Our podcasts
Frictions offers written content as well as podcasts: discover our testimonies, fiction, and other investigations for your listening pleasure.
33 episodes
Guinea, United States, France: the three lives of Abdel Camara
He was born in Guinea, studied in the United States, moved to France. Abdel is at the same time, Guinean, American, maybe soon French, and also, muslim. So he knows a lot about what it means to "be black" in this world.
The Color of Desire
Whether we met at a bar or via the soon-to-be-outdated Minitel one sentence was recurrent: “Sorry, I am not into Asians”. That's all I was to these people: “Asian” and apparently, this placed me on the bottom rung of the desirability ladder.
Myriam, the sound of her soul
Like every morning, Myriam, 64, goes to the factory where she has been working for almost 30 years. A job where noise is constant. A painful symphony that follows the workers in their daily lives.
From the war in Syria to the protests in Paris : Itineraries of Syrian photojournalists
At the age of 17, they took their first photographs of the massacres in Syria. Abdul and Ameer grew up and learned their profession far too quickly.
Dante's second circle of hell
Miriam died. At least she knows that for sure. She has been in an accident while driving with someone. Someone... Yes, but who?
Everything Became Clear
One day, in his couch, watching the film Les Chatouilles (Little Tickles), Constant remembers the incest he was subjected to as a child.
The Fly Trap
Claire is seeing Nicolas, an elegant, witty, enigmatic young man. But for a while, Nicolas has been obsessed with insects that invade his apartment. She observes this from a distance, used to his eccentricities. But for Nicolas, it becomes an obsession: he must exterminate these gnats! Claire sees the man she loves fall into madness, without being able to do anything.
The Struggle of the Glaciers
An ever-racing pursuit of profit and the conquest of nature, some sought to build an additional cable car on a retreating glacier. In response, others mobilized, occupying the glacier for days—despite the hardship, the cold, and the repression. Paul tells their story.
Invisible Cities
Sarah uses the occasion of recent discoveries in the Upper Amazon to reflect on how we imagine "the wild," weaving together imperial, scientific, and indigenous histories to explore how the natural world can resist our attempts to silence it.
After the Sorbonne Nouvelle blockade, the awakening of the collective
In the current political climate and the urgent need to be mobilised, Adil looks back at his first experience of resistance: the blockade of the Sorbonne Nouvelle in 2018.
Motherhood
In a world where work shapes our lives and motherhood remains an invisible struggle, how do we decide when it’s time to give life? Through personal narratives and societal pressures, Jenny reflects on choices, sacrifices, and what truly shapes our desires.
Oleander
From Jaffa to Paris, Darya traverses landscapes and eras where the shadows of the past mingle with echoes of a childhood shaped by the sea and conflict.
The Usurped Struggle of the Farming World
They block highways, but who truly understands them? Farmers, caught between pastoral clichés and harsh realities, feed us while crying out that it’s killing them—their struggles erased by unions that fail to represent them. Aliosha, born on the Larzac plateau but now a city dweller, questions this distance, where the hum of tractors conceals what really matters.
The Sound That Persists
Traveling across Iowa, where vast cornfields seem to smother the wild, Richard reflects on what silence and loss can reveal. With his hearing altered by a gunshot, he explores how to listen anew to what we’ve nearly forgotten.
Memory-City, Living-Memory
Justin wasn't born in Paris, but he feels right at home here. Blame it on the memories he's created there, perhaps?
A word for that
Caelainn takes us on a lyrical journey through language and landscape, tracing her ancestral roots in Ireland.
Rising up, breaking away
When science fiction meets reality: four passengers are interviewed just before taking the plunge into the unknown, leaving for another planet. A new departure that questions their attachment to this planet. What can they expect from this great escape?
Jai Alai:The Joyful Game
Nicolas, proud of his Basque heritage, explores his identity quest through rock, meals at his abuela's, and political analysis.
Ingredients for belonging
From the rooftops of Kathmandu to the cornfields of the Midwest, Sarah and Wyatt explore what our food says about us.
Difficult images
Connie and Aaron find belonging in their ugliness. This audio essay is an interwoven exploration of the rejections they have faced as ugly disabled bodies and the refuge they’ve created.
Alphabet of Ch-arabia
Despite the linguistic distance between Lina and her father, who was born in Morocco, the lullaby he used to sing to her as a child in Arabic profoundly influenced her imagination and writing. It served as a foundation for crafting her own language, that of the "bastard children."
Love for Real
At the coming of age, Ivan sees his best friend drift away and makes a promise to himself: save the friendship!
Kiruv: Exploring The Art of Welcoming
Why is it that entering an unknown space can feel like coming home or trying to sit at the cruelest and most fashionable table in a high school cafeteria?
The clippings
Céline finds memories of the Algerian war in her family's basement, confronting a long-concealed past.
Elpida Kokkota, “a survival kit to educate yourself”
Elpida describes herself as someone who carries a “scar”, but she refuses that this traumatic experience defines her.
Mary-Justine Todd, “resilience comes with the ability to regain hope”
After an inspiring encounter at the hospital, Mary-Justine launched Shamsaha to help women victims of violence in the Middle East.
Joséphine Goube, “treat everyone on their merits, not where they are from”
After a stay in the UK, Joséphine Goube created Sistech to help refugee women enter the European job market.
Jimena Garcia Cabello, “outside, no one talks about them”
Jimena, dedicated to fighting injustice in Mexico, helps women in prison to develop their skills and maintain family ties.
Noëlla Coursaris Musunka, “elevate young girls with education."
Ex-model, Noëlla founded Malaika, an organization in DRC to help girls become the leaders of tomorrow.
Sadaffe Abid, “Investing in women is critical”
In Pakistan, Sadaffe founded Circle of Women, an association focused on empowering women through digital literacy.