60 acast.com Material Crimes https://shows.acast.com/material-crimes en Material Crimes How can a mine, a road or a prison be criminal? Material Crimes answers this question, investigating the “true crimes” of infrastructure. We explore how the physical sites of everyday life are connected to global histories of conquest, resource extraction, profit-making – and resistance!


Check out our website: materialcrimes.com


Get in touch: materialcrimespodcast@gmail.com

Instagram: instagram.com/materialcrimespodcast

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]]> How can a mine, a road or a prison be criminal? Material Crimes answers this question, investigating the “true crimes” of infrastructure. We explore how the physical sites of everyday life are connected to global histories of conquest, resource extraction, profit-making – and resistance!


Check out our website: materialcrimes.com


Get in touch: materialcrimespodcast@gmail.com

Instagram: instagram.com/materialcrimespodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> false Material Crimes info+6a3bff4c97b52d9936494591@mg-eu.acast.com 6a3bff4c97b52d9936494591 material-crimes episodic https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6a3bff4c97b52d9936494591/1784027473599-3b3faebc-2c47-483d-9e6f-c8765978c9dc.jpeg https://shows.acast.com/material-crimes Material Crimes a4ac7a30-7b90-11f1-a0c8-77ce7b554319 Stop that Train (Dom Davies) Stop that Train (Dom Davies) Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:00:00 GMT 49:52 6a5e2f3776f8ee25bb61a7e9 false https://shows.acast.com/material-crimes/episodes/stop-that-train-dom-davies 6a5e2f3776f8ee25bb61a7e9 6a3bff4c97b52d9936494591 stop-that-train-dom-davies full 3 1 “But didn’t colonialism give them railways?” The “Cape-to-Cairo” railway was meant to stretch from Africa’s southern tip to Egypt in the north. It was the unrealised fantasy of an unruly cast of imperial hustlers, including most infamously Cecil Rhodes. As Dom Davies traces the legacy of this unfinished railway across Africa, he finds that tracks of colonial plunder, resource extraction, and white supremacy continue to haunt the continent. Talking to Adam Elliott-Cooper, Megan Jones, Uhuru Portia Phalafala, Sara Salem, and Jonny Steinberg, he explores the violence of the Cape-to-Cairo railway as both a symbolic and material crime. Using songs and poetry of resistance, he also unravels how fantasies of a connected Africa energised successive generations of activists, from Black Consciousness poets to Rhodes Must Fall. 


Useful Links

Global History of Capitalism Project, Case Study #31: Rhodes Must Fall: https://globalcapitalism.history.ox.ac.uk/files/case31-rhodesmustfallpdf

The Last Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes: https://info.publicintelligence.net/RhodesLastWill.pdf

UCT Rhodes Must Fall Mission Statement: https://www.lse.ac.uk/sociology/assets/documents/events/UCT-Rhodes-Must-Fall-Statement.pdf


Further Reading

Dominic Davies. The Broken Promise of Infrastructure (Lawrence Wishart, 2023).

Megan Jones. "The Train as Motif in Soweto Poetry," Literature, Critique, and Empire Today 53:1 (2018), pp. 21-42.

Uhuru Portia Phalafala. Mine Mine Mine (University of Nebraska Press, 2023).

Sara Salem. "Cape to Cairo." The Architectural Review (June 2025), pp.50-53.


This episode was supported by the Independent Social Research Fund, Leverhulme Trust, and City St. George’s Department of Media, Culture, and Creative Industries. 




Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> “But didn’t colonialism give them railways?” The “Cape-to-Cairo” railway was meant to stretch from Africa’s southern tip to Egypt in the north. It was the unrealised fantasy of an unruly cast of imperial hustlers, including most infamously Cecil Rhodes. As Dom Davies traces the legacy of this unfinished railway across Africa, he finds that tracks of colonial plunder, resource extraction, and white supremacy continue to haunt the continent. Talking to Adam Elliott-Cooper, Megan Jones, Uhuru Portia Phalafala, Sara Salem, and Jonny Steinberg, he explores the violence of the Cape-to-Cairo railway as both a symbolic and material crime. Using songs and poetry of resistance, he also unravels how fantasies of a connected Africa energised successive generations of activists, from Black Consciousness poets to Rhodes Must Fall. 


Useful Links

Global History of Capitalism Project, Case Study #31: Rhodes Must Fall: https://globalcapitalism.history.ox.ac.uk/files/case31-rhodesmustfallpdf

The Last Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes: https://info.publicintelligence.net/RhodesLastWill.pdf

UCT Rhodes Must Fall Mission Statement: https://www.lse.ac.uk/sociology/assets/documents/events/UCT-Rhodes-Must-Fall-Statement.pdf


Further Reading

Dominic Davies. The Broken Promise of Infrastructure (Lawrence Wishart, 2023).

Megan Jones. "The Train as Motif in Soweto Poetry," Literature, Critique, and Empire Today 53:1 (2018), pp. 21-42.

Uhuru Portia Phalafala. Mine Mine Mine (University of Nebraska Press, 2023).

Sara Salem. "Cape to Cairo." The Architectural Review (June 2025), pp.50-53.


This episode was supported by the Independent Social Research Fund, Leverhulme Trust, and City St. George’s Department of Media, Culture, and Creative Industries. 




Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Season 3 Trailer Season 3 Trailer Wed, 08 Jul 2026 16:51:19 GMT 2:09 6a4e7a9a0be8a67717b23e78 false https://shows.acast.com/material-crimes/episodes/season-3-trailer 6a4e7a9a0be8a67717b23e78 6a3bff4c97b52d9936494591 season-3-trailer full This season on Material Crimes...How can infrastructure be criminal? How does a road, a train or even a piece of real estate become a perpetrator of violence? Listen to Season three of material crimes as we try to answer these questions. Out 21st July!



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> This season on Material Crimes...How can infrastructure be criminal? How does a road, a train or even a piece of real estate become a perpetrator of violence? Listen to Season three of material crimes as we try to answer these questions. Out 21st July!



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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