin Ahmed speaks with criminologist Lambros Fatsis about his book Policing the beats: Black music, racism and criminal injustice, exploring how Black musical expression has been historically surveilled and criminalised, from colonial policing to contemporary debates around grime and drill, and how these dynamics shape broader understandings of race, culture, and state power in Britain today.
Published by Manchester University Press.
S2 E1
Victor Kattan and Amit Ranjan
"The Breakup of India and Palestine"
Clavis Aurea host Tarin Ahmed is joined by legal scholar Victor Kattan and researcher Amit Ranjan to discuss their co‑edited volume The Breakup of India and Palestine, which examines the 1947 partitions of British India and Palestine as intertwined outcomes of imperial strategy and shifting legal and political norms at the end of empire. Together they explore how partition operated as both an instrument of control and a mode of decolonisation, and how a transnational, interdisciplinary lens reshapes our understanding of these pivotal ruptures.
Published by Manchester University Press.
S1 E12
Mikkel Krause Frantzen
"The Birth of the Financial Thriller"
Clavis Aurea’s host Tarin Ahmed is joined by historian and cultural critic Mikkel Frantzen to explore his new book The Birth of a Financial Thriller: Making a Killing in the 1970s (Edinburgh University Press, 2025). Together they explore how the financial thriller genre emerged in the tumultuous economic climate of the 1970s and why its narrative strategies still shape how we imagine markets, risk, and the drama of capital today.
Published by Edinburgh University Press.
relay podcast
Host:
Raja Aderdor
E5
Ben Marcus, Goodbye Press
"Independent Publishing and Print Culture"
E4
Tasneem Hozein, 40MUSTAQEL
"Regional Platforms and Emerging Publishing Models"
E3
Hind Al Saad, Reham Mohamed & Sara Al-Afifi
"Curating Tasmeem Doha 2026: Transmit, Knowledge Commons, and Curatorial Practice"
E2
Sebastian Baden, SCHIRN
"Institutional Leadership, Political Art, and Museum Futures"
Clavis Aurea’s host, Raja Aderdor, speaks with Sebastian Baden, Director of Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, in a conversation that explores the evolving role of cultural institutions today. The episode reflects on how museums are rethinking their position within shifting cultural and political landscapes, and what it means to remain relevant and critically engaged, while considering institutional transformation, the role of political art, and how museums can act as spaces for dialogue, reflection, and more meaningful engagement beyond representation.
E1
Raja Aderdor
"Introducing Relay"
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Featured Guests
Our conversations bring together scholars, authors, editors, and cultural thinkers from across the world. On Clavis Aurea Podcasts, featured guests are the people shaping intellectual life today: historians uncovering forgotten archives, literary scholars interpreting texts across centuries, authors bringing new perspectives to global debates, and publishing professionals working behind the scenes to bring books into the world.
Recent guests include researchers working on topics such as Islamic ethics, Arab-Andalusian poetry, digital authoritarianism, environmental culture, and early Atlantic history. Through these conversations, listeners gain direct insight into the ideas, methods, and motivations behind important new books and scholarly projects.
Get to know some of our featured guests:
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Hosts
Clavis Aurea Podcasts are hosted by members of the Clavis Aurea team and trusted collaborators who live and work within the publishing ecosystem.
Our hosts bring editorial curiosity, cultural sensitivity, and a deep understanding of scholarly communication. Their conversations move beyond promotional interviews and focus instead on the intellectual journeys behind books: the questions that motivated them, the archives explored, the debates they enter, and the audiences they seek to reach.
The result is a series of thoughtful dialogues that make complex research accessible without sacrificing depth.
Clavis Aurea Podcasts is a collaborative platform.
We invite scholars, editors, publishers, curators, and cultural practitioners who share our commitment to thoughtful conversation to become part of the network.
Hosting a podcast channel with Clavis Aurea means joining an international community centered around publishing, culture, and ideas. We provide the platform, production support, and distribution infrastructure; hosts bring their expertise, networks, and editorial voice.
If you have a concept for a podcast that explores books, research, art, or cultural production, we would love to hear from you.
We are particularly interested in hosts who:
• Bridge disciplines or geographies
• Engage with knowledge systems beyond dominant centers
• Bring critical, creative, or experimental approaches
• Amplify underrepresented voices
Together we can build new spaces for meaningful conversations.
Knowledge moves across disciplines, cultures, and borders
Why We Podcast
At Clavis Aurea, publishing has always been about more than books. It is about ideas, dialogue, and intellectual exchange.
Podcasting allows us to extend the life of scholarship beyond the printed page. It creates a space where authors can explain their work in their own voice, where listeners can discover new fields of research, and where conversations about culture and knowledge can reach audiences around the world.
Through these conversations, we aim to connect scholars, publishers, students, and curious listeners. Our podcasts are a bridge between research and the wider public, between academic expertise and cultural curiosity.
Clavis Aurea Podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. Subscribe to stay informed about new conversations with scholars, authors, and cultural practitioners from around the world.
You can also follow Clavis Aurea on social media and subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on new episodes, featured guests, and upcoming podcast initiatives.
Join the conversation and stay connected to the ideas shaping publishing, scholarship, and culture today.
