Allison A. Waite - Artist and Filmmaker episode artwork

EPISODE · Nov 28, 2025 · 40 MIN

Allison A. Waite - Artist and Filmmaker

from The Black Studies Podcast · host Ashley Newby and John E. Drabinski

This is John Drabinski and you’re listening to The Black Studies podcast, a series of conversations examining the history of the field. Our conversations engage with a wide range of activists and scholars - senior figures in the field, late doctoral students, and everyone in between, culture workers, and political organizers - in order to explore the cultural and political meaning of Black Studies as an area of inquiry and its critical methods.Today’s conversation is with Allison A. Waite, a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California. She has worked on a number of films and has produced, written, and directed a number of pieces including The Dope Years, a documentary on the life and death of Latasha Harlins. In this conversation, we discuss the political significance of art as a facilitator of empathy, the importance of authenticity and voice in Black art making, and the responsibilities of creatives and writers in relation to community. 

This is John Drabinski and you’re listening to The Black Studies podcast, a series of conversations examining the history of the field. Our conversations engage with a wide range of activists and scholars - senior figures in the field, late doctoral students, and everyone in between, culture workers, and political organizers - in order to explore the cultural and political meaning of Black Studies as an area of inquiry and its critical methods.Today’s conversation is with Allison A. Waite, a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California. She has worked on a number of films and has produced, written, and directed a number of pieces including The Dope Years, a documentary on the life and death of Latasha Harlins. In this conversation, we discuss the political significance of art as a facilitator of empathy, the importance of authenticity and voice in Black art making, and the responsibilities of creatives and writers in relation to community.

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Allison A. Waite - Artist and Filmmaker

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This episode was published on November 28, 2025.

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This is John Drabinski and you’re listening to The Black Studies podcast, a series of conversations examining the history of the field. Our conversations engage with a wide range of activists and scholars - senior figures in the field, late doctoral...

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