Welcome to the next in the Podcast Showcase series, where we share podcasts with you in the words of the podcasters themselves. This time, we talk to Self Evident: Asian America’s Stories
Sum up your podcast in three sentences
Self Evident is a seasonal, reported show about the everyday stories of Asian Americans. Starting with the question of “Where do I stand?” we offer a space to engage with documentary stories, personal histories, and participatory local events — all by and about Asian diaspora folks who have been confronting this question for generations in the US. Rather than offer hot takes or interviews with big names, we’re trying to build a “big tent” for on-the-ground stories from all corners of our society.
Who is your ideal listener? Who loves your show?
Our listeners reflect the diversity of Asian Americans and are often invested in understanding the role they can play in transforming their local communities into a more caring and supportive place. They also tend to be very invested in multigenerational relationships and really care about the experiences of parents, grandparents, and extended community that are so rarely honored in mainstream media. It’s been amazing to see how listeners who are educators, community organizers, and leaders in their workplace have picked up on the show and gathered around these stories to begin sharing their own personal stories with each other and deepen relationships among Asian Americans where they spend most of their time.
What made you start this podcast?
When we started developing the show in 2018, there were maybe a couple dozen consistently running podcasts that focused entirely on Asian American voices. Almost all of them were niche interview shows, which is wonderful for expanding the diversity of voices and options available to podcast listeners. But after talking to Asian colleagues of ours in various media organizations, we realized that these kinds of interview-oriented shows would grow exponentially and enrich the landscape greatly, but without ever shifting the big picture for audio journalism and audio documentary centered on Asian Americans.
The business decision-makers who control serious levels of funding weren’t showing any sign that they would spend any real money to fund reporting, audio producing, editing, sound design, fact checking, and long-term growth for a show focused on Asian American experiences. So we set out to start funding that work independently and really build a home for Asian American reporters, producers, and editors interested in this much more difficult — but hopefully very impactful kind of storytelling. One of our biggest sources of support initially were BIPOC, especially Asian, professionals in media companies who backed our crowdfund campaign because the change wasn’t ever going to happen in their workplace. And three years after launch, it’s both a privilege and a struggle to say that we still see a need for what we’re doing.
What have you learned about your subject thanks to this podcast?
Good stories don’t give people the right answers, they give people the right questions. We are living in a time where content and journalism are often treated as objective truth to be totally embraced, or “just an opinion” to be discarded at the first sign of tension or disagreement. We are encouraged to attach ourselves to charismatic voices and fight over which one is right, rather than cultivate our own voices and keep our conversations open. But these cultural norms have left little room to learn, to grow, and to be thoughtfully in touch with each other.
Whether we’re exploring how Asian American families have their first real conversation about racism; reporting on the efforts of local neighborhood watch groups trying to protect Asian Americans from violence; or talking about the joys and limitations of Bollywood films; we try hard to set people up with pointed and fruitful questions that can inform actions in their own lives, way after the story’s done playing.
What has your experience of podcasting been? What do you love / hate about the process?
Getting to know listeners and see what is valuable to them about our work is incredibly rewarding. Our listening party program, where fans of the show bring an episode into their workplace, classroom, or community gathering — and use it to start a deeper conversation — didn’t really find its footing until we saw some of the powerful ways our own listeners were doing this and incorporated all of that into the listening party guides that we now provide for free. And of course, our producers are also audio nerds and love getting wrapped up for hours on end in the craft of sculpting the way a story is structured and the way a story sounds.
On the “hate” side, simply put, we are constantly fatigued by the lack of funding for this kind of work. We’ve hustled really hard to build financial support for what we do, and it’s truly a process that never ends.
If someone wants to start listening to your podcast, which episode would you recommend they start with? Why?
There are many ways to pick up Self Evident across our three seasons, but one good place to start is our two-part opener this season. It’s our most deeply reported story to date, which focuses on the actions of different activists at a farmers market in Bloomington Indiana when they discover one of the vendors has ties to a White nationalist organization. The conflict features the full spectrum of American politics, from liberal elites, progressive organizers, antifascist activists, and right-wing militias to farmers, police, Black Lives Matter leaders, and White nationalists. The two episodes illustrate a big part of our mission, to present on-the-ground stories that force us to consider how we negotiate our place in the world and the impact it can have on others.
Which other podcasts do you love listening to?
Some favorites among our team include Death, Sex, & Money; Tell Them, I Am; Nancy Poetry Unbound, LeVar Burton Reads, See Something Say Something
If people want to find you online, where can they do so?
Read the rest of our Podcast Showcases here and find your new listening addiction from among our features!
Do you have a podcast that could be showcased in this spot? Email editor@globalcomment.com with more details.
Image: Yarenci Hdz