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Walk Talk Listen Podcast

Walk Talk Listen Podcast

By: Maurice A. Bloem
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About this listen

Walk Talk Listen, an attempt to connect people and make this world a bit better by sharing opinions and experiences based on the belief that everyone’s perspective is true albeit partial. It is also an effort to create awareness and to inspire a growing group of listeners to be engaged with the Global Goals (SDGs) and their attainment. A spin-off of the 100 mile walk. #gotheextra100mileCopyright 2020 All rights reserved. Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Racial Consciousness Is Like a Muscle with Jacco van Sterkenburg – Walk Talk Listen (Episode 227)
    Feb 18 2026
    In Episode 227 of Walk Talk Listen, Maurice talks with Jacco van Sterkenburg, Associate & Endowed Professor of Race, Inclusion & Communication at Erasmus University Rotterdam and newly appointed Chief Diversity Officer of the university. His research spans how media, sport, and gaming shape cultural narratives about race, ethnicity, gender, and leadership. Jacco’s work draws on decades of scholarship — from his PhD on race, ethnicity, and the sport media to recent projects on video gaming, gender, and football representation. It sits at the intersection of cultural studies, psychology, and media analysis. In this conversation, he reflects on what it means to be “inside” and “outside” dominant norms, and how seemingly neutral spaces like games or sports broadcasts are sites of meaning-making. He talks candidly about how easy it is, especially for white researchers, to “go with the flow” without questioning assumptions — and why developing racial consciousness is like training a muscle. Whether you’re interested in media, culture, sport, or leadership, this episode invites you to rethink the familiar and practice deeper awareness. Listener Engagement:
    • Discover the songs picked by Jacco and other guests on our #walktalklisten here.
    • Learn more about Jacco via his LinkedIn. Also check out his research related website, link here.
    • Share your feedback on this episode through our Walk Talk Listen Feedback link – your thoughts matter!
    Follow Us:
    • Support the Walk Talk Listen podcast by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
    • Visit 100mile.org or mauricebloem.com for more episodes and information about our work.
    • Check out the special series "Enough for All" and learn more about the work of the Joint Learning Initiative (JLI).
    Show More Show Less
    59 mins
  • Crossing Thresholds: “The Land Is Life” with Biswash Chepang – Walk Talk Listen (Episode 5)
    Feb 11 2026
    Welcome to Episode 5 of Crossing Thresholds: Religion, Resilience & Migration, a special mini-series of Walk Talk Listen produced in connection with research by the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith & Local Communities (JLI) and Christian Aid on faith and climate migration. In this episode, Maurice Bloem speaks with Biswash Chepang, an Indigenous rights advocate from Nepal, about what climate change, displacement, and faith mean for communities whose identity, spirituality, and survival are inseparable from land. Biswash reflects on Indigenous worldviews in which land is not a commodity, but a living relationship that connects birth, death, culture, and belief. Their conversation explores how climate pressure affects Indigenous communities long before migration takes place. As forests disappear, land rights are denied, and livelihoods erode, people can become displaced without ever moving. Biswash describes how the loss of land ownership and access creates forms of silent displacement that are often overlooked in policy discussions about climate migration. Faith runs throughout this conversation, not as an abstract concept, but as something embedded in land, rivers, forests, and daily life. Biswash speaks about spiritual practices rooted in nature, as well as the complex role of religious change in contexts of poverty and exclusion, where faith can offer both support and profound cultural disruption. Biswash’s reflections echo findings from the JLI–Christian Aid evidence review, which shows that climate migration is frequently preceded by prolonged environmental and social stress, that strong spiritual ties to land shape decisions not to migrate, and that displacement often takes emotional, cultural, and spiritual forms that are difficult to measure. His story gives voice to these dynamics, grounding research insights in lived Indigenous experience. Rather than a formal interview, this episode is a listening dialogue about land, belonging, faith, and the quiet thresholds people are forced to cross when their relationship with place is put under pressure. Learn more about the research behind this series: [link to JLI–Christian Aid report] During our conversation we experienced some challenges with our connection and therefore you will hear a couple of hiccups that we couldn't get edited out. Our apologies for at least two moments where it seems that Biswash his answers were cut short. Listener Engagement:
    • Learn more about Biswash via his LinkedIn and Facebook. Follow his writings via his WorldPress site.
    • Share your feedback on this episode through our Walk Talk Listen Feedback link – your thoughts matter!
    Follow Us:
    • Support the Walk Talk Listen podcast by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
    • Visit 100mile.org or mauricebloem.com for more episodes and information about our work.
    • Check out the special series "Enough for All" and learn more about the work of the Joint Learning Initiative (JLI).
    Show More Show Less
    57 mins
  • Spirituality Was a Lifeline: Creating Conditions for Awakening” with Rich Havard – Walk Talk Listen (Episode 226)
    Feb 4 2026
    Rich Havard is the Director of the Youth Mental Health Fund at the Decolonizing Wealth Project and in Episode 226, he shares his journey from growing up in a small town in rural Mississippi to becoming a leader at the intersection of spirituality, justice, and philanthropy. Reflecting on his upbringing, he speaks honestly about how experiences of difference, exclusion, and faith shaped his early sense of vocation and empathy for others. Rich describes how spirituality became a lifeline throughout his life, from childhood questions about identity and purpose, through his coming-out journey, and into his work creating spiritually grounded communities for young adults. He traces how this calling evolved through pastoral ministry, the founding of the Inclusive Collective, and later into philanthropy, where he sought to become the kind of funder he wished he had when leading a small nonprofit. Now, at the Youth Mental Health Fund, he works to support culturally responsive approaches to mental health that integrate spirituality, justice, and community care for young people. The conversation also explores what it means to “decolonize” wealth and challenge philanthropic systems to move resources differently toward collective well-being rather than accumulation. Rich reflects on moments that compelled him to act against injustice, on the role of faith communities in standing with vulnerable people, and on the fragile but persistent hope that comes from choosing to be an “arc bender.” This episode is a thoughtful meditation on healing, belonging, and the inner work needed to sustain outer change. Listener Engagement:
    • Discover the songs picked by Rich and other guests on our #walktalklisten here.
    • Learn more about Rich via his LinkedIn. Also follow Instagram and Facebook of the Decolonizing Wealth Project.
    • Share your feedback on this episode through our Walk Talk Listen Feedback link – your thoughts matter!
    Follow Us:
    • Support the Walk Talk Listen podcast by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
    • Visit 100mile.org or mauricebloem.com for more episodes and information about our work.
    • Check out the special series "Enough for All" and learn more about the work of the Joint Learning Initiative (JLI).
    Show More Show Less
    55 mins
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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.