Free Kiwis!

Updated: 20 Jul 2025 • 50 episodes
www.buzzsprout.com/1578358

A podcast focussing on freedom and free speech in a New Zealand context, hosted by two Wellington-based academics, Drs. Michael Johnston (VUW Education) and James Kierstead (VUW Classics).

Categories:

Show episodes

20 Jul 2025 • EN

Musa al-Gharbi

Musa al-Gharbi is an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. He was the Communications Director at Heterodox Academy from 2016 to 2020. I talked to Musa about growing up in a military family, being cancelled by Fox News, who "symbolic capitalists" are, the extent to

59 min
00:00
59:12
No file found
02 Jun 2025 • EN

Doug Elliffe

Doug Elliffe is a professor of psychology at the University of Auckland. We talked to him about whether crows know what"s good for them, the Listener letter and its fallout, and how to foster a culture of free inquiry at New Zealand universities.

65 min
00:00
01:05:51
No file found

In this episode we are once again joined by our regular correspondent from the Free Speech Union (and the New Zealand Initiative), Steph Martin. We debrief about the FSU"s panel events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch on institutional neutrality and the draft academic freedom legislation. We also talk about tha

65 min
00:00
01:05:05
No file found
15 May 2025 • EN

Henare Parata

Henare Parata is a teacher of te reo and mātauranga Māori. He has also been involved with The Opportunities Party (TOP), and is a well-known presence on X as @TeHenare. We talked to him about mātauranga Māori and science, what pre-colonial Māori society was really like, and where his favourite marae is.

59 min
00:00
59:51
No file found
08 Apr 2025 • EN

Brandon McMurtrie

Brandon McMurtrie is a PhD student in psychology at Massey University, where he studies political polarization. He is also a keen Substacker, X-user, and hunter. We talked to him about polarization; whether the way we"re currently talking about mental health might have some downsides; psychological research on left- (a

70 min
00:00
01:10:44
No file found
17 Mar 2025 • EN

James Lindsay

Dr James Lindsay was one of the perpetrators of the "Sokal Squared" hoax, and is the co-author of Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody and of How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide. We asked him who his favourite p

64 min
00:00
01:04:14
No file found