Co-hosted by Nikhil Raghuveera and Erica Licht, Untying Knots, explores how people and organizations are untying knots of systemic oppression and working towards a more just and equitable future.

“What does a good case study do? It has rich context for the history and why and how this systemic issue came to be. It’s clear on the points of intervention and actions taken by the organizing group, and what the impact or effect of those were.”

Over the past five years, the climate and conversation around racial justice has shifted, with the movement gaining widespread visibility, facing intense backlash, and continuing today through everyday work and urgent action in communities across the country. Against that changing landscape, Nikhil Raghuveera and Erica Licht’s Untying Knots podcast has been a steady presence. Since 2020, the co-hosts have explored how people and institutions are untying the knots of systemic oppression — and tying new ones grounded in accountability and equity.

Latest Episodes

  • Frontline Defenders: the ACLU and the Fight for Civil Rights in 2025

    ACLU President Deborah Archer speaks about the current landscape of attacks on civil liberties in the U.S. and the tireless efforts of the ACLU to uphold protections for Americans.

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  • Indigenous Truth Telling through the Directors’ Lens

    Directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie discuss their Academy-award nominated film Sugarcane; a moving and personal documentary about the investigation into the 150 years-long Canadian Indian Residential School system.

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  • Climate and Economic Justice: Learning from Asian Pacific Islander Community Organizers on the Frontlines

    Christine Cordero, Co-Executive Director of APEN, joined Untying Knots to talk more about APEN’s meaningful local and state-wide work in California.

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  • A Conversation with Ava DuVernay: Resistance, Storytelling, and Film

    Academy Award nominee and winner of the Emmy, BAFTA, Image, Sundance and Peabody Awards

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  • White communities working for racial justice

    Featuring Erin Heaney, Executive Director of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)

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  • Voter Oppression and Suppression: A Living Case Study in Georgia

    Featuring Christopher Bruce, Political Director of ACLU Georgia, and Nse Ufot, CEO of the New Georgia Project

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All graphics created by Alison Pasquariello, Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project. Podcast published by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School.