Hello and welcome to the first episode of the (Un)Box the Soap Podcast!

Anticipating the release of the fifth edition of our journal, we would like to invite you to the realm of swamps. How does the swamp speak? What can we hear when we tune in to its sounds? What are the things we can learn about and from the swamp, and how can it inform ourselves, as well as the world we inhabit? Can our engagement with the often-neglected wetlands provide an alternative to the city spatio-temporalities and offer an antidote to our own sense of feeling ‘swamped’?
These and many more questions we explore in an interview with Dominika and Iulia, who are the founders of the fieldfictions collective. Accompanied by their soundpiece project “ecotonal tones; eventually everything is swamp”, we hope to take you on the journey through the zones of transition: the world-making processes of forested wetlands.

Ep. 1: The swamp speaks, but how do we listen? An interview with collective Field Fictions

In our second episode of (Un)box the Soap Podcast, we continue our journey through the swamps and examine how this porous ecosystem manifests in culture. 
Whether it's through watching the film La Ciénaga, listening to swamp-pop, walking through the streets of London, or examining the history of the Great Dismal Swamp Maroons, we explore the swamp’s potentiality of creating new meanings, seeing ordinary things anew, and reclaiming one’s independence.
Why do we associate swamps with something negative and why is it Shrek that helps us free ourselves from these presuppositions? 
Join us in our boggy ruminations and let’s submerge in the swampy realms!


Works we referenced and cited in this episode:
Avidad, Andrea. “Deadly Barks: Acousmaticity and Post-Animality in Lucrecia Martel’s La Ciénaga.” Film-Philosophy, vol. 24, no. 2, June 2020, pp. 222–40,⁠ https://doi.org/10.3366/film.2020.0140⁠.
Bernard, Shane. “State of the Genre: Swamp Pop Music in the 21st Century.” Bayou Teche Dispatches, 2022,⁠ http://bayoutechedispatches.blogspot.com/2022/05/state-of-genre-swamp-pop-in-21st-century.html⁠.
Błoto. “Błoto - Szlam (Official Video).” YouTube, uploaded by Astigmatic Records, 26 Feb. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1LFxsaq_0g. 
Giblett, Rod. “Introduction: Looking Back, Looking Forward.” Cities and Wetlands. The Return of the Repressed in Nature and Culture, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, pp. 3–14. 
Giblett, Rod. “London: The “Nether World” of “the City of Dreadful Night.” Cities and Wetlands. The Return of the Repressed in Nature and Culture, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, pp. 69–91
Greene, Liz. “Swamped in Sound: The Sound Image in Lucrecia Martel’s La Cienaga/the  Swamp.” Printed Project – Physical Stuff Made Strange, no. 15, 2012, pp. 52–60.
Martell, Lucrecia, director. La Ciénaga. Lider Films, 2001.
Long, Jake. “Ideological Rubble.” City Swamp, New Soil, 2024. Spotify.⁠ https://open.spotify.com/track/5W1NctXJprxy4oc99q0AEI?si=cc81d1ea5ac24a34⁠. 
“Refuge in the Great Dismal Swamp.” YouTube, uploaded by Southern Gothic The Podcast, 19 Mar. 2021,⁠ www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBs8ITobjW4⁠.
Stewart, Katy. “Establishing the Female Gaze: Narrative Subversion in Lucrecia Martel’s ‘La Niña Santa’ (2004) and ‘La Ciénaga’ (2001).” Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, Sept. 2015, pp. 205–19,⁠ https://doi.org/10.1080/14701847.2015.1179850⁠.
Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues. University Press of Mississippi, 1996.
“Twisting at the Fais Do-Do: Swamp Pop in South Louisiana.” Folklife in Louisiana, ⁠https://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/creole_art_swamp_pop.html⁠.
“USA: The Great Dismal Swamp - BBC Travel Show.” YouTube, uploaded by BBC Travel Show, 1 Feb. 2020,⁠ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_zaVMNsD7c⁠. 
Youssef, Sharif. “The Great Dismal Swamp.” 99% Invisible, 15 May 2017, 99percentinvisible.org/episode/great-dismal-swamp/.

Ep. 2: Cultural manifestations of the swamp

In this episode of (Un)Box the Soap Podcast we will take you on a journey through magic, herbal medicine, tarot cards, and other witchy things! We had the pleasure to talk with Lara Senske (@cosmia.absurd), a professional tarot card reader and a drag performer, and Fedora Boonaert, art historian and designer who specializes in herbs and scents.
Witches have been, and still are, everywhere, but for this episode we wanted to look at their practice in Amsterdam - how did they get enchanted by witchcraft? Are they part of a bigger community? What are their areas of interest and expertise? And how does a witch navigate the modern world? 
Fedora will discuss her research on herbal medicine, witch hunts, women's knowledge, institutions, modern healthcare, while Lara will share her insight into the history of tarot cards, their designs, and how they circulate within modern cultures.
We invite you to get immersed in this fascinating conversation, and delve deeper into the world of witches and magic!

You can find our guests on Instagram:
Lara Senske: @cosmia.absurd
Fedora Boonaert: @fedorabonaert 

And read Fedora’s amazing article which we discuss in the episode:
⁠https://thecouch.hethem.nl/are-tiktok-healers-contemporary-quacks-or-re-risen-witches/⁠.

Ep. 3: Witches Among Us: Interview with Lara Senske and Fedora Boonaert

(Un)Box The Soap is a place where we slip from topic to topic, navigate and invade all the nooks and crannies and (un)box knowledges that are hidden. Here you will find conversations, sounds and voices from different backgrounds and in different forms: interviews, readings, sound pieces and other media. As a part of Soapbox Journal, we take a step further and explore how cultural analysis seeps through our lives and shapes us in ways that are often left unexplored. 

We are excited to welcome you on this journey!

Website: https://www.soapboxjournal.net/
Instagram: @soapboxjournal