Are We a Tribe? A Conversation with Ayishat Akanbi and Thomas Chatterton Williams | Bonus Episode

In this bonus episode of Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz, we share a talk from the Arendt Center's fall 2024 conference on Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism. Moderated by Roger Berkowitz, the conversation features Ayishat Akanbi, a fashion stylist and writer, and Thomas Chatterton Williams, an author and academic. The discussion delves into the notions of tribal identity, the impact of racial categorization, and the broader concept of cosmopolitanism. Akanbi and Williams share personal experiences and perspectives on racial identity, culture, and the importance of curiosity and self-critique in overcoming tribal boundaries.

Ayishat Akanbi is a fashion stylist and writer based in London. With over a decade of experience working with clients such as Rod Stewart, Labrinth, and Naomi Campbell, in the last five years she turned her focus to observing cultural trends. It’s widely accepted that everything is political, but its Ayishat view that much of the personal becoming politicised is helping to fuel tensions. Through her talks, interviews, and online posts, Ayishat challenges popular ideas by championing understanding, curiosity, and independent thought. Her belief that self-knowledge and honest reflection can resolve divisions has led her to speak at Google Headquarters, The Sydney Opera House, Tate Modern & The Victoria & Albert Museum.

Thomas Chatterton Williams is the author of Losing My Cool and Self-Portrait in Black and White. He is a staff writer at The Atlantic. Prior to that he was a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and a columnist at Harper’s. He is a 2022 Guggenheim fellow and a visiting fellow at AEI. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The London Review of Books, Le Monde and many other places, and has been collected in The Best American Essays and The Best American Travel Writing. He has received support from Yaddo, MacDowell and The American Academy in Berlin, where he is a member of the Board of Trustees. He is a visiting professor of the humanities and senior fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College and his next book, Nothing Was the Same will be published by Knopf in August 2025.

ABOUT:

Produced by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, this podcast offers close readings of Arendt's books alongside engaging interviews and thought-provoking conversations. Released weekly, each episode provides listeners with a deeper understanding of Arendt's philosophy and its relevance to contemporary issues. Available on all major podcast platforms, listeners join us on a captivating intellectual journey through the mind of Hannah Arendt.

New episodes every Friday morning! Join Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, as he discusses the works of German Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975).

THE HANNAH ARENDT CENTER:

The Hannah Arendt Center provides an intellectual space for passionate, uncensored, and nonpartisan thinking that reframes and deepens the fundamental questions facing our nation and our world. Become a member and enjoy several benefits including access to our virtual reading group that takes place every Friday: https://hac.bard.edu/membership/

More information can be found on our website: https://hac.bard.edu/ Follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/arendt_center and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hannaharendtcenteratbard/

THE HOST:

Roger Berkowitz is the Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College. He is the editor of The Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology, and the Human Condition, and co-editor of Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics (2009), and Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt’s Denktagebuch (2017). Berkowitz edits HA: The Journal of the Hannah Arendt Center and the weekly newsletter Amor Mundi. He is the winner of the 2019 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought given by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany.

EDITED BY:

Alex Fox Tschan is the editor & co-producer of the “Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz” podcast. He is a working musician, creative producer, & audio/visual editor at his Brooklyn-based studio, The Fox & The Sound. With 25 years of recording & performance experience, Tschan’s recent projects range from indie-pop albums to audiobooks for McNally Jackson. A full spread of his work & collaborations can be found at pastelhell.com