About The Episode

This hour, journalist Saleem Reshamwala gives us a tour of surprising people and places — Lima, Nairobi, and prehistoric New Jersey — to inspire new perspectives on travel and cultures.

About Saleem Reshamwala

Saleem Reshamwala is a journalist and filmmaker. Currently, he is the host of the TED podcast, Far Flung, which explores ideas around the globe.

Previously, Reshamwala has created work for LinkedIn, Soccer.com, and PBS Digital Studios, for which he filmed rappers and beatmakers in Senegal, Ethiopia, Fiji, Panama, and the Democratic Republic of Congo for the web series "Beat Making Lab." He has also traveled around the world by boat, twice.

In 2017, Reshamwala won Best Music Video at the Hip Hop Film Festival in Harlem for the music video he directed for G. Yamazawa's ("North Cack"). He also received an Emmy nomination for his work on implicit bias and race while at The New York Times.

He has degrees in journalism and philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Featured Segments

Liberato Kani: Lima, Peru

Though Quechua is spoken by millions of indigenous people around South America, it's often seen as a language more relevant to the past than the present. But one Peruvian hip hop artist is trying to change that. By rapping in Quechua, Liberato Kani is working to restore dignity and pride to those who speak it.

You can find music by Liberato and more artists featured in the episode Far Flung: An Indigenous Mixtape from Lima, Peru on TED's Spotify playlist, "Quechua es Resistencia."

Wanuri Kahiu: Nairobi, Kenya

TED speaker Wanuri Kahiu describes AFROBUBBLEGUM as fun, fierce, and frivolous African art. The art movement that began in Nairobi, Kenya, specifically challenges myopic narratives of Africa as war-torn and impoverished. Kahiu shares her story of creating joyful art and the consequences of creating her art in a censored environment.

Kenneth Lacovara: Mantua Township, New Jersey

Behind a hardware store in Mantua Township, New Jersey, there's a prehistoric graveyard. To save the grounds from turning into an apartment complex, paleontologist and TED speaker Kenneth Lacovara must enlist the help of Mantua's community in an effort unlike any attempted there before.

This episode of TED Radio Hour was produced by Diba Mohtasham and Fiona Geiran. It was edited by James Delahoussaye and Sanaz Meshkinpour.

Our production staff also includes Rachel Faulkner, Katie Monteleone, Matthew Cloutier, and Sylvie Douglis. Our intern is Harrison Vijay Tsui. Jeff Rogers is our executive producer. Our audio engineer is Brian Jarboe.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.